Most casual bettors dont make a profit from their sports-betting hobby. This includes bettors who are relatively sharp as well as those who couldnt pick a winner if their lives depended on it. Thats not a horrible thing, either. If every bettor won, sportsbooks would be going belly up far more often than they do, and bettors would run out of places to play. And many bettors really dont care very much about earning a long-term profit. They like to have some action on games as a form of recreation or excitement, not as an investment decision. Many of these types of bettors are far more interested in TV games than anything else, and they tend to bet more on bigger games, like the Super Bowl or the NCAA Tournament.
Much of the industry considers money management as important as picking winners, and rightfully so. But throwing around buzzwords like money management and describing esoteric concepts like isolate a percentage of bankroll and positive expectation bets really doesnt help the fortunes of most recreational bettors. If you are content with betting solely for entertainment purposes, then this essay will serve little purpose. But if you wish to be a successful sports...