How to Choose a Sportsbook
Gamblers often make the mistake of looking only at bonuses and promotions when choosing an online sports book. While bonuses are a factor, a bonus offer is less important a factor than the companies track record, licensing, payout options, fees, odds etc. What good is a great bonus if you have to sweat whether or not you’ll be paid your winnings?
This is the first way our website, sportsbookmaker.org can assist you. As you’ll notice on our right menu, we have reviews of over twenty different sportsbooks and bookmakers linked. Each of these sites comes highly recommended by our knowledgeable staff and players. When you bet at these sportsbooks, you’re in good hands.
So now you’re probably thinking “which sportsbook should I join?”. The answers to this question are many; a serious sports bettor should have no fewer than five outs to place wagers at.
Why so many sportsbooks?
Line shopping! This is the holy grail of winning sports betting, and is almost as important as having the right picks. Let’s say you’re betting NFL and every sportsbook has a team listed at -7, while one sportsbook has them listed at -6.5. Which sportsbook should you bet at? Obvious you’ll want to get in at the -6.5 as this bet is going to win more often.
Shopping sportsbooks goes further than just shopping lines; you also want to look at odds and prices. For example, sites such as 5Dimes.com often offer games at -105 pricing where other sites offer them at -110. This means to win $100 at 5Dimes you’ll risk $105, at other sites you’re risking $110 to win the same. This might not sound like much, however sports betting is a marathon not a sprint, and every dollar saved and every extra dollar earned adds up exponentially over time.
So which 5 Sportsbooks should I join?
Good question. Keep in mind we said a minimum of five sports books; the more outs you have the better. Here is a quick guide on which sportsbook you should join.
#1 Reduced Juice Sportsbook – Everyone should have a sportsbook in their arsenal that offers a wide selection of reduced juice lines. The largest sportsbook that is friendly to all players in the world having this is 5Dimes. For this reason alone 5 Dimes is almost a must-have account for any serious sports bettor. What also comes in handy is that 5 Dimes has more prop bets, alternate lines, teaser options and other ways to bet than any other site… so no matter what game you prefer, you’ll be betting often at 5Dimes.
One other account you might want to consider is Bet Phoenix and choose their reduced juice option over bonuses.
#2 Betting Exchange – Betting exchanges allow players to wager at better odds, by posting bets as the bookmaker. If you know you’ll be taking a side and the spread is unlikely to change, post an offer on a betting exchange and see if someone takes it. In the US there is only one viable option for doing this (matchbook.com); outside the US, there are many options such as Betsson to place your exchange wagers.
#3 Early Lines – When you’ve capped a game in advanced, or even if you’re a forum junkie who picks up early info on a game ( hot tip/pick or insider chat) before the lines comes out, you’ll want to have an account at one of the sportsbooks that posts their lines early. A good option for this is Bookmaker.com which is the first to post odds on nearly all major sports, hence their tag line “where the line originates”.
#4 Square Sportsbooks – These are sites that tend to adjust the pricing or move the line to make odds less favorable when betting on the favored team. The reason some sports books will do this is because the majority of their clients are recreational bettors that most often bet on popular teams. You might check square books a dozen times and not find they’re the best place to wager at, however the times you do find an adjusted line or price will be well worth it. The best square sportsbooks we know are Bodog.com, BetUs.com and Sportsbook.com. It is a good idea to have an account at all three of these sites.
#5 Live Betting Sites – This is only important if you do much live betting. For more details, see our Live Betting page.
#6 Bonus Sportsbooks – On some games, every online sports book will have the exact same odds and price. When this is the case, it makes sense to be betting at sites you have an uncleared bonus with. If you don’t have any uncleared bonuses, navigate our site some more, and sign up for an additional sportsbook that is offering a sign up bonus.
Once again, we cannot stress enough the importance of having multiple places to place a wager. In the early days of my sports betting career, a sharp bettor shared a tip with me that stuck in my mind till this day. He said, “From my experience, there are far more winning line shoppers than there are winning handicappers”. What his suggestion means is that by having accounts at many sportsbooks and checking them all before each bet, you’ll make more money than even the guys best at picking winners.
Remember our must-have account recommendation was 5Dimes. If you don’t have an account with them already, why not grab one now from the 5Dimes Sportsbook website.