Handicapping

Intro to Online Betting Sites

Handicapping: To assess the relative wining chances of contestants or the likely winner of a contest.

Reference: Webster’s Dictionary, via Merriam-Webster.com

In the online sportsbook community, Handicapping is the process of using research and educated experience to determine the most likely outcome of a sporting event. Sports bettors have employed handicappers for years to increase their odds of winning sports bets.

To be a respected handicapper, one must have a very high percentage of accuracy, usually 80% or above. Handicapping is a respected profession, and if an individual puts enough time into it, it can be a highly profitable one as well.

For online sports bettors, taking advantage of a good handicapper can be quite lucrative as well.

Let’s say you’re not very educated in the world of NFL football, but the big superbowl game is coming up and you want to place a bet on it. You could just pick your favorite team, or the team who had the most wins during the regular season, but you’re risk factor is a lot higher.

If you take the advice of a handicapper, your odds of winning are much higher. It doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to win – there are no guarantees in gambling (that’s why they call it gambling!) – but having the advantage is certainly something any online sportsbook member can appreciate.

The handicapper knows everything there is to know about the game. He or she is aware of things the average sports bettor may not know, like how one team’s quarterback has done against a specific team’s defense in the past, or if certain players are recovering from injuries and may not participate in the contest, or may not play up to par.

Handicappers use past game statistics to calculate an exact expected outcome. They can give a precise score for each team, based on past performance and current situations. Again, it doesn’t mean the prediction will be perfectly accurate; it’s just a very educated guess.

Finding a Handicapper

There are plenty of handicapping web sites on the internet that offer their services to sports bettors, for a fee of course. Most offer monthly subscription rates than can range from a few dollars into the hundreds. The reputation of the handicapper will have a great effect on the price tag. But taking the cheapest route isn’t usually a good idea.

For hard core sports bettors, it is well worth the fee to get accurate information. If you’re paying $100 a month for handicapping, but averaging an 80% win rate on 10 or more $100-$1,000 bets, you’re making a whole lot more than you’re spending.

Another form of handicapping is free of charge, and isn’t really called handicapping, but is much the same. If you watch a sports show, such as ESPN’s Sports Center, the hosts will spend a good deal of time discussing the upcoming match-ups, specific factors that may affect the contest, who each host thinks will be the victor and why.

They are essentially doing the same thing as a handicapper. However, they don’t always have an accurate prediction ratio as high as professional handicappers.