Can You Trust Tipsters and Should You Follow Them?

There are many different ways of deciding what bets to place. You may decide to do this by following tipsters. This is one of the most popular ways of betting. But does it make sense to do so?

There are loads of tipsters out there. They cover all different sports and have varying approaches. Some offer free tips and others charge handsomely for it. Some will provide numerous tips each day and others just one or two.

So what do you need to know about this to be able to trust them?

Why Do Tipsters Provide Tips?

What is the first thing you need to understand when deciding whether to trust someone? It is probably what their motivation is. What is this person gaining from me? You need to stop and think why a tipster is giving away or selling potentially valuable information. Wouldn’t it be smarter to keep it to themselves and make more money?

The first answer is to make money. If they can get a few hundred punters paying them each month, it makes sense. They can make a lot of money regularly with no risk. Even if their predictions are wrong, they still earn money.

Compare this to placing huge bets on their own tips. This would be extremely risky. Getting paid to provide tips lowers their exposure. Of course, if they lose consistently then the subscribers will eventually dry up.

You might think that a good tipster makes millions from their knowledge. But the truth is that most of them don’t. One of their biggest problems is in placing bets. If they are known in the industry or win a lot, their bookie accounts will be suspended. Selling tips might be their only way of benefiting from what they know.

Others like the adulation. Just imagine how great it would be to have people thanking you every week. Every time a tipster gets its right they are praised on forums and on social media. This must be very satisfying for them.

The previous points are the good reasons. These are tipsters whose interests align with your own. But there are others to be aware of.

For example, some tipsters are bookmaker affiliates. These are people whose main interest is in getting you to sign up with a bookie. They then get a percentage of your losses. You can’t expect a great service from someone who operates in this way.

So, the first step is to understand what category a tipster is in. If they are affiliates, the alarm bells should start ringing. Even if they aren’t dishonest as such, their motivation isn’t what you would want it to be.

Why Do People Trust Tipsters?

It is fairly easy to see why tipsters offer their services. But to know whether to trust them we need to dig deeper. The next step is to understand why people follow tipsters.

After all, there are plenty of other ways of betting these days. You could look for value bets or matched betting offers. Isn’t tipping a bit old-fashioned?

The truth is that there are still a range of reasons for doing this. The following are some of the main ones.

• It is an easy way to place bets. You normally just wait for a daily email to come through. You then place your bet on the tip, if you want to. Some of them will even tell you how much to place and what odds you should get. If you aren’t convinced, just do nothing. This method can fit in with just about any lifestyle.
• They tend to win more often than without tips. Or at least punters might think this. It is easy to remember the wins and forget the losses. So you might think that a tipster is more successful than is really the case. This is why it is so important to keep a good record of the bets placed and the results.
• It is usually fairly low cost. Most tipsters offer a reasonably priced service. Some are even free. This means that it isn’t a big deal to subscribe to one of them. You are hoping to get more or less pure profit out of it. Even a losing month loses a bit of its edge when the information cost you little.
• The feeling of being in the know. A lot of bettors like the feeling of getting tips. This is like getting one over the bookies with secret knowledge. You might feel as though you have your own secret source of insider info. Of course, this is only a benefit if you win more than you lose.
• No training or experience is needed. Anyone can sign up and start betting on the tips received. You don’t know to know anything about the sport or about betting. If you are busy then this is a definite advantage. You don’t even know to know anything about how the tips are obtained.

Are There Good Tipsters?

There are tipsters out there with good track records. Some of them appear to have genuine insider info. Others use systems and databases to work out who to bet on. You can choose from sites that have a range of tipsters if you want to. This makes it easier to compare them.

The best ones are generally well-known in the industry It is almost impossible for a successful tipster to stay low profile. Many of them also come from a racing background and know a lot of the industry’s key figures.

People will be talking about them all over the internet before long too. If a new tipster starts ripping up trees you will see them mentioned a lot. More established tipsters can usually be researched online. You might find an old interview or a LinkedIn profile or something.

This doesn’t mean that a good tipster will always win you money. There is no such thing as a fail-proof tipster. They will all have losses. Some might even have long losing streaks.

It isn’t unknown for a big-name tipster to completely lose their mojo either. Maybe the sources of information dry up. Perhaps their system stops working. You will probably never know why you stop winning if this happens.

In fact, this is one of the big issues with nearly all tipsters. You don’t know how they get their tips. If you don’t know how they do this, how can you trust them? All you can tell is that they have produced good figures in the past. Going forward, who knows?

You are really just trusting them based on past results. It is a sort of blind faith, as you don’t know how they are doing it. This is something that not everyone is comfortable with. It does add some extra excitement to the whole business, though.

Are These Scams and Fakes?

It’s time to look to the other side of the coin now. We know that there are good, genuine tipsters out there. But are there bad ones too? Of course there are. Just as there are poor choices in every industry. The key is in being able to spot them.

Before we look at scams and fakes, what about poor tipsters? These are people who genuinely try their best. But for whatever reason they lose more than they win. This sort of tipster isn’t going to make you money. Although they will probably win you some bets now and then.

