Welcome to SBO.net
Sports betting is mentioned in a few of the oldest of surviving text books, so it has existed for as long as history accounts. In its modern form however, things are still rather new. In the 1930’s providers of betting odds such as Leo Hirschfield’s Athletic Publications, Inc. first appeared. These services utilized scouts, employed mathematicians and delivered odds to bookies via telegraph. In the 1940’s the point spread was invented and the first US legal sports books appeared in Nevada in the 1950’s. In 1960 South Australia legalized betting shops and, a year later, in 1961 the UK followed suit. By the 1970’s dozens of countries had legal sports betting, and if you didn’t live nearby there were bookies in almost every city willing to take your bets.
Sports betting became so popular in North America that by the mid 1980’s businessmen from all walks of life began moving to Caribbean Islands to set up toll-free phone-in shops where Americans could fund betting banks with credit card and get paid via check. As soon as the internet came about, sports betting online became the hottest craze. On January 17, 1996 Jukka Honkavaara of Finland made the first internet sports bet ever via Intertops. As early as 2001, mobile sports betting was available for a number of WAP enabled phones. Today online bookmakers provide a plethora of innovations such as in-play wagering, live steams, alternative markets and props. Websites like www.bet365.com are available in dozens of currencies and languages with unique bonus offers for each. No doubt, the internet is now the most popular way to bet sports and this is exactly what our website Sports Betting Online covers.
What is Sports Betting Online All About?
The idea for our website Sports Betting Online first came about in 2004 when our domain name was registered. As a group of avid fans of sports betting who have lived in the UK, Ireland and many Asian countries we had a pretty decent understanding of the global betting markets. Each time we started to develop this website however, we became overwhelmed with just how information there was to cover. It wasn’t years later when we met an eventual business partner from the United States and his friend from Canada that we decided to give this website a serious go. Starting in 2011 and into 2012 and 2013 our website grew to more than 1000 pages and now well exceeds that figure. In 2015 many more pages will be added.
What is our goal? Our goal is to provide the highest quality information about websites that offer sports betting online. While our company does get paid for this via affiliate programs and advertisers, if you navigate our website you’ll soon see we are no ordinary betting portal; we aim to fill a need. You see, factors such as where you live in the world, what your sports of choice are, what stakes you wager, what odds format you prefer, and a plethora of other factors change which online betting sites are most ideal. Our website provides that information in easy to access formats and navigation while giving away many betting tips we’re passionate about in the process. Allow me to use the rest of our website to illustrate the vast differences between websites that offer sports betting online.
UK Bookmakers vs. US Sportsbooks
As you can see from the header sports betting terminology differs even between two major English speaking countries. In the United States a place accepting wagers on sports is generally called a sportsbook and in the UK the same is called a bookmaker (betting exchanges are also popular outside the USA). There are other major differences in terms as well; bets involving multiple teams are called parlays in the US and called accumulators in the UK. Someone who wagers on sports is referred to as a bettor (US) or punter (UK). These two countries bet in complete different odds formats as well. In the US a 2/1 underdog is priced as +200 and a 10/11 favorite as -110. The typical UK punter understands fractional odds as well as probably decimal odds, but American odds, Hong Kong odds, Indonesian odds and Malay odds are quite foreign to most. To make it even more confusing the most popular sports in the UK and in the US are both called football, yet each is referring to entirely different game.
Websites which are best for UK punters are generally global. In fact, take Bet365 for example; this is one of the most popular betting sites in the UK, but it is also popular in all European markets, plus the #1 most searched for gambling site in both China and Japan. Meanwhile UK punters often use Asian bookies too. Pinnacle Sports is based in Curacao and offers American odds, decimal odds and Hong Kong odds. Pinnacle are not licensed in the UK but due to having the best odds and fastest payouts this websites is used by many sharp players to do their sports betting online.
In the US things are vastly different. In fact, for legality reasons some European bookmakers and Asian Bookies don’t accept wagers from US residents. When wagering with online sportsbooks you’re most likely using a website that more than half their clients come from the US or Canada. Here the payments methods are generally different with Person to Person cash transfer via a local supermarket the most common banking method. That said there are still many sportsbooks that accept credit cards and upon request will ship a paper check when you want to withdraw. Online ewallets such as Paypal, Moneybookers and Neteller are only available to non US residents when used for sports betting online. Besides the geographical differences, various betting sites targeted different types of gamblers; some offer bonuses and others offer reduced juice.
Bonus Offers or Best Odds?
Serious sports bettors understand that bonuses are nowhere near as important as getting the best best odds. To show a detailed example I’ll compare two US friendly sportsbooks with vastly different offers. BetOnline which offers a 25% free play bonus with a 6-time rollover requirement and standard odds, and www.5dimes.eu which offers half juice odds and no bonus.
BetOnline Compared: At BetOnline we deposit $1,000 and get a $250 free play. In order to cash out we need to make base wagers that total six times our deposit plus bonus. We decide to meet this rollover by making 29 wagers of a $250.78 base on point spreads using cash (which is risk $275.86 to win $250.78) and then 5 wagers of $50 to win $45.45 on point spreads using our free play. This gets us to meet our rollover requirement without going a penny over. I’ll save the math, but if we’re a talented handicapper who wins 56% our bets we end up +$552.69 after our 29 bets. For our free play bets it’s important to note these are not cash bets. The difference is that when free play bets win only the win amount is credited back not the stake, as the stake was a free play that win or lose is used up. Therefore at a 56% win rate we expect to win 2.8 of our 5 bets for +$127.26. So in summary, a 56% winner on points spreads priced 10/11 (-110) with a $250.00 free play bonus will profit $552.69 win plus $127.26 bonus for a total profit of $679.95.
5Dimes Compared: At 5Dimes no bonus is offered, but the same point spread wagers most sites offer at -110 (risk $1.10 to win $1.00) are available at -105 (risk $1.05 to win $1.00). If we make bets risking the same amount we did at BetOnline, here our $275.86 stakes pay $262.72 instead of $250.78. Winning the same 56% of the 29 bets – we win $262.72 a total of 16.24 times, and we lose $275.86 a total of 12.76 times. We’re going to skip those $50.00 bets because at BetOnline those were free plays, and 5Dimes isn’t giving us a free play. Doing out this math I calculate at 5Dimes we’re +$746.60. This mean with no bonus involved, risking the exact same amount, and using the same win rate, we won $66.65 more at 5Dimes.
Conclusion: I ran these figures using an impressive 56% win rate on bets that have an implied probability of 50%; If we lack handicapping skills, and just bet at random winning half our bets, the difference will be even larger. Getting the best odds is vital to winning at sports betting. The one bonus I do know that does come out better than reduced juice is offered at Bet365.com (no US players); they offer a CASH bonus 100% up to £100/€100/$200 with just a three time rollover.
The Importance of Shopping Odds
The simple math in the above illustration might bore a few our readers, but illustrates the importance of getting the best odds so well. No matter if you’re serious sports bettor, or just a recreational punter, the way to win the most money, or lose the least money, betting sports online is to shop multiple online bookmakers looking for which one has the best odds on a given match. Our website Sports Betting Online has reviews of dozen of bookmakers, and helpful tips on which is the best for each sport. Each betting website we recommend is highly respected, licensed, and most are publicly traded. If you’re going to bet sports online take some time to navigate our website and then select at least three bookmakers to open an account with. Doing so will allow you to easily shop the odds and will greatly improve your betting results. With that said, we at Sports Betting Online encourage you to bet responsible, and also wish you the very best of luck.
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