What is Smart Money?

One term you will hear a lot in the sports betting world is “smart money.”  What is smart money, and why is it something you should know about?  Smart money refers to the money bet by “sharp” bettors, also simply called “sharps.”  Sharps are professional sports bettors—what you want to become someday if you are ambitious.  Sports bettors who wager for a living do much more comprehensive research than casual bettors.  They may have access to better knowledge.  Since they have developed real expertise, you can basically assume that they are more likely to win than an average member of the public.  This is why smart money is often contrasted with public money.

What is the most important thing for you to know about smart money?  It is what online betting sites look at when they decide on the odds they will set.  They look at public money too, but not with nearly as much interest.  After all, the public is expected to lose.  The sharps on the other hand are expected to win most of the time.  Otherwise they would not be able to make a reliable income through betting.  That is why betting sites fixate on what the sharps are doing at any given time.

Another reason you should care about smart money is the fact that you too can use it to make betting decisions.  If you can identify the sharps and which way they are betting, you may be able to grow your account by mimicking their choices.  Copy betting isn’t really a great way to build a long-term reliable income, but it can be helpful for short-term profit or as a learning tool. 

There are a couple of pitfalls that go with following the smart money.  The first is that you may have a hard time identifying a sharp from a bettor who simply thinks he is a sharp.  The other drawback is that you never know when the sharps will make mistakes.  No one wins 100% of the time, and everyone goes through losing streaks.  You are essentially taking it on faith that the bets you are copying are going to be successful. 

Smart money can be helpful to you as a bettor, but it is important not to rely on it too much or for too long.  Work on building your own betting strategies if you want to become successful over the long term.  This is how you go from copying sharps to becoming a sharp yourself!