What is Hedged Betting?

Hedged betting is the practice of betting on multiple or all outcomes of a sportbook or casino bet in order to guarantee outcomes

Why Should You Hedge Your Bets?

When an online sportsbook or casino offers a promotion (especially a sign up bonus), you can hedge your bets to take advantage of the offers to the fullest. When done correctly, this practice most often guarantees a profit for the bettor.

Example:

Draftkings is offering you free $50 in casino credits IF you bet $122 on tonight’s Toronto Bluejays Moneyline. They are offering American Odds of -195. So without hedging, here are the potential outcomes of this bet:

Outcome Probability Total you Wagered Total Payout of Bet Total Profit / Loss
If Blue Jays Win 66.1% $122 $184.22 $62.22
If Blue Jays Lose 33.9% $122 $0 -$122

Therefore 66% of the time, you’ll win your bet AND get the casino credit. But 34% of the time, you will have lost $122 while obtaining the bet token

A Better Way – Hedging you Bets:

We find out that Fanduel is offering a payout of +180 for the opposing team. We can use the Hedge Calculators to find out that we should also place a hedged bet of $65 on the opposing team. The new outcomes of this bet would be:

Outcome Probability Total you Wagered Total Payout of Bet Total Profit / Loss
If Blue Jays Win 66.1% $122 on draftkings + $65 on Fanduel $184.22 -$2.78
If Blue Jays Lose 33.9% $122 on draftkings + $65 on Fanduel $182.00 -$5.00

Therefore, regardless of which team wins the game, we will receive the $50 casino credit while only potentially losing a maximum of $5!