Big Market and Small Market in Sports Betting

To our surprise, a lot of individuals – and not just beginners – do not know anything about the Big Market and Small Market in sports betting. This again speaks of the lack of theory among a majority of bettors. For people who are interested in contemporary tools, online betting apps for iPhone can also offer a convenient method of trying these methods out in practice.

Without understanding these basics, it’s impossible to approach betting at a professional level. In this article, we’ll briefly go over these two important terms that can be useful for both newcomers and experienced bettors.

What Are Big Market and Small Market?

A Big Market is a term used to describe betting markets in which bookmakers accept the highest stakes. These are typically big tournaments or events, where there is little to no chance of match-fixing. Big markets generally consist of wagers on match results or overall totals.

A Small Market, on the other hand, is any betting market where the bookmaker has much lower stake limits. But it's incorrect to assume that big markets are always "good" and small markets "bad." Indeed, there's money to be made from both of them.

Features of Big Markets

The best thing about big markets is that you can bet big without it having a significant effect on the betting line. Even a big bet won't shift the odds by very much – if they do shift at all, it's by the smallest possible increment.

Some of the key advantages of big markets include:

• Ability to bet high stakes with very minimal line movement.
• Odds are stable even close to the beginning of the match.
• Reduced risk of account restrictions compared to small markets.

Another advantage is stability: bettors can place bets long before a match without a danger of sharp declines in odds. 

There's a slightly lesser chance of getting your betting account restricted when targeting large markets too. The reason is simple: the majority of players are recreational bettors who don't dissect matches in-depth, so their money comes into the main results of high-profile events.

Features of Small Markets

Small markets are a different kettle of fish altogether. These bets are highly money-flow sensitive, so the odds can change very quickly. The majority of punters who bet in small markets moan about the prices they receive when they take a bet not being the same as the initial offer. On top of that, it is usually impossible to put on large stakes.

Because of this, speed and timing are crucial. For sharp bettors, though, small markets can yield a tremendous advantage: bookmakers have a tendency to get the pricing of odds wrong.

Since most sportsbooks don't take the time to handicap low-profile tournaments, the initial odds can be unreal. As the market reacts, the lines start moving. It is not unusual for a team to be favored upon the opening line, only to be the underdog an hour or two later.

It requires specialist knowledge and access to unusual information to handicap small markets, but the reward could be worth the extra effort.

Final Thoughts

There are positives and negatives to both small and large markets. Large markets are more popular as they allow higher stakes and are less volatile. Small markets, due to their higher risk and workload, are the markets where bookmakers are more likely to offer incorrect odds.

It's not a matter of which one is better overall – they are both handy. But for a beginner sports bettor, it's riskier to stick to small markets until they gain more experience before experimenting with big markets.