Many punters, especially those who are new and relatively inexperienced, find themselves losing a lot of money when betting on sports. Most of the time, this is due to a few common mistakes that pretty much everyone will make at some point. Look at these biggest sports betting mistakes and see if you are one of the many who lose money due to these reasons.
Emotional Betting
Letting emotions take over when betting will, more often than not, lead to you losing money. Some people back their favourite team, regardless of the opposition, while some will constantly put money on the same horse/team/player because they won them a bet once upon a time.
Always study statistics before placing a bet, otherwise you may find yourself with empty pockets in a short amount of time. Another part of emotional betting is chasing losses. This is where you get angry or frustrated due to narrowly losing a bet, for instance your team has just conceded an injury time equaliser when you thought you were about to win a small fortune.
It can be easy, after something like that occurs, to throw more money at the next available “sure thing” in the hope of recouping some of what you’ve lost. However, if that bet also loses, this can lead to a slippery slope where you keep betting and trying to claw back lost money until you have none left to lose.
Impulse Betting
Impulse betting is similar to emotional betting, but is where you bet just for the sake of betting or to give yourself something to do. For example, you are home alone and bored when you see a football match from an unknown league about to start on the TV. As something to cure the boredom, you may log on to your online betting site and put some money on the match for a bit of interest despite knowing nothing about the teams playing or their recent form.
This is dangerous.
You may get lucky and end up winning, but it’s more than likely you will end up betting on the team who have absolutely no chance and losing your money. All because you were bored and wanted something to do. Betting should be analytical, based on statistics and facts which enable you to make the best decision as to how to risk your money. It shouldn’t be done purely on instinct.
Getting Sucked in by “Special Bets”
When you go into a betting shop or onto an online bookmaker, you will see adverts promoting special bets and great offers. An example of this, you may see online, is boosted accumulators. This is where the site will pick three or four teams and give you boosted odds if you place this bet. A lot of punters, especially those who are inexperienced, will immediately click the offer and place the bet without even checking if it’s any good.
One question you should ask yourself before taking advantage of these types of offer is, why is it being offered?
Bookmakers don’t want to lose money, so they may try to entice you with a fantastic looking offer when they believe it only has a small chance of coming in. Remember, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Although some of these bets do win, the majority will just leave you out of pocket and kicking yourself for not checking before parting with your cash.
Stay Responsible and Analytical
The way to prevent making these simple mistakes is to make sure you have all the available facts and statistics before placing a bet. There may be no guaranteed bets, no way of ensuring a profit. However, there are ways to avoid throwing away money on silly bets when you are bored, angry, or just lured in by the promise of easy money.
Gambling is something which should always be done responsibly, with money which you can afford to lose. Mistakes can be costly, so try not to make too many of them.