Master the Art of Sports Betting: How to Become a Professional Gambler?

Professional Gambler

Wondering whether you can turn your passion for sports into a full-time career? 

Delve into our comprehensive guide and learn how to transcend into a professional gambler. 

This article is a treasure trove of crucial skills, proven strategies, and insider secrets necessary to excel in sports betting. 

Unveil lucrative tips and tricks that can turn the odds in your favour!

However you need to always be aware that becoming a professional gambler is incredibly challenging and comes with significant risks.

Preparation

Your first course of action is deciding which sport/s you will focus on as you try to make a full-time career in professional gambling. 

You will need an encyclopedic knowledge of that particular sport or game if you are going to make a living from your betting.

You should paper test your betting prowess to understand if making a living from your betting is possible. 

Spend time placing "virtual bets" or use the OLBG Tips Competition.where your profit and loss is automatically calculated. 

Practice is key, the 10000-hour rule may have its detractors, but there is no debate that the more you practice, the better your chance of winning and becoming a professional gambler.

Journalist and Author Malcolm Gladwell highlighted the "10 000-hour rule," asserting that the key to achieving true expertise in any skill is simply a matter of practice, albeit in the correct way, for at least 10 000 hours.

Betting Bank

You should have a set amount of money within your betting bank. You need to be aware of how the bank is growing/decreasing at all times.

The bank needs to be monitored so you never lose it completely.

Set your daily/weekly/monthly limits and aim to increase your bank balance over time. 

Remember you are in this for the long haul. 

Your betting bank should be completely separate from the money you use daily.

Professional Gambler - Your Tools

Whatever sport you decide to pursue in your quest to be a professional gambler there will be a range of tools that you will need. We have listed some below, but there will be many that are sport specific. 

• A Bankroll Management System (Spreadsheets, how much you should place on an individual bet). 
• Odds Calculators (Easy calculation of percentages and risk).
• Alert Systems (For when prices are hit, non-runners, injuries).
• Software For Your Chosen Sport (Quick placement of bets, accurate data provider).
• Simulation Software (What If Software that shows what could happen with a particular strategy). 
• Betting Guides and Books (OLBG.com articles, Time Form).
• Subscriptions Services (Speed Figures, xG Stats, etc).
• A Network of Like-Minded Community Members. (Will support and answer queries, a sounding board for ideas).
• Fast Broadband connection.
• Television Subscription for Sporting Channels. 
• Podcast Subscription. 
• Printer
• Ergonomic Chair (Comfortable). 

Keep Records

Keeping a spreadsheet or ledger of your betting wins and losses lets you quickly check where and how you are getting the most success. 

Make the individual bet records as detailed as possible; these will act as a positive reminder or as a warning when considering future bets. 

Betting Odds

As a prospective professional gambler, you must understand all the odds formats and ensure that you ALWAYS take the best odds on offer. 

You will need to have accounts with bookmakers, betting exchanges and spread betting firms. 

Understanding which bookmaker is the best for your chosen sport can also be key

The best bookmaker for horseracing may not be the best for football.

Also, if you are working in niche sports and markets, where the best opportunities for profit lie, then you should ensure you use the bookie that seems to be the most out of touch with that sports and the correct odds for the markets you play.

Deciding at what point to strike with your bets is going to be crucial. 

Placing your bets when the markets are at their weakest might secure better odds initially but those odds won’t be stood to large stakes and the odds could soon become unbackable before a fraction of your required stake has been placed. 

Waiting until the markets are at their strongest might mean that larger stakes will be catered for but the price might be completely gone by then.

Placing bets gradually or in a more subtle manner can be key to getting your full stakes accommodated at the required prices. 

Finding the exact recipe for getting your bets on at the best odds will depend on what sort of events you bet on and how many different accounts you can get the bets on in.

Having undertaken your research you can choose who will supply the best odds for your bets, the best odds will vary throughout the day as prices ebb and flow. 

It is worth reading reviews of every bookmaker available in your country, to see what real users have to say. 

They often share how they use one rather than another for different sports. 

So, find a list of the best gambling sites uk, and get started on finding your niche, the bookmaker that suits, and fingers crossed, one day, you can turn professional. 

Create Your Own Odds

The bookmakers have odds compilers who create the odds, this is a skill that the pro gambler should learn.

 You need to understand what price you would be willing to take and walk away if your original price is not met. 

