Frequently asked questions
Answers to the most common questions about SmartStake — what each tool does, how the math works, what a subscription covers, and how to get started.
General
What is SmartStake?
SmartStake is a real-time sports betting toolkit. It continuously reads odds from 70+ sportsbooks, exchanges, and DFS sites, compares each price against a fair no-vig estimate derived from the sharpest books, and surfaces the bets where the expected value is positive. Every bet you act on is then tracked to settlement so you can measure your real results over time.
SmartStake does not place bets for you and is not affiliated with any sportsbook. It is a calculation, discovery, and bookkeeping layer — the decisions are yours. For a full tour of the tools, start with Getting started or the quick-start guide.
Does SmartStake place bets for me?
No. SmartStake surfaces which bets look advantageous and records the ones you decide to take, but you open the sportsbook and place each bet yourself. SmartStake has no integration with any sportsbook account.
How many sportsbooks, exchanges, and DFS sites are covered?
SmartStake covers 70+ sportsbooks, exchanges, and DFS sites. The underlying data includes traditional books, six betting exchanges, prediction markets (Polymarket and Kalshi), and DFS platforms, spanning roughly 36 active leagues across major sports and esports. See Sportsbooks, exchanges, and leagues for the full list and Choosing your sportsbooks for guidance on which accounts to open first.
How often do the odds refresh?
Odds are scraped approximately every 4 seconds for most books; Pinnacle updates approximately every 20 seconds. The UI auto-refreshes approximately every 2.5 seconds. In the pregame view you can choose a manual, 10-second, 30-second, or 60-second refresh interval. See Live vs. pregame for more detail.
Positive EV
What is a positive EV bet?
A bet has positive expected value (+EV) when the odds a sportsbook offers pay more than the bet's true probability of winning warrants. Any single bet can lose, but over a large sample of +EV bets the expected value is positive. SmartStake estimates the true probability by devigging a basket of sharp books and blending the result into a single fair price. See Finding positive EV bets and Expected value betting.
What are the sharp benchmark books?
SmartStake uses nine sharp benchmark books to estimate fair value: Pinnacle, FanDuel, BetOnline, Bookmaker, DraftKings, Circa, Caesars, theScore, and BetMGM. See Sharp books & why they're the benchmark for the reasoning behind this list.
Which devig method should I use?
SmartStake offers five user-selectable devig methods — power (the default), multiplicative, additive, probit, and worst. Power is a strong general-purpose choice for most markets. Worst is the most conservative: it only surfaces a bet when every method agrees there is an edge, which means fewer bets but higher confidence in each. See Devigging & fair value for a method-by-method breakdown.
Arbitrage
What is arbitrage betting?
Arbitrage means backing the different outcomes of a market across books at prices where the combined implied probability is under 100%. In theory this returns a profit on either outcome, but in practice lines move, bets can be limited or voided, and a profit is never guaranteed. SmartStake's Arbitrage Finder identifies these discrepancies in real time. See Finding arbitrage.
What is a middle?
A middle is a position where you back both sides of a market at different lines — for example, you take a spread at +3.5 on one book and −2.5 on another. If the final margin lands between those two numbers you win both bets; any other result means you lose only the smaller of the two stakes. See Middles — win both sides.
Smart Money
What is Smart Money?
Smart Money is SmartStake's signal for sharp-bettor activity. The tool reads exchange order-book depth across six exchanges to detect where well-capitalised, informed money is positioned. The default liquidity floor is approximately $200. Bets above that threshold where the exchange price exceeds a soft book's offered odds appear in the Smart Money feed. See What Smart Money is and Reading liquidity depth.
Insiders
What is Insiders?
Insiders tracks qualified sharp wallets on Polymarket and Kalshi. A wallet qualifies once it has traded at least 200 sports markets, maintains an ROI of 1% or above, and has an arb ratio at or below 50%. Each pick carries a confidence score from 0 to 99 reflecting how strongly the qualifying wallets lean toward a side.
A backtest of picks at confidence 90 or above with a one-minute delay showed 47% ROI. This is a historical backtest result and is not a promise or prediction of future returns — individual results vary. See What Insiders is and Picks and confidence scores.
Backtest framing
The 47% ROI figure comes from a historical backtest under specific conditions. It is provided for transparency about how the model has performed historically, not as a guarantee of what any user will earn.
Fantasy
What is the Fantasy tool?
The Fantasy tool finds positive EV picks for DFS Power and Flex slips. It prices each available player prop against sharp sportsbook odds, computes a no-vig true win probability, and highlights any prop where that probability exceeds the platform's break-even threshold. The same fair-value math that powers the Positive EV tool is applied to each player prop. See Fantasy optimizer overview and Building Power and Flex slips.
Promotions
How does the Promo Converter work?
The Promo Converter calculates the hedge bet needed to convert a sportsbook promotion into a more predictable cash value. You enter the promo type (free bet, bet-and-get, no-sweat bet, deposit match, or boost), the promo value, and the hedge book you plan to use. SmartStake recommends the stakes on both sides and shows the expected conversion value. See Promo Converter.
Billing
What do I get for free versus with Premium?
Without a subscription you can use the standalone calculators and the read-only Odds Screen, and new accounts get a free trial of the full toolkit. Premium unlocks the full 70+ book list, one-click add to the Bet Tracker, full custom devig, live arbitrage and EV, the Fantasy optimizer, Smart Money, and Insiders. See Plans & pricing.
How do referrals work?
SmartStake pays a 25% commission on any subscription revenue generated by users who sign up through your personal referral link. Details are on the Referrals page.
How does bet grading work?
The Bet Tracker automatically grades moneylines, spreads, totals, player over/unders, and combination props such as points-rebounds-assists (PRA) once game results are available. A bet sits in a needs-grading state if results have not yet been confirmed; you can apply a manual override in that case. See Bet grading & outcomes.
Can I save filter sets and get alerts?
Yes. You can save up to five filter sets per tool. When a new opportunity matches a saved filter, SmartStake sends a push notification to your browser or to the iOS or Android app. You can also link your Discord account to receive direct-message alerts. See Saved filters & alerts and Push notifications.
How do I report a bet that looks wrong?
Every bet card on Positive EV, Arbitrage, Smart Money, Insiders, and Fantasy has a flag icon in its action row — on desktop it also appears in the hover quick-action popover, and on mobile in the bet's detail view. Tap it to open the Report bet form, choose a reason (odds are delayed, bet is wrong or incorrect, bet doesn't exist, or other), add any details, and submit. The report goes to the SmartStake team for review. This is separate from fixing a wrongly graded wager in the Bet Tracker, which uses Settle Manually and Flag as Incorrect — see A bet looks wrong — how do I report it? for the full walkthrough.
Still stuck? The troubleshooting guide covers the most common issues. If the problem persists, reach SmartStake support through the Discord server linked in the app.
- Odds, prices, expected value, conversion rates, and profit figures shown are estimates based on the last data we retrieved. They can change at any time — confirm the current price at the book before you bet, as odds may move and entry errors can occur.
- Arbitrage and matched betting carry execution risk: a price can move or a leg can be rejected before you place both sides, and sportsbooks may limit or void bets. A favorable outcome is not guaranteed.
- Sportsbook promotions are typically available to new customers only and are subject to each operator’s terms, conditions, and eligibility requirements.