You’re sick of losing. You’ve listened to podcasts and read every article you could find. You’ve tried every type of bet - straight bets, parlays, teasers, round robins, etc. None of it has worked. You know that there are people who consistently win betting on sports because you follow them on Twitter and read/listen to all of the content they produce. Yet you find yourself completing the same Venmo, Cash App, and PayPal requests from your local book every Monday morning. Or worse yet, you have to continue making deposits into offshore books. How are there people winning but you still suck at betting on sports?
One potential solution is what’s referred to as a betting partnership. If you Google “betting partnership” you’re going to find all sorts of articles detailing professional sports teams that have struck partnerships with legal sports betting companies. These are far from the type of betting partnerships I’m referring to and are not the same lucrative arrangements many bettors have established with professional sports betting groups.
How Does it Work?
When you enter into a betting partnership, you are handing over your account(s) to a professional betting group. Call them a betting group, call them a syndicate, call them whatever you want. But it’s usually a relatively small group of professionals working together as a team to fill your account with winning bets. You give them your username, password, the location from which your bets should be placed, credit limit on the account, and the equity stake for each side. The betting group then uses your login to place bets into the account.
Every interaction with the bookie is still handled by you, NOT the betting group. There’s a very, very strong possibility your bookie will not appreciate the fact that a group of sports bettors, with a proven track record of success, are now placing bets into your account. So when it’s time for the weekly settle, that’s still on you. When the bookie starts giving you shit for what you’re betting on or for being a winner, it falls on you to calm the situation. It’s a nice little three-way: you have a relationship with the bookie, a relationship with your betting group, but the betting group and bookie aren’t getting together on the side.
The equity stake you retain is different in each case, but based on personal knowledge and some outside research, most groups are good with 50/50 if you’re willing to split all wins AND losses. There’s also the possibility of a “freeroll” if you’re more risk averse The betting group will give you a much smaller equity stake, maybe 10-20%, but you are not responsible for any losses. As long as the account is net positive lifetime, you’re making money. Here’s an example of a 10% freeroll:
Week 1: Account loses $1,000. Betting group gives you $1,000 to pay Mr. Book.
Week 2: Account wins $2,000. You’ve now gotten past breakeven and are up $1,000. Your 10% equity stake has made you $100.
Week 3: Account loses $1,500. Account is down $500 overall, your equity stake is $0.
Week 4: Account wins $3,000. Account is now up $2,500 lifetime, and your stake is $250.
In a freeroll agreement, you only have earning upside. But for it to actually work, you need the account to be net positive over the lifetime. Keep in mind you’re only making a very small percentage of earnings from the account.
Why aren’t Betting Partnerships talked about more?
I’m not saying betting partnerships aren’t advertised, because they very much are. If you’re around gambling Twitter, you’re going to see some of the main players with things like “Betting Partnerships Welcome - DM for details” in their bios. However, I felt the need to write this article because I’ve never seen these partnerships discussed in the detail I would want if I was looking at entering into one of these agreements.
I think one of the main reasons betting partnerships aren’t discussed more openly is that they only work with Pay Per Head (PPH) accounts. A PPH is an online sportsbook that operates very similarly to any other online sportsbook, with the key difference of betting on credit. The book is extending you a line of credit to make your bets, not unlike a financial institution giving you increased buying power with a credit card. With a PPH, you can bet money you don’t have because you’re not depositing actual cash into the account. What could possibly go wrong?
Anyways, betting partnerships don’t work with your typical, legal sportsbook or any offshore sportsbook. These sportsbooks’ technology is very good and they can immediately detect when it’s not you logging in to place the bets. And since you need the betting group logging into your account to place bets, the operation becomes very difficult, if not impossible. With so many bettors relying on legalized or offshore sportsbooks, betting partnerships just aren’t a viable option.
Another possible reason you haven’t heard much discussion around betting partnerships is that the space is extremely cutthroat and reputation based. Many of these betting groups do this for a living and are collecting as many accounts as possible. They have to maintain relationships with everyone in the gambling space while still finding a way to showcase why their group is the best and you should send them all of your accounts. Betting groups that openly grovel for accounts are looked on as lesser people, kind of like the Mormons that go door to door looking for new members. Betting groups have to let their work speak for itself and rely on word of mouth to gain credibility.
