In his weekly column for the CitiGaming section of the Citizen newspaper Brent Graham reflects on what sports betting means to him and concludes it isn't all about the money although the importance of making a profit cannot be downplayed. {readmorelink}Read more{/readmorelink}

On the Goodforthegame website we have a

forum where punters can share their thoughts and bets on sporting events and topics around the sports betting industry can be discussed and debated.

RyanH a new user raised the topic of sports services or handicappers and he went on to list a couple of names being firms which he currently makes use of.

These handicappers or tipsters are all based overseas (as is RyanH) and you pay a subscription fee and in return you get their suggested bets. The idea of course is that by following their advice you make enough money to cover the fee and show a profit.

The value of betting systems can be debated endlessly and it is probably fair to say that some are successful and others are not but for me the really interesting discussion point that emerged is whether or not punters would be prepared to pay for tips?

There was some support for this and clearly if there is money to be made by following a system many a punter would sign up or at least give it a go.

There was also a school of thought though that took the view that sports betting is about the challenge of making money from the bookmakers and that part of the thrill was doing your homework on a sporting event you know well and then hopefully having the satisfaction of returning a profit, knowing that your reading of the game was accurate.

While I would not discount the possibility of paying for tips or buying into a system on sports which I don’t have the time to research I think regular poster Couch Critic summed it up for me when he said that for him sports betting is just a way of putting his money where his mouth is. Telling your colleagues on a Monday that your Friday calls were correct is one thing but it gets far more interesting when you have actually staked something on the outcome.

Of course I am in this game to make money and I would never discourage anyone from paying for tips or buying into a proven system. However while I enjoy hearing other points of view and I take into account research done by fellow forum contributors, ultimately I choose to live or die by my own decisions, for the time being at any rate.

Betting previews for the weekends Currie Cup and Tri Nation’s games will be posted in our RUGBY SECTION

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 9th of September 2010.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Thursday night from 22h00 – 22h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet and to get on his free weekly e-mail list just send a message to brent@goodforthegame.co.za titled “Best Bets”..

You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham or get on his mailing list by dropping him a line at brent@goodforthegame.co.za