Sports betting ROI is something every serious sports punter has to think about. It is a concept whose mastery separates leisure gamblers from those whose aim is real profit-making. ROI stands for Return On Investment. While not a notion that one would expect to be linked with sports betting, it has become more commonplace in recent years. That’s because the number of people looking at sports betting as a career is on the rise, and for them it is prudent to manage their finances meticulously. Let’s define sports betting ROI and see how it can benefit an aspiring professional bettor.
What’s Sports Betting ROI?
For starters, ROI is a financial measure that evaluates the efficiency of a business. Since the aim of any business is to generate profit from investment, ROI helps the business owner know if they are succeeding at that or not. Sports betting ROI therefore, measures if a gambler’s sports betting venture is worthwhile or not. A worthwhile sports betting career is stable and profitable. At the end of the day, or at the end of a prescribed ‘betting season’, it should clearly show that the betting investment has paid back.
Calculating Sports Betting ROI
Sports betting ROI can calculated similarly to typical business ROI. All a punter needs to do is take their initial betting investment value (total wagers), subtract that from current gross betting balance (inclusive of wins and losses), and express that as a percentage. Let’s say the punter began with $100. If they have $150 at the end of their betting season:
($150-$100) / $100 * 100% = 50%
Their ROI would be +50%, which would mean that they’re turning a very good profit.
On the other hand, if they started out with $100 and ended up with, say, $80:
($80-$100) / $100 * 100% = -20%
Their ROI would be -20%, a negative ROI. A negative sports betting ROI means that the gambling enterprise has lost money. A reassessment would be needed to sniff out the problem and hopefully return the venture to profitability. The above illustration, shows ROI as a purely mathematical metric, and that’s the case – for the most part. However, there is another factor to also consider before sports betting ROI can be a good indicator of gambling prosperity – time. The longer the time period under consideration, the clearer the picture that ROI is able to paint. A longer time period usually means more bets have been placed, and therefore a larger investment has been made. Taking the ROI for a short period of time can easily generate misleading conclusions of betting success or failure.
Tips For Improving Your Sports Betting ROI
1) Bankroll Management
No one should dream of achieving sustainable profitability from sports betting without proper management of their betting bank. Professional gamblers gamble responsibly. A fixed capital amount must be set aside for each betting season and strictly adhered to. The amount depends on many things, chief among which is one’s individual financial status. Only gamble what you have and can afford to lose.
2) Find Value Bets
Value bets are bets with positive value. In sports betting, these are bets whose odds indicate that the probability of an event occurring is lower than what the punter expects. That means the odds on offer are good, allowing the punter to have an edge over their bookie. A good profit can be turned from value bets, which should in turn generate a positive ROI.
3) Learn Sports Betting Strategies
Betting strategies, aka betting systems, are the tools a punter uses to beat their bookie. These strategies are unique to each punter, but the general purpose is the same. With them, a punter stands to win more bets than they lose, and should therefore garner a better ROI.
