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.

Just wanted to introduce myself - nothing underhand I promise.

I work for OddsMonkey - which is the software that all of the matched betting websites use to help find, calculate and place matched bets.

If it's OK with everyone, I'd be happy to dip in and out from time to time and answer any questions about Matched Betting. We built the software. We're the experts and are well placed to offer advice.

:)

You do not need to pay anyone to do this successfully. All the information you need is freely available on the Moneysavingexpert website. I started last Cheltenham and plodded steadily on and have just had a great Cheltenham week making £500. Please don't waste money signing up to sites which sell the info others provide free.

Yes odds monkey is a great site too!

Thank you Gardening. Makes more sense now .

I am thinking of getting involved in match betting as my brother is making £500 a month using one of these sites that do the work for you - he only wants to spend 20 mins a day doing it, he says. I have very little free time, is it really that simple if I sign up to profit accumulator or has he just been lucky? I'm not planning to start with a huge amount (brother probably did but he was giving me all the details in front of my mum so probably leaving some out!)

marking place

I'm super confused by this. I get the concept of placing a minimal bet in order to get the free bets. So you place one on a winner, and one against them to cancel it out. So how do you actually get any money? Because obviously one bet has to win...but then the other will lose. If it is your 'lay' bet, then you lose the money you deposited as liability...doesn't that cancel out any money you may win through the free bet?

Cause if you have a liability of say £30 on a bet on Betfair, and win £30 on the free bet on say Corals...then yes you have got £30 out of Corals but lose on Betfair?

Mega confused, and not explaining myself well. Any simple explanations out there?!

Take a coin toss as an example. Two people place a bet. One bets £1 on heads (back bet) and one bets £1 on tails (lay bet). Coin is tossed. if it's heads player one gets the £1 back and also wins the other persons £1. However in matched betting you are both people so for the qualifying bet you break even. But by placing that bet it entitles you to a free bet. So imagine you use your free £1 bet on heads, then use your own £1 to put on tails. If it's heads you keep both coins (£2) and same if it's tails. But you've only really used £1 of your own money, so have made a profit of £1. I hope that explains it a bit better

But in that circumstance, if it is heads you lose the free stake and just keep your original stake don't you? Or do you 'win' the lay bet and take someone else's 'liability'?

Thank you for helping btw...it takes me a while to get my head around things*

Witsender - you 'lose' your free bet with the bookie, but you 'win' at the exchange.

So you have £1 of your own money and £1 of the bookies money (Ie a free bet)

Bet - £1 it will be heads at odds of 2. If you win they will give you £2
Lay - £1 it won't be heads at odds of 2. If this wins they will give you £2

If it is heads the bookie gives you £2 and you lost the £1 from the exchange.
If it isn't heads, the exchange be gives you £2. It was a free bet so you haven't lost anything at the bookies.

Either way, you started with £1 and now have £2.

Now this is MASSIVELY simplifying it, the odds are unlikely to be the same and you have to take into account commission but hopefully it gives you an example of where the profit comes from.

I've been a bit busy since setting up my new bank account. I joined Bonus Bagging but found their info confusing so today I sat and read the SavetheStudent website which I think Ugh recommended.

As a result I've placed my first bets today for a football match on 3rd April. So tempted to join another bookie and place another bet but I'm going to go slow, wait to see the outcome of 3 April bets and then do my second bet using free bookie offer. Fingers crossed it works..

Hi OddsMonkey I'm sure your knowledge will be really helpful - thank you.

Rorty - just take it at your own pace. The offers aren't going anywhere.

Totally agree freshprincess I'm taking it slowly until I feel confident. At least with a separate bank account I can't do major damage to my main account if I do get it wrong. Obviously I hope to make a profit but if I do make a stupid mistake, I can only lose what I put in my second account which I could survive losing.

Bonus Bagging seem to expect you to keep opening new bookie accounts almost daily whereas I would rather deal with one bookie and its offer of free bets before moving to a new one. It will probably mean less profits but I'm happy to make any extra money.

But but but...take right now. I have 30 free bets with paddy power, it is suggesting an arsenal game which could net a 21 profit if they draw.

But I need a 98 liability on betfair. If they draw I get 21. If they win or lose I lose 98?!

No, your winnings at PP will be your liability plus your profit.
What are the odds on PP and BF at the moment?

Is it Arsenal vs Watford? My calculation:

£30 (free bet) on the draw at odds of 5
Lay £22.02 on the draw on BF at odds of 5.5 your liability will be £99.09

If it is a draw you will have £120 in your PP account and nothing in your BF account
If it isn't a draw then you will have £0 in your PP account and £120 in your BF account
(£120 - £99 = £21).

I'm assuming you mean you have 1 free bet of £30 rather than 30 actual free bets.

Hi all.

Can anyone recommend a decent spreadsheet please, for keeping track of bets and calculating profit? I found one online but it's stopped working and my knowledge of Excel rivals my knowledge of particle physics, i.e. I have none...

I was on the other thread. I am going slowly, working my way through all the offers on Save the Student, and it seems to be going ok - crosses fingers!.

I do about two per week, very slowly and systematically, and have made about £120 so far. Plus about £50 from Quidco referrals. If the referral from Quidco is decent I use that, otherwise I click on the Save the Student referral link to make it worth his while too!

I have to say, the profit he has predicted for each transaction has either been met or exceeded each time...

Molly - I use Ultimatcher. It looks horrendously complicated, but once you get into it, it's really easy to use.

(there is a getting started guide on The Money Shed, which gives you the basics).

Placemarking as I need to come back and read this several times so I can make a start.

I agree with MaybeDoctor and have definitely found using the Automatcher on savethestudentorg the easiest to follow. I won 20 pounds on my first bet at PaddyPower and then used all three free 10 pound bets on the next match which resulted in a 120 pound win. Obviously I lost my bets on the exchange but am still in profit. So have withdrawn the 140 pounds from PaddyPower and now placed my first bet with another bookie. I totally agree about not rushing, and am not anticipating making thousands, just a bit extra each month.

I don't know anything about Quidco - will have a look at it.

Place marking. Although I can understand people wanting to keep a seperate bank account but can I ask why a new email address?

A good question. I just thought as I will be registering with many bookies, if they are going to spam my e-mail trying to get me to deposit and bet after using their free bets and withdrawing winnings, I would prefer them not to be clogging up my main e-mail.

It's up to you of course.

Ah gotcha makes sense! I've been toying with doing this for a while but haven't had time to sit down and look at it properly. Thanks for starting the thread it's given me a push!