People love their sports, so it’s no wonder that ancillary business is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Sports betting is now legal in many US states, and bills have been passed in many of the remaining states so that most of the contiguous United States will be sports betting friendly before too long.
So, this brings up even more ancillary activities related to sports or, more specifically, sports betting. Now that it isn’t completely taboo and you no longer have to make back alley bets with a shady loan shark bookie, more and more Americans than ever before are getting into sports betting. Fantasy pros have a distinct advantage because they are already used to crunching numbers to find the most viable options. They also have a list of apps and tools they use to help them build their cases regarding value on their DFS rosters.
So, what are some of the best apps for sports betting?
Choose Your Sportsbooks Wisely But Choose More Than One
The first thing you need to keep in mind about sports betting is that you are not betting against a specific team or for a team in most cases. Instead, you are betting against a specific line that you buy into at a sportsbook. Because sportsbooks receive varying amounts of action, their lines can move in different ways. On top of this, some books follow the initial opening lines of certain Vegas books or international bookmakers, and some set their own lines. This means it’s quite common to see a half of a point difference in NFL lines from book to book and multiple points difference in college football, NBA basketball, and college basketball.
When it comes to betting sites, you should have a few different ones for shopping for the best lines for the plays you want to make. If you are new to online sports betting, we recommend checking out Bovada Sportsbook review first. They have an easy to navigate UI and a wonderful UX, plus they are known for softish betting lines. A couple of others to put on your radar are Bookmaker, BetOnline, and Intertops.
The Action Network
The Action Network Sports Betting App recently won the award for Best Sports Betting Content. The pro version is worth the $99 per year expense, and the free version has just enough to get you started.
The bet tracker is a super useful tool, and to be honest if you are a sports fan – not even a sports better – this app may be the best around for bringing you scores, betting odds, picks, and predictions, and data-based matchup analysis. The nice part is, it’s clean, easy to use, and lightning-quick.
B/R | The Bleacher Report
Any time any of my friends ask me which sports media apps should take up space on their phones or tablets, B/R is immediately one of the first that comes to mind.
B/R is 100% customizable, allowing you to filter your notifications and news. You only get reports and updates on the teams you want to know about. But the real beauty of this app is the writers themselves. B/R articles are still put together by local beat writers who hang out watching practices and get campus access. Because of this, B/R often has breaking team news that may impact your picks before major sites like ESPN, Yahoo, and CBS.
Don’t sleep on B/R.
ESPN for the FPI
Ugggh … I know, right. But it really is a great place to get a ton of information all in one place. I use ESPN on my phone simply because TeamRankings still doesn’t have a mobile app. I mention this because my primary reason for both of those sites is to get their Power Ratings, which are updated with each win/loss cycle. As a bettor, you should always be on top of the Power Ratings. In the case of ESPN, they call it FPI (football power index). But they also have a BPI (basketball power index) for the NBA and indexes for college football and college hoops. When you are starting your handicapping each week, you need to start with a reliable power rating.