Matched betting help

[MrsRogerLima]

Forgive me I'm very tired and new to this.

So I backed £10 on the football to win, layed £10 on betfair for same team to lose. The match was a draw so I've lost my back bet but won my lay bet?

I've lost £10 right? My brain is too tired to figure this out.

I layed my back bet against almost exact odds so I can't have lost money can I?

Did you use a matched betting calculator to work out how much to lay? Your betfair history should show a rod it now if you LAYED correctly.

A profit sorry, not a rod! And no idea how the random capitals appeared.

It shows as won £10 but I spent £20 over all so I've lost £10?

Yes I used a calculator and I was expecting about - 45p as it was a qualifying bet.

I will now have a £20 free bet to play so is this where my missing £10 is?

You hopefully laid at Betfair for that team not to win which is different from them losing.
So if they lost or it was a draw, you should have won at betfair

Yes so you should broadly have broken even from your qualifying bet

Then you have £20 free to play with which you hopefully should clear £17ish from.

There’s your profit

Maybe you lost at the bookies
Got your stake back at bet fair plus the £10 winnings? Therefore breaking even?
If not you did something wrong as you shouldn’t be £10 down on the qualifying bet
Hopefully it was definitely a lay bet at betfair and not just using them as a regular bookie? (Which they also do)

Your lay needs to be AGAINST the win - (so to lose or draw). It sounds like you might have laid the wrong outcome. This can be an expensive mistake to make so I'd recommend reading / watching the instructions again until you're really clear.

The fact you say the odds were almost exact is ringing alarm bells for me....

Did you 'win' on Betfair?

The amounts don't sound right either.

@DiddlySquatty would it show as only £10 won on betfair in that case? So they don't show that I got my stake back, just the profit?

You wouldn't have laid the same amount as you bet as you have to cover the liability

Did you use a match betting calculator?

Eg Anytime United they win at bookies @1.9
Against Anytime United at exchange @ 2

You place 10 at bookies but 9.50 at exchange
With a qualifying loss of 50p

What were the odds at the bookies and exchange

Virgin bet - £20 free bet when you bet £10 2020-11-04 Zenit St Petersburg v Lazio 11/5 backed £10.00

Betfair 12/5 £10.00 (not including liability)

@MrsRogerLima did you place your lay bet on Betfair Exchange or Betfair Sportsbook? You should only have used the exchange for MB'ing.

If you layed a £10 bet, then it wouldn't have been £10 that you should have laid, you would have layed a different amount because of liability etc

Did you use a MB'ing calculator? As this would have told you the amount to lay at the Exchange

You've made a tenner in Betfair (minus commission)

You had 24 in liability and now have almost 34

But you lost your 10 at the bookies so have not lost or made anything which is correct

Thank you @pistolknight I can go to sleep peacefully now 😂