What you Need to Know
So far, I’ve tried to be fairly objective with what a betting partnership looks like. In this section, I’m going to shift more to opinion-based commentary. However, I think 95% of what’s said would be approved of by professional betting groups. This is based on personal experience, networking with other bettors, and reading all sorts of gambling related content.
- They don’t give a shit about you.
- Did I mention I’m blunt? Your utility to a betting group begins, and ends, with giving them accounts. They do not care about your lock of the century. They do not care that you’ve been hitting 58% over the last 3 weeks. They do not care that you’re having a rough week and lost your ass betting the NFL. You are not their friend. For the most part, they want you to give them accounts and shut up. Again, some personal opinion here, but a lot of these groups come off as cold because they are cold. They’re captain big dick and you’re just along for the ride. They have all the answers but you’re not allowed to have any of the answers. I’ve found that the less you talk, the more they like you. But winning money is nice.
- Every betting group wins. Every. Single. One.
- I guess I should mention that all of the reputable betting groups win. A random Twitter user or Discord member with no public reputation, but is asking for accounts, probably doesn’t win. But the professionals? They all win. It’s almost impossible not to win when you’re doing this for a living. There’s just too many ways to win when you have the resources of these betting groups. They can steam chase. They can find the best originators. They share breaking news with other betting groups before it becomes public knowledge. I don’t want to identify group names (they also probably don’t want me to?), but there’s 4-5 big ones people are directed towards and these groups always, always win. It’s only a matter of how much and how fast they win. Honestly, after working with these groups for years, it’s kind of depressing there’s no thrill to gambling anymore. You just win over time.
- They aren’t necessarily the ones determining the bets.
- As mentioned above, these betting groups can find the best originators. This means they’re finding talented people that can beat lines based on their uniquely developed models and other handicapping efforts. They pay these originators handsomely by giving them a percentage of the total amount of money they’re able to get down on a bet. So while you’re giving the betting group 50% of your account winnings, there’s a good chance they’re splitting that 50% with someone else.
- You can continue betting into the account, sometimes.
- Depending on who you’re working with, the group may or may not allow you to continue making bets into an account you passed off. You may be a person that wants to win more, but you also want to continue getting better. That’s fine, but accounting becomes slightly more difficult when the betting group has to figure out who made what bet. General advice: you don’t want to tie up too much of the credit with your own bets. Find somewhere else to make your personal bets. Weaning yourself off making bets into the account won’t be difficult when you see those wins rolling in, I promise.
- Not all PPH accounts are created equally.
- You may be thinking “I have a couple of credit accounts from local bookies, let’s get rich!” Before you start spending those millions, better take a look at what PPH “skin” you have. There are many, many different PPH providers that are referred to as skins. To further confuse bettors, not all betting groups agree on the name of each skin. This makes for a super annoying language barrier. Let’s all get on the same page people, so to determine what PPH skin you have, check out this document. Shoutout DocBettor, he’s good people. Anyways, betting groups don’t ever want to say “No” to taking on an account, but they also fail to mention that certain skins have fantastic detection of group betting and other technological measures to ensure winners can’t play. And this isn’t your dumb local bookie putting in these measures - it’s the PPH backend software. So you’ll hand over your Metallic, Buckeye2, or Ace accounts thinking you’ve hit the lottery, when in reality, certain skins basically can’t be used. Or they can be used, but the sharp group plays are going to get caught almost immediately. Of course, the betting groups won’t advertise any of this because it’s not in their best interest to do so. My view of the PPH world is the same as newspapers, but that’s a topic for another day.
- The people you’re going to work with have…..unique personalities.
- It’s probably a good thing they spend most of their time in front of a computer screen. Their conversational skills aren’t the best. What ever happened to thought out, coherent sentences all in one paragraph? Why do these sports betting groups have to send you messages that appear to come from someone that’s manic, drank 37 cups of coffee, and is doing lines of coke as they type? Here’s your typical telegram/signal/slack/discord exchange.
