Sports handicappers thrive on identifying advantages that give them an edge in sports betting. Depending on the level of experience and knowledge of different sports, handicapping sports can be quite lucrative. But given the unpredictability of sports betting, one may wonder, how do sports handicappers get their information? Is it that games are fixed, and they are nothing but cheats? Well, to ease your mind, sports handicappers are simply good at analyzing information, and they are not right at all times. To help you better understand handicappers, here are a few ways that they get their information.

1.    Public sources

Sometimes it is not the source or amount of information that matters, it is how it is used. In the case of sports, handicappers get most of their information from public sources, but analyze it in a much more refined way than a casual sports betting enthusiast. For instance, in soccer; information about which players will be in the field is always publicly available before the game.  Handicappers use this information to analyze team strength, and come up with their opinions. For instance, if a team like Barcelona is playing with an equally big team, and key strikers like Messi and Suarez are out with injuries, a handicapper can postulate that Barcelona’s chances of winning are low. The same applies across all sports.

2.  Collecting Primary data

Sports handicappers also invest time and resources to get primary information about a sport. For instance, in horse racing, a handicapper can invest time and money to study each horse in the race. Some of the things they can study include each horse winning’s history, its health before the game, among other factors. With this primary data, it becomes easier for a sports handicapper to make decisions that give them an advantage, over a casual betting enthusiast.

3.    Big data analysis

Big data is a term commonly thrown around in the tech world.  However, it applies in multiple industries including sports betting. A well-funded sports handicapper can employ AI to analyze huge amounts of data and make sense of it. For instance, by analyzing data about a basketball team, including its winnings history, and the scoring potential of each player, interesting information can come out of it. Most of this information may not be obvious to the casual sports fan, even when they are using simple statistical tools to make decisions. In essence, thanks to big data and AI in data analysis, a sports handicapper gains a clear advantage, and may appear to have insider information.

4.    Buying information

In every industry, no matter how regulated it is, there is always someone who knows something that gives them an edge over everyone else. It’s just life. Sports are no exception. Sports handicappers sometimes take advantage of this to buy information. The information they buy may not have a direct impact on the game, and it’s not illegal. However, it can help them make better decisions in trying to predict who will emerge the winner in a given sport. It may not be 100% correct, but even a 50% edge is much better than nothing.