Football holds a strong position in the rating of the most beloved sports in Nigeria. Millions of viewers spectate the ups and downs of professional sportsmen, let alone thrilling and breathtaking world tournaments and championships. These stories inspire fans to select football as the main sport for betting, although not everyone manages to beat the sportsbook in this field.
At the same time, various bookmaking companies focus on football as a core sport in their selection. For instance, betting on SportyBet on football is much more profitable in Nigeria compared to some rivals due to the odds and attractive betting markets. In this article, we are going to review the five best betting tips for Nigerian punters and analyze the most common mistakes. Let’s get started!
- Serious Attitude to Sports Betting
A hobby should always bring joy and be entertaining to keep you going without any attempts to give it up. Sports betting might seem like something easy to get successful at. It’s a common misconception, as this activity takes no less, if not much more, effort to stay afloat and to keep the bankroll above the red line.
The first and foremost habit you should develop is a conscious approach backed by knowledge in the field of sports. Random bets barely win and will never secure profitable income in the long run. You should learn as much as you can about sports: their rules, teams, sportsmen, statistics, and records of previous performances.
When you feel like a sports expert, proceed to the study of the bookmaking industry. This implies how bookmakers operate, how they make a profit from punters, what the odds are, and how bookies calculate and set them. These are questions to start with. Besides them, there’s an endless ocean of terms, rules, and strategies you should cover to guarantee comprehensive knowledge of what you are doing.
Main mistakes: betting on random sports you know nothing about; hustling bets; wagering without understanding how the process goes.
- Smart money management
It’s common for punters to stake the whole sum on one game. Sometimes it pays off with a large win, but with no less frequency, this leads to financial ruin. The main problem with this behavior is not a loss of money, but the tempting desire to make up for the previous lost wager and bet once again with a bigger sum. One doesn’t have to be a fortune-teller to predict what outcome sooner or later awaits such a punter with this approach.
You can break out of this vicious circle if you have already got there. Intending to do so, it is necessary to reset to zero and start working again with an adequate starting amount and a competent approach. If you’ve never been there, don’t make the same mistake and listen to the following advice.
The idea of smart money management has been around for a much longer time than sports betting. It comes from the investment field and teaches us how to calculate the acceptable amount of bet for each occasion based on the specific bank you have. Depending on the immersion in this area of knowledge, you will be able to study more advanced strategies, which allow you to combine the probability of the outcome and the acceptable sum. But even the basic ones will help you significantly improve your skills.
Main mistakes: betting the entire bank at once; making up for previous losses; incorrect calculation of the sum for betting in relation to the true chances of a certain outcome.
- Be Unbiased
Love for a certain football team is almost always going to unconsciously affect the decision-making mechanism as a cruel joke. You’re rooting for that one ultra-cool sportsman who’s your favorite forward and might be a role model as a human being. But still, personal preference should not be confused with sports betting, as the saying goes, “Do not mix business with pleasure.”
When you are preparing to place a bet, it’s crucial to abstract from personal views and rely primarily on statistical data and analytics. To bring yourself back to reality, examine the track records of bets on your favorite team and the team you placed them on using a statistical approach. The difference speaks for itself.
Main mistakes: betting on the beloved team solely based on personal preferences; rating a team based only on one player only; underestimating true chances due to your favorite team’s participation.
- Take Advantage of All Available Bookmakers
This advice is as old as the world. Learn about all the available bookmakers on the market and figure out where it would be most profitable for you to place bets. Nowadays, you get to see up to 20-30 different bookies in one country, and all of them are offering the same set of services to some extent. Odds are one of the key differences between bookmaking companies when you are trying to select one for yourself.
An advanced approach to sports betting here would be to pick not one, but a couple of trustworthy bookies with roughly the same odds. They can vary depending on the specific match and the analysis made by the staff. You can have one account with each company, and place a bet where it would be the most profitable right here, right now. Keep in mind that nobody’s restricted to using solely one platform.
Main mistakes: using only one bookmaker on a daily basis; failing to research odds in the local market; choosing a bookie solely on design and popularity.
- Keep Track of Your Betting History
This wise tip can apply to various fields of your interest. It’s impossible to predict the correct outcome of all the bets you are going to place. Deal with it. Matches will always be affected by a number of factors that cannot be foreseen even by the best of experts, but at the same time, you will be constantly gaining experience, which will allow you to adjust your approach and form the betting style that will lead you to success.
The habit of keeping an eye on your previous records will come in handy if you’d like to analyze how much you lose or gain each week or month. Even if your bets are unprofitable, you’ll be able to calculate to what degree. Furthermore, the lack of clear accounting makes it impossible to calculate the effectiveness of a particular strategy and to distinguish between good and bad predictions.
Main mistakes: not changing betting style; ignoring bad betting experience; failing to calculate the income and losses.
Conclusion
Never forget that practically every punter is in the red: some out of choice, others due to ignorance, and some because they are unable to manage their seething emotions. And only a tiny fraction of players actually make money from betting—those who prioritize analysis and personal growth over quick wins. Hopefully, with the aid of tips we’ve gathered for you, the pitfalls of wagering won’t catch you off guard, and you will be prepared for this hard, but quite entertaining journey.
