Can Gambling Ever Offer a Viable Side Hustle?

Posted by Harry Kane on Tuesday, May 14, 2024

If you’re a casual bettor or simply new to the world of online gambling, you may be a little naive to the size and nature of this pastime. After all, this sector’s GGY peaked at more than £6.5 billion in the year ending November, while online gambling now accounts for more than 43% of the UK’s cumulative gambling industry as a whole.

This includes both casino and remote sports betting, both of which offer opportunities for knowledgeable bettors to make informed selections and generate a relatively reliable source of income. In this post, however, we’ll ask whether online gambling provides a viable side hustle in 2024, and how you can optimise your chances of success in the iGaming marketplace.

Explored – The Intrinsic Link Between Gambling and Investing

When considering the viability of online gambling as a side hustle, you need to understand the intrinsic link that exists between betting and investing. Even on a fundamental level, both investing and gambling involve risking capital in the hopes of making a profit, while certain financial markets require you to speculate on the performance of a specific asset class or instrument.

You’ll also find that gamblers and investors tend to share the same basic objective; to minimise risk while maximising reward and affording their endeavours every possible chance of success. So, although the vehicles, risks and potential returns may vary, the two practices are alike on many deterministic and systematic levels.

In these simple respects, gambling and investing are incredibly similar, which is why it remains possible for some individuals to carve out lucrative careers and professional gamblers. It’s also interesting to note that different investment vehicles and casino games boast variable risk profiles, so there’s an opportunity to tailor your activity to suit your outlook and underlying philosophy.

Of course, the risks facing gamblers are more pronounced over time, primarily because they have fewer ways to mitigate and contain losses than investors do. It’s also arguable that investors have more relevant and informed data sources that can help them to achieve success, whereas gamblers remain vulnerable to games of chance of opportunism.

So, How Can Your Turn Gambling into a Side Hustle?

The lucrative nature of iGaming and its highly compelling nature makes it a highly appealing side hustle. However, it’s also one that’s fraught with risk, while execution is really important if you’re to make significant sums of money consistently. Otherwise, you’re doomed to lose money quickly and ultimately make your financial position considerably worse rather than better.

To begin with, you’ll need to prioritise games that suit your skillset and optimise your potential returns. For example, while slots tend to offer incredibly generous return-to-player rates (RTPs) in excess of 96%, they’re pure games of chance that cannot be mastered or manipulated at all. In this case, the starting RTP rate can be misleading, as slots arguably don’t offer much in the way of sustainable returns.

However, classic blackjack has a theoretical RTP of 99.41%, and while this varies depending on the precise iteration that you play and the number of decks in play, the game also enables you to deploy strategy and numerical ability to increase your chances of winning further. Other variations may unlock a similar RTP and player-centric rules and targeting these can improve your returns over time.

Certainly, by focusing on games of this nature and factoring in any existing skills or knowledge that you may have, you can increase your chances of winning and commit your bankroll as effectively as possible. On a similar note, you can increase your fundamental chances of success simply by creating a viable betting strategy, as one of several detailed bankroll management techniques.

The benefits of this are obvious; as they create a type of investor-mindset that encourages you to spend your capital wisely and simultaneously spread risk across different games and wagers. By following these steps, you can maximise your opportunity to generate income and leverage your starting bankroll to its fullest potential.

The Last Word – What are the Key Considerations When Practising iGaming as a Way of Generating Income

Before you decide whether or not this is a viable method of generating income, it’s important to think strategically and consider the potential risk. We’ve outlined some of these below, so that you can hopefully make the most informed decision possible.

• What’s Your Current Income? Unlike some side hustles, you’ll have to risk losing money to make money in the iGaming space (or ‘speculate to accumulate’, as investors say). In fact, the risk of loss is inevitable when engaging in online betting, and you’ll need to be able to sustain this in a responsible and affordable manner. Sure, you can take risks to mitigate loss as we’ve discussed, but be sure to analyse your finances and only ever risk an amount that you can afford to lose.
• Do You Bet Casually? Ideally, you should also have some knowledge and experience of iGaming or remote betting prior to risking your hard-earned cash. More specifically, it’s much easier to gamble casually and scale your efforts in line with profitability and your level of experience, rather than simply starting from scratch. If you don’t bet casually, you’ll need to practice and gain experience before risking your hard-earned money!
• Can You Manage Your Time Effectively? Any side hustle is going to take time, even iGaming and passive investing. So, you’ll need to be organised in your approach and schedule time to wager and plan your bets, especially when selecting and gambling on sports outcomes (which may require analysis of competitors and their relevant form statistics). If you’re unable to manage your time effectively, you may become disorganised and find that betting begins to impinge on other areas of your life.