The glory of sports betting is that no-one is entirely certain of how the game at hand will finish.

Sure, there’ll be a favoured side or player, but as it’s humans against humans, or sometimes animals, there’s always a chance that even the most-favoured side could crumble at the hands of a far-out underdog.

Despite this fact of sports betting, bookies still give away free bets, and experts still give their sure bet tips.

Whether it’s free or professional betting tips, or just some newly available free betting, we’re going to examine what are often deemed to be the best bets, as well as the people who have developed a way of finding sure bets.

 

How To Keep Free Bets Free

The most common free bets in circulation are the welcome offers from many online bookmakers.

Outside of these, bettors can often be rewarded with free bets for placing a certain value of wagers through a set period of time or betting a certain amount on a specific event.

However, some bookmakers lock the potential free offer winnings behind wagering requirements or only deliver the winnings in the form of more free bets. 

So, the majority of free bets do have an initial cost in the form of a real-money bet to trigger them. If this real-money wager wins, the reward is free.

But, if that initial bet loses, the reward is no longer an entirely free bet, with the resulting betting coming at that cost. But, when the offer value amounts to more than the initial outlay, many can still reason that much of the wagering is free.

If you manage to win from a free bet, the best tip that you can follow is to withdraw at least the amount that you initially paid in to get the offer. So, if you pay £10 to get £30 of free bets and one of those wins £15, withdraw £10 to break even or more to make a profit.

Then, anything bet and won from the offer winnings is effectively further zero-cost money to use, with the more that you withdraw each time adding to the profit made.

 

Do 'Sure Bets' Exist?

For something to truly be classed as a sure bet, the outcome has to be a 100 per cent certainty.

So, if this were to exist, bookies likely wouldn’t offer odds on the outcome as there wouldn’t be any point in doing so. However, that doesn’t mean that certain outcomes aren't much more likely to happen than others within each sport.

For example, by way of ice hockey betting tips, 19 players averaged over one point per game, including Connor McDavid, Claude Giroux, and Nikita Kucherov, who all scored 100 points or more through 82 games.

So, with these players showing the quality to average over a point per game, some of the best bets in ice hockey become these players to score a point in each game.

But, despite his huge outlay of 108 points in 82 games, McDavid still went without a point in 24 games, showing that even the biggest point scorer isn’t necessarily a surety in each game.

Even with the Canadian wunderkind in their lines, Edmonton are at long odds of 7/1 to win the Pacific Division, behind the 13/5 San Jose Sharks.

A similar case can be seen when examining horse racing betting tips. It’s quite a regular occurrence for punters to bet on the favourite or the horse that has come in significantly in the odds, but it’s somewhat abnormal for a favourite to win.

It was found that over five years of racing, only 32.3 per cent of flat races were won by the favourite while jump races saw 35.5 per cent of their favourites come in first.

This apparent lack of the favourite winning races has led to a slew of horse racing betting tips that back horses that aren’t favoured by the bookies.

As followers of the jump season know, just because Tiger Roll is favoured right now at 20/1 to win the 2019 Grand National, that doesn't count out Bellshill at 25/1 or even Ucello Conti at 33/1.

With so many other best bet suggestions, such as with football betting tips, tennis betting tips, cricket betting tips, and motorsport betting tips, there is always a chance that the favourites will not come out on top.

On the flip side, when professional or free betting tips reveal something in the statistics which imply an edge, that edge may not always be enough.

Looking again at horse racing, there are many variables to consider which influence a horse and the upcoming race but just because the statistics imply that all is in favour of that particular horse, it doesn’t mean that it will win.

Everything looks to be going right for Stradivarius to win the Ascot Gold Cup next year, with odds of 5/2, but a horse like Kew Gardens at 6/1 could usurp them if the conditions suit them better.

But, as sure bets are known to be somewhat of a myth, it is in these statistics and factoids that bettors find reasons to back a certain horse, and these can easily be found without the help of the suggestions of tipsters.

 

Do Free/Paid For Professional Tips Work?

One would assume that professional betting tips have a greater chance of coming through compared to free betting tips.

But, while those deemed to be professionals likely have a lot of experience in the field of betting and the sport at hand, they have just as much of a chance of losing out to a surprising result as the makers of free tips.

However, some free betting tipsters on social media aren’t working to help their fellow bettors or to perhaps display their knowledge of the betting world for advancement or placement in the profession.

Instead, they get people to bet via their Facebook and Twitter accounts and make an earning when the punter loses. So, there can be some misdirection to be careful of when using free services from unknown sources.

Professional betting tips can often be locked behind a monthly paywall or subscription email chain, but sometimes the worlds of professional and free betting tips cross over as a part of an online bookmaker’s service.

Because the online gambling industry is so competitive, bookies provide a blog section to help their bettors get all of the information that they need before placing a bet.

This way, punters can make use of the tips, or they can utilise key information to establish their own method of finding their favourite in the match.

But, of course, some bettors become so successful that they can offer some professional betting tips to those who wish to pay.

 

Professional Bettors Have Their Own Systems

One of the most famous professional sports bettors in the UK is Tony Bloom, chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion, who are at 9/1 to get relegated this season.

Due to his affiliation with the club, his football betting tips do not include anything to do with the Seagulls, but his betting consultancy, Starlizard, has proven to be rather successful.

Using Bloom’s complex statistical models, Starlizard creates its own odds, which are then sold to clients as betting advice slips.

But, in recent times, Starlizard has been forced to look for finer margins as online bookmakers have honed in on their statistical models to offer odds that far better reflect the outlook of the game at hand.

Another famed professional bettor is Dirk Paulsen, who manages to sustain himself and his family on his football betting.

He claims that gut feelings are always ignored when it comes to making his football betting tips and that all he does is follow his own created statistics, which even include a team’s luck factor.

Both of these professional gamblers established systems, statistical models, and methods of analysis to apply to their sports betting.

While these people have dedicated a lot of time to establishing their systems and then tweaking them so that they can stay ahead in the world of betting, they will rarely reveal their secrets for finding the best bets, so it’s down to punters to sign up for their programmes or come up with their own systems.

 

So Are There 'Best Bets' Lurking Around?

Whether it’s the likelihood of an event occurring or the size of the returns available in the odds, there will always be options that are retrospectively seen as the best bets once a match or competition has concluded.

The difficulty is in finding these best bets before the games begin. While professional betting tips and free betting tips can help, and can be used when placing free bets as a kind of ‘risk-free’ way of testing the tipster’s validity, there are no sure bets in the world of gambling.

The best thing to do is look into all of the key statistics, use your knowledge of the sport, see what the experts say to get some inside information on the event at hand, and then place your bet.

The 888sport blog, based at 888 Towers in the heart of London, employs an army of betting and tipping experts for your daily punting pleasure, as well as an irreverent, and occasionally opinionated, look at the absolute madness that is the world of sport.