Arbusers

Hello, dear arbers.

I am very new to the world of arbing. I Started to research and play with it for a month. After setting a good amount of bookmakers' accounts (13), I started to bet. Using a free arb opportunities tracker (Oddspedia) I was able to in 3 days get 9.37% return on my bets. I'm sure by the level of professionalism I see around here, that might not be much. But that was quite impressive to me. I'm used to investing in financial markets. 9.37% return in 3 days is an incredible return! If it is risk free, then you are in heaven!

One of the areas that scares me the most is how bookmakers have the power to simply not pay you. The stories I read online are quite scary. And in interacting with a few bookmakers and just playing with small bets (5 to 10 USD) it was already enough to see how much they can find all sorts of excuses to f*** you. For arbing to work, you need a substantial amount of money, since margins are low. That means that the bookmakers will hold your large deposits.

My situation right now: I'm a Brazilian living in Portugal. Portugal has very few legally available bookmakers (8 or so). Bet tracking services usually will cover 2 or 3 of the bookmakers available in Portugal. Surebet seems to be the best. But still, with such a limited number of bookmakers, you don't get the volume of arb opportunities needed to make a good profit without sounding the arb police alarm.
My test ground was done by betting on Brazilian bookmakers through a VPN. The T&Cs say that VPNs are not allowed. Their T&Cs also don't allow me to play from abroad, even though I'm a fiscal resident in Brazil.

After running this small and low-budget experiment, it made me think: should I put some more resources into this?!
As there is no such thing in this world as a free lunch and I don't want to naively think that I found a gold pot, I would love to hear from experienced members if arbing is a sustainable strategy in the long run.
- Do you play in multiple countries?
- Do you include losses due to bookmakers not paying you as part of your operational cost?
- How much does dealing with the shady bookmakers of this world stress you at the end of the day?
- Is it worth it?!

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.

Thank you so much!

This is such a frequent post here. Someone discover the world of arbing. that person makes some money. But soon he encounters many problems - limits, confiscation of money... And then he asks such questions, which in part cannot even be solved publicly, in part are business secrets...
I can tell you that it is really extremely difficult to earn some reasonable money these days. Everything can be solved, but it costs money, risks, a lot of time and skills. And if it's worth it? I'm not sure, I think not for a beginner.I would recommend following the rules, choosing quality bookies, working with your accounts as long as possible.

My initial enthusiasm for arbing faded rather quickly. For the last week, for example, I've been trying to figure out how to do it so that I lose on accounts where there is a risk of being restricted. I can not make it. Arguing with Dafabet about my money spoiled my mood. In the end it worked, but their quick limitation of the limits to 1 EUR taught me that at the beginning of a new account it takes patience and betting a bit pointlessly. Yes, if the accounts were not limited, if the bookmakers did not seize funds, it really is a gold mine. But then everyone would do that, and I believe that there would also be organized illegal betting. Bookmakers would be forced to become sharp, flawless and it wouldn't be the same anymore. For now, it's cheaper for them to limit.
It's a game, fun, exploring ways to be unrestricted and make some dollars while having fun. For example, I like to bet in a pub, where I can really earn exactly that beer :-)

success these days is 90% about finding new accounts and people to place bets or get you accounts, you should focus most of your time on this if you want long term success. making profit from the books is the easy part. there's lots of clever guys coming up with great models but what use are they if you cant place the bets?

if you do the above and do value betting instead of arbing you can still make good money in this business.

Thank you @Trevorr, @treblepop, and @Enkoff for your valuable perspectives.

treblepop wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 10, 2024 10:25 am

success these days is 90% about finding new accounts and people to place bets or get you accounts, you should focus most of your time on this if you want long term success. making profit from the books is the easy part. there's lots of clever guys coming up with great models but what use are they if you cant place the bets?

if you do the above and do value betting instead of arbing you can still make good money in this business.

You may not agree with me, but I am of the opinion that arbing is less dangerous for account limits than value betting. If you strictly observe that the arbitrage side, which is the origin of arbitrage, is shrap, then the bookmakers should not come after you so much. I've been checking betmonitor for the last few days to see if the odds of my soft bookies, which I don't want to lose, are somehow overheated. With value betting, you must always bet only on the value bet that is the highest on the market. Bookmakers will notice this sooner.