Matched Betting
It took me a long time to start Matched Betting. This was because I could not believe it was possible to place bets at Bookmakers and Betting Exchanges that guaranteed a profit every time, regardless of the outcome of the sporting event that was being bet on.
However, it does work well. The reason that this works is because in 1999 a company called BetFair created the World's first betting exchange. With a normal bookmaker whether online or in a betting shop you can only bet on an Event Happening. So, for example if Arsenal where playing Manchester United, we would bet on one of the three possible outcomes 1) Arsenal to win 2) Manchester United to win or 3) A Draw. However, at a betting exchange which are only online and don't have any physical shops; we can not only bet on an Event happening (e.g Arsenal to Win), we can bet on an event not happening e.g Arsenal to not win - this is called a laybet and we are effectively the bookmaker ourselves.
If we lay Arsenal we are betting that Arsenal will lose or the result will be a draw. So, if we go to a normal bookmaker and bet that Arsenal will win, we also go to the betting exchange online and lay Arsenal - we effectively bet that Arsenal will not win. So, whatever happens we should in theory not win or lose any money. At first thought this seems completely pointless. however the reason that we can profit from this is because the bookmakers give us free bets to entice us to sign up with them rather than their competitors. So a Bookmaker called Coral are currently offering us twenty pounds of free bets if we sign up as a new customer with them and bet five pounds of our own money.
So, we first go to the Coral Bookmaker's website and sign up for a new account with them. We then bet five pounds on either of the three outcomes of our football match. We then go to BetFair or another online betting exchange such as Matchbook, smarkets or betdaq and bet on the opposite outcome. This then causes Coral to credit our account with twenty pounds of free bets. So, we follow the same procedure with the free bets, only this time as the bets are free we make a guaranteed profit regardless of the outcome of the Football Match. As, there are over a hundred online bookmakers there are a lot of free bets on offer, especially to new customers with each bookmaker!
So, we first go to the Coral Bookmaker's website and sign up for a new account with them. We then bet five pounds on either of the three outcomes of our football match. We then go to BetFair or another online betting exchange such as Matchbook, smarkets or betdaq and bet on the opposite outcome. This then causes Coral to credit our account with twenty pounds of free bets. So, we follow the same procedure with the free bets, only this time as the bets are free we make a guaranteed profit regardless of the outcome of the Football Match. As, there are over a hundred online bookmakers there are a lot of free bets on offer, especially to new customers with each bookmaker!
Note, it is best to to pick football matches where the bookmakers odds and the betting exchange lay odds are similar, as otherwise we could lose a few pence or even a couple of pounds. The oddsmonkey website has a special software program that calculates the best matches to use this system on. Also, some bookmakers require that we don't bet on outcomes that are too likely e.g Manchester City to Win or this year Liverpool to Win, so it is best to bet on matches where the odds are evens or better (1/1 in fractional odds or 2.0 in decimal odds) So, I always pick the premier league matches where the odds are closest to 2.0 for my matched betting. If the odds are less than 2.0 or 1/1 some bookmakers will not issue us with the promised free bets.
For more information about matched betting we can use an internet search engine to search the internet for 'profit accumulator' 'oddsmonkey' 'FreeBets4all' or 'Team Profit'. Note, it is necessary to use a matched betting calculator such as that found at the 'oddsmonkey' website to calculate the amount of money to place for our lay bets at the betting exchanges to ensure that we make a good profit.
For more information about matched betting we can use an internet search engine to search the internet for 'profit accumulator' 'oddsmonkey' 'FreeBets4all' or 'Team Profit'. Note, it is necessary to use a matched betting calculator such as that found at the 'oddsmonkey' website to calculate the amount of money to place for our lay bets at the betting exchanges to ensure that we make a good profit.
There is one more main complication and that is the question of liability. As we are playing the bookmaker at the betting exchange we have to make enough money available in the betting exchange to cover the possibility of our lay bet losing. However, if our laybet loses, we would still win a similar amount of money at the bookmaker, so it is not really a problem! Amazon also sell books about matched betting that explains this quite complicated system in great detail!
