Best US Sports Tipsters | Top American Handicappers 2023

When the US Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, it opened the doors to (almost) an entire continent’s worth of sports punters. As a result there’s been an increased interest in American sports betting markets, and by extension — US sports tipsters — better known as “sports handicappers”.

The problem is, so much US betting activity has taken place under the table, on the down-low up until now. So where exactly can you begin to find the best US sports tipsters? Who are the top US sport handicappers?

Best US Sports Tipsters

Ratings Explained

I rate US Sports tipsters by individual sports rather than a collection of sports.

This is because many strong multi-sport tipsters provide tips across several global sports (e.g. English soccer, Tennis) as well as American sports like Basketball. Furthermore, if there’s a standout strength for a tipster (e.g. NFL tips), and other sports in their portfolio dilute their overall performance, then my ratings won’t miss it.

Finding Profitable Tipsters For American Sports

There’s undoubtedly the potential to earn from the US betting markets because of the vast array of sports and leagues available. Plus the fact that many of them are less competitive than hugely popular and efficient European soccer markets — such as Premier League match odds (1×2).

Unfortunately so many tipsters ‘bloat’ their profit records. So it’s very important to learn about the potential risks in using tipsters/handicappers, and to be aware that not everything is as glorious as it seems. I’ve written an article detailing everything you need to know, right here: Will Tipsters Make Me Money?

The main principle used to identify a top US sports tipster is precisely the same for any other sport, including horse racing and soccer. This can be summarised as follows:

In other words, anyone can select a winning bet by chance. But only skilled handicappers can win in the longrun.

While there are many US-based handicapping services with seemingly impressive track records, I haven’t yet felt confident in recommending one for reasons I discuss in the following US vs European Tipsters section of this article. Therefore all of my recommended tipsters operate on European platforms (for now).

US vs European Tipsters

It’s important to recognise the differences between tipsters operating in the more developed European online betting market, to those in the USA.

Experience

Despite (legal) online betting being new to the US, tipsters have long existed in America. They’re commonly known as “handicappers”, or “cappers” for short. Just like “tipsters”, they quantify the results of a sporting event in order to overcome the profit margin — or “juice” — integrated into sports betting odds.

Fundamentally, the same rules apply to any sport you decide to bet on — including those from the US. This rule is very simple, yet vastly overlooked:

Betting on value, over a large set of bets — with ups and downs included — will result in a positive ROI. But truth be told, this message doesn’t get through to a lot of bettors no matter how long they’ve been at it. Most experienced bettors from Europe still try to “pick winners” every event, and end up losing over time.

Both Europe and US based tipsters regularly neglect to mention the importance of finding value prices. Many of them instead brag about their win rates without ever mentioning that this alone does not guarantee a profit, until you consider what odds were achieved. It’s a huge problem in the tipster/handicapper scene.

Learn more about value betting.

Proofing

In both Europe and the US there are third party services designed to monitor the odds and profit achieved on every bet advised by Tipsters.

Indeed you can find some third party tipster verification sites in the US — such as PrecisionPicks, SportInvestorCentral and VerifiedCappers. But there are question marks surrounding their legitimacy and integrity. While some customer reviews are positive, others claim that one or more of them:

• Features ‘handicapper profiles’ which aren’t real.
• Are part of a much larger network of similar sites.
• Links to external sites supposedly ‘vetting’ them — yet they’re hosted from the same location.

I haven’t been able to verify these claims, but it’s worth being cautious. It’s a minefield out there.

Legitimate Tipster Verification Services

Sports Offered

The US is fanatical about several sports — especially their own ones. American Football (NFL), Basketball and Baseball dominate in terms of TV viewing figures, and the revenue they generate across North America. So it’s common for US tipsters to target one or more of those sports.

Likewise, European tipsters tend to focus on popular local sports. Betting on horse racing tips is something of a sports betting pastime in the UK & Ireland, and following football (soccer) tips remains enormously popular across the entire continent. Rugby, tennis, cricket and darts are tipped — but to a much lesser extent. American sports tips are, unfortunately, rarely the focal point of well-established European tipster services.

Most experienced US sports handicappers, as you might expect, run in very different circles to European tipsters. They’re generally located in America — where there’s the biggest demand for their picks. So while US bettors have the choice to use a safer and more established European tipster service, a US-based service will no doubt provide many more localised American sports tips.

