takeBetting was a sports betting advisory service offering free picks, including both backs and lays, from its statistical model. Verified by Sports-Tipsters from the 2nd March 2014 until the last tip on the 18th December 2014. Se below for reasons for closure.
Sports-Tipsters' opinion:
Bets are advised exactly 1 hour before match start times and this can mean some picks are advised when members will be asleep and therefore unable to place the bets. Sports-Tiptsers also holds the view that this peculiar method of selection timing is probably not a method that will lend itself to finding value. A priori we sould expect market efficiency to increase and value to decrease on average as we get closer to start time as more and more opinions (and traded money) is reflected in the market. Converselely, we would reasonably expect more value betting opportunities to be found much earlier in the evolution of betting odds, where bookmakers have had less opportunity to identify mistakes and correct lines. (This is the wisdom of the crowds argument.) Of course, sometimes late team news will present value opportunities, but simply ingoring value availability at other times would then suggest this method is just a method for its own sake. Certainly on the evidence of the performance thusfar takeBetting would appear to be unable to find much value using this method.
Comment posted 7th January 2015
On the 7th January 2015 the owner of takeBetting contacted Sports-Tipsters to explain the he would be closing the service since it had become apparent that his methodology was not working. I am of the view that whilst the service had been incredibly unlucky in the bankroll evolution that it had experienced, the methodolgy was indeed flawed for the reason originally posted above. Nonetheless, the ower should be commended for his honesty and humilty in reaching his conclusion.
