How to Actually Make Money Betting on Sports — Line Shopping

Everyone ultimately should have the same goal when betting on sports — to make money. Yet, it seems like most people are not aware of some of the simplest ways to actually generate profits from this unique form of “gambling.”

One concept that is remarkably straight-forward, yet many bettors choose to overlook is called “Line Shopping.” Line shopping is essentially using multiple sportsbooks (Fanduel, DraftKings, Bet365) to find the best odds when placing your bets. A perfect example is today, my first basket model liked the value Dillon Brooks to get a first basket. On Fanduel his odds were +1400, my model priced this fairly at +1080. The next best odds for this prop were +1050. So if you took this prop at +1400 on fanduel, you are getting value in the long term, meanwhile if you took it at +1050 or even worse, you are likely losing in the long term. An easier way to think about this is my unit size is $100, so when I put $100 on this at +1400, I make $1,400 if it hits, while on other books I would only make $1,050. I don’t know about you but I would much prefer to make that extra $350.

There are many more benefits to using multiple sportsbooks including boosts, promos, sign up bonuses. You also get access to quite a lot of profit boosts on many sportsbooks which can be very lucrative for these types of bets. Looking at that Dillon Brooks bet, if I have a 50% profit boost on Fanduel (I didn’t but they are pretty common), then I could get it at +2100, making this bet very high value and adding $700 to my payout. Keep an eye out for profit boosts when you are line shopping.

Some states have limited selections when it comes to sportsbooks, but if you have multiple available, I would recommend using them. More tips to come.