A Day in the Life of a Professional Online Sports Bettor

Rare is the everyday recreational online sports bettor who hasn't fantasized about delving into the world of professional online sports betting. Unfortunately, the average recreational bettor has to tend to their 9 to 5 jobs to feed the kids and pay the bills. For just a moment, let yourself imagine the possibility of hanging up the shirt and tie to take a shot at making a living as an online sports betting pro.

As you allow your fantasy to unfold, you'll need to understand what you are about to pursue. With that in mind, let's take a serious look at the life of a professional online sports bettor.

Basic Rules You Must Follow

Before you begin this journey, it would be a good idea to know how one would define a professional sports bettor. A professional online sports bettor is an individual who intends to earn a majority of their personal income by betting on sports via an online betting service. Intends is the operative word because being a professional online gambler does not ensure profits and riches.

To assist you in this endeavor, we would suggest that you take the following eight (8) rules to heart.

#1. Do not wager with anything more than money you can afford to lose. You can't risk your lifestyle by wagering on sports.

#2. You need to do the work. The work refers to the handicapping you must do to isolate your best wagering opportunities.

#3. Do not play the board. Trying to rack up "action" on a lot of games is the hallmark of a recreational online sports bettor who likes to focus on televised sports events. You can't be that person. You'll want to limit your action to games in which you feel you have an advantage.

#4. You'll want to accumulate handicapping resources on which you can rely. That should include statistical data resources, injury reports, up-to-the-minute weather updates, and news access related to player and team issues. As you get better at handicapping, you might start developing your own handicapping resources.

#5. Implement effective bankroll management protocols. At a minimum, you should never wager more than 5% on any single sports event. That amount should be reserved for games on which you have a strong opinion. Bankroll management requires a lot of discipline.

#6. Keep your expectations in check. Remember, you are not going to get rich betting on sports. Realistically, you should set your sights on making a reasonable living much like you would expect to do by accepting a 9 to 5 job. This will be your 9 to 5 job.

#7. If things aren't going well, allow yourself the luxury of a cooling-off period where you hone your handicapping skills without placing bets. There may not be such a thing as luck, but there is something to be said about how things can flow good and bad in bunches.

#8. You need to enter the fray with your eyes wide open. Statistically, only 5% of the "sports betting" community can lay claim to accumulating consistent profits year-over-year. To do that, they need a strike rate of 54% if they wager the same amount on every game. If they stagger their wagers based on the strength of their opinions, they might need a slightly higher strike rate.

By the Numbers

Don't kid yourself. Even the very best handicappers in the world will win about 60% of their wagers. To better understand the need for a strike rate of 54% if you want to be a successful professional sports bettor, we thought it would be prudent to lay out the numbers as clearly as possible. We'll start by looking at the expectations if you were operating as a low-level professional sports bettor.

Note: The following example will assume all wagers are made in equal amounts. Furthermore, we'll assume that the money line (point spread or otherwise) will be -110. That means a wager of $110 is required to win $100.

- You place $1,200,000 worth of bets throughout the year. That's 50 bets a month at $2,000 per wager.

- You proceed to win 54% of your bets at -110 odds.

- Take $1,200,000 in wagers times a strike rate of 54% = $648,000 in winnings

- Or, take $1,200,000 in wagers times a loss rate of 46% = $552,000 in losses

- $552,000 x 10% (juice) on losses = $55,200 in juice paid for the year

- $552,000 + $55,200 = $607,200 in total losses

- $648,000 in profits – $607,200 in total losses = $41,800 in net profits on the year.

If you live in the U.S., you may have to pay taxes on net profits. If you do, you can see how difficult it's going to be to succeed as a professional sports bettor if you don't have the financial resources to wager at much higher levels. Maybe settling for a semi-professional status would be appropriate.

Note: The above example assumes equal wagers, all at odds of -110. You can improve your returns if you maintain a strike rate of 54% while occasionally securing wins at higher odds. You might also increase your returns if you can hit a higher proportion of your bets at higher amounts while the losses occur on the games with lower wagering amounts.

It's a Process

Once you decide to become a professional sports bettor, you need to set reasonable expectations. Don't expect to be successful right off the bat. It's going to take time to hone your handicapping and money management skills on the way to becoming a proficient online gambler.

With this in mind, we would recommend you start with small wagers confined to games on which you have a strong opinion. The right time to start increasing your bets is when your strike rate increases and the size of your bankroll grows.

Under no circumstances should you ever deviate away from the wagering protocols you have put in place. Why would you want to risk a disproportionate amount of your bankroll on one wager? That makes no sense given the fact the risk will be the same no matter how strong you feel about your pick.

It's all a learning process just like everything else in life. The more you handicap games and place bets based on good information, the better you are going to be as a professional online sports bettor.

Better to Master One World

If you are a normal sports fan, you'll likely be interested in wagering on multiple betting markets. That's fine for recreational sports bettors who just want action to increase their enjoyment of sports. As a professional sports bettor, you won't have that luxury. Dividing your attention among too many markets will not end well.

We would recommend that you select 2-3 betting markets on which to place wagers. Your choices should match your knowledge base with a slight tilt toward your interests. Your chance of succeeding will increase if you become a "master" or expert on a couple of sports betting markets

Caution: Wagering on teams and individuals who hold your fandom is a very dangerous thing for successful sports bettors. If you want to succeed as a professional online or retail sports bettor, you need to separate your heart and bankroll.

Summary: Here's our final recommendation. Don't try to become a professional online sports bettor unless you are willing to commit to the process. Remember, this will be the 9 to 5 job you'll be relying on to pay bills and or feed the kids. Armed with the aforementioned information, we believe you will have a reasonable opportunity to succeed. Stay to the task and don't let your emotions get the best of you.