I use a spreadsheet for my sportsbets because I'd rather be able to know what I'm losing and not to overdo it. No other reason to be honest. I think holding a spreadsheet is like holding yourself accountable, which is good.
Before, I was like a random sportsbettor and doesn't do stuff with records until I have seen that it's a common thing to record your stuff and do things such as recording your bets to keep yourself on track. I find it odd before because it's completely a new world to me but then, I am the weird one that doesn't do records on related to finances. Yes, I'd say that this is related to finances because we spend money and just as how budgeting works, it should be the same as this.
I guess that it is hitting two birds with one stone, as you do journals, spreadsheets, manually or digitally. The thing is you're developing yourself and helping to do things on your own by tracking your own spending habits in your bets. This is a good structure for you to gain a skill for tasks like this, so it means that those gamblers that are doing journals have been multi-tasking for their own sake.
Very few gamblers are actually doing this practice - recording his bets. Because believe it or not, it is time consuming and you can't sustain such activity especially if you are a regular bettor. But if you are just an occasional bettor, it would not be a bothersome to do such task. It will also give you idea on how are you doing with predictions in sports. You can also get some hints on your next bets.
I've tried that once, as I wanted to see my betting prowess in basketball. Remember, in one game, there are a lot of betting lines that you can place your bets with. So I tried recording all my bets for that game and see if I can have profit at the end of the game. And I did have profits. But in my opinion, this is quite tedious if you will do this in your day to day betting. Good for you if you have so much time to spare, but if not, better take note your deposit and withdrawal amounts to see if you are on the losing or winning side.
