Experienced punters always know to shop around for odds, but sometimes it’s worthwhile to shop around using different markets with the same bookmaker.
This week in Super Rugby, at Sportsbet just about every “Pick Your Own Line” market offers different odds to identical selections in the “Line” and “Winning Margin” markets. Most of the time we observed better value with “Pick Your Own Line”, but occasionally the reverse was true. Note that a 13+ selection in a Winning Margin market is identical to -12.5 in a Pick Your Own Line market.
For example, in the Sharks vs. Cheetahs fixture the following odds are available:
Line: Sharks -10.5 at 1.90
Winning Margin: Sharks 13+ at 2.10
However in the Pick Your Own Line Market you can get the following:
Sharks -10.5 at 2.05
Sharks -12.5 at 2.28
In contrast, for the Lions vs. Hurricanes fixtures you can get better value with the Winning Margin market than the Pick Your Own Line market:
Winning Margin: Lions 13+ at 6.00
Pick Your Own Line: Lions -12.5 at 5.50
Small odds differences can have a big impact on long-term betting performance so these anomalies are significant.
So the next time you’re considering the Line, Winning Margin, or any market that has line equivalents, be sure to check out Sportsbet’s Pick Your Own Line market because you might find better value.
The only caveat to the above is you might find there are lower betting limits in one market compared to another, but for small to medium stakes punters this won’t be a factor.