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The issue of ‘problem gambling‘ frequently arises throughout the tipster industry. Many followers of such services make the mistake of thinking the principles of responsible gambling do not apply when following a professional providing bets that give the punter an edge. In reality though they are as important as ever.

No matter how good a tipster service in terms of attainment – Return on Investment (ROI), Units Profit, Strike rate etc. – they will have downswings. It’s inevitable due to variance. For example backing a market that presents value at 2/1 (3.00) does not mean it will always win. In fact losses will be frequent even with profitable tipster services. Most succesful services have a strike rate below 50% so it’s crucial that customers are able to deal with losses and effectively manage their bankroll.

Casual Bettors contrasted against Tipster Subscribers

The average bookmaker customer uses the service responsibly as a bit of fun but many look to make the transition from a casual gambler to someone who takes it seriously and makes a profit or even full time income through sports betting. Does the quote below sound familiar?

I’m going to place a £10 acca on the football this weekend. It will return thousands if it wins

It’s easy to criticize punters like this as bookmakers have a significant edge with accumulator bets. Especially those with five, ten or even fifteen selections. That’s why accumulator bonuses and insurance promotions are frequently found on bookmaker websites. They want customers to use that feature and amplify their edge.

But these type of customers are unlikely to become problem gamblers if they simply place one or two bets a week and understand the odds of long. Sort of like buying a lottery ticket but with significantly superior odds. The key is that the stake is likely to be relatively small and most customers won’t chase losses. It’s a bit of fun at the weekend that makes the football scores a little more interesting.

The issue frequently arises when those customers try and make sports betting a source of income rather than just occasional fun. Most tipster followers will stake far more than the average bookmaker customer for example. Crucially their expectation goes from ‘my bet will probably lose most weeks’ to ‘this bet should give me profit’.

This attitude is not unrealistic if following a reputable tipster service with a proven track record but it’s a common misconception that tipster services will deliver reliable, sustained profit. Almost all of them will have losing days, months, weeks or even years. Are you the type of person to sign up to a service then cancel after a few days if the results don’t go your way? If so avoid sports betting and tipsters altogether unless it’s just fun with low stakes.

Why? Because if an individual is serious about following a tipster then they should be willing to commit long term. The results in the first few days should have no influence on your opinion of the service. Whether they land multiple high odds winners and your up a significant amount of money or all their selections lose. Judging a service over the short term will almost certainly lead to problems. It’s the wrong mindset to have.

Useful Resources related to Sports Betting & Responsible Gambling:

GambleAware – It can be difficult to admit you have an issue with gambling. There are loads of helpful resources and signs to look out for. Try and get control before it has a significant impact on your life. The damage is more than financial in most cases. It can lead to crime, relationships ending and additional problems.

Setting account limits in terms of deposits is a good idea and try and avoid bookmakers that allow withdrawals to be cancelled/reversed. That just encourages problems for vulnerable players. Assume any money wagered will be lost EVEN when following a tipster service that has a profitable track record and rave reviews. If you are relying on returns from bets to fund bills, rent, mortgages, food and so on stop and chat to a gambling related charity.

Top Hints / Pointers for Following Tipsters:

1.) Start Small and Scale with Total Bankroll

Research tipster services in detail before signing up. The BettingGods.com services are reputable based on extensive reviews and research from the Tennis Tips UK team. Set aside a small bankroll and select an amount to bet per unit. This should scale with your bankroll for example 1% per unit. That means if you are succesful and make money you will automatically stake more but crucially if the service goes through a bad period you’ll limit losses.

2.) Think Long Term or Don’t Bother

It may sound very black and white but in our view it really is. If you sign up to a service and get a few winners and think – this service is great and equally unsubscribe and complain after a couple of losses – take a step back and admit that sports betting for any reason other than fun is not for you. Researched advisory that gives the punter an edge will not always win. There are so any external factors beyond control in most sports known as ‘variance’ and these will impact some results. Also whether an individual selection wins or loses may not be the best way to judge whether it was a good bet or not. If you back a football team at evens (2.00) and they are dominated for the entire match but then score a little winner – was that a good bet? On paper yes as it returned profit but consider if those selections will deliver a positive yield long term. It’s possible the opponent team priced at much larger odds were in fact the value bet despite the fact that selection would have returned nothing in this example.

This is difficult. It’s very easy to fall in to the trap of working day to day and judging performance short term. Try and simply place the advised bets with a responsible stake and only look at results after a week or even month. It doesn’t benefit anyone to subscribe to a service and then cancel after a week.

