Stock Market Trading vs Sports Betting: Great Article

Before we compare sports betting and stock trading, lets learn the difference between the traditional gambler and the non traditional gambler (investor.) Be it sports betting, stock market, playing poker or any sort of gambling, the traditional gambler will be a long term loser because they gamble without edge and proper money management. These traditional bettors are usually degenerates, problem gamblers or "action junkies." A non traditional gambler (an investor) on the other hand is someone who only gambles (invests) with an edge and proper money management for long term success.

Sports betting attracts many traditional gamblers because of its simple nature and as a result traditional gamblers (long term losers) out number investors (long term winners.) Stock market on the other hand rarely attracts any traditional gamblers because of its complex structure and as a result investors out number traditional gamblers. We know that investors are long term winners relative to traditional gamblers who are losers. And that is exactly why many consider sports betting as gambling (high risk investment) and stock trading as investing (low risk gamble).

But if you look at sports betting and stock trading in terms of investors perspective only, sports betting is a much safer play because it is easy to manage, cheaper in the vig (commission) and much cheaper in the bankroll. Both are a form of gambling and the kicker with both is same--in order to be successful you need to be skillful, especially with money management AND finding the edge.

Sports betting is much easier to manage because most of the variables and information are publicly available and all you have to do is analyze everything to find the edge. Stock market on the other hand is more complex--monitoring the performance of companies is much harder than monitoring sports teams. There are too many unknown variables in the stock market that could affect the performance of your stocks. Often, these variables are not available to the public immediately and because of this it is really difficult to gain an edge unless you are an insider in the company or stock market. Insider trading is illegal but it is much more common than match fixing in sports betting.

When it comes to bankroll, sports betting wins hands down. Assuming you have the edge in sports betting and stock market, you are more likely to get much better return on your investment in sports betting than stock market. As mentioned before, professional sports investors do not bet any more than 2 to 3% of their bankroll in any bets. If you make all your bets at -110 (1.91) odds are fixed amount, you just need to hit 53% or better of your bets to make profit. At bettingresource we play -110 odds only when we play point spreads or totals--in most other occasions we play +ev bets with higher odds and this allows us to make profit even when we hit less than 50%. By betting 2 to 3% of the bankroll, a sports investor with a $10,000 bankroll can make bets in the volume of hundreds of thousands throughout the year. At bettingresource, we make 1000 to 1250 bets each year with our weekly picks and the ROI in these bets are about 10%--that is a $20,000 to $30,000 net profit for a $10,000 investor after a year. In order to make similar profit in the stock market, one would need over $100,000 bankroll.  In addition to the big capital required, your investment is also exposed to devastating loses overnight in case of recession or stock market crash. Sports betting is the only investment that will not be affected during tough economic times....continued...

...Finally, fees involved in stock trading are hard to overcome unless your capital is very large. There are also many levels of fees. You may here that the fee is only X amount per trade but this means 2X the fees because you have to execute the trade twice for each stock (once when you buy and once when you sell!)  There is also the bid and ask fee. Bid price is the price announced by the buyer at which s/he is willing to purchase a stock. Ask price is the price announced by the seller at which s/he is willing to sell a stock. Bid and ask prices are never the same. In fact, the price announced by the seller (the ask price) is always higher than the bid price. As a result you are required to pay the ask price in case you have decided to purchase a stock and pay a higher price. On the other hand, if you decide to sell a stock you will have to receive the bid price, which is of a lower amount than the ask price. The difference between ask and bid prices is referred to as the spread. The spread goes to the pockets of the broker or specialist who was responsible for the stock transaction for the paying of other fees. There also numerous other account administration fees and commissions that you may encounter. For example, take a look at the fee schedule at E-trade and TD Ameritrade. When it comes to sports betting you don't have to worry about any of these fees because good reputable sportsbooks don't charge any transaction fees on deposits and withdrawals (they will even pay all the fedex delivery cost of your cheque!) The only commission that you pay for sportsbook is vig. +EV handicappers like bettingresource minimize or completely avoid vig by making valube bets. If you play only at good reputable books, the vig is really low and they are beatable.

Therefore, contrary to the popular belief, sports betting is a much safer play than stock market if you approach it with an investors perspective. However, sports investing and stock investing are viewed differently by government regulators. Governments around the globe encourage stock wagering, a nice respectable occupation in the eyes of most. Sports bettors, on the other hand, are shunned. They do not wear suits and ties. And in many cases, sports investors do not enjoy the support of the general public or the government regulatory bodies. Why? Taxes! We could write a whole new article on this topic but for now let us just state the fact that it is much easier for the government to milk taxes from stock investors than sports investors.

Betting is a buisness....

              .......gambling is for idoits.

Sports investing.....been doing it for years with much success.

Nice write-up

Because us idiots are actions junkies without money management.   DUH!!!!