One final note, is that the betting exchanges make their money by charging a commission of 2% or 5% on each bet or lay bet with them, so our qualifying bet may actually make a small loss of say fifty pence, but this is more than made up for by all that profit that we will make on the free bet/s.
My favorite book about matched betting can be found on the link below.
One final note, is that the betting exchanges make their money by charging a commission of 2% or 5% on each bet or lay bet with them, so our qualifying bet may actually make a small loss of say fifty pence, but this is more than made up for by all that profit that we will make on the free bet/s.
My favorite book about matched betting can be found on the link below.
Finally it is worth signing up to the free loyalty clubs/cards offered by some bookmakers; as this will often allow you to receive free bets from the likes of Coral, BetFred and Ladbrokes as well as on-line only bookmakers e.g:-
1) Coral - Connect card gives free bets and other perks (I won from a free bet on the Rugby World Cup Final recently from Coral)
2) Ladbrokes - The Grid Card gives free bets etc... (I won some money recently from free bets on the Rugby World Cup from Ladbrokes)
3) BetFred Loyalty card - often gives you a code for free credit on the slot machines in store (I won 7 pounds on 25/10/19 with free credit)
1) Coral - Connect card gives free bets and other perks (I won from a free bet on the Rugby World Cup Final recently from Coral)
2) Ladbrokes - The Grid Card gives free bets etc... (I won some money recently from free bets on the Rugby World Cup from Ladbrokes)
3) BetFred Loyalty card - often gives you a code for free credit on the slot machines in store (I won 7 pounds on 25/10/19 with free credit)
Breaking News: 888Sport are running a special offer at present (current as at 30/11/19). If you sign up for a free account with 888sport or already have an account with 888sport then each weekend you get to predict the results of 8 football matches for free i.e Home Win/Draw/Away Win. Each result you pick correctly gives you a one pound free bet to use the following week (I won 5 pounds of free bets w/e 23/11/19)
The Latest Free Bet Offers
BetVision are giving a five pound free sportsbook bet, when you sign up with them and bet 10 pounds at odds of 2.0 1/1 or evens or better.
Racebets are giving 3 free ten pound bets, when you sign up with them and place a bet of 10 pounds
BetVision are giving a five pound free sportsbook bet, when you sign up with them and bet 10 pounds at odds of 2.0 1/1 or evens or better.
Racebets are giving 3 free ten pound bets, when you sign up with them and place a bet of 10 pounds
Today 01/12/19 I decided to do an matched betting walk-through for Racebets.
RaceBets Matched Betting Walkthrough
1) Visit https://www.racebets.com/en/horse-racing/
2) I Selected racing and then today.
2) I then deposited 10 pounds into my RaceBets Account
2) I selected the Horse Race at Fairyhouse on 01/12/19 at 14.40
I put ten pounds on the horse Honeysuckle with odds of 2.37 (Decimal)
I then searched on Betfair by typing in Fairyhouse into the search box at the top of the screen.
Horse Honeysuckle has a lay bet price on Betfair of 2.46
The oddsmonkey calculator says at odds of 2.46 you could lay 9.83 on betfair, the liability will be 14.35 and I will make an acceptable loss on the qualifying bet of 66 pence. Note, we set the oddsmonkey calculator to bet type normal for a qualifying bet. If it was a free bet we would set the oddsmonkey calculator to either FREE BET (Stake Not returned) or FREE BET (Stake Returned)
So I deposited the liability of 14.35 onto betfair.
As it happened Honeysuckle won the race. So, I lost the 14.35 in betfair, but won 19.09 at racebets (as I must have selected Starting price, rather than fixed odds by mistake as I found out later). So, I have withdrawn the 19.09 at racebets and I was waiting for my 3 10 pound free bets to be credited to my account.
I contacted racebets today via their online chat function to ask why the free bets have not been credited yet. Racebets said the initial bet placed was placed on Starting price(SP) not Fixed odds so welcome offer is not valid. They had an alternative welcome offer, but that was not available because I had withdrawn my winnings first. So, it goes to show how carefully you have to read the welcome free bet offer's terms and conditions on each bookmakers site. Although I have never had problems with free bets not being credited before as promised!