This article was first published on the clubgowi website in July 2013....

Where should I bet online and which sportsbook is the best?

Nothing should surprise me any longer, I have been involved in gambling too long, but I am still a little shocked when someone writes to me and asks which company they should bet with, usually going on to add that "I only have an account with Bet365 or Paddy Power" or some similar company. Firstly, to limit yourself to one company is foolish in the extreme, you should always be looking to bet at best available prices and you are never going to get those sticking to just one or even two european style companies. Taking 2.20 or even 2.30 when 2.375 is available is just throwing money away and will make a huge dent in your profits ( or significantly increase losses) at the end of the year, I have tried to explain this to many bettors in the past and the usual response is usually something along the lines of "I am only betting £30 and the difference is just £5.25 ( 2.20-2.375), I will be happy if I just back a winner ". If you bet most days and quite a bit at the weekend, maybe 25 bets per week, the difference is actually HUGE, for a break even player, using the example given, over 3,100 euros per year.... 103 times that flat stake ! Secondly,if you are a winning bettor and surely that is the aim of all of us, sooner or later, all traditional style bookmakers will restrict you, either closing your account, or severely limiting any bet you wish to place.

The ideal punter for a traditional bookmaker .... a loser !

Traditional style bookmakers do not want your business unless you are going to lose, most companies have to report to shareholders and are run by accountants,who are not interested in "bad results" and much prefer FOTB's, casino and poker business, where the profit is "guaranteed". If you are betting sports and winning and still "getting on" with a traditional/european style bookmaker, then you are almost certainly a big earner for them through some other medium, either horse racing, casino, or via your rakeback at poker, there is no other reason. It is a quid pro quo deal, plug your "leak", stop losing your shirt at Cheltenham races, or playing online blackjack every night and see how long your winning football, or tennis bets are welcome.

Asian handicap betting to the rescue - low margins and high odds

If you are a winning football bettor and always look for best odds, you will probably already be betting asian handicaps, sooner or later everyone ends up betting on these markets, either through choice, or necessity. In a nutshell and speaking in general terms, asian handicap lines are set at lower margins, which means best prices, offer higher betting limits, across a wider spread of matches and no winning accounts are closed, infact, they are welcomed. Asian handicap betting is all about low margin, high turnover and restricting any individual is alien to this mindset, especially when it is possible to "earn" from winning clients, it is a completely different mentality.

Quite how much turnover the big "asian" bookmakers handle is open to debate, as they do not give exact figures, but it would not surprise me if each was in the low to mid billions and in excess of what most of the european bookmakers managed between them combined. Companies like SBOBET, IBC, Samvo and Pinnacle Sports might not be as well known to the man in the street, or the occasional gambler, but they have annual turnover equivalent to the GDP of a small(ish) nation.

Where to bet online with asian handicap markets ?

Personally, I bet through an agent, using clubgowi sponsor Sportmarket. Via them I can bet at several of the asian handicap bookmakers lised above, but through one account and with the additional security of them being EU based. That is not a massive concern for me, as I know how big all the asian companies are, but it is a major consideration for some . You can read more about Sportmarket on the our sponsor page of the clubgowi website.

So, your money is safe and no matter what you win, you will not be restricted, beyond the betting limits applied to each match. For most leagues these are very high, for example tonight on Bundesliga 2, I am able to bet over $11,000 on either of the three matches with SBOBET, over $7,000 on the goal line (over/under) market. On major leagues, on the day of the game, 2-3 times that amount, more than most punters will ever need. However, you could bet even more by arrangement, using the betbroking side of Sportmarket you could place up to five times + these limits, if there are any "whales" out there !

Traditional bookmaker profit margins v Asian bookmaker profit margins ... the difference is huge !

Basic idea of asian handicap betting is to level the playing field and have the possibility to bet both teams at competitive odds. There is no 1.20 for Manchester United to win, they will be handicapped (and I do not mean forced to play without a holding midfielder, that is through choice) so that you can bet them close to even money. This is the perfect way to bet football and it lends itself best of all in my opinion, to "live" or "in play" betting, if United are 4-0 up with 5 minutes to go, the match and "totals", can still be quoted and traded and this is when they often offer greatest value.

If I look again at those Bundesliga 2 matches tonight, I can see that the asian odds makers are quoting the games to a 1.5%-2.0 % margin, the 1X2 bookmakers to between a 6.75% and (shameful) 12.5% profit margin.

If you toss a coin, it is 50-50 heads or tails, or 2.0 /2.0 in betting terms, if a bookmaker quotes you 1.90/1.90 and you took £10 on each , he would take £20 and payout £19, a £1 or 5% profit margin. You can see what bad value that is and the higher the margin quoted by the bookmaker, the worse the odds.

An asian handicap company betting on this toss would offer 1.97/1.97, that might not be enough to tempt you in this instance, but it should be sufficient for to appreciate that they are betting to very small profit margins. The best of the 1X2 companies would be 1.865/1.865 for the coin flip, the "unnamed " company, who are famous for pushing the advertising boundaries, who offered that scandalous margin, would be 1.75/1.75 on the flip !

They can hide these profit margins a little by betting 1X2, but they are always there, with a coin flip, where we all know the true odds, you can see more easily what is going on.

Between the top 3-4 asian companies, you will get the best odds on any football match probably 99 times out of 100 and on the 100th occasion, by the time you reach the "other" company, the odds will have gone !

Brits who've hit the big time betting on asian handicaps.

If you bet football, you have to bet asian handicap lines. Who knows, by doing so you might end up owning your local football club.

That happened to Tony Bloom and Matthew Benham (pictured), two of the biggest European gamblers for the last decade or more. Hannah Karp of The Wall Street Journal, wrote an article about the pair of "former" friends, since when Benham has taken full control of his and my beloved Brentford. The pair have made fortunes betting on asian markets and if proof was ever needed that winners are welcome, it is this duo, who's march towards riches and taking over the club they supported as boys, would have been stopped dead in it's tracks before their boots were even worn in, if they had to bet in "europe". Obviously it goes without saying that MB has spent his money very wisely and got far and away the best of the two "investments" !

To maximise profits you have to always bet at the best possible odds, that means betting asian lines, if you need any more help, the clubgowi daily newsletter service offers even better value for money.

Good Luck.