Anyone who spends enough time on sports betting eventually discovers that consistently making the right predictions is extremely difficult. One alternative approach is arbitrage betting, also commonly known as surebetting.
Unlike conventional betting, arbitrage is not primarily about predicting which team or player will win. Instead, it relies on differences in odds offered by separate bookmakers for opposite outcomes of the same sporting event.
What Is arbitrage betting?
An arbitrage opportunity appears when bookmakers offer sufficiently different odds on the same market.
By selecting the most favourable price for each possible outcome and distributing the stakes correctly, a bettor can create a position in which the total return exceeds the amount invested regardless of the final result.
But why do these situations appear if bookmakers are constantly trying to price their markets accurately?
There are several common reasons.
First, bookmakers compete for customers and may occasionally offer more attractive odds on certain selections.
Second, mistakes can occur when prices are calculated or entered.
Finally, bookmakers do not always react to new information at exactly the same speed. One company may adjust its odds immediately, while another continues to display an older price for a short period.
These differences can create temporary arbitrage opportunities.
Pre-event discrepancies are usually referred to as Prematch surebets, while opportunities that appear after a sporting event has started are known as Live surebets.
An example of a sports arbitrage bet
Consider a League of Ireland football match between Galway United and Waterford.
Two bookmakers offer the following odds for the total-goals market:
Bookmaker A
- Under 2.5 goals — 1.75
- Over 2.5 goals — 2.00
Bookmaker B
- Under 2.5 goals — 2.14
- Over 2.5 goals — 1.86
If we simply compared all four prices, the useful combination might not be immediately obvious.
For an arbitrage position, however, the strongest opposing prices are:
- Over 2.5 at 2.00 with Bookmaker A
- Under 2.5 at 2.14 with Bookmaker B
Suppose the total amount available for this opportunity is €87.
The stakes could be distributed approximately as follows:
- €45 on Over 2.5 at odds of 2.00
- €42 on Under 2.5 at odds of 2.14
Now consider both possible outcomes.
If the match has two goals or fewer
The Under 2.5 selection wins:
€42 × 2.14 = €89.88
After subtracting the total €87 stake, the return above the initial investment is approximately €2.88.
If the match has three goals or more
The Over 2.5 selection wins:
€45 × 2.00 = €90
After deducting the €87 total stake, the difference is €3.00.
In this simplified example, both sides of the market produce a positive result.
Why arbitrage opportunities are difficult to find manually
The mathematics behind a basic surebet is not particularly complicated. The real challenge is finding suitable combinations while the relevant odds are still available.
Bookmakers offer enormous numbers of markets every day, and those prices can change frequently.
A bettor searching manually would need to:
- monitor several bookmakers at the same time;
- compare identical markets;
- identify suitable combinations;
- calculate the required stake distribution;
- act before one of the bookmakers changes its odds.
Doing all of this manually is possible, but it can require a significant amount of time.
That is why specialised arbitrage and value betting software are commonly used.
How surebet scanners work
An arbitrage scanner automatically monitors bookmaker odds and compares prices for matching markets.
When the software finds a combination that satisfies the mathematical conditions for a surebet, it can display the opportunity together with the relevant odds and calculated stakes.
This eliminates much of the manual comparison process and allows users to monitor a far larger number of bookmakers simultaneously.
One example of such a service is BetBurger.
The platform scans odds from hundreds of bookmakers across dozens of sports and automatically identifies arbitrage opportunities.
What BetBurger offers
BetBurger is designed to simplify the process of searching for sports arbitrage opportunities.
Rather than opening bookmaker websites individually and comparing prices one by one, users can view identified surebets through a single interface.
The service covers both Prematch and Live markets and provides tools and calculators that help users analyse individual opportunities. Among them, surebet, kelly, dutching and odds accumulator calculator.
Another important advantage is the range of supported bookmakers and sports. The platform is continuously developed, with new bookmakers and functionality being added over time.
Since arbitrage scanners automate a process that would otherwise require extensive manual monitoring, they can save a considerable amount of time for users who regularly work with multiple betting platforms.
Is arbitrage betting completely risk-free?
The mathematical structure of a surebet is designed to cover all possible outcomes, but practical betting still involves several factors that should be considered.
Odds can change before all parts of the arbitrage position are placed.
Bookmakers can also apply different settlement rules to apparently similar markets. Differences involving overtime, cancelled events, player withdrawals or other conditions can affect the final calculation.
Incorrect stake distribution is another potential problem.
For this reason, an arbitrage opportunity should be checked carefully before any bets are placed.
Conclusion
Arbitrage betting is fundamentally different from ordinary sports betting.
Instead of trying to forecast the winner of an event, the strategy focuses on finding pricing differences between bookmakers and combining the most favourable odds across opposite outcomes.
The idea itself is straightforward, but finding suitable opportunities in real time can be difficult because bookmaker prices change constantly.
This is where automated scanners such as BetBurger can be useful. By comparing large numbers of bookmaker odds and calculating potential surebets automatically, they make the process considerably faster and easier to manage.
