My Two-Year Journey with OddsJam

I first started using OddsJam in August of 2021, when the company was less than a year old. Initially, things were a bit primitive on the surface, but the journey since has been interesting, to say the least. Below is a recount of my experience from August 2021 until September 2023 on my journey to become a profitable sports bettor.

Humble Beginnings

I first stumbled across OddsJam when looking into profitable sports betting after years of being a casual sports bettor. Like most sports bettors, only played for entertainment and lost money over the long term. Having looked into a number of different products, research papers, etc., I decided I wanted to become a profitable sports bettor.

The easiest and most consistent way was based on inefficient markets that OddsJam (and other software) exploit to find an edge. Over the long run, make you a consistently profitable sports bettor. OddsJam has also added other tools that help increase the options for profit that can really help to kick your bankroll up a level.

When I first started out with OddsJam, everything was in American Odds (I prefer decimal odds) and there were limited filtering capabilities. The number of books you could use was very limited, mostly US-based books. The range of sports you could wager on was also limited and didn’t include things like soccer (very popular outside North America). There was no accounting for the Kelly Criterion to help with sustainable bankroll management. OddsJam didn’t even settle bets automatically, at least not for me. Still, the premise of positive expected value bets was backed by sound mathematics and I was willing to give it a try, so I signed up.

Do Your Homework and Take Baby Steps

At the time, I had not fully finished my homework and was caught out on a few ideas that presented some challenges. I didn’t know which books I’d have access to (I live in New Zealand). I didn’t know which books would offer the most +EV bets. I had to work in multiple currencies (USD, AUD, NZD) depending on the book I used. To try and manage as best I could, I was often not betting in nice round $5 or $10 increments. That came back to bite me with one of the books limiting my account rather quickly.

I had a lot to learn and OddsJam didn’t have a robust education section at the time. So, I slowed down for a while and started learning as much as I could about things like the Kelly Criterion (I use 0.25 Kelly to reduce variance), market width, and how often you need to beat the CLV (closing line value) to be profitable. I wasn’t even mindful of the edge I was placing and the odds of hitting a particular bet. So, I read up on that too, and ran some primitive simulations in a spreadsheet. Then I sat back for a while to try and digest it all.

After a break and some more homework, I started making bets again using OddsJam to find the edge. It was slow going and I was purposefully only looking for a few bets a month as I learned more. Covering my subscription cost was a bonus that helped me keep going.

The Competition

For the better part of the next year and a bit, I mostly used one of OddsJam’s competitors. At the time the competition was a more robust and polished product. They also had a companion product to help clear bonuses – a great way to help build a bankroll. The competition also covered more books that I had access to and handled multiple currencies.

The focus was mainly on soccer, and there were a lot of bets on soccer. Initially, things were running smoothly and I was turning over bonuses with minimal risk and hitting on +EV bets. My stats were looking very good for the first few weeks.

Then, I hit some significant variance and had a significant downswing. I dug further into my numbers – I had to do this manually as I couldn’t download my betting history like I can with OddsJam – and looked for some patterns. It is hard to notice patterns within my numbers because I just didn’t have enough bets to make sensible conclusions.

Luckily, I started to turn things around. I started placing bets closer to kickoff, which made a significant difference. I stayed away from some of the smaller European soccer leagues. I started looking at the schedules so I knew when to start looking for some +EV bets to make.

All of this was happening with a bankroll that was probably too small to really make it all work at the time. Slowly and steadily I did manage to build my bankroll and keep things ticking over.

Then there started to be some issues with the service. Perhaps the software wasn’t maintained. Maybe it was a glitch with an odds provider. I don’t really know, but things were not running well and they ran into more than one fault. (I will note that they did sort the service and when I stopped using their service, everything was back to normal.)

During all of this, I kept learning and became more knowledgeable and a better sports bettor as a result.

