Does anyone know if someone could make a living betting on horse racing?

Question

If so how would I go about geting started? I know how to read a form and the different wagers. Not a expert but not a beginner either.

Answer 1

I don't think you can actually make a living at it.  You might make some small profits occassionally.  It's hard to stay ahead in horse betting.  And I really don't think it's possible to make enough money to make "a living."  Betting should be more of a recreational activity... and you shouldn't bet more than you can lose.  Trying to make a living off of it sounds like it's more of a quick road to disaster... or to homelessness at least.

That said, if you're good at picking a horse, you can make a little money.  I watch TVG a lot and manage to pick the top horses quite often.  I'm only a student so I don't have a lot of money so I've only ever placed one bet, but I did make a profit that day.  If you're good at picking the top horses, you should be able to make a little money by ensuring that you always have a cushion bet...  for example, you could do an exotic and do a show bet on a horse you're sure will run well.  That way if your exotic wins, then you win a lot of money, but if it doesn't, you still have a good chance that your show bet will come in... and if you've put enough money on that show bet, it should pay off your exotic and maybe leave you with a little profit.  You could do the same thing by putting a few dollars on the horse to win and place and then put a bigger bet on that horse to show... so the show bet will pay off the other two if they don't happen, but if the horse wins, you get money back for your win, place, and show bets!

Horse racing really is unpredictible though.  Unless you're really lucky, you're bound to have periods where you lose more than you're winning.  So you really shouldn't depend on your bets as your living.

Answer 2

no

what if you lose the bet

Answer 3

probably best way is identifying when a favourite is going to lose and laying on sites like betfair. good profits but high risk! trick is finding right ones to lay. also speed is essential to lay at correct prices

Answer 4

Sure, but you have to be really good.

Track your bets.  You need a 10% edge, meaning you get $1.10 back for every $1.00 you bet.  That would make you one of the better handicappers around (difficult but not impossible).

If you have that big an edge, then if you bet $500,000 annually, then you could make $50,000 for the year.  So you'd have to bet roughly $1,500 a day every day.  You'd also have to have enough of a bankroll to endure a losing streak.  

With exotics, you need an even bigger bank, because extended losing streaks happen more often.

That's a lot of money to move through the windows each day.  With the amount of study needed to come up with you plays each day, you'd probably be better off with a job, which includes benefits like retirement and insurance.

Answer 5

you can, but you can't wager every-day!!!!!

Answer 6

It takes a lot of studying, patience and time to become a professional handicapper.   There are lots of people who do it, but most had other careers to help them jump start their career.

I would venture to say a person who makes their living  betting horses is involved in it a minimum of about 16 hours a day.    You have charts to study, PP's to handicap , races to watch and re-watch and then going back over what races you did not get to see where you went wrong in your pick.

You need to have a sizable bankroll so that when you are not on a winning cycle, you can maintain your self.

The professional handicapper does not make bets every day, they may not even make a bet a week, but they still do the work and time waiting for the bet.  then they pounce on it with big bucks.   That is why there are so many weekenders or leisure players.. not everyone has the patience to watch race after race, handicap hours of cards  with out placing a bet, but the professional knows his patience and study will pay off.

I suggest starting a library of some great handicapping books, and see how some of the big boys are doing it.

Answer 7

Betting is a mugs games - however their are plenty of people who make money and only bet when the odds are in their favour.  

At the end of the day a gamble is a gamble, even if you do all the research and make the most scientific choice their is always the chance that something might happen.  For example a bird distract a horse and it crashes into the fence, did you accoutn for that?

One of the ways that I have seen people make money is by developing a bot to place bets depending on the current situation and if thing start going wrong then your bot will try and minimise your loses but this usually requires huge amounts of money to try and minimise this loss.

The only other way that I know you can make money is if you have inside information - like a horse that is favorote is feeling ill 10 minutes before a race then you can lay it off.

The people who make money are the ones who don't bet!

BTW - the next biggest betting company will be www.betdirty.com , keep an eye on it since it deals with how punters can create an edge for themselves to always make money.  Thats why it is always better to bet dirty if you wanna make some serious money!

Answer 8

Of course  !!!    but dont even bother your too inexperienced-

it takes a lot of trial and error and losing a packet.

You need to find slight edges all the time, and build up

oh so slowly-

Many things I could say - but the bookies are very smart thats why they are ahead of the game usually.

Its extremely hard work building up a bank and keeping a careful level head.

I built up a relatively small bank- when I went to get some cash from the account in a LBO  they didnt know what to do no-one ever takes money from them usually -and I nearly got thrown out !

Bookies dont lose !   usually