Some people might say there’s no better feeling than winning a bet. But the real thrill is finding a winning bet. Once you master that, the wins take care of themselves. Here are five smart sports bets to make this year if you’re serious about building a +EV betting edge and making money in sports betting — from niche markets to arbitrage, we have the answers.
5 Smart Sports Bets to Make This Year
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Niche Sports Betting Markets
If you want to find the best sports betting opportunities, go where others aren’t looking. Niche markets — whether it’s a specific sport, a league or a subset of player props — can provide serious value if you put in the effort to understand them.
Think about it: Would you rather bet on the sharpest, most heavily scrutinized markets, or focus on areas where sportsbooks don’t have the same level of expertise? By specializing in a small slice of the betting world, you can spot market inefficiencies before the books do.
A great example is betting on college basketball, but instead of trying to track hundreds of teams, you zero in on just a handful of conferences or teams. Study their injuries, follow beat reporters, understand rotations — before you know it, you’ll anticipate line moves better than the oddsmakers themselves.
NFL preseason is another underrated goldmine. The limits may be lower, but the lines can be incredibly soft due to limited publicly available information. If you put in the research, you’ll uncover a steady stream of edges that most bettors overlook.
Promos and Boosts
Sportsbooks love offering promos and boosts to attract bettors, but savvy bettors know how to maximize them for real profit. Not all boosts are created equal, though. A sportsbook might push a four-leg anytime touchdown parlay with boosted odds — but if you don’t know the true odds, you have no way of knowing if it’s actually a good bet.
On the other hand, a 50% profit boost on any bet of your choice is clearly a valuable opportunity. That’s where expected value betting (EV) comes in. The key is finding bets where the probability of winning is greater than the odds imply. When sportsbooks hand you opportunities like profit boosts, they’re often some of the highest EV bets you’ll find — so take them every time.
And , a profitable bet doesn’t mean it will win every time. It just means that over the long run, making those bets will generate a profit. If a sportsbook offers a points prop discount for a player like Anthony Edwards from 27.5 down to 19.5, that’s a no-brainer. Whether it wins or loses doesn’t matter — if the bet is +EV, you should always take it.
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Player Props
If you want to gain an edge over sportsbooks, player props are a great place to look. Think about it — where do you think oddsmakers focus most of their resources? A Monday Night Football spread, or a random player’s rebound total in a midseason NBA game?
Sportsbooks have to set thousands of lines across multiple sports, and they simply don’t have the ability to monitor every single prop market with the same level of detail. That creates opportunities for bettors who dig into the data.
News-driven props can be especially profitable. For example, when Jerod Mayo hinted at Antonio Gibson starting for the Patriots, sportsbooks were slow to adjust Rhamondre Stevenson’s rushing prop. Savvy bettors took advantage, and Stevenson crushed his original line. Similarly, when Steve Kerr announced Kevon Looney would come off the bench due to illness just before an NBA playoff game, books were slow to adjust, making Looney unders easy winners.
Finding these inefficiencies in the player prop market can feel like striking gold. But since these rare spots don’t pop up daily, many bettors use a market-based approach — betting discrepancies between sportsbooks to grind out long-term profit without relying on news-driven bets.
One of the best ways to do this efficiently is with mass-entry betting to streamline the process. With notifications and automation, you can quickly capitalize on discrepancies without having to manually scan lines all day.
Arbitrage Betting
Arbitrage betting (or “arbing”) takes advantage of discrepancies between sportsbooks to guarantee a profit. While traditional handicappers try to predict game outcomes, arbitrage bettors simply find mispriced odds across different sportsbooks and bet both sides to lock in a win regardless of the result.
The best part is you don’t even need to be a sports expert to make money this way. By using arbitrage, you’re not relying on personal research — you’re just leveraging differences in the betting market. One of the best ways to do this efficiently is with OddsShopper’s Arbitrage Betting Tool, which helps identify these opportunities.
Early Bets
The earlier you place a bet, the better your chances of getting the best number. This is especially true in NFL betting, where key numbers in point spreads (like 3 and 7) make a huge difference. If you wait until game day, you’re often betting into a more efficient market where value has already been sucked out.
The same principle applies to player props and totals. Early lines are set based on initial projections, but as news comes out and money floods in, sportsbooks adjust. If you have a strong read on a game or a player before the market moves, locking in an early bet can mean getting the best value before the line shifts.
The best sports bets aren’t just about picking winners — they’re about finding edges where sportsbooks leave themselves exposed. By focusing on niche markets, taking advantage of promos and boosts, targeting player props, leveraging arbitrage opportunities and betting early, you’ll set yourself up for long-term success.
Sports betting isn’t about winning every bet. It’s about consistently making profitable bets. Master that, and the wins will follow.
