Inside Edge magazine: Sports arbitrage vs Value betting
Posts Tagged ‘Bookmakers’
Sports arbitrage vs Value betting
Saturday, December 20th, 2008Sportsbook’s Vig Makes No Odds To Sports Arbitrage Traders
Monday, September 29th, 2008I often see misunderstandings arise over bookmakers’ vigorish (vig), the profit or commission the layer makes on his book. You don’t have to look too hard around the web to find people claiming that sports arbitrage trades cannot exist once the Vig has been taken into account.
In fact, the vig is not relevant to sports arbitrage traders because it is built into the prices offered by the bookmakers. If those prices create an arb, the trader will place his bets. If the don’t, then he won’t.
Here is an example.
When a bookmaker sets his prices like this:
Team A: -110
Team B: -110
A customer has to risk £110 in order to win £100.
The sportsbook’s vig, or profit-margin in this case is 10% – if he gets 2-way action on the match, with different customers betting on different teams, for every £110 he receives, he pays out only £100.
You see, the vig is not a separate fee – it is a margin that is built into the sportsbook’s prices
Let’s look at an example of a sports arbitrage trade, whilst keeping an eye on each bookmaker’s vig:
Sportsbook 1:
Team A: -110
Team B: -110
You can see that Sportsbook 1 has a vig of 10%
Sportsbook 2:
Team A: +150
Team B: -233
At these prices, Sportsbook 2 also has a vig of 10% but a very different opinion of the likely outcome of the match.
By taking the price of +150 on Team A from Sportsbook 2 and the price of -110 on Team B from Sportsbook 1:
Team A: +150
Team B: -110
We have an arbitrage of approximately 8% – that is, for every £100 invested and staked in the correct proportion, the guaranteed return is approximately £108, even while each bookmaker has his vig.
ArbSurfer Pro Version 2.0
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008This month sees the public release of the latest, and so far greatest, version of ArbSurfer Pro.
This is a link to the official ArbSurfer Pro press release.
And here’s the link to the ArbSurfer Pro website where you’ll see all of its features described in detail, as well as videos which demonstrate the software in action
I’m grateful to all of you who downloaded Version 1.0 of ArbSurfer and provided us with the feedback we needed to make Version 2 the powerful package that it is. In recognition of this, the new version is available to you to download for free if you purchased Version 1.0 at any time during 2008. In addition, we’ve made the very functional Preview version available to all, for free.
To access either version, all you need to do is log into your TraderZone account to download it.
ArbSurfer Pro - The Next Generation In Web Browsing
Below is a list of the new ArbSurfer Pro’s main features. The software has a built-in feature-request module which you can use to let us know if there’s anything you’d like us to include in the next build. I encourage you to use this; just click Help > Feature Request.
Features for traders / non-traders:
Security:
- Strong Encryption Of All Sensitive Data
- Mutliple Secure User Profiles
- Privacy Settings
- Intelligent Pop-Up Blocker
Speed:
- Direct Single-Step Form Submission
- Power Group Site Management
Power:
- Tabbed Browsing
- Tabletted Browsing
- Flexible Auto-Refresh
- Live Thumbnail Views
- Advanced Automatic Form-Filling
- Mouse Gestures
- Built-In Search Tools
- ArbSync Data Back-Up Technology
Features provided specifically for sports arbitrage traders:
- Full Featured Arbitrage Calculator
- Full Featured Back & Lay Exchange Trader Calculator
- Automatic Currency Exchange Rate Updater
- Built-In Notepad With Autosave & AutoSync
- Automatic Arbitrage/Bets Recorder
- One-Click Screen Capture
- Full Integration With ArbAlarm
- Comprehensive bookmaker database
The ArbSurfer Pro bookmaker database is designed to provide you with a practical tool for selecting your bookmakers. It provides you with filters with which you can tailor-make a group of sites which suit your purposes.
The database, which is updated automatically via the web, provides the following type of information for all of its bookmakers:
- Ratings
- Use of Neteller
- Use of Moneybookers
- Licensing information
- Contact information
- Average Bet Size
- Maximum Bet Warnings (yes/no)
- Sign Up Bonuses
- Definition of Tennis Retirement Rules
- Definition of MLB Pitcher Rules
- Definition of NHL Overtime Rules
- Currencies Accepted
- You can also add your own notes about your bookmakers to the database
Over the coming weeks we’ll be uploading video guides which will demonstrate some of the features of ArbSurfer Pro and which should help you to get set up with minimum fuss or delay. Here’s a link to the first one:
We're giving away Free Arbs on Fridays for life right now - just sign up for your free trial and lock in this limited offer