any of you made enough from sports betting to quit your 9-5 job?

I've been doing it for 2 months, only because I'm in school taking 18 hours and getting ready to graduate.  My bankroll also isn't large enough so I'm very stressful all the time.  It's possible to make a living out of doing it but I think you need a minimum of 5k and to be a good capper to consistently make money doing this.   I wouldn't recommend making a living out of this unless you have a really large bankroll.

I've made 5 withdrawals from sportsbook in the 2 months ranging from 500 to 2k and I haven't had any complaints yet.

I'm working on making it my profession. I only do baseball and Matchbook will let you withdraw whenever you want, no problems.

Not true. You would be surprised what a $10,000 loan from a brother in law can lead to.

How do you figure?

oh dear, making a living off $10,000

Lets say you want to earn $50,000 a year. At a conservative 5% ROI you would need to turnover $1,000,000 a year. That is turning over your bank 100 times in a year, or 2 times a week. If you are restricting yourself to bases you are going to have turnover your bank 4 times a week.

If you do this you will either need a high number of bets or over-extend your bank. A losing run or variance will knock you out of the game.

I know you think you know everything and will tell me I'm wrong, but if you do this you will be looking for another $10,000 sooner or later

Why did you jump to so many conclusions from a simple, undetailed statement? I never said that my current bankroll is $10,000; far from it. I was saying that a $10,000 loan got my betting career kickstarted and the rest is history, as in, I've used it to create a much larger bankroll with which I currently have tremendous earning power and great flexibility.

I have been making money every year and I am certainly not alone. To suggest winning long term in betting to be impossible would be anointing Covers as a sadistic Church for bankruptcy headed degenerates. Oh wait. Well, there are exceptions, anyway.

This takes the cake for dumbest, most uneducated post of the year.

With sports betting, it is the exception that prove the rule, not vice versa.

Do most bettors lose money long term? Absolutely. Are there bettors who have developed sophisticated spread sheets to create their own spread/money line and who make money long term? Absolutely.

To say that only a damned fool would believe he or she could make a living in sports betting is asserting that there is not one professional sports gambler who lives off such earnings. If there is even one person who succeeds, then your premise is false. Would you try to suggest these individuals do not exist? To say this would make you the damn fool.

I agree that betting spreads is difficult and it is definitely not for me. But I do know bettors who make a living off spreads.
As for me, I bet baseball and I more than double my bankroll every year. Yeah, scary. Yeah, true. You know where to find me in the baseball forum and I want to see you on October 2 when I have netted over 100 units.

So, if I can double my bankroll in baseball, I am certainly not the only one. In which case, it all boils down to the bankroll. To make $100,000 is considered a very nice and above average income in most places. So to use this as your measuring stick is unfair. Also, to suggest that the average unit of a high rolling gambler is $100 is laughable. Also, if one has a high, consistent rate of success gambling, he or she would be idiotic not to wager 2-3 units per game instead of the 1 you suggested. So suddenly we're talking about much larger potential incomes than you discussed.

I could go on and on but it is unnecessary. Just because you are a miserable square who can't beat the system after 2 decades of failure doesn't change the reality outside of your plastic bubble. Open your eyes and deal with it.

* I am not in the hole 7 or 8 units. I lost 23.36 units doing totals. I am now up 22.67 units, so I have essentially broken even if you are judging with the most precise of instruments.


* My unit right now is $500 making most bets risking $1000.

* I do play what, to most bettors, are a lot of plays. They are all plays where value is identified. Keep up with my thread and you will see what I mean.

* Yes, I did lose a good amount of money with totals but I did not bet as many of them and for the same amounts as on Covers. It is not like me to play totals, period. I felt pretty confident in what I was seeing to post them on Covers, but not enough to go all out with my actual bankroll. So I got hit, but not as bad as it appears. This is not to say I don't take responsibility for the posted losses. I do.

There are plenty of bettors who make money long term- I would suggest that far fewer rely on sports betting as their sole source of income- or, rather, make it their career.

Sorry, I was referring specifically to those who win long term AND also do it as an occupation. There are many of these, be sure.


Three years ago I was also new to betting. I had an average understanding of math and was very naive to all concepts about betting. Now I am in a good position to do this for a living despite what you might say otherwise. I have more or less been living off gambling winnings for the past two years. Anyway, everyone starts from scratch at the very beginning but where would the sharps be if someone had shattered their dreams before they got started?

2) Wagering 2 units per game is fine, but is not really comparing apples to apples with the guys wagering one per game - not a big deal- just a point to be considered.

Who said I omitted those units? Most people would have totally erased any mention of them but I am up front on the amount of units I lost. That's why I have an asterisk by the unit count. I will bring back the adjusted unit count at a later time but I want to get a good amount of breathing room with my current unit count first.

As for the second point, find me one sharp who bets just 1% of his or her bankroll on every play. The higher the success rate, the higher the amount that should be wagered. Volatile ordinary bettors should go no higher than 1% but you are giving away money if you have a system that works and limit your risk to 1 unit per play.

If one ( read I ) were to consider sports betting as a "career" - it better clear 100K per year- actually more, because that would be a pay cut- only used that number as a point of reference-  I do agree that as your bankroll increased, you would have much more leverage and much higher earning potential- I suppose the key would be to win early and often.

Everybody lives differently. If I lived in Wyoming, I could tell you that I would make a very lovely living winning $30,000 a year from betting. If I lived in NYC, however, I'd better be winning several hundred thousand a year. There is no rule of thumb for everyone.

I may be a square ( I'm not out trashing cars on the way to concerts, driving while intoxicated, etc.), but I am hardly miserable.  I have survived this game for 20 years by being disciplined            ( usually ), and always doing it for entertainment only- you win some, you lose some- but always have fun.

Well, thanks for taking the high road with your insults. I own up to my actions and admit when I do something wrong and then you heap on coals on my head.
Also, I am not very entertained when I lose money. If I can't make good, consistent money betting, I will stop betting immediately.

Best of luck to you- may the 100 units be yours.

Thanks.

I agree with you once again Dsn150, don't quit your day job.

A brief reply:

Gators -- Just to emphasize, I am not suggesting that doing this for a living is for most people. Quite the opposite. I would actually say 80% of people who are betting at all should quit wagering altogether. It's mindless to me for someone who knows he or she has no long term edge to keep betting, even if it's not much. If the price is worth the thrill, then that's OK, but there's a heavy line between recreational bettors w/ small wagers and sharps with a serious strategy and bankroll.