Sports Betting Strategies for Non-Regulated States

There’s a reason sportsbooks stay in business — they win more than bettors do. Now, that doesn’t mean betting is an automatically losing proposition. It just means most bettors aren’t good at this, and for you to be profitable, you’ll have to develop winning betting strategies in a structural way.

That’s plural too. No singular strategy is the end-all, be-all tactic. You need to immerse yourself in all the nuances of sports betting and arm yourself with various sports betting systems at different times. This article will be your go-to guide for identifying and deploying these strategic betting systems.

Before we get into the advanced betting methods, we should mention any and all bettors can make use of this article— that includes those from areas where betting is disallowed or restricted. You see, international sportsbooks work anywhere and everywhere, no matter if you’re in non-regulated states or not. Plus, these sportsbooks have all the sports betting odds you'll ever want, and at great prices too.

Best Sports Betting Strategies

We can't possibly mention every single sports betting strategy out there — there are simply too many. However, here's some perfect "jumping off" points to start with:

Understanding Betting Strategies

Bettors love to “go with their gut” when making picks. Look, if you’re dead serious about maximizing your chances of winning, you need to do better than that. We’re talking making a real plan of attack. Here’s the thing: betting strategies are there not just to help you make the right pick once (or else it would be a betting tip), but instead, it's to pick right over and over again. It’s a long-term plan.

And what better place to leverage these sports betting systems than international sportsbooks? As we said, these bookies offer endless betting options — often more than licensed sportsbooks, which can’t offer bets on politics, entertainment, and other non-sport categories. These international bookmakers offer the full gamut of bet types too, which is perfect for using advanced betting strategies. Let us explain based on bet type.

Arbitrage Betting Strategy

Arbitrage betting is sometimes called “sure bets.” That’s because it is one of the few betting strategies that can guarantee a profit — if you know what you’re doing that is. This strategy involves placing bets on both sides of an event at different sportsbooks to take advantage of odds discrepancies. Say one sportsbook has Team A as +120 favorite to win, but another bookie has team B as +110 — you just found arbitrage which guarantees a profit when betting both ends, no matter who wins.

Sounds easy, right? But here’s the harsh reality: arbitrage betting techniques aren’t for beginners. It requires a solid understanding of moneylines (more on that soon) and a sharp eye for spotting odd discrepancies. This typically takes time to develop.

Arbitrage betting really only makes sense for either-or outcomes and/or moneylines. Things get real dicey if you introduce more than two betting outcomes into the equation. The key to making this profitable is betting big. That’s why this strategy is more for “high rollers”, which again, are experienced bettors. Making 10 percent profit off arbitrage really adds up when you’re betting with size like high rollers can.

Just to really drive this home, let us give you a step-by-step example to arbitrage betting. Here's the process broken down into simple steps:

  1. Find Differing Odds: Identify a matchup where bookies are offering different odds on the same exact outcome.
  2. Calculate Stakes: Divide your total money by each outcome's odds to know how much to bet on each side.
  3. ​Place Bets: Place your different bets on separate sportsbooks.
  4. Collect Profit: No matter the outcome, the guaranteed profit comes from the difference in odds.

When scouting for these arbitrage opportunities, you shouldn’t be focused on heavy favorites versus heavy underdogs. You need a medium-sized favorite from one sportsbook that's considered a slight or heavy favorite by another. This is where you’re more likely to find odd discrepancies — not with lopsided favorites.

Here’s another reason we’re so big on international sportsbooks — they’re great for arbitrage opportunities. You see, a legal sports betting state might license 10 or so sportsbooks. However, there are hundreds of international bookies. This optionality makes it easier for bettors to find arbitrage and really take advantage of this sports betting system. And for bettors in non-regulated states? Well, international bookies are all you have to work with here. But again, that’s a good thing given how many options are out there.

Underdog Betting Strategy

Underdog betting is all about spotting value where others might overlook it. You see, your average bettor typically loves latching on to betting favorites — which makes sense, they’re the favorites for a reason. However, there are times when the underdog presents a much more rich opportunity. By rich, we’re not just talking about getting a better payday (though that’s also the case). We also mean rich as in the odds on the underdog don’t accurately reflect the true chances of them winning.

