Since time immortal, one of the favorite pastimes of sport freaks has been gambling. Gambling is exciting, considering the risk involved, the luck factor and the chance to make a lot of money in a couple of hours. Online gambling is becoming popular with millions of people on the other side of the globe, with more visiting betting sites and online casinos popping up on the internet than in the past. One great good thing about having this facility online is remember, which it is accessible from any place which has an active internet access. This has made gambling a sport in itself, available to millions of new people.

There's been a boom within the online betting industry as well as the sort of profits many sites are enjoying now is unimaginable. Online casinos are not to be left behind, as there has been a rapid explosion of these also. Actually, online poker gives gambling, a glamour quotient by roping in celebrities for high profile tournaments. What this means is reaching out to a whole new market in itself.

But remember, the most successful story is the rise of sports betting. Fans who have enjoyed betting on games like soccer, football, polo, baseball, hockey and horse racing, can now do so online with the help of these sites. A whole new selection of sports are cropping up to encourage the already soaring popularity of online betting. It may be correct to claim that audiences are now enjoying the betting experience without having to be at the field themselves. Welcome to the world of virtual reality.

There are actually innumerable so-called gambling experts ready to dish out information of their systems to 'beat the bookie' or to make a second income from gambling, for a price of course. I will not do that. I will simply give you details about bookmakers, odds and gambling that you can use (or forget) while you see fit.

The first thing to mention is the fact that the majority of men and women who engage in gambling will be net losers over time. This really is the very reason you can find so many bookmakers making so much cash throughout the world.

While bookmakers can sometimes take big hits, for example if a favourite wins the Grand National, they spread their risk so widely and they setup markets that incorporate a margin, so they will always generate a profit over the medium to long term, if not the short-term. Which is, as long since they got their sums right.

When setting their odds for a particular event, bookmakers must first study the probability of that event occurring. To do this they us various statistical models based on data collated over years, sometime decades, about the sport and team/competitor in question. Remember, if sport was 100% predictable, it will soon lose its appeal, and as the bookies are often spot on with their assessments of the probability of an event, they can be sometimes way off the mark, simply because a match or contest goes against conventional wisdom and statistical likelihood.

Just look at any sport and you shall find an occasion in the event the underdog triumphs against all of the odds, literally. Wimbledon beating the then mighty Liverpool in the FA Cup Final of 1988, by way of example, or perhaps the United States beating the then mighty USSR at ice hockey within the 1980 Olympics are two examples of when you could have got handsome odds on the underdog. And could have won a reliable wedge.

The big bookmakers spend a whole lot of time and expense ensuring they have the right odds that ensure they take into account the perceived probability of the event, and after that add that extra tiny bit that gives them the profit margin. So if an event has a probability of, say, 1/3, the odds that reflect that probability could be 2/1. That is, two to one against that event occurring.

On the flip side, a bookie who set these odds would, over time, break even (assuming their stats are correct). So instead they will set the odds at, say, 6/4. Inside this way they have built-in the margin that guarantees, over-time, they're going to make the most of people betting on this selection. It is the exact same concept as a casino roulette.

Now how can you spot the occasions when bookmakers have got it wrong? Well, it's easier said than done, but far from impossible.

One way is to get great at mathematical modelling and setup a model which takes into consideration as many of the variables that affect the outcome of an event as possible. The problem with this tactic is the fact that however complex the model, and however all inclusive it seems, it can never account for the minutiae of variables relating to individual human states of mind. Whether a golfer manages to hole a major-winning five foot putt on the 18th at St Andrews it's as much down to their concentration as to the weather or day of the week. On top of that, the maths can start getting pretty darn complicated.

Alternatively you can find yourself a sporting niche. Bookmakers will concentrate their resources on the events which make them the most money, generally found to be football bet (check) (soccer), American football and horse racing. So trying to beat the bookies while betting on a Manchester United v Chelsea match will be tough. Unless you work with one of the clubs, or are married to one of the players or managers, it is very likely the bookmaker setting the odds shall have more information than you.