These poor tipsters probably won’t try and fool you. But they still need to sound like confident winners. So they will try and show their results in the best possible light. They might be slow to update the details of a losing streak, for example.

Scams and frauds are less common but you should be wary of them. We saw earlier the type that is a bookie affiliate. This is probably the worst kind of tipster you will come across. You may also find dodgy offerings on social media or in your inbox.

The best approach is to be suspicious at first. Especially if they contact you out of the blue. Any tipster has to gain your trust. If you have doubts, just forget about them. There are plenty of others out there.

Should You Trust Tipsters Results?  

No tipster is going to tell you how bad they are. Even if they are low on confidence just now, they need to convince you otherwise. The results on their site can’t lie though. Or can they?

They all want you to believe that they give an easy way of making money. There are a number of ways that they do this.

• Selective use of results. It is impressive when you see a tipster holding a big winning cheque. Or when they tell about how many wins they have had in the last year. But how many bets have they lost? Anyone who places a lot of bets will eventually win some of them. You can only judge a betting service on its overall profitability. So you need to see all of their results for all of their rips.
• Using old figures. Some tipsters have a hot streak for a month or a year or whatever. This is great, but you can’t judge them on just this. What has happened since then? What about before then? If a tipster shows old data or there are no dates on it, ask yourself why. If they had been as successful recently, you can be sure they would have updated their site.
• Choosing lots of short odds favourites. Tipster can boost their figures very easily. Just choose lots of short odds favourites and some of them will win. There is no skill in this, as anyone can do it. Crucially, you won’t make any money from just choosing the favourites all the time. There has to be more to their offering than this.

How to Choose One

As we have seen, there are a few factors to take into account. It can seem almost impossible to choose a tipster at first. They will all tell you how great they are and how much money you will make with them.

But we now know that the results will vary greatly. Choose the right tipster and you will probably stick with them for a while. Make the wrong choice and you will be looking for a new one before long.

Thankfully, there are some ways of making a good decision on this matter.

• Check out independent reviews. What are other people saying about them? Some reviews will include details of a trial period with full results. This lets you see exactly how they perform. Does it match the tipster’s claims? Of course, the trial period might cover a particularly lucky or unlucky spell. But it is still a decent approach to seeing whether to expect a profit or not.
• Read betting forums and social media. People usually aren’t slow to praise or criticise tipsters. You can find out a lot on social media and betting forums. Everyone’s experience is different, so don’t just take someone’s word for it. But this is a good way to get a feel for a service. If the majority are all saying the same thing it is probably true.
• Use a free trial period. A lot of good tipsters offer you a free trial service. It might just be for a few days, but it can help you to decide. Take a look at what they offer. Does it look right for your needs? Above all, does it inspire confidence? You can then decide whether to pay for a longer period of tips.
• Try their free tips. Another possibility is that they offer different levels of service. For example, some offer free tips. You can then upgrade to a paid subscription if you are impressed. This isn’t particularly common these days. And the free tips will be limited. But it is a good idea that is worth trying if you can.
• Fully research their figures. If the tipster has listed their results, took a look at them. Are they recent and do they appear genuine? You will want to find regular wins at decent odds. The more details that are provided the better.
• Take a look at their customer service. A good, professional tipster will probably give a high level of service. Look for customers praising the speed of their replies. You might even see their replies on the site or on social media. On the other hand, a poor level of service means they should be avoided.

Will You Make Money?

This is the most important point of all. And it is also the most difficult to answer. No tipster can guarantee you future wins. If they do then they aren’t being completely honest with you.

The nature of their business means that you never know what is around the corner. Last month’s wins are history and you need the same again this month.

All you can do is assess what they offer and their track record. If they have a good system it should be clear from past profits. In this case, you would expect the wins to keep on coming. Some tipsters manage to maintain a high level of consistency. Others will vary greatly from one month to the next.

This is the main reason that tipsters don’t suit everyone. Most people want to see wins pretty much all the time. They get disappointed with a run of losing tips. It is easy to then think that you would be just as well choosing your own bets.

You can’t look on this as a guaranteed way of making money. You will lose from time to time. So your bankroll management is extremely important. Some tipsters will give you guidance on this but others won’t.

Can You Trust Tipsters?

Let’s go back to the initial question. Can you trust tipsters? We have seen that some can be trusted and some can’t.

But let’s narrow it down further. What can they be trusted to do? They can’t be trusted to always give you wins. No one can promise you this.

All that a good tipster can do is promise to deliver an honest service. They will do their best to make you money. They will try and look after your interests and give you honest advice in good faith.

What if you find a tipster like this who also has a decent track record? To be fair, it is about as much as you can expect.

Can You Trust Tipsters & should you follow them?

Having discussed this subject at length, we finally reach the key point. Should you follow a tipster? It really comes down to personal preference. It is clear that winning bets like this is pretty exciting. But making a profit is difficult to do. Especially when you need to pay a membership fee each week or month.

If you are tempted to use a tipster then just remember what we have looked at. All you can do is find one that inspires your confidence and seems profitable. After that, it is all about trying to make money and getting through the losing streaks.