Can you show me a working example of a sports arbitrage opportunity and how the investment would be staked?

A sports arbitrage opportunity is shown below:

A correctly staked investment of £1,000 guarantees a return of £1,042.50 no matter the outcome. That's £42.50 profit due to discrepancies in the bookmakers' odds guaranteeing a 4.255% profit on your investment!

The above information tells us that a match betting market exists in the French Ligue A volleyball tournament between Montpellier and Stade Poitevin. It also tells us that Stan James have odds of 3.75 for Montpellier to win and that Bet365 have odds of 1.444 for Stade Poitevin to win. There is no option for a draw in this betting market.

By applying a simple mathematical formula to those odds, we are able to calculate that we can cover both possible outcomes of the bet and make a guaranteed 4.255% return on our investment.

We would invest our money in proportion to the odds on each possibility. The amount to invest on each outcome is calculated using another simple formula. £278 invested on Montpellier returns £1,042.50 and £722 invested on Stade Poitevin returns £1,042.57.

£278 x 3.750 £1,042.50
£722 x 1.444 £1,042.57

Risk free profit = £42.50

Our members have access to several arbitrage calculation tools that automatically calculate the size of the arbitrage opportunity AND how much to stake on each selection!

Back to our sports arbitrage frequently asked questions.