Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
If your query is not answered here please e-mail us support@bettingemporium.com
Q: How much is a full subscription to the site?
A: We don't just have one subscription for the complete site as there are so many different things going on throughout the year and some months are so much busier than others. We have a variety of free content, particular our weekly article which includes free tips and advice. We also cover lots of other things for free, often football and things like the Oscars or the Cricket World Cup.
There are also a number of things that are subscription based. Often this is a package for a particular event such as the FIFA World Cup or a horse race meeting.The current subscription based offers at the moment are all listed on our homepage.
Q: How does it actually work? How much can I lose? What do I get for my money? What can I expect?
It's important to read the introduction on the homepage here and for a better idea of who we are the Meet the Team page here. Neil has written a few 'What to Expect...' articles and he wrote this one for the 2018 Cheltenham Festival here. If you are thinking of subscribing, particularly to a horse racing package, please read this.
Q: I am thinking of signing up to Brodders soccer write ups. How much bankroll do I need for that?
If you are a £10 a point punter we think a £4,000 bankroll is reasonable. There is less variance in these bets as most are Asian handicaps or totals at prices close to even money. Some people will be more conservative though and bet say £5 a point with this bank. Had you started out with Brodders back in 2014 with £4,000 and bet £10 a point (an average bet is about 15 points) you would have never gone broke and (at 26/04/18) you would have a bankroll of £26,957. However it is only fair to point out that it you picked the worst possible date, in the four year period, to subscribe our biggest downswing is just over 700 points (Mar - Jun 2017) and our 2nd worst downswing was just over 500 points (May - Nov 2015).
Q: I often see 'Points' used on tips and write ups. What do they refer to?
A: We typically stake from 1-20 points depending on how much we like something and how good the bet is. Please note that we often bet on more than one horse or selection in an event and the total amount of bets per race may exceed 25 points but this would be the average. If you normally bet about £50 a race for instance then you would bet about £2 per point.
EDIT (04/09/14) Starting with NFL 2014/15, to make things more uniform, we will be working on a range of 1-50 points for NFL games. For a fuller explanation read the sixth paragraph here
Q: I am thinking of signing up to StattoBets write ups. How much bankroll do I need for that?
If you are a £10 a point punter we think a £5,000 bankroll is reasonable. There is relatively low variance in these bets as most are Asian handicaps or soccer win/draw/win bets. This means the average bet is advised at 2/1, while 85% of bets are priced between 1/2 and 3/1.
Some people will be more conservative though and bet say £5 a point with this bank. Had you started out with StattoBets back in 2019 with £5,000 and bet £10 a point (an average bet is about 12 points) you would have never gone broke and (at 02/04/2021) you would have a bankroll of £8730.
However it is only fair to point out that it you picked the worst possible date, in the four year period, to subscribe our biggest downswing is just over 400 points (Dec 2019 - Sep 2020).
Q: Being a small stakes punter, I'm not sure if I have a sufficient bankroll to get through the tips offered and with this in mind, would it be at all possible to estimate how many points needed to run a full package?
A: For the horse racing we have tended to bet around 25 points a race on average. We think it's important to stake way more on really good races and less or none on those that offer less value. As an example for Cheltenham there are 27 races and so a £2 a point guy would bet around £50 a race or £1350 on the meeting. Of course with horses priced at around 8/1 on average it could be quite easy for Cheltenham to go wrong and for punters to lose £500 or more at these stakes.
Obviously with things such as NFL and football there is way less chance of things going wrong as the prices are usually around 10/11 and you'd expect an average week to be plus or minus around £50. There is far less variance here and it's less volatile.
Q: How much bank-roll do I need?
A: We would never suggest betting more than 5% of your total bank roll on one bet. So if the suggestion is a max 20 points bet then in order to bet £5 a point or £100 total you would need a suggested bank of £2000. Some people would prefer to bet less than 5% of the bank roll and others more. It depends on how risk averse you are.
We would also suggest that you never gamble with money that you can't afford to lose. On any given week, or series of weeks, there is variance and no guarantee of success.
Q: With horse racing packages can you put up the names of all the horses first and then add the write ups afterwards so I can get my bets on early?
A: Please note that we do not just publish the names of the selections but the reasoning is explained in great detail as to why we might bet or not bet something. There is a lot of work involved and it's important not to rush.
