Matched betting?! Tell me more...

[ExpatMrs]

Just came across a good few MNers talking about it on another thread. I don't even know what it is but from the jist of the convo, there's good money to be made from having a couple of hours a day to do it... I have those hours!!
Can anyone enlighten me please?

Unmatched means there isn't enough liquidity in the market for that bet. Essentially it means you're acting as a bookmaker in Betfair, and no-one wants to take you up on the bet you've offered.

What is your lay bet and how long until the event? If it's a few days away, hang fire and see if it gets matched. If it's in the next hour or so and still unmatched, try cancelling and redoing.

I had to Google to get decimals in Betfred - silhouette>settings I think.

Right..first bet has come on via betfair.
I placed a £5 on coral to qualify me for the £20 free bet. So when I'm working out profit and loss do I take £5 off what came in on betfair? Or was this accounted for already? Sorry I'm shit :(

Right first day bets done

£32.10 profit !

Happy with that!

Well without going into all the ins and outs.. still need to get my head around the maths in that part

Paid in £140
£120 Betfair
£20 Coral
£20 Betfred

Back bets
£5 Coral
£5 Betfred

Played Coral £20 free bets on Atl V Leics.

I now have

£113.27 Betfair
£15 Coral
£45 Betfred

£173.27

-£30 current free bet/balance at Betfred

£143.27

So I'm +£3.37 on my £140. I think I've gone wrong somewhere as I'm pretty sure the calculator predicted +£17

Do you mean £10 Coral £10 betfred?

Paid in?

Ah my £5 coral bet hasn't even happened yet and I now realise if I don't win there I'll win on betfair so will break even. So first bet I'm £14 up

No, definitely £20 each Baby And well done on your result!

I'm just looking at my Betfair statement and it looks like the lay against my Bedfred 1st bet has cost me £25 but I didn't get anything back from Betfred either.

Uh oh. Back to the tutorials for me!

I've been doing it since July, just odd weekends and have made close to £4K now.

I started with £100 float from my own money but paid it back to myself very quickly so I can keep all my matches betting money separate from my main account. Just in case i accidentally click the wrong button somewhere and lose some, I don't feel too bad because it was 'free' money anyway.

I'm a member of Oddsmonkey, they had a good free trial and the tutorials and calculators are really good. Forums are great too.

If you do it correct every time you will always make money. I have made a good few mistakes on the way but over all I've made profit and I pretty much know what I'm doing now!

I usually use smarkets instead of betfair, just because I find it a bit simpler and the commission is slightly less but there's not much in it.

When you've done all the sign up offers, you should have built up enough money to start doing the ongoing offers which need a bigger float. I made hundreds on the grand National this week, but had 3k of bets on......

Thanks! Just checked and now saying matched thank god!

My first two sets of bets have settled.

Money out £115
Current balance £130.64 (most in Betfair as my free bets at the bookies both lost - this is good)
£15.64 profit. £20 of free bet balance still at Betfred. Will do tomorrow.

Not a massive % of free bet converted to actual cash but I've been VERY cautious.

Although I will plug the results into my Uber Spreadsheet tomorrow and check I've worked it out right!

But... What's in it for the bookmakers if customers can't lose?

When did matched betting actually start? Could this be actually be a covert way for the government to introduce a citizens income unofficially? Money for nothing and your chips for free?

Just realised I've been singing Dire Straits wrong all these years. It's actually 'chicks' for free. - That's really sexist of them.

LOL at it being a covert citizens income! I love it, that's a great conspiracy theory.

I've no idea when it started but I imagine it's been around in some form for years. Definitely made more popular and easier thanks to the internet.

I wonder if it started with dutching? That's when you don't use an exchange and you use two bookies to make opposing back bets.

Ha, I've got me tinfoil hat on tonight!

Seriously though, it just seems weird that gambling has always been so obviously stacked in favour of the bookies, now everyone seems to be making money suddenly.

One bit I'm confused on

When would you actually withdraw the money?

So far all my winnings have gone to betfair - do I leave it there to cover liability? Or withdraw to cover initial bets on new bookies .

What do I do?

Is the profit all from free bets?

I've done 4 qualifiers now so moving onto the free bet placements. Aiming to be well into realising the free bets at the end of this weekend.

Baby - I'd withdraw from the bookies but leave in the exchange. You want to build up your bank in the exchange so you can cover the liability for your lay bets.

Poison - yes the profit comes from the free bets, you lose a little on your money from the qualifying bets but make from the free ones.

To go back to the question of why isn't everyone doing this? I hadn't really heard of matched betting before last weekend and even when I had I'd dismissed it due to the word 'betting'. I suspect that would put most people off.

Looking at my spreadsheet, from my first four sets of bets I'm £20.19 up with two of those bets still to settle with a potential profit of a further £35. So not a bad start!

My aim in the next few weeks is to pay my current account back with the amount I've invested so far and continue to build my banks at the exchanges.

I never seem to win at the bookies !

As I see it it's better to "win" at the exchange though? As that is where the most profit is? Is that right?

no you don't want to win at the bookies if you can help it.

Is there another account you can use other than betfair?
I made cock up over my bank details to paddy power on the national and my account has been closed and they said I can't use paddy power or betfair.