- It’s probably a good thing they spend most of their time in front of a computer screen. Their conversational skills aren’t the best. What ever happened to thought out, coherent sentences all in one paragraph? Why do these sports betting groups have to send you messages that appear to come from someone that’s manic, drank 37 cups of coffee, and is doing lines of coke as they type? Here’s your typical telegram/signal/slack/discord exchange.
You: Hey I’m interested in sending over some accounts, can you let me know how it works?
Them: yeah bro absolutely
Them: send over the accounts
Them: we win all the time it's crazy
Them: you can ask anyone about us
Them: we’ll get you taken care of
You: Ok but I don’t know how any of this works.
(2 Days Later)
Them: u sending those accts?
Keep in mind this is your typical exchange with a winning sports bettor. They come off as crazy people (because they are), but the thought of all that cash makes you deal with it. Always remember - the members of a betting group are the most important people on the planet. A normal human would disagree, but based on how little time they give anyone, you know they’re a big deal.
- The betting groups are filling your accounts with winners using some of the most unique, advanced technology in the industry.
- These betting groups collect hundreds of accounts. It’s not possible for them to hand-bet into every single account, especially when time is a major factor in inputting winners. Instead, the groups utilize what’s commonly referred to as a “bot.” The bot is instructed to bet a specific line with specific prices, and it automatically inputs the bets into hundreds of accounts at the exact same time. So the betting group may give the bot instructions such as “Mariners +125.” This means the bot will make a bet on the Mariners in every account on a site that has them listed at +125 or better. Bots are a must have in betting partnerships as they get bets down quickly, and in theory, the bot is logging in from the location you instructed, so it looks like you’re the one making bets. However, the #1 reason a bookie will give when they’re ready to give you the boot is that your action is being flagged as “bot action.” Let’s get something straight - 99% of bookies don’t know what the f*ck a bot is or how it works. In their minds, a bot is some sort of magical power source that sees the future and predicts winners. In reality, a bot is only as good as the user behind it. It executes exactly what you want it to execute, nothing more, nothing less. Bookies are just morons. However, as I mentioned above, many PPH providers are getting better at bot detection and I truly believe it has to be one of the main worries of betting partnerships.
- You’re going to win. And you’re going to get booted.
- I began this article trying to sympathize with you - the perpetual losing sports bettor that just wants to find a way to win. Well, a betting partnership is probably going to make you a winner and you’re going to feel invincible. However, the bookie, who has been your best friend as you paid for their childrens’ college, doesn’t seem to like you as much when the weekly payouts reverse course. In fact, they’re going to reach a point where they’ve determined you are no longer a desired customer and they’re going to show you the door. In this situation, we hope for two things:
- If you had a winning week, or you had multiple winning weeks that hadn’t been paid out yet, the money is still coming. There’s a good chance Mr. Book is pissed off about losing and is attempting to rationalize why you shouldn’t be paid. In this situation, keep in mind that at least 50% of the money owed to you is usually owed to your betting partner. This is where it gets a little tricky. Some betting groups are understanding (they’ve seen every type of stiff) and will work with you on what you should still be on the hook for. Other betting groups don’t give two shits that the book stiffed you and expect to be paid in full. This is one of the bigger potential downsides of a betting partnership.
- Not nearly as important, but we hope that over the lifetime of the account, you’re up on the book. There’s a special place in gambling hell for the books that boot you when you’re still down $10,000 but have won $20,000 in the last few months.
- When you get kicked, you’re probably going to be quite upset. And please don’t let the gambling community tell you to get over it. F*ck that, be a little pissed off. Yes, get your money first. But in my opinion, feel free to call out that hypocritical bookie for the gigantic pussy they are. Nothing will change, but you’ll feel better in the moment. It’s the little things in life…..Oh, and one more thing. You’re going to want to bitch and moan non-stop to your betting partners when it happens, especially if it was a super valuable (i.e. profitable) account. They may nod their head and half-ass some empathy texts, but as we already established, they don’t give a shit about you. Part of your value just dried up with the lost account. Getting shown the door hurts and you want them to care, but they don’t.
