Since time immortal, among the favorite pastimes of sport freaks has been gambling. Gambling is exciting, thinking about the risk involved, the luck factor and also the chance to make big money in a few of hours. Online gambling is becoming popular with millions of people on the other side of the globe, with more visiting betting sites and online casinos popping up on the net than previously. One great benefit of having this facility online is of course, which it is accessible from any place which has an active internet access. This has made gambling a sport in itself, available to millions of new people.

There is a boom within the online betting industry and the kind of profits many sites are enjoying now is unimaginable. Online casinos are not to be left behind, as there is a rapid explosion of these also. Actually, online poker gives gambling, a glamour quotient by roping in celebrities for high profile tournaments. It indicates reaching out to a whole new market in itself.

But remember, the most successful story is the rise of sports betting. Fans who have enjoyed betting on games like soccer, football, polo, baseball, hockey and horse racing, can now do so online with the aid of these sites. A whole new number of sporting events are cropping up to encourage the already soaring popularity of online betting. It may be correct to say that audiences are now enjoying the betting experience without having to be at the field themselves. Welcome to the world of virtual reality.

You will discover innumerable so-called gambling experts ready to dish out information of their systems to ‘beat the bookie’ or to make a second income from gambling, for a cost of course. I won’t do that. I will simply give you information regarding bookmakers, odds and gambling that you can use (or forget) when you see fit.

The first thing to mention is the fact that a large proportion of individuals who engage in gambling will be net losers over-time. This really is the very reason you will find numerous bookmakers making so much money throughout the world.

While bookmakers can sometimes take big hits, as an example if a favourite wins the Grand National, they spread their risk so widely and they setup markets that incorporate a margin, so they will always make money over the medium to long-term, if not the short-term. That is, as long since they got their sums right.

When setting their odds for a particular event, bookmakers must first assess the probability of that event occurring. To do this they us various statistical models according to data collated over years, sometime decades, about the sport and team/competitor in question. Remember, if sport was 100% predictable, it could soon lose its appeal, and while the bookies tend to be spot on with their assessments of the probability of an event, they may be sometimes way off the mark, simply because a match or contest goes against conventional wisdom and statistical likelihood.

Just look at any sport and you will find an occasion when the underdog triumphs against all of the odds, literally. Wimbledon beating the then mighty Liverpool in the FA Cup Final of 1988, by way of example, or perhaps the USA beating the then mighty USSR at ice hockey within the 1980 Olympics are two examples of when you could have got handsome odds on the underdog. And could have won a quality wedge.

The big bookmakers spend a great deal of time and expense ensuring they possess the right odds that ensure they keep in mind the perceived probability of the event, and after that add that extra little bit that gives them the profit margin. So if an event has a probability of, say, 1/3, the odds that reflect that probability will be 2/1. That is, two to one against that event occurring.

On the other hand, a bookie who set these odds would, over time, break even (assuming their stats are correct). So instead they would set the odds at, say, 6/4. In this way they have built-in the margin that ensures, over-time, they will profit from people betting on this selection. It really is the exact same concept as a casino roulette.

So how can you spot the occasions when bookmakers have got it wrong? Well, it’s easier said than done, but far from impossible.

One of the ways is to get good at mathematical modelling and setup a model which takes into consideration as many of the variables that affect the outcome of an event as is possible. The problem with this tactic is the fact that however complex the model, and however all-encompassing it seems, it can never account for the minutiae of variables relating to individual human states of mind. Whether a golfer manages to hole a major-winning five foot putt on the 18th at St Andrews it is as much down to their concentration as to the weather or day of the week. Also, the maths can start getting pretty darn complicated.

Alternatively you may find yourself a sporting niche. Bookmakers will concentrate their resources on the events which make them the most money, generally found to be football (soccer), American football and horse racing. So trying to beat the bookies while betting on a Manchester United v Chelsea match will be tough. Unless you work with among the clubs, or are married to among the players or managers, it is very likely the bookmaker setting the odds will have additional information than you.