Gambling has been an entertainment method for thousands of years. There are many forms of gambling, with most of the casino games based on randomness. There are some, though, where you have quite a large degree of control over what you’re doing. Whether you win almost entirely depends on your knowledge, time spent researching and using the correct strategies.

One such type of gambling is sports betting. As the most popular activity, the sports betting industry makes up more than 40% of European gambling revenue. Furthermore, betting is legal almost in every country, making it far easier to find betting platforms. Another aspect of sports betting is that it’s almost solely dependent on you whether you win. In fact, if you’re dedicated enough, it’s entirely possible to make a living out of betting. 

Sure, there is some randomness factor such as injuries of particular players, or unexpected underdog wins, but all in all, statistics don’t lie. In this case, research is king. And the more data is available for specific sports, the more likely it is to predict the results. Many sports fans are keen on betting as it exponentially increases the entertainment factor. And, it can be quite profitable to bet if you know what you’re doing.

If you want to make money betting on sports, here are some of the best sports betting disciplines with the best return on investment.

Baseball

While one of the most challenging sports to bet on, baseball and its most famous MLB league can prove to be the most lucrative for the dedicated sports bettors. One reason for this is the fact that enormous amounts of data on baseball are available to anyone, anytime. It’s reasonably easy to find out the statistics for individual players. On the contrary, say, horse racing data is quite hard to acquire. Because there are so many games in a season and so many things change during one, you can get a considerable edge with research.

Baseball is pretty unique in the sense that both the umpires and the weather can affect the results—namely, the number of total points scored by both teams. When the wind blows in, it increases the chances of an out. On the other hand, when it blows in, it benefits home runs. Similarly, different umpires have different influence on the game. For one, it’s worth tracking them, as some have particular tendencies such as giving in to the crowd, favouriting the home team. They’re only human, and they have different ways of reffing, so it’s worth taking some time and reading about them.

Soccer

Soccer is, by far, the most popular sport in the world. It’s played virtually in every country, where it gathers countless spectators, especially when big tournaments are being played. The fact that you can bet on almost any statistic in a game makes it have a vast scope for research. The possible combinations go well into dozens. You can bet on how many corners, cards, goals until half-time, whether both teams score, there are countless ways, really.

Some of the most popular soccer leagues include, but are not limited to:

• Bundesliga (Germany)
• Ligue 1 (France)
• Premier League (England)
• La Liga (Spain)
• Serie A (Italy)

These are the ones with the best teams. Of course, there is the possibility to bet on the niche leagues, which can prove to be a good strategy if you’re willing to commit to research. While there are fewer games in a season, compared to, say, baseball, the amount of different leagues and tournaments is countless, making the betting opportunity readily available virtually any time of the year.

Basketball

NBA is likely a league that can be predicted the most easily. It’s fairly rare to see any underdogs win. That’s why it’s one of the best ways to start your betting journey. The most popular NBA bets include:

Point spread – the bookmaker estimates the spread based on who the favourite is. The underdog gets a plus handicap, while the favourite gets a minus handicap. If you think that the underdog will win the game or at least lose the game by fewer points than it’s listed, you bet on them. On the other hand, if you think the favourite will win by more than the amount, you bet on the favourite. Most bookmakers offer the odds of 1.90-1.95 for point spread bets. It’s good practice to find ones that have at least 1.92 to maximise the profit.

Over/Under – that’s pretty straightforward. The bookmaker sets a number of total points in the game, and your job is to predict whether the amount will be lower or higher. Again, the odds here vary from 1.90 to 1.95, so it’s the best to shoot for the upper limit.

Moneyline – again, this one is uncomplicated as well. All you need to do is to predict which team wins.

NBA betting is relatively easy to predict as favourites have a better chance to win than the favourites in other disciplines. With other leagues such as college basketball though, the situation is a bit more complicated, and you need to know what to look for.

eSports

While eSports was not really that big of a thing just ten years ago, now the industry is booming. With prize pools exceeding $25 million, and viewership going well into tens of millions for the biggest tournaments, eSports betting is extremely popular as well. It does seem like a niche, but the gambling market for eSports is estimated to be worth $15 billion. If you’re keen on video games, then that might be just for you.

The trio of the most popular games include:

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – a first-person shooter,
• League of Legends – a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) type game,
• DOTA 2 – another MOBA

These have, by far, the most varied forms of betting and even offer live wagers. While the industry is quite young still, the prospects for the following years are excellent. Furthermore, there’s lots of data readily available on the teams, including their history and stats of particular players. It’s still pretty niche compared to soccer or basketball, although the fact that the tournaments are streamed online for free makes it an extremely available entertainment form.

It’s relatively hard to get into, but if you like video games, I’m sure that you’ll get the hang of it in no time. The bets you can place prove to be incredibly lucrative as well, with underdog wins being fairly prevalent.