For many punters, sports betting has grown to be their dominant source of income and their basic, full-time occupation, at least for the short run. With the advent and dominance of the internet in our daily lives, betting has become easier, quicker, more convenient and accessible online, so that it only requires having a mobile device or a desktop and being an enthused and motivated bettor. In fact, online sports betting in the UK is getting bigger and bigger as online bookmakers are growing in number and in sales volume and value and the number of punters is constantly increasing.
But is sports betting more of a hobby or it can be for living as well? While there are some people who rely on betting to earn their living for some period of time or over a specific time-frame, is it viable to think of betting as a full-time job, with prospects of career and as a long-term solution to one’s personal or household income?
While such questions were unthinkable some years ago, when betting was not legal in many parts of the world and when it was considered to be a practice and an action that was to be hidden by others, today it is a viable question and often a realistic one. With betting becoming legal, leagues and tournaments being directly associated with it and most importantly becoming a hot topic of discussion in social media and an issue of interest in newspapers and articles, the option to treat betting as a full-time job is not so distant anymore! Betting is slowly disseminating into our societies and is becoming legitimized as an income generating practice.
Full-time job or hobby?
Well, there are equally strong arguments for both perspectives: sports betting is certainly a hobby, but it can be a full-time job as well, under certain circumstances and given specific conditions.
Who would not be happy to be able to make money for living out of his hobby? It is definitely nice to have your hobby bring in income, but to what extent is this sustainable? How much can you rely on sports betting?
There is no simple or straightforward answer. On the one hand, if you develop solid betting skills, read a lot, understand sports’ dynamics and also if you are able to find value bets not on a sporadic or occasional basis, but on a more continuous and permanent basis, then you probably have what it takes to start a betting career and consider becoming a full-time sports bettor. But this is only the beginning and it only means that you have the required background for being a professional punter. So, there is more to this than being just prepared.
What it takes to be a full-time, professional bettor
To be able to make a living from sports betting, you need to be determined, committed, patient, tolerant and above all you need to have a strategy in place. You should be ready to absorb profits but at the same time be ready to handle losses. Just winning over a period of time does not mean that you will manage to earn your income from betting in the long run. Betting profits are seldom regular, on-going and continuous, so you need to have a long-term vision and be more macro-oriented if you are serious about making sports betting your full-time job. Moreover, you need to be fully engaged in sports betting if it is going to be your main occupation. Sporadic and unsystematic bets will most likely be insufficient and ineffective for bringing sustainable income. So, it requires punters to be fully committed to what they are doing, to be able to leverage the gains from sports betting.
On the other hand, even if someone does what is theoretically required to become a professional sports bettor, it still does not necessarily mean that he will be able to earn a living from betting. Profits from betting are not constant and they can fluctuate, depending both on the ability of the sports bettor to generate returns but also on more complex factors that get in the way, including bookmakers’ own profit-making ability and leverage. Furthermore, making sports betting your full-time job means that you need to secure an income at least in the beginning and always have a back-up plan to support your earnings when things don’t go as you expect them to. So, if you have to have a back up plan, what exactly makes sports betting a full-time job? If you need to have other sources of income, then it is not that you will be entirely committed and focused on betting. So, sports betting can’t be claimed as a full-time job in that sense.
Clearly, there is no straightforward answer to the question whether sports betting can be a full-time job or not. There are certain pros and cons which need to be weighed, evaluated and assessed by punters prior to making their decisions over committing or not to a fully-fledged income-generating practice (or hobby)!
