Another vote for matched betting. I did it for six months last year and made just under £1400 profit before I got tired of it. Not tired of the profit but I felt I was spending too much time on it by the end. In the beginning it was probably 20 minutes per day but by the end it was more like a couple of hours a day to make the same amount. For a good while it was pulling in £70 a week or so.
You need to understand how it works before you risk real money. Basically the concept is
- Open account with bookmaker who gives you a sign up bonus, eg. "Bet £10 get a £20 free bet" - you will bet on an outcome to happen here. ("Back" bet.)
- Have an account with an exchange where you will bet on the SAME outcome NOT to happen. ("Lay" bet.) Exchanges charge commission on winning bets - use one that charges 2% (eg Betfair, but you have to select the 2% plan - they default you to one with a higher percentage that gives you other benefits).
- Find an event where the bookmaker's odds are close to the exchange odds - almost always the bookmaker's odds will be slightly lower.
- Place your real money bet.
- Use a matched betting calculator to calculate your lay bet and place that on the exchange account.
- Whatever the result, you'll be down slightly overall.
- You've now earned your free bet. Find another selection that has odds that are close between the bookmaker and exchange.
- Place your free bet at the bookmaker.
- Use the calculator to calculate your exchange bet.
10. Whatever the outcome you'll make a profit, between 50%-80% if you have done it correctly, which will more than make up for your slight loss with the first bet.
EXAMPLE:
a) Bookmaker has "Bet £10 Get £20 Free Bet" Offer
b) You find a selection with odds of 3.5 at the bookmaker and 3.7 on the exchange.
c) You bet the £10 real money bet with the bookmaker.
d) The calculator tells you to lay £9.51 on the exchange - which means risking £25.68 of your money.
e) Effectively you've staked £35.68 of your money overall.
f) If the bookmaker bet wins, you get £35 back (includes your stake), so you're down £0.68 overall.
g) If the exchange bet wins you also get £35 back and are down 68p (after the commission has been deducted on the £9.51 profit).
h) You find another selection to use your £20 free bet on, say it's also 3.5 at bookmaker and 3.7 on exchange.
i) You put the £20 free bet on at the bookmaker. If it wins, you get £50 profit. (20 x 3.5 = 70, but you don't get the stake money on a free bet.)
j) The calculator tells you to lay £13.59 at 3.7 with a liability of £36.69. If it wins your profit will be £13.32 after the 2% commission.
k) If bookmaker bet wins you're up £13.31 (£50 win minus the £36.69 exchange loss).
l) If exchange bet wins you're up £13.32 (the exchange profit after commission - you've not lost any real money at the bookmaker because you used the free bet).
m) Overall, you've made £12.63 or £12.64 once you deduct the 68p lost in the first bet. You've needed £36.69 of real money available in advance to do this to get the bookmaker offer and make the lay bets on the exchange (because if the first bet won at the bookmaker you could withdraw your winnings and deposit them on the exchange before making your second bet).
I used this calculator. In the "Bet Type" box use "Normal" for your first bet (real money bet at bookmaker) and "Free Bet (SNR)" for your second bet (bonus money bet at bookmaker). SNR stands for "stake not returned" i.e. you only get the profit from the bonus bet.
Tips:
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If this guide makes no sense, that's good. It just means you should go and read more about the process before risking real money.
- Always use decimal odds (2.0, 3.5, 21 etc.). Bookmakers allow you to change the odds format in your account settings, a lot of British and Irish bookmakers default to fractional odds (Evens or 1/1, 5/2, 20/1 etc.). There's also moneyline odds which make no sense to me at all (-100, +250, +2000 etc.).
- Start with bookmakers that offer smaller bonuses like £10. That way you're not risking large amounts straight away.
- Start with selections with low odds. You can make a greater percentage profit with higher odds but need a lot more money in your exchange account to cover them. Starting with low odds (2.2 or lower) means if you make a mistake, you won't lose much.
- Log ALL your bets in a spreadsheet. EVERY single one, and keep a running total of your profit/loss.
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As you see the profits racking up, don't make the mistake of thinking you're now an expert at betting and can make normal bets. You're just following a system. When the free bets dry up, which they will, that's the end of the matter. Don't then start actual gambling.
- Football bets are good to start off with because usually the odds don't fluctuate much. Horseracing bets are good when you get used to how matched betting works because you can find selections where the exchange odds are very close to the bookmaker odds. The trouble with horseracing is that most money comes in close to the race starting and the odds fluctuate.
- Avoid betting in-play on events in progress at least until you fully understand things, again odds fluctuate wildly and there is often a few seconds delay before you can place a bet.
RISKS:
- Biggest risk is misunderstanding something. Either the process, or the rules a market has.
- Second biggest risk is odds changing between placing your back bet and your lay bet. This is more of a risk the closer you get to an event starting. If you get caught out by an odds change that goes against you, it's better to cash out/lay what you can and swallow a small loss than risk a big one.
- Third biggest risk is betting on markets with low liquidity. It means odds can jump wildly. Premier League football or British horseracing markets generally have plenty of liquidity and are more stable. Betting on Bangladeshi football or British greyhound racing and the odds will often jump around wildly.
- Fourth biggest risk is not having the discipline to follow the process properly. You should make an overall profit with each free bet regardless of outcome.
- Finally, once you've used up all the free bet signup offers you'll be restricted to ones for ongoing customers. These tend to mean more work because you have to seek them out. Eventually bookmakers will close your account or exclude you from free bet promotions if you're only using them for free bet offers. Matched betting isn't a long-term plan, expect to do it for a few months and then find it's no longer worth the time and effort.
My personal opinion of the bookmakers I used is that these are OK:
Grosvenor Casinos, Betfred, SkyBet, Parimatch, Ladbrokes, Unibet, William Hill, Bet365 (great signup offer), Casumo, Mansionbet, BetVictor, Mark Jarvis, Paddy Power, Smarkets, Boylesports, 888Sport, Coral, Spreadex, Fanteam, LiveScore Bet, Virgin Bet, Quinnbet, Gentingbet
Note that sometimes one company owns multiple brands and you can only claim one sign-up offer, eg Parimatch and BetVictor.
AVOID these four at all costs, they either didn't pay my bonuses or had stupid terms and conditions like charging you to deposit money and charging you again to withdraw it:
Mr Play - head and shoulders the worst experience of the lost
Matchbook
Novibet
Betway