- I began this article trying to sympathize with you - the perpetual losing sports bettor that just wants to find a way to win. Well, a betting partnership is probably going to make you a winner and you’re going to feel invincible. However, the bookie, who has been your best friend as you paid for their childrens’ college, doesn’t seem to like you as much when the weekly payouts reverse course. In fact, they’re going to reach a point where they’ve determined you are no longer a desired customer and they’re going to show you the door. In this situation, we hope for two things:
My Personal Experience
OK, you’ve made it this far, let’s go just a little further. One of the main ways I want to connect with sports betting content consumers is by sharing, with as much detail as possible, what the topics I write about have looked like for me. My betting partnership journey is very similar to Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We’ve all heard the childrens’ story of that entitled bitch that started eating porridge and sleeping in beds that didn’t belong to her. Let’s apply that to betting partnerships.
- Betting Partnership #1
- This group was too rag-tag. Sometimes they got figures (weekly accounting done by groups to determine who is owed what) out on Monday, sometimes Tuesday, and sometimes they just didn’t come. Their communication skills weren’t great. This particularly annoyed me as my team and I had made them money with origination, and I couldn’t get a response for the most basic of questions. I always assumed this group was communicating with each other through a sophisticated network of strings and cups. BUT they were super nice, I really enjoyed the experience, and I would absolutely work with them again.
- Betting Partnership #2
- This group was too aggressive. Aggressive with the way they spoke in public forums, aggressive with the way they bet, aggressive with the way they handled relationships with partners. Their accounting was fantastic and super organized. Communication was alright, although this was a time when I was starting to try and learn as much as possible about the sports betting landscape and I was getting annoyed when groups wouldn’t let me in on some of the finer nuances, so somewhat of a “me” problem too. What sucked the most about this group is that they didn’t attempt to hide their sharpness in the least. Having worked with multiple groups, I’ve seen different styles of betting and some styles absolutely keep your account alive for a longer period of time. This group max bet ($500-$2,000) opening lines the second the line was posted. Kind of a dead giveaway for a bettor that knows what they’re doing. Additionally, this group would take positions early in the week based on how they thought an injury situation would shake out, but later in the week when the real injury news was released and it wasn’t what they expected, would play the other side of a game they bet. Some in the industry refer to this as “getting caught with your pants down.” I refer to it as tying up 20% of my credit line, eating vig for dinner, AND having to split the check. No thank you, sir.
- Betting Partnership #3
- This group was juuuust right. Their betting style keeps accounts alive for longer periods of time. They mix up the timing of their bets, the sports they bet on, and do a great job of disguising sharpness. Communication is good, probably because they’ve developed an organization with a fairly clear division of labor. I wouldn’t say they’re super nice, but as far as the gambling space goes, they’re on the nicer end of the spectrum. Now, it’s not all unicorns and rainbows. One of the main members of this group sends out a lot of pictures of Thanos’ dick. I mean, I always knew a betting partnership would mean seeing Thanos’ piece sometimes, but still, it’s something to consider when weighing your options. Joking aside, this third group is organized, somewhat friendly, and most importantly, wins ALL the damn time. I enjoy winning money.
- This group was juuuust right. Their betting style keeps accounts alive for longer periods of time. They mix up the timing of their bets, the sports they bet on, and do a great job of disguising sharpness. Communication is good, probably because they’ve developed an organization with a fairly clear division of labor. I wouldn’t say they’re super nice, but as far as the gambling space goes, they’re on the nicer end of the spectrum. Now, it’s not all unicorns and rainbows. One of the main members of this group sends out a lot of pictures of Thanos’ dick. I mean, I always knew a betting partnership would mean seeing Thanos’ piece sometimes, but still, it’s something to consider when weighing your options. Joking aside, this third group is organized, somewhat friendly, and most importantly, wins ALL the damn time. I enjoy winning money.
So that’s a wrap on betting partnerships. It’s a topic that I feel deserves some shine and an arrangement that should be considered by all bettors, from novices to pros. Finding ways to win at sports betting is extremely difficult - sometimes giving control to the experts is your best bet.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our Community Content writers do not reflect the opinions of The Hammer Betting Network nor our affiliates. The Community Content opinions are based upon information that the writer considers reliable, but neither The Hammer Betting Network nor its affiliates, nor the companies with which such participants are affiliated, warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such.