This is an article I actually wrote back in 2010 when betting bots first came onto the scene. After hearing lots of horror stories about people losing their entire betting bank, I thought it was worth posting again.
Betting Bots (automated betting; software that places bets for you) reviews are posted all over the internet, but I am amazed how often these are pushed (with the aim of making affiliate money) without fully understanding the risks involved.
What is a betting bot?
A betting bot is computer software which automatically places bets on your behalf based on some criteria you set. Nearly all these bots link into a betting exchange (usually Betfair) so the bot can either back or lay any race that meets the set criteria.
There are numerous bots on the market, and they all promise to make you rich for virtually zero effort i.e. you switch the software on, sit back, and before you know it lots of money comes pouring into your account.
As most serious gamblers know, making money from gambling is not that easy, although most betting bot reviews do seem to push this without mentioning the downsides.
Betting bot reviews
There are numerous betting bot reviews on numerous websites, which I’m sure many of you have read already. The central part of Betting bot reviews, usually involves how much money the bots make over a set period, but often fail to take into account the risks involved.
The basics of a bot is fairly straight forward and can provide a very useful tool for putting bets into the market at set times, without being by your computer. In this article I want to focus more on the downsides, which many of the review sites seem to ignore.
Risks of using betting bots
Below is a list of items that you should be fully aware of before trying out one of these bots:
These sites require your Betfair log in details, and also bet your betting bank without you being there.
- 1st and most important, ensure the software if from a reputable site. These bots usually require your betfair log-in details and there are lots of stories where people’s whole banks get cleared out (trying to prove your account is hacked is near impossible).
- Bots often have a tool which allows you to recoup the losses from the last race by increasing the bet on the next race. For example, assume all the odds are evens (either double up or lose your original stake). The Betting Bot will place for example $10 on the first race. If the race wins it will bank the profit, and then place $10 on the next race. However, if the race loses it will then post $20 on the next race ($10 standard stake, plus an extra $10 to win back the stake that was lost in the previous races. If that loses it will then bet $40 ($10 standard, plus the $10 from the first, and $20 from the second). If you keep losing the bets will keep doubling up to $80, $160, $320, $640 until your Betfair account wipes out. Anyone who plays roulette will know these runs on very short odd event can happen on a regular basis, and will get you eventually.
- The better Bots will have various staking plans, so make sure you do not undertake a risky one, otherwise you will wipe out your betting account before you know it. Also, ensure the bot has a stop loss limit which will cut off any bets after a certain limit is breached.
- As with all betting, by using the bot you will be just taking the current market price at a set pre-defined time. If you consistently just take the market price you will inevitably lose in the long run. This is mainly due to the odds being based on complex calculations to work out the exact odds, and then the bookmaker will take some commission. For example you will never find a market where you can bet and break even. If there was a market for tossing a coin the market maker would not give you evens.
Related to the above, when using bots try to use them on races where you have done some research or have an edge over the bookmaker. Blindly putting in some conditions and letting the bot loose will lead you to losing money in the long run.
Be careful of the new bots coming out where the owners of the bots will populate bets on your behalf. If everyone is backing or laying the same horse, the value on these horses is going to be very low, unless the software is limited to a few individual.
In summary, betting bots can be very useful pieces of software, but please don’t blindly use them without considering the risks.