Sports Betting Tips: Middling
For observant sports bettors, the bookmaker may seem to have a pretty good deal. He covers bets on both sides of a sporting event, pays the winners with the losers’ money and collects the vig. Some players have decided to turn the tables on the bookmakers and make a similar arrangement where they come out with the extra money. This process is called straddling or middling.
How Straddling or Middling Works in Sports Betting
The process of middling depends on the idea that sports betting lines move from day-to-day and may change from bookmaker to bookmaker. It works as follows. Let’s say you find a bookmaker or casino gambling website where Team A is a 12-point favorite to beat Team B. Your goal is to find another bookmaker or website where Team A is a 10-point favorite, either because the line has moved or because you are working with a different site. You bet $100 on Team B as a 12-point underdog. Then you bet $100 on Team A as a 10-point favorite.
Successful Middling in Sports Betting
If Team A wins by more than 12 or less than 10, you essentially break even. You lose $105 on one of your bets and win $100 on the other, so the whole transaction costs you only $5. However, if Team A wins by 11, you win $100 betting on Team B +12 and $100 betting on Team A -10. You have now won $200 while only risking $5. Sometimes you can also get some sort of free casino bonus for signing up with a gambling/sports betting site, which can reduce the house edge even more.
Problems with Middling in Sports Betting
One problem is that it is not always easy to find lines that move in the way that you need. If you bet on Team B as a 12-point underdog and the line moves so that Team A is a 14-point favorite, you have a problem. If you knew which way the line would move, you could have bet on Team A at +12 and then taken Team B at -14, but it is not always possible to know this. It also may take some time before the score falls exactly where you need it, and the amounts you lose while waiting may add up. Still, the low risk/high reward nature of middling makes it appealing for many sports bettors.
