Matched Betting

[RortyCrankle]

I've started this the absence of anyone else starting a thread on the subject and since the Chat thread will disappear in a month. Hope you think it's in the right place.

I'm still dithering which is annoying me. I've made a new e-mail - hope to get bank account this week. I keep looking at the different websites like Bonus Bagging and Profit Accumulator etc and can't decide between them. Put off by what Tawny said about Profit Maximiser and don't trust myself to do it without help so going for Bonus Bagging, i think.

(Returns, as in %age of free bet value, not overall odds)

I've just started MB today after reading up on it for a couple of months. I can't say I've found it particularly enjoyable so far. I just have a feeling of doom about it all I have no idea why!

Hopefully it gets easier.

So I was looking into doing this and I just found it quite hard to get my head around. It also seemed to me that it could take quite a while and I could lose money if I get it wrong.

I heard of a company in Central London who helps people do this, you go to their office and they'll help you sign up, give you money to do it and show you the best ways to get the most out of the free bets. Has anyone used a company like this and what do you guys think about me giving it a go.

I figure even if they take some of the profits I haven't really risked anything. Thoughts?

Eliss have you watched the free videos on profit accumulator? I watched them on Saturday morning and I am hopeless at maths and betting.

I've made £112 since Saturday.

The guide on savethestudent is pretty good, eliss. Read it through twice, then follow the steps using their calculator. Once you've got your head round the standard back and lay technique you'll be away.

www.savethestudent.org/make-money/what-is-matched-betting.html

Also look at the strategy pages on the site I linked to a few posts above this. Some good stuff on there.

On a side note - use the ad block and ghostery browser plugins (chrome) and try to avoid the affiliate links in order to try to stay off the 'gubbing ' radar. Go to the bookie sites directly and sign up, having checked the terms and made a note of any promo codes etc.

I dip in and out as time allows, it's pretty easy to make a couple of hundred quid in a week on the new account sign ups. Lots of bonuses and reloads coming around for the euros too.

The whole process seems pretty time consuming, I've heard that it's possible to do this in mere days. The method on savethestudent gets you like half the advertised bet.

Any idea how there are companies promising higher returns in shorter timeframes. They seem pretty confident and willing to stump up the money.

Am I missing something?

I don't know anything about the companies, tbh. Seems like a bit of a sales job, but that's based on gut instinct and zero knowledge of them! I expect you'll have to go through their affiliate links to the bookies.

You should be aiming at about 80% of the free bet value as a return, on the whole.

You'll get higher %age returns if you back and lay at longer odds on the free bet but that requires a larger bank in smarkets/Betfair to cover the larger liability. The qualie bet should have odds as close as poss on the back and lay bets to minimise the 'acceptable loss'.

Re time consuming- try the oddsmonkey link I posted up thread. You can filter by bookie, exchange, sport, odds, etc. You need a free account login to use that tool. There's a paid version but I don't have experience of it. You should be able to find several likely races/matches to look at, which reduces the time considerably. I don't spend more than 30-45 minutes a day when I'm home and doing it.

Eliss - I'm struggling to understand why you would go to an office to do this. are you opening accounts in your name and they are taking a share of your profits? Do you get to keep all the money yourself? it sounds a bit fishy to me.

You're right they do take some of the profits but this way I don't have to use any of my money also they'll place the bets in front of me and show me what to look out for.

The reason I need to go down to their office is because they can't open accounts or place bets on my behalf.

I haven't done it yet, thought it was worth asking if anyone here has used something like this and just generally what your thoughts are on using it.

Can you link to them, or tell us their names so we can google them? Hard to give an opinion on something I know nothing about!

I don't think I would. Better to have control of your own accounts. I've found it slow but only because I have a clingy BF baby and I've set everything up on a laptop that I can't balance on my knee.

I set up my own very simple secure spreadsheet just to track account details, amounts in and out and the wagers placed by date. It does feel like slow progress at times but I guess it's something you dip in and out of for a bit of money as and when. Well it is for me anyway. It's nice to make money while I'm sat under a baby all day!

Hard to say without seeing the details, but sounds a bit iffy. Im imagining they are taking a fair old chunk of your profits if they have central London offices to pay for.

I understand you don't want to risk your own money, took me months to take the plunge.

You only need £50 ish to get going. I started with the free trial of Proft Accumulator and made the first months subscription with the profits. Their guides and videos really are easy to follow.

For anyone getting started. This is currently free on Amazon Kindle. It's a pretty quick read that covers the basics really well and includes a beginner's first 2 months and £300ish profit:

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FUI9ML4

"Matched Betting Made Easy: Converting Free Bets into Real Money for the Complete Beginner"

We've just done the in play bet365 one on Russia/England - bit of a nightmare trying to find a match so we ended up not making as much money as we might have done because we had to go for lower odds than we'd have liked on the 2nd bet. Is there a calculator somewhere that does the matching for you?

In play is tricky due to fast varying odds. The usual trick is to strike the brts at half time. I made that mistake with 32 red. Their deal offers the free bet in running. Thsts fine but I was turning over the offers to build a bank on the exchange account and I didn't read the ts and cs closely enough. Object lesson!

I think the paid oddsmonkey one does live or frequently refreshed odds. The freebie refreshes every half hour. Not bad fora days racing or tomorrow's footy. Not so hot in play!

Tbh, some of these gotchas are in response to bonus scalping, do you take the rough with the smoothe.

Also - been drinking do please excuse typos!

PA do a live odds matcher, if you have the subscription obviously. But I have never found it to make the in play any easier. I always do it manually and usually go for correct score market, odds are usually High enough to make a decent profit and its easier to lose this bet IMO.

Has anyone got, or had, a subscription to Oddsmonkey? I've fallen out of love with Profit Accumulator a bit. Tried Profit Maximiser instead, but I think it's awful - overpriced, for less features. Luckily I had a trial for £1 so I'm going to cancel that.

I'm almost starting again from scratch as we had an unexpected bill, which wiped out my profits and float, so I'm going slowly again.

Oh, and I've tried going it alone - it takes far too long. I need the 'software' that finds the bets for me.

@mollyRedskirts: Odds Monkey is currently the top advanced service at www.comparematchedbetting.co.uk

Thanks, I never even thought of checking out comparison sites! I think I'll give it a go. I want to set myself a weekly target to make sure I cover the fees and £15 per month is most definitely doable.

Molly, I use bonus baggings odd matcher which is free and the free calculator on PA

Bet 365 have their £50 inplay offer for the England vs Wales game today if anyone has time to get on it. It's worth about £30 profit.

Bwin have pretty much the same £50 inplay offer for the same match. Worth about £25 profit or so.

They may be more, I haven't had time to look yet.

Are the in plays just on England/Wales? In at work till 3.30 so can't do them grrrr....

@freshprincess - Sorry to say, but yes... for today they are anyway!