We need an example to really hammer this home. Let’s say we’re doing NFL betting and the Cowboys are playing the Giants. Maybe Dallas has their quarterback out so they’re staggering +300 underdogs — meaning a $100 bet amounts to a $300 win. Cause of this, the betting public is all over the favorite, and taking the G-Men without a care in the world.

Ah, but you’re a bettor that’s using winning betting strategies and not just blindly betting with your gut. You’ve done your homework on the backup Cowboys QB and know he’s no slouch. By placing a moneyline bet on Dallas, you’re not just hoping for a win — you’re capitalizing on the public’s lack of insight into this replacement quarterback. Maybe you win, maybe you don’t, but it’s a bet worth placing because the Cowboys are being discounted too much.

Here again, users of international sportsbooks are in huge luck. Because of all the platforms out there, bargain-bin underdog betting odds can be more easy to find at these international bookmakers. By consistently identifying these favorable odds, you can turn underdog betting into a lucrative betting strategy over the long haul.

Moneyline Betting Strategy

Moneyline betting is one of the simplest and most straightforward forms of sports wagering. You’re betting on a team to win outright. That’s it — no point spreads to worry about. While this simplicity is attractive, there’s more strategy involved than just picking the winner, especially when you’re looking to maximize value.

The key to effective moneyline betting is timing and understanding value. For instance, moneyline bets are perfect when you’re confident the favorite will win, but you don’t want to risk losing on a point spread. Think NFL here and that pesky 3.5-point spread, which is so easy to end up on the wrong side of.

Moreover, combining moneyline and underdog betting could really be a double-whammy. Of course, underdogs pay more than favorites here, but the key is to fall in love with the value of an underdog — and not just the possible payout. No need to repeat ourselves again, but this is all about finding mispricing.

One last thing here: international sportsbooks have a knack for offering the best moneyline odds in the business. The prices they offer can be more value-rich than what you’d find at a licensed sportsbook. What’s more, bettors in non-regulated states can find the moneyline odds they otherwise would be prohibited from using. It’s all on the table at these sites, no matter where you’re from. Combine that accessibility with some strategic betting, and it’s off to the races.

Teaser Betting Strategy

Let’s level-set things by explaining what teasers even are since many bettors, especially new ones, don’t have a clue about this bet type. Teaser bets give bettors the all-powerful ability to manipulate the point spread in your favor. Yeah, you read that correctly. Typically with teasers, you can shift the spread by a set number of points, usually between 4 and 6 points in sports like basketball or football.

Say Alabama are 10-point favorites over LSU in college football. Using a 6-point teaser, bettors could flip LSU to a 16-point underdog or vice-versa, Alabama a 4-point favorite. Obviously, both these outcomes give bettors more cushion.

But the flip side of this edge is, well, worse betting odds (and payouts) for you. Sportsbooks aren’t just going to give you an advantage like this without taking something back. No, no, no the sportsbook compensates for this increased likelihood by offering a lower payout. You take the good with the bad.

Enough explanation though. Let’s talk actual teaser betting strategy now. One of the most opportune times to use a teaser is in close matchups where you’re not entirely comfortable with the original point spread. Even if the best NFL team in the league is playing the worst — a double-digit spread is enough to make you queasy. At the pro level, competitiveness is high so blowouts aren’t automatic. Teasers give you some breathing room and added security to your wager.

Teaser bets also come in clutch when parlay betting. Matter of fact, this is where teasers come most in handy. Why? Because parlays are hard bets to hit with un-teased odds. Really, really hard. Instead of risking tight spreads across multiple bets, bettors can create a more favorable betting environment by shifting the odds in your favor with teasers. Here again, bettors can lessen their risk (at the cost of the payout).

We can’t recommend international sportsbooks enough for unleashing advanced betting strangers on teasers. This is because these platforms offer teaser betting on a wide array of sports — not just the main ones like NFL, NBA, or D1 college. CFL? D2 college hoops? Yeah, some of those matchups will have teaser options available at these bookies, especially for non-regulated states. International bookies “up the ante” for these states since they have no other option to wager.

