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If two sportsbooks have very different odds for a game, you may be able to bet one side at Sportsbook A and the other at Sportsbook B to guarantee yourself a profit. This is called arbitrage betting.
You know you've found an arbitrage opportunity if the sum of the odds of both sides of a bet is positive (ex: +110 at Sportsbook A and -105 at Sportsbook B).
You can see current arb opportunities with our Arbitrage Bet Finder Tool here. We scan lines and odds at sportsbooks to find existing arbitrage bets you can place right now.
Once you've found an arbitrage bet, use our arbitrage calculator to find the ideal bet amount for each side of the bet and your guaranteed profit based on the odds from each sportsbook.
Arbitrage Betting Calculator
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How Arbitrage Betting Works
The key to arbitrage betting is finding two sportsbooks with drastically different odds on a two-sided market. The sum of the odds on each side of the bet must be positive in order for it to be an arb opportunity.
Let's take a look at an arbitrage betting example:
- FanDuel has Patrick Mahomes' passing yards Over 299.5 at +115 odds.
- Caesars has Patrick Mahomes' passing yards Under 299.5 at +105 odds.
In this scenario, you can bet $100 on the Over at FanDuel and $104.88 at Caesars to guarantee yourself a profit of $10.12 regardless of whether Mahomes goes Over or Under on his passing yards.
How to Find Arbitrage Betting Opportunities
As mentioned before, you'll know you found an arb opportunity if both sides of a two-way bet (that is, there are just two possibilities such as Over and Under) have a positive sum.
You'll never find an arbitrage opportunity at a single sportsbook since they always charge juice (called the vig) that results in the sum of the odds being negative.
You can manually find arbs by sifting through sportsbooks' odds, but this takes forever (trust me, I've tried).
The easiest way is to use an arbitrage bet finder tool. These tools scan the lines of sportsbooks to automatically find existing opportunities.
However you find them, once you do, come back to our arbitrage calculator to calculate the ideal bet amount on each side.
Arbitrage Betting vs. Hedge Betting
Though hedge betting and arbitrage betting follow the same basic principle, they are slightly different.
With hedge betting, the odds on the bet you originally took have moved in your favor, such as having the Eagles to win at +200 moving to Eagles -110. In this scenario, you can place a wager on the other side of the bet in order to guarantee yourself a profit.
With arbitrage betting, you take advantage of differing odds at sportsbooks to guarantee yourself a profit.
For example, say FanDuel Sportsbook has the Eagles moneyline at +250 against the Cowboys (-300). PointsBet Sportsbook, however, has the Eagles at +180 and the Cowboys at -220.
By betting the Eagles +250 at FanDuel and the Cowboys -220 at DraftKings, you can guarantee yourself a profit if you choose the right wager amounts. If you bet $100 on the Eagles +250, for example, you could bet $240.62 on the Cowboys -220 to guarantee yourself a profit of $9.38.
Arbitrage betting typically requires much more effort with less guaranteed profit than hedge betting. This is because sportsbooks typically have very similar lines, making finding arbitrage opportunities difficult and not very profitable.
In the example above, you have to wager a total of $342.62 just to guarantee yourself $9.38. You can use our arb calculator to see see how much you have to bet and what your profit would be when finding arb opportunities.
Hedge betting requires the odds to shift in your favor. You can't really hedge a bet if it looks like your original bet isn't likely to hit. Arbitrage betting opportunities—though rare—guarantee you a profit right off the bat. You don't have to wait until the game is in progress or the odds change.
Other Betting Resources
- Make Money Sports Betting: Learn strategies you can use to turn a profit through sports betting—including arbitrage betting and hedging your bets.
- Hedge Calculator: Calculate the ideal hedge bet amount based on the odds of your original bet and the current odds on the other side.
- Betting Odds Calculator: Calculate the payout of your bet based on the amount wagered and the odds. Also, convert between odds formats and find the implied probability of your bet winning.
- Free Play Calculator: See how much profit you can guarantee yourself by betting the other side of a free bet.
- Odds Converter: Convert between the three odds formats including American, Decimal, and Fractional.
- Implied Probability Calculator: See the implied probability of a sports bet based on the odds.
- Parlay Calculator: Calculate the payout of a parlay based on the odds of each individual leg.
- NFL Odds Calculator: See the projected payouts of your NFL bets.
- How to Read Betting Odds: Learn how to read odds, calculate your payout, and calculate the implied probability of your bet winning in each odds format (American, Decimal, Fractional).
- Spread Betting Guide: Learn how betting on point spreads works and learn common strategies for doing so.
- Total (Over/Under) Betting Guide: Learn how betting on totals works and learn common strategies for doing so.
- Moneyline Betting Guide: Learn how moneyline bets work and learn common strategies for placing them.
- Types of Sports Bets: Learn about how each of the main types of sports bets works.