The usual plan for each day of a big horse racing meeting is to have the first write-up on the site by about 10.30am - 11am, although we'll aim to have them up before that. We will then work through as quickly as we can a race at a time. It really doesn't help if people constantly message, email or Tweet to ask for the write-ups earlier. Neil gets up very early and likes to read all he can and speak to some other pros and, together this takes time. If you wanted a bloke to stick a pin in and come up with four favourites and two 10/1 chances that he may not have even watched race you can buy the Daily Mirror and save about £95. You should have all the bets over before the first race.
Q: How do I get the tips, are they emailed to me?
A: The write ups and suggested bets are all published on the website and are not emailed to you. You can subscribe to e-mail alerts in your user profile for all tip catagories, both paid and unpaid. You will then receive an email alert telling you when something new has been added. You can also follow us on Twitter @bettingemporium as we Tweet when new articles are published.
Q: Do you publish all your results, the winners and the losers?
A: We publish all write ups, bets and results on the website. We believe in full transparency. If a Tip Category is subscription based and only available to those that have paid for it then it will become available for all users to read once the event itself has finished. To see every single recommended bet we have had since the site was launched in February 2013 together with all the results and our profit and loss figures please visit our dedicated results section.
Q: Do you include subscription fees in your results?
It's difficult to give complete or total costs of all subscriptions as so much of what we do is free. Sometimes we have also run promotions where subs have been refunded for various reasons, such as opening particular bookmaker accounts. Fees charged so far have varied from £10 for the Epsom Derby (refundable) to £200 for a full regular season of NFL. For someone that subscribes to absolutely everything the cost would be about £1,200 a year.
Q: How do the odds work? For example in the bet below am I correct to assume the 20/1 is the odds, the 1/4 means you get a quarter of those odds if the horse finishes in 1st 2nd 3rd or 4th place?:
"I'm having 6 points each-way Strong Point at 20/1 1/4 1234 with Hills, Ladbrokes and others"
A: 20/1 is the odds. Bet £1 and if it wins you win £20 and get £21 back including your stake
EW 1/4 1,2,3,4 means that you back the horse to win and also to place in the first 4 places. If you had £1 ew and the horse won you would get:
£21 for the win part
20/4 x £1 plus stake back for the place part = £6 back including stake for the place part.
Q: I often see you refer to Asian Handicaps or see things such as -1AH or Over 2 AH. How does that work?
Asian Handicaps or Asian Lines are where a favoured team has to overcome a handicap (in goals). They eliminate the draw and usually create closer or more equal odds for the two possible remaining outcomes by giving a theoretical advantage to one of the sides.
Different Types of Asian Handicaps
0.5AH
Example: 1.8 England (-0.5) v 2.1 Costa Rica
The odds available are 1.8 England and 2.1 Costa Rica.
The figure in brackets is the handicap in goals. So Costa Rica receive a theoretical half a goal start.
If you bet on England they have to win the match for your bet to win.
If you bet on Costa Rica you win if they win the match or if they draw.
0AH
This is the zero goal Asian handicap and is the same as betting draw no bet. Betting this way on the Exchanges rather than DNB you often pay much cheaper commission rates.
-1AH
If you bet a team -1AH then here your team needs to win by at least 2 goals. If they win by a single goal then your stake is refunded (commonly known as a push). If you bet the other side then you would be getting a 1 goal start. You win if your team win or if they draw and if they lose by exactly one goal then you push.
-1.5AH
If you bet a team -1.5AH then they have to win by at least two goals but you lose your bet if they win by eaxctly one goal.
Double Asian Handicaps 0,-0.5 or -0.25AH
If you bet a team -0.25AH you are effectively placing two bets. Half your stake is at 0 and half your stake is at -0.5.
Similarly if you place a bet at -0.75AH then half your stake is on at -0.5AH and half is on at -1AH
Total Goal Asian Handicaps
A common bet offered by high street bookies is over/under a certain number of goals in a match. The most common being over/under 2.5 goals; so 2 goals or less you lose and 3 or more you win with an over bet.
In Asian Handicaps you can bet over/under various goal lines. For example 'Over 2AH'. It is important to understand that this is very different to the above high street 'Over 2.5 goal' example. If you bet 'Over 2AH' you win with three or more goals and lose with under two but with exactly two it is a push.
You can also bet half goal Asian Handicap totals. For example if you bet 'Over 1.75' then half your stake is bet at Over 2 and half at Over 1.5 and the bet is settled accordingly.
This AH method can also be used with match bookings. A yellow card counts as one booking and a red card usually as two. So you could bet Over 3AH Bookings; less than three a loser, more than three a winner and exactly three a push.