Taking a Second Look

After the NBA and NHL seasons ended, I also noticed that this service had almost nothing to wager on during June, July, and August. They didn’t work with player props, so things like strikeouts or first five innings wagers were not available. Moneyline, handicap, and total runs don’t leave a lot to wager on with only MLB playing games. With the lull on, I took a closer look at OddsJam again.

I was now armed with a lot more knowledge and experience and OddsJam had come a long way since my first few random bets in 2021. They had refined and added to their toolbox. They added a robust education section designed to help you get the most out of their offerings. They hired more people, maybe just so Alex didn’t have to answer every email himself. They had added more books, including some big names that offer a lot of +EV bets. In short, they had now become the leader in the industry.

Once the NBA and NHL seasons started up in 2022, I started to increase my use of OddsJam and it has paid off. It started with a trickle at the end of October. Then picked up in November, and continued to roll into December and January. What were initially random bets on anything that popped in August 2021 became focused intentional bets in October 2022 and the results have more than kept pace. I only wish I had more time and more books to use (remember I’m in New Zealand, so I don’t have access to DK, FanDuel, PointsBet, etc.) which undoubtedly would only improve my results.

Even now, I’m still not utilizing the arbitrage and middle betting tools enough, something I hope to work on during the upcoming NBA and NHL seasons. On top of that, there is also the parlay builder – yes, parlays can be profitable.

Real Results

From October 1, 2022, to August 31, 2023, my results have been in line with expectations based on the edges that I’m placing and the volume of bets I’ve managed to place.

My profit margin per wager is a healthy 4.77%. I’m beating the CLV 78% of the time, I’m winning 49% of the bets I place. I’ve placed just shy of 1850 bets in that time – again with access to more books and some more time, I would expect that number to be significantly higher. I’ve been profitable across all four of the major North American sports leagues. NCAA football has also been in the positive column, although I still haven’t managed to push NCAA basketball into the positive.

I routinely wager on all the major markets and player props. Keeping track of how everything is going is dead simple with OddsJam. The range of graphs and data they provide for my own betting is impressive and intuitive.

Where to Improve

Of course, there is always room for improvement. As impressive and useful as OddsJam is, there are some things that are frustrating and think could be improved. (By the way, they check in from time to time and ask how they can improve.)

First, they could support multiple currencies. This may seem trivial, but for international users, it really does simplify things a great deal when tracking your bankroll. They could also adjust your bankroll as your bets are settled. This would automatically adjust your bets so you aren’t over/under-betting after a good/bad streak.

For most books, I’m not willing to place random bets as I think it will raise suspicion. It would be great to see an option where the arbitrage and middle bet features allowed you to round your bets to the nearest $5 or $10. I know this impacts the amount you can win (I’ve run the numbers in a spreadsheet to know) and can turn an arb into a losing bet. However, it would be nice to see the option to do it.

Being able to arb in multiple currencies would be awesome. Having to manually adjust with some sensible rounding is slow when speed is so important.

The ability to set ‘none of the above as my location would be great. It is a minor thing, but to see all the books I have available, I have to switch my location to see what is available. Again, this impacts speed when placing bets.

Overall, these are minor issues given how successful I’ve been using OddsJam. However, to not look critically when reflecting on this journey I’ve been on seems foolish. I know I’ve come a long way in my sports betting since 2021, and clearly OddsJam has too.

The Road Ahead

From here, I plan to continue to use OddsJam and can’t wait for the NBA and NHL seasons to start. I’m ready to go and am looking forward to continuing my journey. As long as I can find the time and books do not limit me any time soon, I look forward to keeping my edge as a profitable sports bettor.

To quote Bill Gates (and others): “People overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a year”

This quote really does sum up what is possible with OddsJam and is a great reflection of my journey and theirs.

Disclaimer: Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that links to OddsJam are affiliate links and I am not hiding that. I truly believe in their product and use it daily. Visit OddsJam for a 7-day free trial and see for yourself. I will only receive a commission if you become a paying customer.