Matched Betting Strategy

Here’s where international sportsbooks really shine — match bonuses. These sites love giving out free play like candy, some more than others. Most licensed sportsbooks couldn’t even dream of giving out the type of free play that international bookies do. The winners out of this are the bettors, of course. So much so that there are sports betting systems based on matched betting.

What is matched betting, you say? Let’s pretend you've just joined a new sportsbook that offers a 100 percent deposit match on your first transaction. You take advantage of this promotion by putting $100 into your account, for a grand total of $200. Afterward, you then decide to peruse this week's upcoming NBA betting odds and find yourself intrigued by the following point spread: Orlando Magic (+6.5) vs. Dallas Mavericks (-6.5).

Typically, you would pick one side, either the Magic or Mavs, and wait to see whether your decision pans out. With matched betting, though, you would play BOTH point spreads. Yes, this means you'd throw money on the Magic at +6.5 and the Mavs at -6.5, as separate wagers on different bet slips.

This probably sounds counterproductive. It's not. It's basically arbitrage betting with house money. Point spreads usually pay out -110, so your winning wager will net you a total payout of $190—your initial $100 bet, plus the $90 profit. In the end, you will have just turned $200 into $190. But because you used $100 in promotional money to bankroll this wager, you've actually made $90.

There is one hangup to this strategy: bonus-money rollover requirements. Many sites demand you bet your free cash anywhere from 10 to 30 times over before it's officially yours. This could take a long time, especially if you’re depositing a lot of money to start with. You need to find a sportsbook that has a shorter rollover to really take advantage of this strategy.

Still, what we love most about match betting is the low-risk nature of it all. Bettors literally have nothing to lose here — and we mean nothing. You can not say the same thing for other strategies on this list. This guaranteed nature is simply too good to pass up.

If you live in a non-regulated state, you should be eating this information up. Not only do you get access to sports betting in your location, but you’re scoring guaranteed free play on top of that. This is a win-win scenario.

Live Betting Tactics

Live betting (also called in-play betting) allows bettors to wager as the game is happening in real-time — not just before it starts. Unlike pre-game betting, where decisions are made based on stats and predictions before the game starts, live betting demands real-time analysis. This means bettors must be quick on their feet, interpreting changes in momentum, injuries, and team strategies as the game is going down. There’s hardly any time to think, just react.

One of the most worthwhile live betting tactics is to “hedge” previously-made bets. Say before the game, you bet on one team. Now that the game is unfolding, that pick starts looking shaky. You can throw money on the other team, thus hedging the outcome. Depending on the odds, you can hedge to minimize your loss or do it just in time to remain profitable. It will vary by the occasion. The inverse is also possible. Bettors feeling extra confident about their pregame bet can “double down” and throw more money on the pick.

Another one of the advanced betting strategies as it relates to in-play is just looking for momentum swings. In football, this is usually a turnover or big play that reawakens the crowd and team. Basketball is a sport predicated on momentum and “runs.” The key is to time these perfectly when the momentum is beginning to shift — not when it’s already swung (by then, the betting odds already reflect the change and you’re not securing the best price).

International sportsbooks will house live betting markets for all the major sports — football, basketball, baseball, fighting, and so on. If you happen to live in a non-regulated state, you’ll have zero issues getting live action on these platforms. Once here, you can unleash your international betting strategies and pounce on all the live wagering opportunities.

Betting Exchange Strategies

Betting exchanges differ from traditional sportsbooks. At an exchange, bettors are wagering 1-on-1 against each other — not against “the house.” On an exchange, bettors can back (bet for) and lay (bet against) outcomes, creating opportunities to act as both a bettor and a bookmaker.

One of the top betting exchange strategies is hedging again. We talked about this before, but the same thing applies: bettors can back an outcome before an event starts and then lay it during the event (or vice versa) to lock in profit or reduce potential losses. This is especially useful in volatile sports markets, such as horse racing or soccer, where odds fluctuate wildly based on news (e.g. a horse scratches).

