Betting on sports is an activity that can be done in many ways. For some people, putting a little money on their favorite teams to win is a great way to add excitement to the game. For others, it is fun to make wagers with friends to ‘keep things interesting.’ In both of these cases, the goal is more to make watching the sport more fun rather than to try to make a lot of money.

People who want to do everything they can to make a profit from sports betting, however, will want to take the activity much more seriously. One of the ways that this can be done is by performing research to try to bump the odds in their favor. Since sports betting involves very precise margins, even a fairly small advantage can result in big returns over time. Learning about different types of research that the professionals use can help anyone take their sports betting to the next level.

Detailed Injury Reports

Injuries can have a major impact on the results of any sporting event. This is one key factor that all bookmakers, and the vast majority of gamblers, will follow when making decisions. While knowing that a quarterback is going to be out for a game is important, it isn’t going to give you an advantage. Serious sports betters will need to look for the less significant injuries or health issues that don’t actually take someone out of the game, but could impact their performance.

For example, if someone reviews footage of a major player the day before a game and notices they have a limp or are favoring one leg unnaturally, that might be an indication of a pulled muscle. Even spotting things like a player blowing their nose multiple times in the days leading up to an event can be significant. It is often these types of small issues that are overlooked by professionals who need to research dozens, or even hundreds, of events each week that can give someone an advantage.

Analyze the Small Picture

There are thousands of factors that can influence the outcome of a sporting event. Being able to look at some of the smaller scale things that bookmakers might overlook can help you to push the odds in your favor. The following are a few of the different things to look at when trying to find those little things that can make a big difference:

• Weather – How has predicted weather impacted each team?
• Play Area – What type of field will the game be played on? How does each team tend to perform on grass vs astro-turf, for example. Every sport has different play areas, which can have a significant impact on the game.
• Point in Season – Over the course of a season teams often perform differently. Some teams start improving their play as the end of a season approaches. Others will start to have trouble due to fatigue and other issues. Knowing how a particular team is doing at a set point in a season is key.

Looking Closely at Matchups

Another thing that sports betters can do to try to get an advantage is to look closely at the individual matchups within a team. There are times when a teams stats can say one thing, but the individual matchups of specific positions will say something else. When there is a mismatch that is overlooked by the bookmakers, it can help to give well-prepared betters that little advantage that they need to push the odds in their favor.

The specific type of research that has to be done will vary greatly from sport to sport. In addition, doing this type of research can take up a lot of time, which is why it is often only effective for people who bet exclusively on one sport or even just one team. When done right, however, it can make quite a difference.

Be Careful with the Research

One final thing to mention is that the bookmakers and others will also be able to do this type of research. It can be quite dangerous to think that you are the only one who has specific information and make major bets based on that. It is very rare for one person to have a significant detail about a sporting event. That being said, the betting sites are successful largely because they know that most people aren’t going to be doing in depth research before making a bet. Taking the time to learn everything you can about a sporting event before placing your bet will absolutely help to improve your results over time.