Who are the Tipsters and Should You Listen to Them?

Sports betting is one of the oldest pastimes in human society and from the earliest days of betting there have always been those who made their predictions and offered them to others. At some websites such as Legalbet.uk you will find expert opinions and predictions concerning upcoming competitions, as well as useful info on bets and bookmakers.

But there have also been people offering to sell you tips, known as tipsters. In the days before the internet, these tipsters could often be found on racecourses, offering to give you winning advice in exchange for a small, or not-so-small, fee. Of course, this ability to be paid for giving betting advice inevitably attracted scammers, criminals, and others, and that continues to this day, with an array of websites and social media adverts promising guaranteed winners.

There are, however, some tipsters who are genuine, in that they make a serious effort to find good bets for their ‘customers’ and have a degree of expertise. Some sports bettors take the opinions of tipsters into account, while others avoid them. So, what is the truth? Should you listen to these tipsters?

Who are the Tipsters?

It goes without saying that dubious characters offering you guaranteed riches in exchange for a large fee should be ignored. Sports betting is not a get-rich-quick scheme and any tipster who promises such a thing should not be taken seriously. There are, unfortunately, many tipsters who are in it purely for the money and who operate based on random guesswork.

However, there are tipsters whose advice can be valuable. Some tipsters are successful sports bettors who share their advice for free on sports betting sites, message boards and forums. Others are experts in betting on their preferred sports and write regular tipping columns or articles, either online or on the pages of newspapers.

When you’re betting on a big race, having access to expert advice can be helpful as you process the available information. So, how do you know whether to trust a tipster or not?

Money Talks

When it comes to listening to tipsters, money talks, but not in the way that you’d expect. The more money a tipster is charging for their advice, the less interested you should be.

This is because, unless you know that tipster and have a deep knowledge of their betting expertise and success, you will be at risk of being scammed. Beware too of tipsters who were successful punters but whose success is ancient history. The betting world changes all the time, and so what worked five years ago almost certainly won’t work today.

A high-profile newspaper tipster, with a proven track record, whose tips are available for the cost of a paper, is usually a far better, and cheaper option than handing over large sums of money to someone whose record and expertise you have to take on trust.

Listening and Thinking

Rather than spending a fortune on signing up for a tipster’s service, a better way to incorporate tipster advice into your sports betting is to treat it both as an educational resource and a source of ideas.

It is very unlikely that you will have long-term success by betting on a tipster’s selections blindly. The main reason for this is that when the tipster hits a bad run of luck, which is inevitable, you will lack confidence in their selections and possibly even feel foolish that you are relying on someone else to bet for you.

A wiser approach is to focus on tipsters who provide explanations for their bets. This can be a great way to get an insight into how to bet and will tell you more about how that tipster operates. And reading an expert opinion can also help you to fine-tune your betting decision, giving you the benefit of a second opinion that may throw up new lines of enquiry or introduce factors that you have not considered.

Conclusion

Following any tipster blindly, without analysis or thought, is always a mistake, as is paying for a tipster’s advice. There are many betting experts out there who offer their advice and tips, including full and detailed reasoning, for free or for the cost of a newspaper. By reading, thinking and listening, you can use the expertise of the best tipsters to improve your decision-making and your betting.