If you bet on football which is the most popular or sports in general and are not keeping records of the wagers you place, you're making a mistake. Keeping betting records is very important if you want to maximize your profits, which is why it's something that pretty much every serious bettor does. It's still a good idea even if you just bet mostly for fun.
Keeping records is not at all difficult to do; you just need to make some brief notes every time you place a wager. This is well worth doing, as spending this little bit of extra time comes with several benefits. We discuss the biggest of these benefits below, and also provide some advice for keeping accurate and helpful records.
Track Your Winnings/Losses
A lot of bettors don't know how much they are winning or losing with any degree of accuracy. This is especially true for those who just bet for recreational purposes. You might not think it matters too much, but there are reasons why you should know this information.
First, you might be losing more than you think. It's not uncommon for bettors to remember the times they win and forget the times they lose. Losing money is not necessarily a problem if you're gambling with money you can afford to lose, and getting some entertainment in return, but you should still keep track of the numbers involved. You may be spending more than you want to, in which case it could be time to reduce your stakes or the number of wagers you place.
Of course, it's also perfectly possible that you are winning money. You might even be winning more money than you think. In this case, it may be time to start taking your betting more seriously. If you are already turning a consistent profit, imagine what you could achieve if you put the effort in. By dedicating a bit more time to your betting, you may be able to make a very good income.
Find Your Strengths & Weaknesses
Many recreational bettors bet on a range of different sports and a range of different events. They also tend to place several different types of wagers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach, but if you're not keeping records of your betting then you probably have no idea where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
You may do very well on one or two particular sports, for example, but not so well on the others. It helps if you know this information, as identifying your strengths and weaknesses enables you to do two things that may improve your overall results.
First, you can start to focus primarily on the areas where you are strong. If you concentrate your efforts on betting on the sports you have some success with, and stop betting on the sports you don't, you should see an increase in profits. At the very least, you should hopefully reduce your losses.
Alternatively, you can put some effort into analyzing where you're going wrong in the areas you are weak. If you're not doing well with your tennis wagers, for example, you can look through your results for those wagers and try and see what mistakes you're making. This is not necessarily easy to do, but if you spend some time on it, you will get the hang of it
Assess New Strategies & Systems
Even if you view sports betting as a form of entertainment rather than as a way to make money, you would surely still prefer to get the best results possible. You might not mind losing money, but you would probably get even more enjoyment if you won instead.
As such, you should always be looking to improve your results in any way you can.
One way to do this is to test out new strategies and systems. For this to be effective, though, you have to keep records of how they do. This is the only way you will know if a strategy or system is working for you. If you get good results from a new strategy, then obviously you want to continue with it. If you don't, then you need to either give up on the strategy or look for possible adjustments to it. Again, this is easier to do if you include plenty of information in your records.