3.) Statistics: Return on Investment, Total Profit or Strike Rate?

What’s important to you when following a service… the frequency of winners or the total profit. Maybe the Return on Investment (ROI), bankroll growth or yield? In an ideal world bets would win often and downswings would not occur but that isn’t the reality. Consider how much tipsters risk. The total profit can seem impressive but think about the potential losses if a few results had gone the other way. The main advice from industry experts is to focus on Return on Investment as this factors in the amount staked/risked and the returns achieved.


What is the purpose of club membership?

Most members use the advisory to generate profits via bookmaker and/or exchange accounts. For someone staking £100 per match this has yielded thousands in profit even once the annual membership fee is deducted.

Will bookmakers limit my account(s)?

Most likely, yes. Club bets have a proven track record of value (+ EV) and bookmakers are likely to notice this. Short term you’ll be fine but longer term we suggest using betting exchanges or ‘winners welcome’ bookmakers or brokers. That’s why we always quote and record odds from Betfair Exchange for members as that illustrates profits for those who are limited.

How will it work after joining?

Your membership will be confirmed with a personal welcome email. You’ll get 12 months access from a single payment and there is no auto renewal – we’ll simply ask if you wish to continue after the year has elapsed. You should expect an average of two emails per week detailing the advised selection, match, tournament and odds. Simply login to your betting account and place a wager on the selected market. We only use standard match winner bets, often referred to as the moneyline, so coverage is extensive at virtually all betting portals. Have any questions? Please visit the contact us page. Average response time 24h.

Is club membership limited?

Yes, we allow a maximum of ten members to have an active annual membership at any one time. This is to preserve value and market liquidity. Essentially ensuring it’s practical to obtain the advised odds without them disappearing too quickly.

What bankroll is required?

We suggest £10,000 or more ideally although smaller can work. Most members choose to follow our advice of staking 1% per match. This means it automatically adjusts and scales as the total grows and compounds returns. In the above example; the member would have yielded over £3,000 profit but had to pay the membership fee leaving them with a net profit in excess of £2200. Some members have vastly exceeded this by staking higher amounts but please remember to have a long term focus and ensure capacity for successive losses.

What type of bets should I expect?

Always match winner bets covering men’s professional tennis. This includes ATP events, Challenger and Grand Slams. We specialise in high odds underdogs which have yielded the most considerable profits in extensive back testing. Selections with odds of 10/1 (11.00) are not uncommon. We deliver advisory emails at a consistent time with a minimum of six hours before the scheduled start time to ensure plenty of time to get bets placed.

Who is the club open to?

Everyone with a decent bankroll and a long term outlook. We have members from around the world betting in many different currencies and jurisdictions. Tennis Tips UK are based in the United Kingdom, hence the name, but the club is truly global.

How is profit tracked?

For transparency we operate a public spreadsheet. This shows all key metrics such as units profit, ROI, yield and strike rate. We even monitor the Avg Diff CO % for those statisticians amongst you. In a nutshell this measures the implied value by comparing the advised odds with the sharp closing line. 2% is deducted from all recorded profit figures to simulate exchange commission. Just to clarify bets are only added to the spreadsheet post result confirmation to retain exclusivity of access to paid club members.

For winning bets our team also publish profit reports which feature the original email sent to members for additional tracking and verification purposes. This also includes a rating for that specific prediction which gives an insight into how our strategy is optimised over time.

Who picks the bets for club members?

Tennis Tips UK have grown into a small team over the years. Founded way back in 2013 by an odds compiler at a leading EU bookmaker. Since then joined by a quant and business manager. Each one of us lives and breathes tennis but we like to let our results speak for themselves rather than make outlandish personal claims.

Why don’t you bet on your own picks if they are so good?

We do, frequently. The issue surrounds liquidity and limitations. Club members have access to a wide range of liquidity from global sportsbooks and exchanges. We, as individuals, are far more restricted. Typically though we still stake an average of £10k per week on our selections but unfortunately virtually every bookmaker has long since banned us. We should take it a compliment really as a limitation is an endorsement of the profitability of your bets from an often billion pound institution.

Is there a way to reduce the cost of membership?

The fee is set at a level which allows us to fill membership places. If you are a prospective first time club member enter the promo code ‘TTUK10’ during checkout to reduce the cost. Please note this is a one time discount and not available for returning members.


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