Arbitrage scanners for sports betting

How arbitrage betting works

Two bookmakers price the same match. They do not always agree. Sometimes the difference is big enough that you can bet on both outcomes and still win money.

That is arbitrage betting. You will also see it called arbing, sure betting or surebets. One such gap is called an arb.

Here is an example. Bookmaker A prices the home win at 2.06. Bookmaker B prices the away win at 2.00. You split 100 between them: 49.26 on the first price and 50.74 on the second.

If the home team wins, 49.26 at 2.06 returns 101.48. If the away team wins, 50.74 at 2.00 returns 101.48. You get 101.48 back from 100 either way. The profit is 1.48, and the score does not change it.

You do not have to guess which team is better.

Why you need arbitrage betting software

Gaps like this are small and they do not last long.

Most arbs pay 1 to 2.5 percent. To find one by hand, you check the same market at ten bookmakers and then calculate the two stakes. A prematch gap lasts a few minutes, so you can catch one this way. The problem is repeating it. At 1.5 percent per bet, you need a lot of bets.

An arbitrage scanner runs that check all the time. It watches hundreds of bookmakers and finds the moment when two prices stop matching. The stakes are already calculated for you. Our betting calculators do the same work for one bet.

The scanner does not place the bet. You open both bookmakers and place the money yourself, quickly.

Surebets, value bets and middles

These feeds show three kinds of finds. The words matter when you compare products.

• Surebets cover every outcome. You get the same profit whatever the result is.

• Value bets are single prices that look too high. Nothing covers them, so you can lose the bet.

• Middles can win on both sides at the same time. They appear on totals and handicaps. A middle can also miss, and then you lose a small amount.

Some services sell all three in one subscription. Others charge for them separately, or give middles only to the most expensive plan.

Is arbitrage betting legal

In most countries, yes. Betting on two outcomes at two companies breaks no law.

The rules that matter belong to the bookmaker. Almost every bookmaker can limit or close an account that shows this pattern. The strategy is legal, and nearly every bookmaker forbids it.

Where arbitrage betting goes wrong

The calculation always works. Four other things can still cost you money.

• Accounts get limited. This happens to most people who do this. Limits arrive after a few weeks or months, and a limited account cannot accept the stakes this strategy needs.

• Prices move. You place one bet, switch to the other site, and the second price is gone. Now you have one normal open bet.

• Bets get cancelled. Very large arbs usually come from bookmaker mistakes, and bookmakers cancel their mistakes.

• Your money is locked. Both bets stay open until the event finishes. To earn 2 percent at a time, you need a lot of money in your accounts.

Free surebet scanners and paid subscriptions

Free feeds exist. They show you the interface and the filters. They do not show you the feed you would pay for.

The limits are there on purpose. You see the lower part of the range, and a counter tells you how many better finds are hidden. Some plans delay the results. Some close the surebet column and leave the value bets open.

Prices start at a few euro for one day and reach several hundred a month for live scanning. Live is much more expensive than prematch at every service, because live gaps close in seconds.

Some services sell single days. That is the cheap way to test a scanner: one busy evening with the real feed. Where the smallest option is a month, you get a trial instead, so read the cancellation rules on the first day.

Five checks before you pay for arbitrage software

The price is only one of five things to check.

• The bookmaker list. A list of several hundred bookmakers helps nobody who can open accounts at eight of them. Compare their list with the bookmakers that accept players in your country.

• Prematch or live. A prematch gap lasts minutes. A live gap lasts seconds. Beginners who pay for live often miss those bets and lose the difference in price.

• Filters. Satisfied users repeat one thing: the feed is unusable until you set the filters up. A service with few filter options is worth less to you.

• Refunds and pauses. Read these rules before you pay. They differ between services much more than the prices do. Some services charge your used hours at a higher rate than the plan you bought. Others give no refunds at all.

• The free plan. It answers your questions about the interface. Questions about the paid feed need a short paid test.

Surebet scanners we tested

Both reviews come from time inside the product: BetBurger on its free plan, RebelBetting on the fourteen day trial. Neither service was tested on a paid plan, and each review says this at the top. Prices and terms are checked against the company pages.

BetBurger has the longer bookmaker list and is the only one of the two with a live feed. Surebets, value bets and middles come inside one plan. Prematch and live are separate subscriptions, and live costs several times more, so the full package is a third plan and the most expensive one. The free plan never expires and needs no card, but it keeps the surebet feed closed. Refunds are possible, and the deductions are the part to read before you pay.

RebelBetting works with value betting more than with pure arbitrage, and it covers prematch only. The fourteen day trial needs no card. Two things separate the plans: the profit percentage you are allowed to see, and the features — the number of custom filters, middles, and access to sharp bookmakers and exchanges for value betting. The terms give no refunds at all. The profit guarantee has conditions you should read first.