Think you can make money on sports betting apps? Sure, anyone can win in the short term. But in the long run, these apps are designed to create the illusion of skill while draining your bank account. In this article, I’ll expose the tricks sportsbooks use to keep you losing and reveal why staying ahead is nearly impossible.
Sports betting has exploded in popularity, luring millions into believing they can outsmart the system and consistently beat the odds. The apps are sleek, the bets are easy to place, and every win feels like proof that you’re in control. But here’s the harsh reality: that feeling of control is exactly what these platforms want you to believe.
These apps are carefully engineered to give you just enough wins to keep you playing, all while subtly tipping the scales in their favor. Today, we’ll uncover the hidden mechanics behind sports betting apps, revealing how they’re designed to chip away at your winnings and why, no matter how strategic you are, the house always comes out on top.
By the end of this article, you’ll see sports betting for what it truly is—a game where the odds are never in your favor, and staying ahead is almost impossible. Let’s get into it.
It’s no secret that sports betting apps are in the business of making money. But how do they guarantee their profit? They do so by ensuring that, over time, they always have an edge. This edge comes from something called the “vigorish,” or “vig” for short, which is essentially a built-in commission that bookmakers charge on every bet. It’s how they guarantee long-term profitability, no matter the outcome of individual bets.
Let’s break it down with the simple example of a coin toss. In a fair coin toss, there are two possible outcomes—heads or tails—each with a 50% chance of happening. If a bookmaker were offering fair odds on this, they’d give you even money: if you bet $100 on heads and it lands heads, you’d win $100.
But that’s not how bookmakers operate. To make sure they profit regardless of the outcome, they introduce the vig. Instead of offering true even odds, they might offer you odds of -110. This means that if you want to win $100, you have to bet $110. The extra $10 is the bookmaker’s commission.
Now, let’s say two people place bets on opposite outcomes of the coin toss, one betting on heads and the other on tails, each wagering $110. One of them will win and the bookmaker collects $110 from the losing bettor, but only has to pay out $100 to the winning bettor. That leaves the bookmaker with a $10 profit, regardless of whether the coin lands heads or tails.
This small difference might seem insignificant at first, but over thousands of bets, it adds up. In the long run, the vig ensures the bookmaker always comes out ahead, making sports betting a profitable business for them and a losing game for you.
So, while it might feel like you’re making smart bets, your ability to predict the outcome is not relevant since the odds are always slightly skewed against you.
Professional sports bettors know that overcoming the vig is incredibly challenging. The only way they can do it is by finding opportunities where the bookmaker has made a mistake in pricing. To identify these opportunities, they rely on advanced statistical modeling, which involves analyzing vast amounts of data, developing complex algorithms, and constantly updating their models to account for new information.
This process is not only highly technical but also time-consuming. It requires tracking every win and loss meticulously, refining statistical models continuously, and having a deep understanding of both the sport and the betting market. This kind of betting is not based in emotion and it goes beyond recreation, becoming at least a part-time job.
But what if I told you, even if you were able to bet in this way, the apps still won’t let you maintain a profit.
Sports betting apps are sophisticated platforms that closely monitor every bet you place. They use advanced algorithms to track your betting patterns, analyze how often you win, and even assess the strategies you might be using. When they detect that someone is consistently making profitable bets, the app takes notice.
Once you are identified as a profitable bettor, they take steps to protect their bottom line. One of the most common tactics is to restrict the amount you’re allowed to bet. Instead of letting you place large bets, the app might limit you to much smaller wagers, effectively capping your potential winnings.
This makes it incredibly difficult for even the most skilled bettors to sustain a profitable strategy over time. The effort required simply isn’t worth it.
That’s why sports betting should be approached as a form of entertainment, similar to going to a movie or dining out. Just like you wouldn’t expect to make money from these activities, don’t expect to profit from sports betting in the long term. By setting a budget for what you’re willing to spend, you may be able to enjoy sports betting as a form of entertainment.
But be sure to ask yourself: is it worth the cost?
On average, how much do you spend on sports betting in a month? Pause this video and do the math. Now ask yourself, is the amount of entertainment you’re getting worth that much? If I told you there’s really fun app, but the subscription fee is that much per month, would you be willing to pay it?
If you’re finding that sports betting is taking up more of your time and money than you planned, it might be time to take a closer look. Early warning signs of sports betting addiction include needing to bet with increasing amounts of money to achieve the same excitement, feeling restless or irritable when trying to cut back, making repeated unsuccessful attempts to stop, being preoccupied with sports betting, betting when feeling distressed, chasing losses to try and win back money, lying to hide the extent of your betting, risking relationships or opportunities due to betting, and relying on others for financial help to relieve desperate situations caused by betting. Recognizing these signs is crucial to preventing further harm.
If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. As an addiction counselor specializing in gambling, I’ve talked to many young men struggling with sports betting. If you want to regain control, schedule a free virtual call with me here: https://steverosephd.com/schedule/
Otherwise, check out my video on how to stop gambling without relying on willpower here: https://youtu.be/r_9QyIQGFnA
On the go? Listen to the audio version of the article here:
When considering what drives addiction, there are many misconceptions. Persons with an addiction are not merely lacking will-power. Instead, they are coping with underlying issues through addictive substances or behaviors, causing long-term changes in the brain that make it difficult to escape the cycle of addiction.
As an addiction counselor, this is something I’ve learned both academically and through experience working with clients using addictive substances or engaging in addictive behaviors.
Addiction is driven by neurological changes related to dopamine, the reward center, and the self-regulatory center in the brain. This produces a learned pattern of coping with underlying pain or unmet needs.
