It doesn’t matter much what sport or sports a person follows, if the bookmaker offers a price, then there is one thing we can all be sure of. The price you offer will not truly reflect the chances of that outcome occurring.

It is often said that there is no such thing as a poor bookmaker. This is probably because, unlike his client, the bookmaker leaves nothing to chance. It will quote an odds price for what should really be a matched bet, then place it elsewhere to create a balanced book. So whichever horse passes the post first, or whichever team wins the big Premier League game on Saturday afternoon, the bookmaker is still making a healthy profit.

What this means in practice is that the bettor has to run to stand still, as the saying goes. Or to put it another way, one has to win a disproportionate number of times to stay on top of the deal, considering the house edge that is always built in. Guesswork will always lose out in the long run, but the expert at least has a fighting chance. But how many of us are really experts?

Most of us consider ourselves experts in one field or another. The fatal mistake sports bettors invariably make is to underestimate the vast amount of research and knowledge, sometimes insider knowledge, that goes into setting a price by the bookmaker.

Most of the more established books employ their own line makers (sometimes called odds makers) whose job it is to assess the correct price for the outcome of any sporting event and then offer the customer something less. In setting their own prices, most of the smaller books simply follow the lead of the larger ones.

A good tipping service, with a proven track record of success over a long period of time that can be demonstrated, can help you overcome obstacles. A service that doesn’t charge you unless you’re successful is even better.

Those who understand sports betting well and can provide evidence of the same upon request, can provide you with the relevant information and betting tips to ensure that over a period of time you can change the house edge and generate a steady but reliable profit. . Naturally, this does not mean that you will win all the time, just that your gains will outweigh and outweigh your losses in the medium and long term.

Tipsters themselves will often collate information obtained from other tipsters, or even from their own contacts within the sports they specialize in. As always, the proof lies entirely in the results.

Anyone considering using the services of a sports betting forecasting service should look for evidence of their past performance and weigh the various pros and cons. Ultimately, it can mean the difference between success and failure.