Oh fuck.

[Fuckfuckfuck123]

Oh fuck. Ive just spent £200 on online slot machines. Im so ashamed. My money, but could have been put to better use. Im an idiot .

Antigon matched betting eats into the profits of bookies as you take value from every bet you place.

If I back a horse to 'win' me £50, I will be placing another bet to pay me £50ish if it doesn't win. The original £50 will either be a qualifying bet to trigger a free bet, or it will have some sort of value to it.

You are using 2 bookies, one of them will lose, 1 will 'win'. So the industry doesn't benefit from me placing and laying bets like this, but I do as there will be a free bet in it somewhere. Which I will then make a guaranteed profit from.

I hate gambling. Bookies always have the edge over punters. Matched betting is simply exploiting the bookmakers for their own clever marketing which is all designed to get the average gambler to spend money.

I have loads of bookies and casino accounts. The amount of emails, notifications, phone calls, free bets, pop ups etc is ridiculous. They all encourage you to download an app, store your banking details and basically try and make it as easy as possible to deposit.

My dh would be a problem gambler if I didn't keep a tight hold of the finances. I know the misery gambling can cause. I hate the whole industry. Me doing MB is my 2 fingers up at them all. And casinos are even worse than sports bookies. Every game, every webpage, every email is designed to make you want to chase that elusive big win.

Just a tip for anyone doing casinos. Turn the sound off. Even the theme tunes are designed to make you carry on. Keep the laptop where it is just uncomfortable to reach. Do it on an uncomfortable chair. Set a time as well as money limit.

Install the Self Control app on your phone & computer and block yourself off. Contact them and ask them to bar your card because you have a problem. And don't beat yourself up - we all do stupid things sometimes.

I’m going to start MB v soon.

He told me never to touch match betting with a barge poll. Why? Because you will never win well this isn’t true, you can’t actually lose with match betting unless you make a mistake, as people have already said “they make money” some make a living from match betting. I think I’m going to have a go at it, money’s tight and a few extra ££ would be a great help.

Thanks for clarifying @Frouby. I guess the issue is that would be taking money from bookies who took the money from gamblers (including addicts). It doesn't sit right.

Please re read my sentence and don’t edit bits out to suit your argument. I said “in the long term”. There must be a reason why he’s worked in the gambling industry for years and years and never ever places a bet on anything?

I would love to do matched betting - in theory - but I don't trust myself to stay away from the other offers that pop up at bookies. I have very poor impulse control and no real off button - I gamble only if I am on the course, and only a set amount per race, but sometimes this is hard too. I know I would lack self-control and discipline, and it's not a risk I want to take. I've never taken drugs either as I doubt my ability not to become an addict.

I know they say that there's no such thing as an addictive personality, but I know I have trouble controlling some behaviours. I also avoid the stock market for myself for the same reason - I just know that this kind of thing has the potential to end very badly for me.

notsohippychick matched betting isn't the same as gambling though. You won't lose any money even in the long term if you do it properly ie don't gamble.

It's not moralising to point out that every penny you get from the bookie is directly a loss someone else is making

I don’t know why Mumsnet jumps on this point. It’s completely false and the clue is in the name. MATCHED betting. Any bet placed you match with your own lay bet. The money you place is simply transferred to yourself.

There are no sorry loosers sobbing into their cornflakes directly because of your bets. Just proves the majority of mn have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to matched betting. Great, more profit for the rest of us

@LunaDeet

It's not false. Any money you make is ultimately coming from people who lost money at ordinary gambling. Some people can live with that, some cannot. It comes down to the individual's conscience.

Antigon there were gamblers before MBing. There will be gamblers after. And much as I hate gambling many, many people take pleasure from it. Not everyone has a problem with gambling, not everyone spends more than they can afford to lose, not everyone ends up destitute.

Lots of jobs take money from others. Lots benefit from others misfortune if you want to call it that. My dh is a builder. We benefit because people need homes. Gyms benefit from people wanting to get fitter. Manufacturers and retailers benefit from people thinking they need all kinds of things, from high end cars down to a bag of crisps or a bottle of wine.

Gambling is a massive industry that's worth millions, if not billions. It's not something I would 'waste' my money on personally. But profiting from it doesn't make MBers unethical. And we are not profiting from peoples misery. We are profiting from an industry that provides a service, just like any other industry.

Yes gambling can and does destroy lives. But no one forces a gambler to gamble. It's an addiction like any other and it definetly has it's problems. But so do many things today. Alcohol, cigarettes, fast food etc are all non essentials that people can become addicted to. And it's no more my fault that some people have gambling problems than it is someone working in McDonalds who serves an obese person. Or a landlord serving an alcoholic. Or a sales assistant serving cigarettes.

I make a living from it. MBers have probably improved the industry from an addicts point of view. The offers aren't as good as they used to be and that's mainly down to MBers taking so much value the bookies had to reduce those offers. This means less people will probably be drawn into gambling in the first place. So from a purely moral point of view, MBers probably contributed positively to reducing gambling addiction.

MBers also keep bookies on their toes with being arseholes about withdrawals. MBers know the laws inside out and do report and slate rogue bookies on social media. Which means bookies are more likely to give you your winnings.

It's not as clear cut as MBers profiting from others misery.

LunaDeet you are wrong. Or more likely, justifying MB to yourself.

Just started match betting today! To be fair I haven't a clue what I'm doing but still managed to make £25 on the England game!!

don't worry OP, I made a worse mistake tonight matched betting. Bet placed in euros (I forgot) and lay bet in pounds and it wasn't small. In fact if anyone has any tips on this mind bending management of accounts in euros and GBP let me know because I keep forgetting.

Interesting it’s described as “earning”.

Why is it interesting familyofaliens?

If it's tax implications you are finding interesting I can assure you they are tax free.

Ive gambled. Once. It does not make me an addict. It makes me an idiot, but not an addict.

Name changed for this as outing but hopefully my story can help others.

Like OP and others I started with matched betting, did it successfully quite a while but then like the OP I had a gamble occasionally to. Sometimes I'd win, sometimes I'd lose. I'd celebrate the wins and justify the losses with "it doesn't matter I'll get it back".

The problems started for me when I had a few good wins, turning £100 into over £3k on live roulette and blackjack or winning over £5k on a horse L15.
Suddenly the money I made in matched betting was a pittance and I convinced myself I could make life changing sums elsewhere.

Of course that's not what happened, over a 4 year period I've won and lost 10s of thousands, I remember sitting with 5 figures in my account, telling myself if the next bet didn't come in I'd withdraw £x amount and ending up blowing the lot, then wasting another 4 figures trying to get back even.

Overall I'm now £37k in debt to various credit cards and loans and currently looking at my options to sort it, including entering a Debt Payment Programme, selling my house to pay some of it or even bankruptcy.

I never thought for a moment I'd be in this situation as things like this don't happen to people like me but one thing I've learned is that gambling will hook anyone and once your in it's incredibly difficult to control. Even now with all the mess I'm left with I still have a real deep urge to gamble again.

Please learn your lesson now OP while things are good. You think losing £200 is tough, just wait till it's £20k.

itllgetya am sorry for your experience, I could cry for you, I really could.

I know someone who has just blown most of a 200k bank. And have been on trading courses where the facilitators have spoken of doing similar.

But the problem isn't the MBing, it's the people who gamble. And 37k of your own money is a serious problem. That may or may not have happened without the MBing. But MBing is not gambling.