The part where we talked about losing and winning punters is actually more important than you think. It appears to be the fundamental of the reverse line movement. What exactly it is, though? Reverse line movement or RLM usually refers to the situation when, despite the majority of the bets coming on one side, the line moves in the opposite direction. Thus, it is important to keep in mind the fact that betting percentages are not a good representation of the money wagered on the market but rather of the number of bets accepted by the bookmaker on each side of it.

The only issue here is to exploit this phenomenon. If you would like to take advantage of the reverse line movement while betting, you would not only have to figure out how much money is staked on the market but also which side is more favoured by sharp punters. Not only it is quite challenging to do, but the amount of money wagered on the market by the average punters makes up almost the entire market volume, thus making it nearly impossible to calculate it by only monitoring the line movement.

Let us show you a quick example to help you better understand how it works in reality. Assume that one of the leading online betting operators listed Barcelona (-1) against Sevilla (+1). In reality, the handicap offered by the bookmaker does not necessarily mean that the book expects Barca to win by at least 2 goals. What that line actually does is acting as a kind of a marker in order to encourage equal action on both sides of the market.

Usually, if there would be a higher percentage of bets placed on Barca, this should theoretically push the line even further, let’s say Barca -1.5 or even -2, which should make Sevilla a more attractive option. However, in the case of RLM, the bookmaker would simply shorten the line for Sevilla. Supporters of the reverse line movement betting would reason the opposite line movement by saying that the bookmaker simply saw that more sharp bettors are backing Sevilla. Although it is a very simplified way of putting it, but at least it shows you the principle of how it works. While such information may or may not be important, the bookmaker’s decision of moving the line in a reverse manner would definitely be affected by a whole bunch of other important factors.

We have mentioned that the betting percentages are the key to exploiting the RLM. Well, it is kind of true, and the fact that such information is widely available online makes it even more attractive. What is more, the majority of the top online bookmakers are displaying this data completely for free. If you ever come across such a data set, you have to look for situations where despite the higher betting percentage for one (losing) side, the line was still moved towards the opposite one (winning side).

Here is the thing. Finding such information on your online bookmaker website will give you a really raw data set. Thus, punters usually turn to numerous online betting services or so-called professional tipsters who offer already arranged and ready-to-go packages of such data. There two main issues with such products. First of all, it is not free, which, in the case of purchasing, will factor in an extra cost to the already small profit margin. Second of all, it has been proven to be not quite accurate, with such tipster commonly tweaking their percentages in order to attract more sales.