Pros and Cons of Tipping Services
Many folks who are pressed for time are highly attracted to sports betting tipping services. When life gets busy, it can be hard to find the time to locate and analyze statistics to make sports wagers.
Another group of folks attracted to tipping services are those that would like to bet but don’t feel as if they have the knowledge to do it correctly. In this case, these individuals might have the time to investigate stats, but they don’t have the know-how of what to do with those statistics.
If you’re looking for information relating to the pros and cons of tipping services, you’ve come to the right place. In this in-depth guide, we’ll give you the full low down about everything relating to the pros and cons of these sports betting tipping services. In addition, we’ll also fill you in on what they are, how they work, frequently asked questions, and more. By the time you finish reviewing this guide, you’ll find yourself much more informed on the topic of tipping services. Now, let’s jump into the good stuff!
Tipping Services: What are They?
For starters, let’s talk about what a tipping service actually is. At a high level, a tipping service is a sports betting handicapper service. Their primary goal is to sell their picks and insights to clients in exchange for a fee. In short, tipping services are in the business of selling sports picks.
In most cases, tipping services are a more advanced form of handicappers. Often, a tipping service is comprised of a staff of many different handicappers. Compared to a standalone tout or tipster, tipping services tend to be a bit more advanced in their marketing and communication since they have a team as opposed to just one person.
How Tipping Services Work
Now, let’s discuss how tipping services work. 99.9% of tipping services out there charge a fee for their services. Now and then, we’ll come across a tipping service that offers a handful of free picks to new clients to have them try the service out. However, this is very rare. For the most part, you should expect to pay for all of your picks from a tipping service.
Most often, you’ll pay for your sports betting tips in one of two ways. You can either pay on a per pick basis, or you can subscribe to a more extensive set of picks. We’ll showcase more information on both of these options below so that you can see which setup might be the best for your sports betting needs.
Up first, we’ll talk about using a tipping service on a pay per pick basis. Under this setup, you literally will pay for each pick that you wish to buy from the service. This is the best way to get things started as it gives you the chance to test the waters without having to invest a ton of cash. If you don’t love the quality of the picks you’re getting, you won’t be out too much cash if you’ve used this payment method.
Another option is to move up to a more significant season betting pass, which we’ll discuss next. However, if you don’t like the picks that the service is providing you, you can move along and locate another one to test out.
The other way to use a tipping service is to buy a broader package deal from them. In many cases, you’ll purchase something like a season pass from them. By doing this, you’ll get access to all of their picks for a particular sport for that sport’s entire season. The best part of this plan arrangement is that you end up getting more for your money in most cases. Instead of paying per pick, you get unlimited access the whole season. This type of plan can be excellent for those placing tons of wagers throughout a season.
It’s worth noting that some tipping services charge an additional fee if their pick is correct. This is most common in pay per pick scenarios. If you’ve already paid them for your pick, you might also owe them a percentage of what you won using their pick. These percentages vary from service to service, so it is best to shop around. Ideally, try to locate a tipping service that doesn’t charge this additional winning fee.
Pros of Using Tipping Services
In this section, we’ll detail the top pros relating to the use of a tipping service. While checking these out, don’t forget to also check out the section below about the cons of tipping services. Before you make your decision, you’ll want to make sure to understand the full picture of the good and the bad.
You Can Save Time
One of the main draws to tipping services is the ability to save time. If you’re tight on time, using a tipping service might allow you to make some more wagers than you otherwise would have been able to if you had to do your own research. We definitely understand that nearly everyone has a busy life between work, kids, and anything else that life throws at them. If this is you, then you might enjoy the added benefit of using a tipping service.
You Can Make Better Picks
If you’re just not that good with sports betting, tipping services are also something that can allow you access to picks from professional handicappers. It’s understandable that you might not know how to go about making quality picks with so much information out there on sports. One thing to keep in mind is that this pro is only a pro if you’ve found yourself an excellent tipping service that is good at what they do. Otherwise, your picks might not be any better than had you just done them yourself.
Access to a Large Variety of Tips
With so many tipping services out there, it’s hard to find a sport that doesn’t have a service offering tips on it. For this reason, it gives you tons of opportunity to bet on a broader range of sports than you usually would have. Using a tipping service, you might feel more comfortable placing wagers in sports that you otherwise would not have ever bet on.
Cons of Using Tipping Services
On the flip side of the coin, it’s essential that we visit the cons of using tipping services. While there are some great pros to the services, there are some cons too. Below, we’ll cover the cons in more detail to help outline the potential drawbacks of tipping services.
There Are Lots of Scammers
Unfortunately, there are a significant amount of scammers out there in the tipping service world. For these scammers, they are just in it to rip folks off. This is a big con as you have to work to locate the good ones in the overall mix. While it does take some work on your part to investigate, it will be worth your time so that you end up with a legit tipping service. Check out the next section below to see our tips on how you can find an excellent tipping service.
