When it comes to purchasing, what kind of customer are you? Are you someone who buys what they want on impulse, or are you the meticulous type who spends much time thinking about what they want to buy and how to go about it? Of course, the wise one would go for the latter. This could also be applied in horse betting, particularly in shopping odds.
Punters who limit themselves to one book often cheat themselves out of some pretty hefty cash both in the short and long term. But how do you go about it? The internet is vast. That is to say that there are a lot of horse racing sites that you can bet on out there, and it’s up to you to take advantage of this fact.
Sure, the odds nowadays are closer to each betting site since it can be a huge risk for a betting site to be so far behind the odds. However, this isn’t a reason to take odds shopping less seriously. And yes, the difference might only be a few dollars, but in the long term, those few dollars would eventually go to hundreds.
The Basics
Although odds shopping in horse racing sounds like an advanced term, it’s not. Essentially, odds shopping is finding multiple horse racing betting sites and comparing their odds for a particular horse. Of course, if you see one more profitable than the others, you can bet on that odds. Let’s say that you’re betting on the Pegasus World Cup and you’re feeling good about horse #4. If you’re smart, you would bet on that horse in the sportsbook present in the stadium and find better odds on the internet.
As mentioned just now, there are many betting sites on the internet, and it’s up to you if you’re patient enough to find better ones. After that, if you’re lucky that horse #4 wins, not only will you win cash in the local sportsbook, you would also have a payout on the other online sportsbooks you bet on.
Simply put, odds shopping is a clever way of increasing your profits. This is particularly effective when it comes to fixed-odds because, with that, you’ll have the ability to find the best value for a particular horse. But if you are participating in pari-mutuel betting, odds shopping won’t work because there’s no way for you to determine the pool size.
You might not see that much difference when you’re shopping at odds for the first time. This is because it’s a good move when you’re in it for the long term. As mentioned earlier, it might only be a few bucks for now, but as time passes by, these few bucks will stack up.
The best way to do this is to find websites that let you compare live horse racing odds. You’ll eventually see a pattern. Always for sites that offer rewards because if you lose, you won’t lose cash that much.
Back Multiple Runners
Backpacking multiple runners is a good strategy to maximize your profits and reduce your potential losses, especially after you have shop odds. This strategy involves backing your main horse then coupling it with saver bets on the sideline. You may back around two or three runners, if you will.
This way, you can minimize losses, and in turn, it can give you a better chance of sustaining your bankroll. Remember that it’s sometimes better to sacrifice some of your winnings to maximize your profit.
Monitoring the Market
Of course, before you go ahead and find online sportsbooks, you need to monitor the market first. You can trust that the market is often right when backing horses but not always. But often, when you see the market backing a particular horse, you can expect it to do good during the race. It’s often a good indicator, and it’s hard to miss.
Take Advantage of Rewards and Bonuses
Having accounts at reputable sites is vital if you benefit from odds shopping. If you only have one or two, then you’re missing out on a lot of potential winnings. You don’t need a dozen accounts; of course, just three or four is enough.
And when it comes to reputable sites, they often have bonuses and rewards the first time you create an account with them. They often come in the forms of free money, free bets, or even additional cash when you deposit money in their accounts. Take this into consideration when shopping for odds. These bonuses can mitigate some of your losses, so make sure you’re taking advantage of them.
Final Words
Shopping odds is easy, but you have to have a lot of patience for it. It might be a lot of work for only a few additional bucks when you do it in the long term; these few bucks will go into hundreds, thousands even. So make sure to make odds shopping a habit, or you’ll miss out on a lot of cash.
