James has worked for the jockey club and has 20 years sports betting experience he utilises his skills in our tipster competitions and writes sports betting content.
I still enjoy a football bet from time to time and perhaps it is just because my horse racing betting has become more and more profitable in recent years but is it just me or is there too much luck involved in deciding what the winning bets are in football?
Over the past few years, I've found it harder and harder to make a profit from betting on football even when using the best bookmakers for football.
I'd like to know if other people have also found this or whether I just haven't moved with the times?
When betting on football I mostly stick with 1x2 betting or betting on low scores, either in the correct score betting or under/overs markets.
An early sending-off or bad refereeing decision can completely ruin the latter bets as games are always going to become more open once a man is sent off or a dodgy penalty is awarded.
Likewise, poor refereeing can have a huge impact on 1x2 betting, an incorrect penalty decision can turn a winning bet into a losing bet. I realise that it can also turn a losing bet into a winning bet but I don't remember that happening too often to me!
There is also the fact that teams will regularly completely fail to turn up to the match. Take Spurs last week at home to Fulham. I'm a Spurs fan and went to the match and whilst I didn't have a bet, I'm sure many did. It was as bad and lacklustre a Spurs performance as I've seen in years and I'm sure a 1-0 Fulham win was a result that pleased the bookies more than the punters.
You could argue that Spurs have thrown in a few shockers at home against teams they are expected to beat in recent years but they've nearly always been against teams who have parked the bus. Fulham were also poor in the match but they didn't come to defend and won the game fair and square.
If you played that game again this weekend I'm pretty sure Spurs would turn up and win comfortably so was it luck that meant that Fulham left with three points and the majority of punters were left penniless?
I still bet on football on occasions but as a weekly betting medium to serious stakes it no longer really appeals to me.
Footy Tips
All sports are hostage to some sort of fortune, some would argue that horse racing involves even more luck but I'd argue that often the seemingly unlucky horses wouldn't have won anyway. I think that there are so many variables in football that it is becoming harder and harder to make money from.
Just take the lack of goal-line technology in football, I'm sure horse racing punters would be pretty fed up if photo finishes were decided by a man standing in the grandstand who was forced to make a call seconds after the race had finished.
I'd like some OLBG members to restore my faith in football betting.
Tell me you are still winning regularly from it or that a dodgy refereeing decision won you a small fortune rather than cost you one.
I want to hear POSITIVE football betting stories!