There Are Plenty of Bad Handicappers
Also in the mix of tipping services are ones that utilize bad handicappers. In this case, the organization isn’t set up like a scammer. Here, they are trying to run a legitimate operation. However, the problem is they have not hired quality handicappers. Therefore, the quality of the picks overall most likely isn’t going to be really great. You’ll want to work to find a tipping service that has excellent handicappers on staff so that you’re getting better tips overall.
There is an Associated Cost
If you’re paying a tipping service for your picks, just remember that there is an associated cost for using these services. For some folks, this is a con. This is especially true if you don’t have a massive bankroll.
In some ways, using a tipping service can help you increase your overall profitability if they are feeding you enough winning picks. However, you’d have to carefully analyze what you are spending for the picks versus the profit you would have otherwise made just betting yourself. If you’re not already using some sort of Excel file to help you track your betting profitability, it’s a good idea regardless if you decide to use a tipping service or not.
Fun Factor
For some folks, using a tipping service might take away the fun of sports betting. If you enjoy sorting through statistics to make your sports wagers, then having the picks given to you might take away some of that fun. In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor con. However, we wanted to be sure to mention it so that you were aware of the potential drawback.
What You Should Look For in a Good Tipping Service
If you’ve decided that you’re going to employ a tipping service to aid you in making your sports wagers, take a moment to check out this section. Here, we’ll give you the details on the top things that you should look for in an excellent tipping service. Be sure to keep these things in mind as you investigate potential picking services.
Low Cost
Up first, you should aim to find a tipping service that is low cost. The reason for this is twofold. For one, you don’t want to bet the farm until you know that the picks you’re receiving are good.
If you go with a tipping service that only offers a season subscription for big bucks, you’re out of money if their picks end up being terrible. Instead, look for a service that lets you start with a lower cost by selecting only a game or two at a time.
Secondly, you don’t want to have paid in a large sum of money if it turns out that the service you settled on is a scam. Often, we see folks paying a large sum of money to join a tipping service thinking that they have to be legit due to the high cost. However, sometimes, their substantial investment is gone forever thanks to the scammers. Unfortunately, there are a ton of scam tipping services out there, so it is best if you limit your starting cash until they prove themselves to you.
Verifiable Historical Statistics
Most importantly, look for a sports betting tipping service that has valid historical statistics. It’s easy for anyone out there to claim that they have a stellar pick record on a flashy website or mailer. However, many of them don’t have the data to support their claims.
If a tipping service is a scam, they often will use fantastic marketing materials to tell you all about their outstanding win percentage. This is how they bait in victims as their claimed winning percentage just seems like a no-brainer to folks that haven’t done any research. However, it is crucial for you to remember that if it looks like it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.
When a tipping service actually has a reasonable percentage winning rate, there isn’t a good reason for them not to want to share that supporting data with their clients. In theory, they’ll convert more potential clients if they can prove their claims are accurate and authentic. If you don’t find supporting statistics quickly on their website or marketing materials, you can go about trying to get them a couple of different ways. The best method is just to reach out via phone or email to request supporting documentation of their claims.
We’d always suggest that you don’t spend any money with a tipping service until they have shown you some proof of their success rate. If you’ve asked for them to provide this to you and they dodge the question or don’t reply, continue to look for another tipping service. Remember, a legit tipping service has no reason to hide their results.
How to Stay Safe
If you decide that you’d like to pursue a tipping service, you’ll want to make sure that you stay safe. Ultimately, your goal should be to find a legitimate service that isn’t a scam. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the best ways that you can help protect yourself when it comes to tipping services.
Start Small
Our first tip for you to stay safe when utilizing tipping services is for you to start small. Instead of risking the whole farm early on, we’d suggest that you take things in baby steps. Until you gain some comfort in working with the tipping service, you really should only dip your toe in the water.
Our suggestion would be for you to first pay for a few single game picks instead of signing up for an entire season of picks at a much higher price tag.
Once you see how the first few single game picks go, then you can decide on your next steps. If you feel comfortable with the service, you can then consider expanding and doing more. However, if you don’t feel comfortable or the quality of the picks wasn’t that great, then you can explore another potential tip service. Ultimately, just make sure that you don’t go too nuts with your investment in the service until you’re somewhat comfortable with the fact that they are not a scam operation.
Trust your Instincts
This next one is pretty simple and straightforward. Always trust your gut. If something just doesn’t feel right to you about a potential tipping service, walk away. There are many options out there for you to explore, so you should not feel like you’re stuck with just one. Do some homework on another service and then test things out with them instead.
Consult the Fine Print
If you’ve located a tipping service that you’d like to try out, we’d highly recommend that you read the fine print before kicking things off. This is especially true if you’re entering into a season pick pass that involves a higher investment on your part. As with any significant expense, you should make sure that there isn’t anything wild in the fine print.
