You're managing a lot of ambiguity, it's hard to argue with a track record.
Discussion
Odds are just another price signal, and there’s no perfect market anywhere including bookies.
I remember one occasion Black Caviar was backed in to $1.20 to win but paid $1.90 to place; people too busy focusing on one thing missed a huge opportunity for the other.
When you approach gambling like that, looking for opportunities where the price is in your favour, that’s a very different thing to degen gambling that most people do.