Sports betting is an ever popular activity enjoyed by both amateur thrill seekers and career bettors alike. For those who have the patience and are willing to put in the research, betting of this kind can lead to significant profits that can supplement a regular income, or become a main source of income in itself. Discipline is required to be successful in sports betting. Those who make it also do so with inside knowledge of the industry that only the wise guys can provide.

The people that come in to sports betting expecting to win every time, or even most of the time are the ones who don't succeed. In betting it's not necessary to maintain a 100%, 80%, or even 60% winning average. In fact, to be successful a sports bettor only needs to win 53% of all their bets.

A common mistake that amateurs make when entering sports betting is that they often try to find a €system' that they can exploit to win more often. Every bettor who even thinks about entering sports betting should first recognize that there is no €system'. Sports betting is based on forever changing variables. Unlike controlled games of chance there are no fixed odds, and there are no complex equations that can be solved to beat the house. Those who are successful understand that the only system is based upon understanding their game. They also know how to manage their money, and have access to insider information that can give them a better chance against the odds and the bookies.

Money management is as important in sports betting as it is within the stock market. Bettors can learn a lot from how investors look after their finances. Three key areas in both betting and investment are risk, returns, and reinvestment. Just as an investor must take care to analyze risk and invest in the correct markets, a sports bettor needs to do the same to maximize their chances of winning. Returns can be calculated based on the risk, and reinvestment is critical to staying in the game. A smart bettor would use their returns to reinvest wisely. Ignoring money management in sports betting could serve to eventually eliminate a bettor's kitty and prevent them from placing new bets.

Even when a bettor is managing their money well and keeping their winning ratio up there's one more element that the most successful bettors need. They need inside industry knowledge which tells them where the smart bets are. This helps them to overcome or ignore the odds in favor of real information that isn't set by the bookies. This kind of information can only come from the wise guys.

The wise guys are those within the industry who know all of the behind the scenes action within a sport. They know which players aren't at their peak, who's currently injured, or even who's going through a divorce that could impact on their performance. Sports are a very human competition, odds can only tell a bettor so much and don't predict outcomes. The wise guy information gives punters a better understanding of how a game might play out, allowing them to make smarter bets with less risk.

So a successful bettor knows the winning ratio that they need to maintain, they manage their finances carefully, and they get the information that makes betting safer, without blindly trying to exploit a system that isn't there.

There's no doubt that a bettor ignorant to this information could be successful for a time. They might even make some significant winnings, but those winnings wouldn't be sustainable. Discipline and knowledge of how to bet safely is what separates the successful bettors from the rest. By sticking to the simple policies bettors can enjoy a long and successful betting career that is not only profitable, but sustainable too.