People consider casino games, lotteries, poker, and sports betting to be forms of gambling. While the name stands in the case of the first two, when it comes to betting and poker, it’s not exactly a good fit. Poker is a game that, like most other card games, does have an element of chance but it’s also relying heavily on skill. And when it comes to betting on sports, it’s much more a game of mathematics as a game of chance. There are quite a few fundamental differences between sports betting and the other forms of gambling – enough to make the name more than a bit out of place.
Sports are predictable
Surprising as it may sound, sports are pretty predictable – otherwise, the bookmakers themselves would be out of business pretty soon. The football odds you see posted on the Vwin website are based on careful calculations in an attempt to predict the probability of each outcome. Sometimes, the outcome of a match is easy to predict – when, for example, the difference between the two teams’ skill is obvious, although even in this case, surprising things can happen. Other times, it takes a lot of digging among records, statistics, and factors to accurately predict the winner of a game.
In most cases when two athletes or two teams are competing directly against each other, it is pretty easy for anyone, even with no in-depth knowledge of the sport in question, to make a pretty accurate prediction. Taking a look at the recent history of the athlete or the team and, of course, the odds posted by bookmakers is usually enough to place a bet that has a high probability of being successful.
Professional predictors
Then again, there are many finer things that you can bet on that are much harder to predict. When a stronger football team like Real Madrid or the Italian national team is playing against a weaker opponent, the most likely result is a no-brainer. Things can, of course, get more complicated when the teams are more evenly matched – but even then, there are only three possible outcomes: either of the teams winning or a draw.
But how can you predict the exact number of goals that will be scored in a match? How can you predict which player will score the first goal? How can you predict the number of yellow or red cards, corners, or free kicks in a match, things that you can all bet on at a bookmaker? As a matter of fact, how can the bookmakers do it?
This is where professional predictors come in. These – usually companies – have access to an incredible amount of information about sports, down to the habits and complete records of individual players, referees, and other officials, and up-to-the-minute information about any injuries and other factors that can influence any aspect of an upcoming match. Based on these bits and pieces of information, these professional predictors can calculate the probability of everything about a game, from the outright winner to the number of free-kicks and red cards in a match. The odds listed by the bookmaker are based on the information these predictors provide.
As you can see, betting on sports is not exactly gambling. While predicting the finer things about a certain event might not be an easy task, it is indeed possible (something that can’t be said about true gambling like a slot machine or a lottery). And predicting the outright winner of an event can be done by an individual like you and me.
