My Football Facts ⇒ Articles
By Jonathan Lewis | 21st Mar 2023
Punters always look for an edge in order to improve their chances of getting a winning bet and they are often searching for such valuable information, that can bring them ahead of sportsbooks, in social media. In fact today, without a doubt, social media is probably the main source of information for all people when it comes to searching for anything and of course for bettors when it comes to searching for wagering tips.
Online betting in every part of the world, including online betting in Portugal, is now being fueled by a growing number of bettors who are wagering on the basis of their ‘acquired’ edge through info, data and knowledge accumulated via the social media platforms.
And that’s all good, because after all people love social media and being able to distill information from posts, comments, broadcasting news or the general content being communicated, feels much like hitting gold!
Relying on social media for betting edge can be risky
But relying too much on social media with the hope of becoming a more competent, intelligent or skilled bettor can be risky, as you might end up leveraging the wrong or misleading information that will only lead you to lose your money.
And when we say misleading, we don’t necessarily mean information coming from non-secure or unverified sources and accounts. Such info can come from valid, formal and official sources like a basketball team, a federation, a league or a football club itself, for example, that uses social media to connect to fans.
Prior to kicking off a game against the New York Jets last November, the Chicago Bears’ PR team used twitter to announce that quarterback Trevor Siemian had just been injured and so another player would start the game. Instantly, bettors who happened to read this tweet, went on to wager on the Jets’ covering the points spread. At the beginning of the game, to everyone’s surprise Siemian was in his position and played without any problems.
The game played out to the win of the Jets and everything went as it was expected, prior to the tweet. And although nothing really changed as far as the outcome was concerned and betting wise, most punters felt that they were exposed to misleading information that “urged” them to go over one side of betting.
Punters don’t double check social media info
Things like that are not uncommon today. Bettors are exposed to millions of messages, content and information on social media and despite the benefits that are attached to such communication platforms, the risks remain high.
On the one hand, punters get to have instant, real-time and multi-source information which in some cases proves valuable in betting.
But on the other hand, these same benefits turn out to be the main causes of risks as well. Searching to get an edge, bettors will try to act upon some new piece of info on the social media, as quickly as possible in their effort to get ahead of any changing prices by sportsbooks. And in doing so, they will not even try to double check or verify this information.
Then, misleading messages or unchecked and unverified ‘inside’ info can be really bad for punters, who falsely believe that they have already obtained an advantage over bookies and so they throw a lot of their money on backing the side of the bet they believe to have an edge for. And the rest needs no further analysis… they risk losing their money.
A more careful approach on getting an edge in betting
It’s not all ‘if you wanna make an omelet you, gotta break some eggs’. Social media platforms can be a good source of information and a good way to get a betting edge, when used more carefully, more wisely and of course more conservatively.
Following closely the right social media accounts, being part of online betting communities or specific sports’ communities and getting yourself exposed to the right users’ posts and content, can prove valuable under the right circumstances.
Of course it is not easy to distinguish which bit of info has a real betting value and everybody should realize that nothing is for sure when it comes to betting.
But the truth is that the more you get to train yourself on telling the difference over what is critical and what is not, as well as the more you get to read and understand how sports work, how betting works and how greater knowledge can give you an advantage over bookmakers, the more you get to realize when you actually have an edge that can put you at the winning side of the bet.