Most casual bettors don’t make a profit from their sportsbetting hobby. This includes bettors who are relatively sharp as well as those who couldn’t pick a winner if their lives depended on it. That’s not a horrible thing either – if every bettor won, sportsbooks would be going belly up and bettors would run out of places to play. Many bettors really don’t seem to care very much about earning a long term profit. They like to have some action on games as a form of recreation or excitement, not as an investment decision. Many of these types of bettors are far more interested in TV games than anything else, and they tend to bet more on bigger games, like the Super Bowl or the NCAA Tournament.

Most sports bettors believe that selecting the winning team (versus the spread) is the most important aspect in sports betting. While this is the most difficult factor, it is only third in the order of importance. The top two components to long term profits are money management and shopping for line value. These are the two factors which professional bettors understand and amateurs overlook.