Sports Betting for Beginners – Basics and Tips for Newcomers
What advice can you give someone who has never placed a sports bet? Every beginning is hard, so in the following text you’ll find important basics and tips that you should take to heart for your first bet.
The Opponent
Who are you actually betting against? Your opponent is the bookmaker – or more precisely, the odds compilers who set the prices at each individual bookmaker. Not every bookmaker assesses the chances of a particular outcome the same way, which is why odds usually differ between competing bookmakers. Beyond the odds themselves, several other factors matter when you’re choosing the bookmaker that suits you best.
Payout Ratio
The payout ratio indicates how much of the money the bookmaker pays back to customers as payouts across the various leagues/sports/matches. The value is below 100% – at 100% the bookmaker would no longer make a profit and could no longer offer the service long-term. The closer this value is to 100% (99% would be an example of extremely high odds), the more you can win from the bookmaker in the long run. However, that doesn’t mean a bookmaker with a lower payout ratio can’t still occasionally offer the highest odds for a particular bet.
Reputability/Security
Obviously, the bookmaker also has to pay out betting winnings reliably, and any deposit you make should actually arrive in your registered betting account. At wett-bonus.net, by the way, we only list reputable bookmakers, so your money is in good hands with every provider here. SSL encryption secures deposits and withdrawals – one of the highest security standards in the industry.
You’ll find detailed information on the topic of security in the respective bookmaker review.
Deposit and Withdrawal Methods
There are numerous ways to deposit money into your betting account and get any winnings paid out. Bank transfer is probably the most widely used deposit method. However, bank transfers have gone out of fashion, not least because the bank route usually takes 3-5 business days, needlessly delaying the timing of your first bet. Deposit methods that let you access your funds immediately are much more attractive. These include all types of credit cards, e-wallets such as Neteller or Skrill, Paysafecard, or deposits via Sofortüberweisung and EPS. With EPS, you can deposit money directly from your checking account, provided you have your online banking codes on hand.
PayPal is probably the deposit method par excellence on the German market. Many customers have an account with PayPal from the good old eBay days and now want to use it for sports betting too. Legally speaking, a bookmaker needs a Schleswig-Holstein license to be allowed to offer PayPal to end customers in Germany.
Support and Language
If you’re confident in your English, this criterion won’t play a role. If you’d prefer to play primarily in German and communicate with a German support team when needed, then the range of languages on offer matters.
When it comes to support, there are several ways to get in touch. Every bookmaker offers email or an email form as standard – the question is how quickly they respond to your request. The big players offer round-the-clock phone support as well as live chat in German, meaning you can talk/write directly with an agent about your issue.
Betting Rules
Every bookmaker follows a set of rules that determines how it pays out betting winnings. These betting rules are about 80% the same, but there are subtle differences for various sports. Take tennis, for example: what happens to your stake if a player retires due to injury? Some bookmakers refund the stake, some make the bet’s validity depend on how far the match progressed (it counts once a set has been completed), and others simply settle the bet on whichever player actually advances to the next round or is confirmed the winner.
Make sure before opening an account that you know your favorite sport and its betting rules. You can usually find the betting rules in the terms and conditions.
Bonus
The betting bonus – also known as the new customer bonus or welcome offer – varies in amount (for example, 50% up to €50 or 100% up to €200), in the quality of its wagering conditions (minimum odds, how many times you must wager the deposit plus bonus), and in how it’s paid out (credited immediately after the first deposit, after the first settled bet, or as a free bet).
Once you’ve found your bookmaker, there’s still more advice worth following!
Bet and Sport Types: Stick to What You Know!
There are countless sports and bet types. Terms like Asian Handicap, scorecast bets, game winner, etc. quickly raise questions. So here’s the tip: ease into your new hobby slowly and carefully. Bet on sports you’re familiar with, and initially on the ordinary outcome of the match (1X2 for 3-way bets or 12 for 2-way bets). Size your stakes sensibly and find a personal balance that fits your financial means.
High-Quality Bets – The Dose Makes the Poison!
Every successful sports bettor has at most a handful of good, sensible bets per day, depending on the season even per week. Don’t bet just for the sake of betting, don’t bet because you want to follow the live score at every hour of the day and night. No! Bet because you believe you have a knowledge advantage over the bookmaker. Study the betting schedule and pick out the interesting markets to examine more closely.
Mix in Long-Term Bets!
Long-term bets are bets whose outcome depends on several sub-events. Example: Bayern Munich wins the Champions League. At the start of the Champions League season, this bet depends on all the group matches as well as the outcome of the knockout matches. Long-term bets offer more stable odds than a simple single bet on the outcome of one match. And as the saying goes: it doesn’t matter at all how Bayern Munich plays on the 17th matchday of the Bundesliga. At the end of the season, Munich is at the top. With a long-term bet (e.g. a bet on the champion of a league), you reduce the risk by also accepting that the team in question might lose a match here and there.
Variety in Betting Instead of Stubborn Betting Behavior
The odds reflect a probability. The lower the odds, the more likely you are to win, but also the more you have to stake to win amount X. So take the risk sometimes and bet on teams with winning odds beyond 2.0. Check the current statistics – which team is in form and likely to keep it up? Here too, the balance between risky picks and picks on so-called “bankers” is important.
Nobody Wins EVERY Bet
Betting is a game of probabilities. If someone tries to tell you their bets always win, then that person is in denial of reality. To bet successfully, you also don’t need to win every bet, but rather achieve a certain percentage of profit by the end of a period (a month, a year). You bet twice at odds of 2.1 for €100 each. One bet wins (€210 payout), one bet loses (€100 loss). With a total stake of €200 and a payout of €210, that leaves €10 profit (€210 minus €200). Congratulations, you’ve won.
Time and Money
Do NOT go by the betting stories from Sunday’s regulars’ table, where a buddy scored a dream win with a €1,000 stake. Go by your own wallet – you have all the time in the world to accumulate betting profits long-term, which will also allow you higher stakes in the future.
Successful betting is a business, not fun
Sure, betting is the most enjoyable pastime in the world – we agree on that. But that doesn’t mean you have to place a bet on every sporting event you attend live in person.
Betting Is Not a Recreational Indulgence
A cigarette with a beer is a wonderful combination. A sports bet with your 10th beer – because you’re getting overconfident – is simply reckless and will drive you to ruin in the long run. Stay focused, seize your opportunities, and bet successfully.