A bet you ALWAYS win - how sports betting arbitrage works.Written by Kevin Schultz
Betting arbitrage is a method of creating a bet that has a zero risk - in other words, you always win! The concept of 'arbitrage' comes from financial world, and describes activities of traders who find two different places offering same trade, but at different prices. They then exploit this difference by selling in one location and buying in other. Whatever happens to price, they make a profit on difference between original 2 prices. The same thing applies to betting arbitrage, typically on sporting events. The advent of online betting sites meant that punter could suddenly check prices at a multitude of different locations very quickly, and open bets at those that had 'slipped' out of line. By exploiting inefficiencies of some brokers, a win can therefore be guaranteed. Sometimes, differences are deliberate. Each online betting site has to maintain it's own 'book', and it would be a strange world indeed if they all had same number of punters, all betting same way and same amount, meaning they all had to offer same odds! So how does 100% winners, no risk sound? Groovy, huh? But there are, of course, problems. The main problem is size of account you need to make a useful profit. The difference between odds offered by 2 bookies, and exploited by an arbitrageur, may only amount to a fraction of a percent, meaning that you may have to wager several thousand dollars to win 5 bucks. Nothing wrong with that, you think? Not if bet is 100% guaranteed? But what about if thru vagaries of internet, you manage to get one side of bet on at right odds, but not other? You are left holding a LARGE position. Also, accounts of this size are viewed with some suspicion by bookies - they will want to know that you aren't (for example) money laundering.
| | Budgeting When Your Paycheck VariesWritten by Terry J. Rigg
How can you decide how much you have for bills and expenses when your paycheck varies from one payday to next? That's a question a lot of people struggle with.A few of occupations that I can think of off hand that could fall into this category are waitresses or waiters working for salary and tips, truck drivers that are paid by mile and never know how many miles they are going to get, self-employed that their business income varies from season to season, and list could go on. Trying to manage your finances with a steady income is hard enough but when you never know what your paycheck will be seems almost impossible, but it's not. It is, however, going to be a little more tricky. In my Budget and Bill Organizer I talk about averaging your expenses like your phone and electric bills that vary from month to month. The same principle can be used to average your income. The first step you need to take is to find records of your pay for as far back as you can. It would be best if you had records going back for at least 6 months. Take these records and total amounts you were paid for entire period. Then divide that by number of months you have records for. This will give you your average monthly income. If you don't have any record of your previous pay you may need to go to your employer to get information. If there is no way to get this information you should start a log of how much you get paid and use this to develop your budget.
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