Whether you’ve been around the sports betting game for a while, or are new and have been following the advice found on this site, chances are you’ve been to sites like Covers.com while doing research on upcoming games. Chances are you have also noticed the little « consensus » tidbit next to each game, telling you which team the general public thinks will win. You may see that a team has a 70% general sediment and best soccer feel like that might be a fairly good bet that you should make. While nothing is ever certain on the planet of sports betting, this feeling is normally incorrect.

One of the most significant concepts to be aware of when betting on sports is this: in the event the public won more than they lost, sports books would cease to exist. That’s simplifying things just a little, remember, but in general which is a true statement. Casinos and sport books will be in business to make money–lots of cash. Whenever they are losing money in a particular area, they are going to either change the rules or stop offering it entirely. Considering that the world of online sport books is alive and thriving, it is then safe to assume that they can be making money and that, over time, the public loses their cash.

I have been telling people to subscribe to the theory of reverse popular opinion for years now. As is the case with a whole lot of the advice I’ve offered here at SportBooksReview, I am not suggesting that men and women blindly bet against the team with higher public support every night–just keep it in mind when doing your research. You will find some situations where observing the general public consensus and comparing it to line movement can be very eye-opening, and they are the situations the place you can pounce.

Since we discussed in our Line Movement article, there are a variety of factors that can cause sport books to move the line. One such factor is just one team getting decidedly extra money wagered on it than the other, creating a scenario where the books would lose a big sum of money if one team wins. Books would want to have an excellent, even amount of cash bet on both sides of a game, in order that regardless of which team wins, they’ll come out on top due to the juice (newbies: betting $110 to win $100, the $10 will be the juice). This really is why it’s a good idea to take a quick peek at the consensus percentages along with the line movement for the games you want to bet on–there can sometimes be some very useful hidden information to give you an advantage.

When doing your investigation, if you happen to find out a game where the general public is very heavily betting on one team, say 70% or higher, yet the line did not move from it’s original number, then you have to ask yourself why that is. Should the public is betting most of their money on a team, though the books do not move the number to attract betters for the other team, then it’s telling you something. Either the books are confident that the general public will lose, or even the big-money sharp betters have already made their bets on another team. Either way, this really is a serious red flag. Again, don’t blindly bet your hard earned money on this strategy, but there will be situations where these numbers are too strong to ignore.

Generally, I like fading the public–especially when there’s a strong public consensus betting on the underdog in a game. As you surely already know, the common theme of my articles is research–we’re discussing your money here, so it’s extremely critical that you make every effort to search out an advantage before you make your bet. As will be the case with a whole lot of my advice, this is not meant to be a universal strategy, but part of a larger overall strategy of doing your homework and eventually finding solid money-making opportunities. If you follow the advice I’ve offered in the article and combine it with some of my other strategies, you will win money–the only question is: just how much?