On the face of it only betting with one sportsbook seems to make sense. Your money is all in that sportsbook’s wallet in addition to you being very familiar with the layout to find markets and place bets.
But if you're in a legal betting state, the surest way to improve your profitability as a bettor (even if you placed the exact same bets as you would have with one book) is by using multiple sportsbooks.
Read on to find out why.
TLet’s start with single bets:
Let’s say you’ve researched all of the available data and are now set on betting Jahmyr Gibbs to score the first touchdown against the Chiefs.
Now you’re looking to get the best returns on your bet and you needn’t worry about digging through every book to do that – you can use our odds comparison tool to fid the best odds on every selection in seconds.
In this example for the Chiefs @ Lions Thursday night game, you can get Gibbs at +700 at the low end or +1500 at the high end. Your returns off a $10 wager would return $70 at +700 and $150 at +1500 - that’s a huge difference of $80 if you took that bet at the best price.
We’ve all had bets that have lost on both sides of the spread by just 0.5 points.
For markets where a line is set by individual sportsbooks, such as moneyline, spread and total you can avoid that scenario a lot more often and be a more profitable bettor simply by picking the best lines.
Taking the best lines could even be the difference between you winning or losing that Sunday afternoon +10000 parlay.
Again, don't worry about visiting every book to find the best line — you can use our odds comparison tool to find the best line for every game in seconds.
A very important part of any sports bettors’ toolkit is parlay betting for those bigger returns.
The number of combinations in your bet will dictate just how much those returns can differ across sportsbooks and in some cases the $ difference can be massive!
Example:
The table below brings to life the odds comparison you can access by using oddschecker and the difference in returns you could win from a three-way anytime touchdown scorer parlay featuring Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Tony Pollard and Darren Waller.
Betting those same combinations at best odds of +2211 would net you $94.45 more off a $10 stake than at worst odds of +1268.
Anytime Touchdown Scorer Parlay | Best Odds | Worst Odds |
---|---|---|
Ja'Marr Chase | +105 | -140 |
Justin Jefferson | +105 | -120 |
Tony Pollard | -120 | -135 |
Darren Waller | +200 | +135 |
Parlay Odds | +2211 | +1268 |
Parlay Returns | +$221.18 | $126.73 |
There are a number of bonuses available from sportsbooks for new customers in every state, particularly those with at least four sportsbooks. That number is increasing all the time and the most currently are New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana and Colorado.
In New Jersey especially you can claim upwards of $1000 in bonuses just by signing up to multiple books and placing your first bet.
There are a number of different promos available across all legal states which include:
Paid as cash: This is where, when you meet the qualifying requirements (generally a first deposit and bet amount) you will receive withdrawable cash in your account.
Bonuses/Free Bets: Here you will receive free bet amounts in your account which you can bet with. If the bet(s) wins you’ll be able to withdraw the winnings.
Deposit Match: The sportsbook in question will match your first deposit value in free bets up to a certain amount. An example would be if FanDuel were offering a $200 deposit match you would receive 100% of the value of your deposit in free bets up to $200. Minimum deposit terms are usually $10.
You can view offer like these across multiple sportbooks on our dedicated free bets page.
Never assume that all sportsbooks treat the same situations equally when settling bets.
For example, if you’ve placed a bet on a player to win a tennis match and they retire during that match, some bookies will void the bet with your stake being returned to you whereas others will settle that bet as a loser.
So it pays to be aware which book you are using to bet on different sports and could make a material difference to your profitability.