E.G Football

Liverpool v  Manchester United

Liverpool is flying high at the top of the table; Manchester United are struggling under Erik Ten Hag. Most pundits consider the game at Anfield to be an easy home win.

You may have decided that Liverpool would win this game 7 out of 10 times (70%).

A draw would happen twice (20%) and Manchester United would win once (10%). 

The best odds were as follows, pretty close to what you thought. 

Table 1

Total 106.9%

However some bookmakers rated the draw and Man Utd had less of a chance than you did (15,4% and 9.1%) and offered bigger odds on those two options (11/2 and 10/1).

So according to your calculations the draw and Manchester United to win offered better value than what you considered their true chance, that is the time to place your bet. 

Table 2

Total 101.4%

You can undertake your odds calculations on any event or sport, it is a very worthwhile exercise and something we have covered extensively on OLBG -  What is a betting tissue?

Just don't cheat by checking what the bookies have done first. 

EG Horse Racing

Here is a race run in December 2023 where i calculated my odds versus what was available at 10.00 AM on the day of the race. 

You can see that I had three horses at shorter odds than the actual odds available from the bookies.

My three highlighted horses finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 

• Restandbethankful - 2nd @ 4.50
• Dancewiththwind -3rd @7.50
• Fete Champetre -1st @10.0

Now it is not going to work out as well as this on every occasion but let me assure you on this, this exercise will ALWAYS give you a clearer understanding of the race. 

Personality

Do you have the right mindset to be a professional gambler? 

• Are you disciplined in your daily life?
• Can you multi task?
• Can you handle losses without affecting your judgment?
• Can you remain calm under pressure?
• Can you make a decision without emotion?
• Can you digest data quickly and accurately
• Can you think strategically?
• Do you trust yourself not to chase losses?
• Do you embrace new ideas. 
• Take a personality test and see if your traits align with what is needed to become a professional gambler.

https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

Professional Gambler Patrick Veitch

Professional Gambler Patrick Veitch 

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/racing/gambler-prey-who-became-the-predator-1672554.html

Patrick Veitch is one of the most successful gamblers in recent times, winning over £10m from the bookies thanks to his horse racing bets. 

For him getting bets on at advertised prices (if at all) was always going to be difficult so he employed a team of 'agents' to place bets for him. 

Their reward for placing bets was his tips for free and when it came to placing Veitch's larger bets it would then be necessary for his agents to have their own team of agents. 

There is always a question of trust with this sort of system but if you are showing long term profits it is likely that the agents would prefer to keep the arrangement as it is rather than to rip off the tipster.

Professional Gambler Harry Findlay

The Guardian Newspaper interviewed the colourful Professional Gambler Harry Findlay in 2017. 

It highlights the highs and lows of his punting life including some huge losses. 

Dave Nevison

We regularly see Dave Nevison on Racing UK as a horse racing pundit. He has two betting books under his belt, both are worth a read. 

A Bloody Good Winner

No Easy Money

FAQ

Responsible Gambling

Whether a professional or not, ALL who place sports bets need to gamble responsibly. 

On OLBG we have been advocating responsible gambling since the website was created (2002). 

The site is packed with helpful articles on this subject including the one below.

ALSO READ

Responsible Gambling Features, Function and Help

You can also check out the GamCare & BeGambleAware links at the foot of every OLBG.com page. 

Author

Nigel Skinner an OLBG Betting Expert collated the updated version of this article. 

Nigel Skinner

Blog content manager

Nigel is one of OLBG's senior editors with 19 years of industry experience. Today he specialises in researching and writing about the betting angles to political and mainstream news stories and being the OLBG in-house expert on 'next football manager' betting markets.

Specialist Subjects🔬📚

⚽️👨‍💼 Nigel is an Arsenal fan first and foremost but has an unrivalled knowledge of English football managers at every level. Meticulously putting together our Next Manager articles, Nigel can quite possibly name you every manager of every club in the land, not to mention a pretty good eye for predicting replacements when changes happen. 

📈📊📉 A long-time exchange trader and spread betting fan, Nigel is our go-to for advice on the subjects and uses them daily in his own betting activity. 

🗳️💼 Finally, Nigel loves his politics and [some would say] has an unhealthy interest in the day-to-day events in the UK's political landscape, contributing to all our Political betting content and new pieces.