Handicappers And Buying Picks

Handicappers are professional sports bettors that sell their picks. 


There is a second economy outside that of the bettor and the sportsbook, and that is one between handicappers and bettors looking for advice.  If you find a good handicapper, it can be quite profitable, but the world of selling picks is not regulated, there is no higher power holding the handicappers accountable, and you are always at risk if your handicapper goes on a cold streak. It is an industry and business that has earned its fair share of controversy.

The lure of making money by betting on sports is an attractive value proposition that appeals to many of those new to sports betting. Leave the hard work to the handicappers, and ride their purported win streaks to incredible returns on investment! If the handicappers are being honest, it is a win/win!  The handicappers make some extra money, the customer wins, and the sportsbook operator gets more volume.

Buying picks is simple, most handicappers have paypal accounts and automatically send their picks to your email once your purchase is complete.  There are also dedicated sites with infrastructure for handicappers to post and sell their picks, records, and prices.  Buying picks seems like an attractive and pain-free option.

Of course, there is always a catch.  There is no strict governance over handicappers, and of course they can always make mistakes.  Handicappers can reset their balance at anytime they like, claiming they are “up 30 units” when all their picks prior have been wrong.  There is no guarantee that the handicappers themselves are making the bets they recommend, or even that they are recommending the same bets to all their customers.

There is a strategy in which a handicapper will recommend one side to half their customers, and another to the other half.  Of course half wins and half loses, but the handicapper keeps all of the money they made from selling the picks, as well as gets goodwill from half of the customers they had.  Those customers will give the handicapper money for more picks, when in fact the picks are just luck.  Once everyone is unsatisfied, a handicapper can create a new persona and start over.

Also, you are still gambling, but just not on a sport, but instead on a person.  The handicapper could be right, could be wrong.  Are they right enough that it compensates you for the fee you pay for the picks?