Why have bookmakers similar odds?

The difference between the odds of all bookmakers worldwide is normally no higher than 5%. But why? The answer about odds similarity breaks down to sure bets. The definition of a sure bet is

“The combination of odds where your gain is mathematically guaranteed”

You indeed have to spread your stakes between home win, draw and away win in the correct ratio since it won’t really help you to bet on one outcome only.

Can you make money with sure bets?

Things are however not as simple. From my experience are sure bets a risky business. You might even end up losing money. All the major bookmakers have software and crawlers checking for sure bets. They compare the odds of the competitors and once a sure bet occurs the red light goes off.

“All the major bookmakers have software and crawlers checking for sure bets”

For a punter this means a limited amount of time to react. Let’s say the sure bet shows the combination of odds by 3 different bookies – this is the case most of the time. By the time you create an account, get verified, make a deposit and bet, passes a lots of time. In the UK it is usually no less than 10 minutes, but might even take hours. This leaves enough time for the bookie to spot the sure bet and change the odds accordingly. In recent times is a sure bet something I am not aiming for. I am using sports betting strategies based on a statistical model and free football predictions as those show great betting results.