Over the years, we’ve come across plenty of ads for sports handicapping services.
Touts, as they’re commonly known, seem to be in a shouting contest as they try to convince you that they have all the inside information on this game and that their pick is a virtual (here comes the dreaded word) lock.
In reality, a lot of these handicapping services are scams.
But not all of them are. In fact, there are a few out there that can help you make a lot of money in the long run.
The key is to find those services that are transparent about their long-term records. Rather than telling you that they are on a 70% run over their last 10 picks (which sounds great, but you could easily flip a coin 10 times and have it land on heads seven times), the good services will show you that they have won 56% of their picks over the past two years. Try flipping a coin a thousand times and see if that coin still lands on heads 70% of the time.
The best handicapping service we’ve come across in this long-term respect is the Vegas Butcher.
Credibility
Vegas Butcher (or Bodio, as he is commonly known) began earning his credibility a couple years ago by posting his picks for free on discussion forums. He tracked his record on a daily basis with remarkable accuracy, along with posting his bets at lines that were more than attainable at the time.
(Many services have been known to manipulate their records by always getting “the best of the number”, like getting +7.5 on a football underdog when every sportsbook is only offering +6.)
The results speak for themselves. Over the latest full seasons in nearly all of the major professional and college sports, the Vegas Butcher hit 59% on more than 1,000 wagers. He won in the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, college basketball, the NBA and the NFL.
His only losing sport during that time has been college football, where he suffered moderate losses over the past two seasons. But rather than trying to spin those numbers, he openly admits NCAA football has been a weakness and is determined to make the necessary adjustments to his college football handicapping.
Views sports betting as investing
There are a few reasons why the Vegas Butcher has been so successful. He relies more on statistics than emotion, understands situational trends and has a strong grasp of complex mathematics.
But the thing we like so much about him is that he views sports betting as investing and is only concerned about the big picture. Every wager is rated the same (one unit) because he’s tremendously confident that he will win more than he loses in the long run. The Vegas Butcher doesn’t resort to sales gimmicks like ‘GAME OF THE YEAR’ or ridiculous 10-unit plays that defy the rules of money management.
If you can beat the spread at a 55% rate over time, you will make good money. And by going 59% over more than 1,000 plays, the Vegas Butcher earned an amazing 135 units during that span.
A subscription to his premium membership — which will give you access to all his picks — is very reasonably priced at $599 per year. To put that in perspective, even if you just bet $50 per game, you would have earned more than 10 times that over the past 12 months following the Vegas Butcher’s plays.
Compare that $599 to the fees other handicapping services are charging, and you’ll figure out what a great deal that is. Most prominent handicapping sites charges significantly more than that for just one season of picks in one sport.
And it’s not just the profitable picks that make a premium subscription to Vegas Butcher valuable. He’ll also share some of his strategies, methods and philosophies on a regular basis, helping you become a more successful sports bettor.
If you’re serious about making money in sports betting, or see sports betting as long-term investing, obtaining a premium membership with Vegas Butcher is something you definitely won’t regret.