Swimming is a quite popular sport but it attracts the attention of the wide public, and hence the attention of bookmakers, mainly during international events like the Summer Olympics, the European Championship of Swimming or the FINA World Championships.
That’s why it can be frustrating to get some great betting bonus codes and don’t have a swimming competition to use them on. Anyway, don’t let this bother you too much. Here’s a list of tips for those who enjoy betting on swimming competitions and want to improve their earnings by changing their strategies.
Types of swimming bets
The most popular one is by far the straight-up bet, also called moneyline bet, where you basically put your money on the winner. You have to understand that betting on the favorite doesn’t bring big payouts. For example, let’s say swimmer A is most likely to win the 100m freestyle race and swimmer B probably won’t. In that case, the bookmaker might set -400 odds for A and +300 for B. The odds are better for swimmer B but the chances of that actually happening are quite slim.
If you bet $4 on swimmer A you will get a $1 payout and it’s only logic for that to happen because most people bet on the favorite and the bookmaker wouldn’t make any money if every bettor wins the bet he makes.
On the other hand, by betting on swimmer B you will get a $3 payout for every $1 bet. Theoretically, betting on B will triple your money if B wins the race, but considering he probably won’t, it’s safer to take the $1 payout by betting $4 on A.
Other types of bets one can make on swimming are on the fastest time or the fastest lap. These bets are more exciting but definitely riskier, and hence the payouts are higher, which is why it attracts a lot of inexperienced bettors who usually end up losing their entire bankroll because they went all in.
Be diligent
Apart from bettors who get overly enthusiastic and make risky wagers, there also are those who know nothing about swimming, pick a swimmer and hope for the best. The data is out there and a google search gives you full access to it, so you just have to sift through all the stats and news available before and during a major event.
The news is important because a swimmer might injure himself during a competition which affects the odds and the results. If you knew Phelps had a shoulder injury, would you still bet on him to win the 100m butterfly race? You’d probably think twice before doing that and you would research other possible candidates, or at least that’s the logical thing to do.
Think clearly
Betting is not a place to be emotional. You might have a favorite swimmer that represents your birth country, but if he’s not very good, there’s no reason to bet on him unless you want to give the bookmaker some easy money.
Here, decisions should be made based on stats and recent training. Just because you’d like your favorite to win, it doesn’t mean this will happen. Things are much easier when you root for the favorite, but then again, we’re not all Michael Phelps fans and we have to make tough choices.
