Not really. It is similar to trading in some aspects, though. I'll describe you some of my arbitrage bets from yesterday. I usually say it's possible simply because if things go wrong from the start, all you can do is to hope for the best
- Maccabi Tel Aviv - Fenerbahce [Win] position closed at 2Q: Maccabi odd to win was 2.05. Fenerbahce is playing poorly this season, so I went on Maccabi. At the 2nd Quarter Maccabi was gaining a confortable lead, which made Fenerbahce odd to go to 3.95 on live, so I placed an arbitrage bet on Fenerbahce (on a different bookie, obviously), leaving me with a profit either way. In this case, as Maccabi was leading confortably, I put 90% of profit into their victory. If I had only waited until 2Q end, the odd would be much higher because Maccabi made a 20 points lead.
- Bayern - Real Madrid [Win] position closed at 3Q: Bayern has a very well drilled team and Real Madrid is still a bit inconsistent at this season start. Bayern odd started at 3.50 pre-match, but when I registered it was already 2.95. The game itself was very balanced. Bayern was leading, but by a slim margin. Had to wait until the 3Q end, and Bayern got himself on a 10 point lead, which made Real Madrid odd go up until 2.65, opening a way for an arbitrage bet. Since Madrid has a very strong team, I decided to distribute the profit by 50 / 50, because teams like that are capable of miracle recoveries. Bayern hold the lead well and in hindsight I could had gone 90% on them, but...
- Limoges - Partizan [fail] Limoges started well, having a 9 point lead, but bookie closed the live bets for a few minutes. When bets were reopened Partizan was doing a fantastic 2Q and already recovered, never to stop scoring again. I kept an eye on the match, but Limoges never recovered, so bet lost.
Positives of this system:
Higher percentages of hit rate, and sometimes you don't even need to make an insurance bet if the game goes on your way.
Negatives:
If things go badly, there's little you can do, but it's basically like loosing a simple bet. With some luck you might find an opening for an insurance bet.
Sometimes one bookie cancels the bet, and the other bookie doesn't do that. If the bookie who canceled was the one where you would win money, then it's a bummer (been there) because despite getting your money returned, you probably be on red for that arbitrage.
Time spent: yes, this requires some of your attention. But you can just install a regular sport live results app on your smartphone and put alerts on score numbers or just keep tabs opened and checking the result actively, while doing other things that require your time.
