Matched Betting is a process where free bets offered by bookmakers are used to secure a profit. This profit is facilitated by ‘matching’ these bets on a separate site known as the exchange, i.e. betting both ‘for’ and ‘against’ an outcome at very close odds so that you are covered in all outcomes (win, lose, or draw). This means that you always secure a profit no matter the outcome of the event you're betting on (By always being paid out either on the bookmaker side or the exchange side). When you first start out, you have all the welcome offers to do, so most people will earn around £300-£500 in their first month provided they work through the welcome offers and match their free bets at odds that are high (6.0+ ideally) and close (less than 10% difference between the odds on the bookmakers and the exchange) In your second month, you'll likely still be working on the welcome offers, as there are a lot of them, and again, you can around £200-£300 without breaking too much of a sweat. Once the welcome offers finish, you're onto the reload offers. These are generally smaller value free bets, but they all add up. You'll see these posted daily on the matched betting site you sign up to. You should also check your email to catch any personalised offers that are sent to you. Typically, after completing the welcome offers, you can expect to earn anywhere from £100-£200 per month, as long as you complete the reload offers that are available to you. Some months will be better than others, as bookmakers promotions, and therefore the reload offers, are always changing. Recently, I've been using [[https://www.oddsmonkey.com/affiliates/affiliate.php?id=66056 Oddsmonkey]] as a Matched Betting service. This site is a great resource as it has all the welcome and reload offers in one place, explains how to complete every offer in detail, and offers 24/7 customer support, which is great for any help you may need when you're just starting out. This site also offers 0% commission on Smarkets, an exchange used for Matched Betting, This was a big pull for me, as it means you make more profit from every offer, which really adds up in the long run. Over the last couple of years, I've learned quite a bit about the ins and outs of matched betting, and so I decided to put this guide together which explains in detail how the process of Matched Betting works. Anyway, Here is the Guide: *Part 1: Before you Start* *(1)* You can start with as little as £50 but ideally and for the sake of attaining more profit in a faster time, My Personal Recommendation would be to start with £100-£200 *(2)* If you are careless, you can make mistakes. Like with any task, you must give it the level of precision it demands, a mistake when entering figures will cost you real money. When you read the guide below you will see that the process is very simple, but that means you must take extra care not to become complacent. *(3)* If you have a history with gambling, do not come near Matched Betting. Matched Betting is not gambling, but the fact you will be using betting websites to facilitate a profit is too much of a temptation- It's not worth it. *(4)* Matched betting won't affect your credit rating, however, it's common sense that it doesn't look good to have numerous transactions to betting sites on your bank statement. Open a separate virtual bank account such as Starling/Monzo for all your Matched betting activity (It only takes 5 minutes, details below) *(5)* Yes, It likely comes to an End. There's no exact duration of time for how long you can continue matched betting before your accounts are gubbed (Meaning no longer eligible for promotions/free bets), For some people, it's 2 years, for others, it's 5 years. Is the fact that it's not a long term source of income a reason not to do it? I don't believe so, This is beermoney and the point is to make as much from an offer while you can. Personally, I'm coming up to 2 years now with all of my accounts still going strong. My only advice would be to make hay while the sun shines. With that being said, Matched Betting really is a solid way to secure £400-£500 in a very short time and then continue earning £100s every month. It's the reason I was able to pay my first couple of months' rent when I moved to the UK and to this day still remains a handy way to pay the bills every month. *Part 2: Starting out* Having done my research and having been able to turn a really nice profit in such a short time, I wanted to make a short guide to eliminate people's doubts and simplify things a little. Since it really doesn't take a lot of time to hit that £500 profit mark, it's a shame not to try it out. Anyway, Here it goes: I was initially very skeptical about Matched Betting because a friend showed me the Facebook groups and it just looked like a giant gambling pyramid scheme. It turns out there is a decent chunk of change to be made from it, you just need to follow the guides and never ever actually gamble with your money. *Never ever Gamble?* ^Yes That's right, you are going to be using betting websites to complete the various offers, but the whole idea behind matched betting is that every time you "make a bet", you match that same bet on the exchange. So for example, if I bet £10 for Real Madrid to Win on the Bookmaker Site at odds of 2.5, I then also make a Matched bet on the Exchange (This is a separate site such as Smarkets) where I bet for Real Madrid not to win at odds of 2.5 (or as close as I can get to those odds). In this way, I am covered in all outcomes (win, lose or draw), and it allows me to fulfill the requirements of the bookmaker's offer (For example Bet £10 and get £30 in Free bets)^ *What's the difference between the Bookmaker Site and the Exchange?* ^On the Exchange Site you are basically being the Bookmaker and just like a Bookmaker, you have liability. If I bet £10 and my bet wins at odds of 2.5 then I win £25, so the bookmaker's liability for this bet is £15, the extra money that they would have to give me if I win. There are calculators on the Matched betting sites which you can use to calculate what Liability you need to enter on the exchange each time you make your matched bet. There is also software to help you find what games have the closest odds on both the bookmakers and the exchange, which is very important.