You may have heard that only 13.5% of sports bettors make it out with a profit, with this value declining significantly with the passage of time. And given that you have come online to ask “why is sports betting so hard?” you have already experienced enough losses to question why you persist in the activity. While you may or may not exhibit problematic gambling behavior, we feel that it’s necessary to intercept your search with more valuable insight than what’s being discussed on Reddit and Quora. Further, we unapologetically intend to usurp online search results that are also claimed by sports betting affiliates who are attempting to bait and switch your query by providing the key to the winning formula (for a fee, of course). Without further ado, please review everything we have laid out below and share it with peers who may be wondering the same thing.
Why Sports Betting is so Hard, and Concerning Implications for those Most Vulnerable to Developing Problematic Gambling Behavior
Betting Lines Designed for the House to Win
Prior to an individual becoming fully initiated in sports betting, they carry a misconception that knowledge and skill will give them an upper hand. In removing luck or chance (what makes gambling, gambling) from the equation, one can theoretically become a winning sports bettor. For instance, if the Oklahoma City Thunder have a 52-12 win-loss record on the season, and they are going up against the 15-50 Utah Jazz, and the Thunder boast a 4-1 record in their last five matchups against the Jazz, a bettor has a statistically high chance of betting on the Thunder to win. Use this logic across all NBA matchups along with other meetings in the NCAA, NFL, MLB, and NHL, and you’ve got the winning combination.
But of course, it doesn’t work that way.
While win-or-loss moneyline wagers do exist, the potential payout is too small or negligible for it to be worthwhile for most sports bettors. To entice the latter and hedge their own financial risk, sportsbooks introduce point spreads and correlated parlays. The potential payoff is much higher, but the odds of winning are significantly lower. And when multiple wagers are made across many other matchups on the weekly or monthly sports calendar, the odds of winning when spread betting diminish dramatically. This depreciates supposed expertise attained from gathering historical against-the-spread (ATS) data on given matchups and pushes sports betting deeper into the territory of luck and chance.
Beyond ensuring that the house always wins, spread betting can be dangerous for millions of Americans. Those with thrill-seeking and risk-taking personalities are attracted to these betting lines. A complex situation arises when one learns that sensation seeking of this nature is common among problem gamblers. View more on the role spread betting plays in America’s problem gambling crisis. As it turns out, the primary reason why sports betting is so hard, is also to credit for what makes it so “addictive” to vulnerable individuals.
Online Experiences Designed to Keep You Betting Until You Lose
What makes sports betting feel so hard, beyond the fact that betting lines have been designed to keep you losing, is that the websites and apps that you wager with are designed to keep you playing despite the longterm certainty of failure.
Design features referred to as dark patterns are integrated throughout sports betting platforms. Examples of these features include default wager amounts that are much higher than minimally required, default prompts to add parlay wagers after placing a bet on a single matchup, and quick grab promo pop-ups that arrive on the interface as soon as you attempt to close your web browser. Because these design elements keep you deeply engaged in a dark flow state, time passes by during a gambling session as you make wagers that you didn’t initially intend to make. And because the odds of winning diminish with greater betting frequency and volume, losses are incurred and you’re left with the definitive conclusion that sports betting is indeed so very hard.
View more on how dark patten design increases the risk of developing problematic gambling behavior among vulnerable persons.
Cognitive Distortions
Cognitive distortions are a well studied phenomenon among sports bettors who experience the illusion of control over a given outcome. Those who exhibit problematic sports betting behavior are more likely to have these faulty beliefs, perspectives, and irrational thoughts about their odds of winning. The most commonly referenced cognitive distortion in sports betting occurs when an individual believes that a win or loss on an upcoming wager is less likely or more likely to happen based on the outcome of a previous wager. This is also referred to as the “gambler’s fallacy”. Another cognitive distortion is referred to as the “hot hand fallacy”, which as the moniker infers, is a belief that if you have been on a winning streak, you’re more likely to win the next sports bet as well. Other cognitive distortions include the belief that you have the knowledge and skill to win (which we covered above), and that those “experts picks and predictions” being released by sports media and influencers actually increase your odds of winning. View more on cognitive distortions in gambling.
How does this tie into your query about why sports betting is so hard? When you hold the false belief that you have better odds of success, and the reality of the Gambler’s Ruin formula proves otherwise, your winning feeling comes crashing down and you’re left with the conclusion found in the heading of this very article.
Other Articles You May be Interested In:
Concerned About Your Relationship with Gambling?
CALL +1 (877) 426-4258
OR
Email [email protected]