Professionalism

Without sounding too judgmental, many US tipster services lack the professionalism you’d want to see from a service you’re expected to pay good money for.

Many US tipster sites are bombarded with flashing banners, popups, sales spiel, images of extravagant wealth, and overly positive “reviews” that we’re supposed to believe are legitimate. It’s hard to see past the sleaziness and poor presentation.

There’s no doubt that European tipster sites share many of those same attributes — but the sector has evolved over time, and many services offer a much higher level of transparency and professionalism. This is due to a number of reasons, such as:

1. Players becoming accustomed to betting scams. Some of the sales tactics currently used in the US would receive more resistance in Europe. Punters have seen it all before. There’s a legacy of disappointment.
2. Bookmakers are obliged to monitor their affiliates. For many years European gambling affiliates have posed as tipsters in order to profit from the very people they’re “advising” on picks. They still do — but this is being clamped down on, in line with stricter regulations (particularly in the UK).
3. European tipster services are scrutinised more than ever before. A number of sites and individuals (especially on Twitter) monitor tipster results in order to expose liars and fraudsters. Dodgy services are identified more quickly than ever before.

The US appears to be behind the curve. In time, it’ll catch up.

Cost

Perhaps the most striking difference between European tipsters and US tipsters is the pricing. I’ve seen some extortionately high subscription prices for American tipster services.

The majority of European tipster services are priced between $0-$50 per month. At times, I’ve questioned whether these (comparatively low) subscription prices are worthwhile given the ROI players would be aiming to achieve from the services. Yet in the USA, many tipster services are priced at hundreds of dollars per month. It raises alarm bells.

Let’s put tipster subscription prices into perspective. If you spend $200 on a tipster service per month, and assume that your tips will guide you to a 15% ROI (the best I’ve ever witnessed over a large sample), then you’d need to risk $1,333.33 to expect to break even. Its not a great prospect.

Considering I’ve taken a best-case ROI, it’s truly a wonder than such expensive US tipsters find business. However, I believe that over time, once more competition arrives to the online scene, tipster subscription prices can only go down.

While Europe still has a long way to go in tipster proofing, the professional services available are more competitively priced.

Converting European Odds to Moneyline

If you’ve made it this far through my article, you might be wondering: “how can I use European tipster services when I’m accustomed to US odds? How can I convert the Euro/UK odds over to Moneyline?”

Good question. It could be vitally important that you convert odds over to the US format so that you’re able to match up the prices quoted to those offered on US betting sites.

So there are two ways to convert the odds over to your familiar format…

1. Use an Online Calculator

You can easily convert European (decimal) or UK (fractional) odds to Moneyline (and vice versa) using an online calculator. I recommend the odds converter on this site.

Note that all odds formats represent a percentage chance of an event occurring. Your aim as a punter is to beat those percentages (perhaps by using a tipster service), in order to generate a profit.

2. Do it Manually

You can also convert American Odds into percentages yourself. This is a useful exercise because it gives a break-even % that you need to achieve long-term to win.

The most common odds in US sports are -110. To earn from your bets at these odds, you’ll need to win often enough that you turn 110 into 210 to overcome the “juice” (or “overround” as we call it in the UK).

Example 1: -110

You take $110 risked, and divide it by the ultimate $210 payout if you win, to get: .5238 or 52.38%.

• You must win at least 52.38% of your bets at -110 to break even.
• Dividing .5238 by 1 gives the Euro odds equivalent of 1.90

Example 2: +200

Now let’s say you have a +200 underdog. You take $100 risked and divide by the ultimate $300 payout if you win, and get .3333, or 33.33%.

• You must win 34%+ of the time to be profitable.
• Dividing .333 by 1 gives the Euro odds equivalent of 3.0

Also see my post: How to Convert Betting Odds Between Formats.

In the future there will be many more UK/European bookmakers offering their services to the US. So converting the odds will be become much less of an inconvenience.

Want to Learn More About Tipsters?

To learn more about the risks and rewards in using tipsters, check out my articles:

• Will Tipsters Make Me Money?
• Twitter Tipsters — Do They Want You To Lose?
• Best Tipster Proofing Sites

• About
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Toby @ Punter2Pro

Toby is the creator & writer of Punter2Pro. Drawing on his experience in developing value bet finders, Betfair bots, and other professional betting tools, he provides honest advice to help improve your approach to sports betting and safely navigate the murky waters of the online gambling world.

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