While scanning the terms and conditions of the tipping service, there are a handful of things to keep a lookout for. Up first, check the cancellation terms. You’ll want to have a firm understanding of how, if, and when you can cancel. Secondly, see if they offer any sort of money back guarantee for a select period. Using this, you can test drive things with a much lower exposure to loss if their picks stink or if the operation is a scam. Finally, just make sure that nothing else in the fine print comes across as odd or worrisome to you. At the end of the day, the fine print is a contract between you and the tipping service, which means that you’ll want to be comfortable with everything contained within it.
Avoid Services Touting Sky-High Success Rates
Up next, you’ll want to avoid using a tipping service that touts sky high success rates. In most cases, this should be a huge red flag for you. Unfortunately, we see this all too often. What’s worse is that many folks fall for these sky-high rates and end up getting scammed.
In general, you should be cautious with any tipping service that is advertising a success rate of 70% or higher. When we look at the success rates from professional sports bettors, most of them only have a success rate in the 50-60% range. Therefore, if the pros are in that neck of the woods, we don’t have any reason to believe that a pick service is going to perform much better than that.
Some of the worst offenders out there will claim that they have a success rate higher than 80%. If you come across one of these, be sure to keep looking elsewhere as that tipping service is most likely a scam. While you want a tipping service that is successful, you also want one that is realistically successful.
Referrals from Friends
One of the best things that you can do to help protect yourself is to use references from your friends. If your circle of friends includes folks that utilize tipping services, be sure to get their opinion. Find out who they are using and if they are happy with the quality of the picks or not.
Just make sure that you trust the friend giving you this information. If it’s more of an acquaintance that you don’t really know that well, you probably want to take his advice with a grain of salt. However, if one of your most trusted friends tells you that they use and like a particular tipping service, then you should have a reasonable comfort level to check it out thanks to his recommendation.
Consult the Internet
Another option to help you find an excellent tipping service is to use the internet. By doing simple Google searches on services that you are considering, you can often find a variety of feedback out there from multiple sources. In general, as with anything on the internet, take it all with a grain of salt.
What you’ll want to look for are trends. If you search a tipping service, and every result is about how much of a scam they are, then that’s probably a good sign for you to avoid it. However, if the vast majority of the results are positive, and you only find a single negative complaint or review, then you’re probably in better hands there. Using the internet for your research is a great way to help you gain a better understanding of the services that you are considering.
Do Your Own Handicapping
The most sure-fire way to prevent yourself from getting scammed is just not to use a tipping service. By doing your own handicapping, you’ll avoid that likelihood altogether. While this guide is about tipping services, it’s worth pointing out that you don’t need to use one at all.
Unfortunately, a significant amount of the tipping services out there are scams that are a complete waste of money. We definitely understand the allure of using a tipping service due to time constraints and feelings of not being able to interpret stats. However, by investing in yourself and researching things, you can work to help improve your own handicapping skills. Don’t forget that the internet is packed with tons of free guides and information about how to become a better sports bettor. If you’ve got some available time, you can always work to become a better bettor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Before we wrap things up, we wanted to include some questions that we often hear relating to tipping services. If you still find yourself with some questions after reading our guide above, hopefully, these questions will assist you.
Do I need to use a tipping service to be successful with my sports betting?
Absolutely not. Often, people think that they need to use a tipping service to be successful. However, it is critical to keep in mind that you have access to much of the same stats and data that they do thanks to the wonders of the internet.
If you’re short on time, it can be attractive to want to toss money into a picking service. Since most folks don’t have a ton of spare time, we get why some people feel this way. Don’t get us wrong; finding data, analyzing it, and then making an informed betting decision isn’t a super-fast process. However, going this route is free, and it doesn’t cost you anything more than your time.
Are all tipping services a scam?
All tipping services are not a scam. That being said, many of them are scams, unfortunately. This is why you’ll want to do your research to find a legit tipping service that isn’t going to scam you out of your hard-earned cash. Using our guidance above on how to locate an excellent tipping service, you should be able to sort the good ones from the bad ones.
If I am a victim of a tipping service scam, what should I do?
If you find yourself scammed by a tipping service, your best bet is to contact your local authorities. Depending on the situation and the location of the tip service used, your local authorities will aid you in finding the right direction to pursue the scammer. If you’ve been scammed, take a few moments to get your supporting proof in order before contacting the authorities. You’ll want to compile any emails, texts, contracts, and transactions associated with the tipping service. By gathering these in advance of calling for help, the authorities will be able to speed up their investigation of your issue.
Summary
There are some significant advantages to using a tipping service if you’re able to locate a legitimate one. That being said, as we discussed above, there are also some significant cons associated with them. In general, as long as you’re able to locate a legitimate tipping service and you don’t mind spending some money for their picks, it might work for you. Ultimately, you’ll need to decide for yourself if paying for a tipping service is worth your hard-earned dollars.
Recognize Us? We've been found on:
