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sometimes though it seems to pay off to take some big risks and make outrageous predictions
I see nothing crazy or unusual with what you explained above, they are the normal elements that must be put together to make an analysis and conclude on an informed decision to bet. This is why sports betting is more unique than casino games, you have so much information to gather, and histories to fall back on for you to know the possible outcome of events. If you also use your instinct correctly and reasonably, you are
sure to win more than you lose. This is not so different from trading, we gather past information on the chart and use the impacts of the past economic events to speculate the future possibilities.
That word "sure" shouldnt have been mentioned at all, because both in sports betting and gambling in general, nothing is ever sure, being sure is like having some good level of guarantee that something will play out exactly as you have predicted it or thought it would, this is completely false as long as its betting or gambling we are talking about.
And let's not always forget that luck still played an important role even in sports betting, you do your analysis and other research based on your level of sports knowledge and you come up with your prediction, but after having done all you can, you still depend on luck to ensure that you are right with your prediction, on this ground, I would say that indeed, sometimes (like the op said) crazy bets do actually pay offs, I can't count the number of times I've jokingly placed bets on ongoing football match simp my for fun (with the really low amount of money of course) with no expection of winning in mind, but I end up winning, and right then, I begin to wish I had staked a better amount of money on the game so to increase my profit.