Another advanced betting method specific to exchanges is arbitrage betting, another topic we’ve discussed before. You’re way more likely to find discrepancy in odds at a betting exchange since it’s peer-to-peer, and well, many folks aren’t nearly as good as bookmakers at this. Say you found Team A to be favored at an exchange, but then you see the same team as an underdog in a traditional sportsbook — boom, there’s an arbitrage opportunity to exploit.

Don’t overlook betting exchanges strategies in your toolbox like most bettors do. Exchanges aren’t as “buttoned up" as sportsbooks so opportunists are galore. This is especially the case for users living in non-regulated states or countries. Opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t get locally are abundant at these online international sportsbooks and exchange hybrids.

Analyzing Sports Bets

Data is everything in betting — and we mean everything. On one end, sports betting lines are spit out by advanced computer models that are being fed copious amounts of sports analaytics. Don’t think a modern bookmaker is a guy creating lines on his own. No, no, no this industry is being led by algorithms.

This is why you can’t just “go with your gut” betting-wise. That’s no way to “outsmart” the bookies consistently. As a bettor, you need to be analyzing sports bets rigorously. The keyword in the last sentence is rigorous. Stats, trends, weather, injuries — all of this is crucial information to factor in. Doing so will help you make more informed decisions and develop strategic betting systems rather than relying on blind luck to win.

Here are our favorite pieces of information to take into account: historical performances, head-to-head matchups, and recent performances (this will tell you the trend). While there is endless data out there to form sports betting systems on, we’ve found those three carry the most “weight.” Additionally, advanced analytical tools like expected goals (xG) in soccer or advanced metrics in basketball can give bettors a deeper understanding of the sport beyond the basic box-score stats. This is where it becomes more about being a trained statistician than a strategic betting player.

No matter how much of a data nerd you are and aren’t, international sportsbooks are the perfect outlets to give this a try. They offer even more betting markets than regulated counterparts so options will be everywhere. This is especially great for bettors living in non-regulated locations. Because the sites are international-based, they abide by their own rules — not that of where you live. This allows bettors to bypass oral regulations and bet worry-free.

Using Betting Splits in your Betting Startegy

When you look at the betting split, you can see how other bettors are betting. There are two main ways of packaging this information:

  1. Ticket percentage: This is the percentage of bets on each ticket. In other words, each bet, no matter how much is risked, is measured as one bet. 
  2. Value distribution: In value distribution, you will see how much money is placed on each ticket, without regard to how many individual bets are placed. 

Professional or sharp bettors tend to bet larger sums of money, as they have done lots of research and feel more confident in their decision. So, if you find that there are more tickets on one bet, but more money on the other, you can imagine that the sharp bettors are shooting for the latter and the casual bettors on the former. 

This does not necessarily mean that you should just follow the sharp bettors. It could just be one person who is making a mistake because he has a favorite team who he or she wants to win. You should only take this as one piece of information in your overall betting strategy

Conclusion - Crafting Your Betting Strategy

We said it before but we’ll say it again: crafting a successful betting strategy is all about the long game. Any bettor can win the occasional bet or “get hot”, but only the most skilled of bettors can use strategies to stay “in the green” for years on end. Betting strategies minimize some of the chance of betting and replace it with calculated decision-making.

As you’ve just seen, winning betting strategies come in bunches — there’s no one single strategy that reigns supreme. Whether it’s focusing on value betting, hedging, or digging deep in the data, advanced betting can be had by anyone willing to wisen up.

If you live in a non-regulated state, international sportsbooks have your name written all over them. Not only do these sites work perfectly fine across the country (and the world), but they often offer broader market options, competitive odds, and deeper statistical tools for bettors. This is a winning combination if you can leverage some of the advanced sports betting strategies we covered on this page.

Other Pages in this Betting Guide

Software: Tools That Give you an Edge

Stats & Trends: Use them to your Advantage

Our How-To-Bet Guide for Newbies

Tips and Advice on Betting