Losing Streak in Sports Betting: What is It and How to Handle?

A losing streak in sports betting (a.k.a. a cold streak, lose streak, losing skid, slide, schneid, or losing slump) is a series of back-to-back losing bets with a bookmaker.

On the flip side, a winning streak is when your bets keep succeeding.

Are 2 losses in a row a losing slump? Some people think so, but it’s more accurate to call it a losing streak when you’ve got 5 or 6 losses in a row.

It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re making terrible picks (though you might need to reassess your strategy), but it does point to the natural volatility.

In fact, the longer you bet, the more likely you are to experience both long losing and winning streaks.

Lose Streaks Beyond Betting

• NFL. Chicago Cardinals (NFL) hold the record for the longest losing streak in NFL history with 29 straight losses from 1942 to 1945.
• Football: The San Marino national team set the record with 61 consecutive losses from 2004 to 2014.
• NASCAR Cup Series: J.D. McDuffie went 653 races without a win, the longest losing streak in the series’ history (died in a crash, did not win a race in entire career).
• eSports. The record for the longest losing streak in eSports is held by the Shanghai Dragons, who lost 42 consecutive matches in the Overwatch League.

Do Your Chances Decrease During a Losing Streak? An Experiment

Ever wondered if your luck worsens with each loss? According to British mathematicians from University College London, it actually might!

These brainy folks analyzed nearly 565,915 online bets made over a year by 776 players. They found that:

“After winning, gamblers selected safer odds. After losing, they selected riskier odds. After losing or winning, they expected the trend to reverse (the Gamblers’ Fallacy).”

Here’s a little nugget of wisdom: the more losses you get, the riskier you become with your bets. So, if you’re on a cold streak, you’re probably picking riskier bets (with higher odds) without even realizing it.

Research by Juemin Xu and Nigel Harvey at University College, London

Should You Expect a Losing Streak? A Calculator Example

Let’s face it: losing streaks happen to every bettor. You could be a pro tipster or just getting started, and there’ll come a time when nothing seems to go your way.

But what are the actual odds of hitting, say, 10 losses in a row over 500 bets? Let’s dive into the numbers using a losing streak calculator.

Using the streak calculator from profitduel.com, you can plug in the following:

• Series length: 500 bets
• Streak length: 10 losses
• Probability of each loss: 50%

With these inputs, the chances of hitting a 10-loss streak in 500 bets are 21.452%.

Now, let’s see what happens if we lower the streak length to 5 consecutive losses. The chances jump to almost 100%! Here’s a quick look:

How to Handle a Losing Streak?

FAQ