Let’s unpack this statement and make sense of what drives addiction in more specific terms.
The Neurological Drives
Although addiction is often called a disease, recent research finds it is more aligned with the brain’s learning mechanisms. Therefore, addiction is a learned behavior, reinforced by the chronic use of a substance or behavior to stimulate pleasure or provide relief from pain.
For example, imagine you regularly carry a high level of stress or anxiety. When getting home from work, you drink a few alcoholic beverages to relax. Over time, this becomes a habit, requiring more alcohol to gain the same effect.
This is an unconsciously learned behavior because your brain discovers that the use of alcohol solves your current problem. The part of your brain learning this short-term adaptive behavior is distinct from the part of your brain in charge of higher reasoning that would rationally know this is not a long-term solution.
Let’s roughly distinguish between two major parts of the brain: the higher brain and the lower brain. This will be a rough neurological sketch, focusing on the main aspects relevant to addiction.
The higher brain is the rational outer layers developed later in evolutionary history. According to research, the most recent area is the pre-frontal cortex, located around the forehead, which is especially developed in humans. This part of the brain regulates emotions, providing impulse control.
The lower parts of the brain are involved in emotions and motivation. The central part involved in motivation is the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA). The VTA produces dopamine, sending most of it to the pleasure center (Nucleus Accumbens), providing a reward. These rewards are triggered when you solve a problem, reinforcing this particular behavior. This is how behavior is learned and how we can adapt to new or challenging situations.
This learning mechanism in the lower parts of the brain is focused on short-term gains rather than the long-term planning associated with the higher brain. In any area of life, motivation is produced through dopamine production in the VTA when you successfully complete a novel task. This is particularly powerful when the reward is unexpected, as in the case of gambling.
Although this process occurs primarily outside of the upper brain’s higher-order reasoning, the upper brain then gets consulted after the fact. The reward experienced in the lower brain gets communicated to the upper brain, telling it to make sense of this situation and plan for future scenarios where this behavior may need to be drawn on. For example, your upper brain will rationalize why it’s a good idea to continue using alcohol to cope with stress, in addition to planning for continued drinking.
This is a rough outline of the major neurological forces driving addiction. Beyond brain circuitry, the content of thoughts is also important, so let’s consider the cognitive realm.
The Cognitive Drives
Simply put, cognition means the realm of thoughts. This activity occurs in the upper brain and is highly intertwined with the language centers. In the case of addiction, this can refer to the beliefs one has about oneself or one’s behavior.
For example, as previously mentioned, you may develop reasons why addictive behavior is necessary or beneficial. Perhaps drinking after work each evening is justified by the thought that it makes you a better parent since you are less stressed.
Addictions are often based on illusory ideas about unmet needs. For example, alcohol may promise relaxation, gambling may promise hope, opiates may promise love, and cocaine may promise self-esteem. These false promises are reinforced by the short-term effects of the substance or behavior, blinding you from the long-term consequences. Even when these consequences are recognized, the substance or behavior disguises itself as the savior.
Beyond the illusions and rationalizations that drive addiction, one’s thoughts about oneself are also an underlying driver. For example, many people are driven to addictive substances or behaviors to cope with the anxiety produced by the belief that they are not good enough.
These underlying thoughts regarding one’s self-worth may go back to childhood. Whether or not there was a major traumatic experience, many people internalize thoughts about themselves that were reinforced by others around them.
Growing up with the constant thought of not being good enough may escalate throughout one’s life, especially while taking on further responsibilities in adulthood. This can result in underlying anxiety regarding one’s ability to handle future situations, affecting one’s self-esteem as well.
This cascade of negative thoughts regarding oneself can lead to substances or behaviors as a form of short-term coping. As previously discussed, this short-term relief triggers the brain’s reward pathways, reinforcing a long-term pattern of habitual behavior.
The Interpersonal Drives
The interpersonal realm consists of one’s quality of social connection. As discussed in my article, The Impact of Isolation on Addiction, I shared Bruce Alexander’s famous Rat Park Study. He highlights how addiction is a disease of isolation, where substances are used to cope with isolation, producing even more isolation.
Researchers discovered how rats tended to overdose in the Rat Park Study when provided drugs while alone in a cage. These overdoses no longer occurred when rats were kept in the company of other rats.
Human beings are social creatures and isolation causes us deep emotional pain. Social isolation is an often overlooked health concern and recent research suggests it is as dangerous as smoking.
In a TED Talk, Robert Waldinger emphasizes the dangers of social isolation, stating:
“Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.”
Physical health issues receive a great deal of attention, while interpersonal health is often neglected. Luckily, social determinates of health have gained traction in the scientific literature. Recent research looked at the impact of loneliness as a risk factor for mortality and found:
“Current evidence indicates that heightened risk for mortality from a lack of social relationships is greater than obesity.”
Coping with isolation through addictive substances or behavior is one-way social isolation can affect one’s physical health. For example, coming home from a stressful day to an empty home may result in coping through consuming alcohol.
Without addressing the underlying isolation and unmet social needs, one’s physical health may deteriorate as the short-term coping results in long-term harm. This can make it increasingly difficult to meet one’s underlying needs in a healthy way in the long-term.
Conclusion
The neurological, cognitive, and interpersonal processes driving addiction are all intertwined. Although it is possible to analyze addiction on multiple levels, addiction is often experienced as a way to gain relief from an underlying source of pain, whether it’s past trauma, anxious thoughts, depressed moods, or the pain of social isolation.
If you want to learn more about the lived experience of addiction, I’ve written more on the topic in the article, What Does Addiction Feel Like?