^ *What do I do when I get my free bets?* ^It's the same process again, You find a game that has very close odds on both the bookmakers and the exchange (You can do this by eye or by using odds matching software. This software is available on the matched betting site you sign up to, see below). Only this time when you use the calculator to work out your liability, you will set it to "Free bets SNR" so it knows you are not using real money. It will tell you how much Liability to use in the exchange and off you go.^ *How does this make me money?* ^The fact that you have a free bet to use is what makes you money, For example, a £30 free bet at odds of 5.5 in the bookmakers will win you £135 (30 x 4.5, because the original free bet stake of £30 is not returned to you). Now let's say that the closest odds I can find in the Exchange for the same game are 6.0, I will need a liability of £112.50 to match my free bet in the bookies ( I use the calculator to work this out)^ ^£135- £112.50 = £22.50 in Profit.^ ^Alternatively, if my bet on the exchange wins, I will lose the free bet of £30 (but it's not actually a loss to me because It's not real money) and I will win £22.50 on the exchange. Either way, I make a Profit of £22.50^ *What about providing card details?* ^You can use a separate, virtual bank account for all your matched betting, In this way your main banking information is not shared with any of the sites you sign up to and all of your matched betting transactions never go near your main bank account. A good example of a virtual bank account is Starling or Monzo. These apps are super easy to use and it only takes 5 minutes to open an account. It's also totally free to open an account.^ *Where can I learn to do it?* The site that I use is called [[https://www.oddsmonkey.com/affiliates/affiliate.php?id=66056 Oddsmonkey]]. It's one of the most popular Matched Betting sites in the UK. The main grab for me is their 0% exchange commission, which translates to a nice bit of extra profit in over the long run. They have over £700 in welcome offers available, and with each offer taking around 15-20 minutes to complete (and paying £15 per offer on average) it really doesn't take a long time to hit £300-£400 in Profit. If you are new to this site and are opening a free account, you can use this [[https://www.oddsmonkey.com/affiliates/affiliate.php?id=66056 Link]] to sign up and earn £40 during your free trial. After earning £40 and seeing what the site has to offer, you can decide whether or not to continue using Oddsmonkey with a monthly subscription of £29.99. In my opinion, it's well worth the investment. With access to 24/7 customer support, 0% Smarkets commission, tools for odds matching and profit tracking, as well as weekly reload offers and guides, I really can't recommend these guys enough. Also, The profit you make monthly will always be much higher than the cost of the subscription, and of course you can cancel at any time. *TLDR:* You do not need to "gamble" to matched bet, in fact by definition, the bet you make is "matched" on the exchange, so it is not a gamble in any sense. *Part 3: Continuing to Earn* Once you've finished completing all of the welcome offers, you will probably notice that your monthly profits from Matched betting will be dropping off a bit. This doesn't mean that you can't continue to earn a decent monthly profit, it's just about knowing how to make the most from the offers available to you. The thing about Matched betting is that every month there will be different reload offers available which means a different amount of profit, so the key to making the most from matched betting is to take advantage of the offers available every month, and to be aware of their existence in the first place (as obvious as that may sound). So, the amount you earn monthly comes down to a few things: *(1)* Check your email every day, don't underestimate the importance of this. *(2)* Check the offers section of Oddsmonkey or the matched betting site you use daily to see new offers. *(3)* Offers change all the time- Don't let this put you off. There are always new offers to replace the previous ones. *(4)* It all adds up. Don't think "It's only a £5 free bet, not worth matching". Some months I get around 10-15 £5 free bets, If I ignored them all I would be down £40-£65 in profit at the end of the month. *(5)* Some months are better than others and it can vary quite a bit depending on the time of year, A very modest month should earn you £100, an average/good month is £200-£300 and a great month can be anywhere between around £400- £500 (My best months are generally in the summer or during festivals). *Examples of common reload offers:* *(1) Bet X Get Y:* This involves betting a certain amount in order to be awarded a free bet of a certain value. It's a very common type of reload offer. The bookmakers that I had the most luck with for these were VirginBet, WilliamHill and Coral. For example, Coral had a promotion last year where you would receive a free bet of £50 when you bet £50, provided the team you bet was ahead at half time but went on not to win the match, which was very profitable. *(2) Personalised Offers:* These are sent to you exclusively by email, but they may also show up in the reload section or forum of your match betting site. They can be free bets, Cash bonuses or Bet X Get Y offers.VirginBet stands out to me as being the best for these types of offers, Once thet dropped a £100 free bet in my account at the start of the football season. Bet 365 is also very good for these. *(3) 2nd/3rd/4th place Horse Racing offers:* These are offers where you get a refund in the form of a free bet or cash if your horse comes 2nd, 3rd or 4th. Paddy Power is generally very good for these, as is Skybet. Virginbet's offer of a £20 free bet when your horse wins at 4.0 is also very handy. *(4) Deposit Offers:* Depositing a certain amount awards you with a cash bonus or a bonus that needs to be wagered or bet. The only problem with these offers however is that they often come with wagering requirements, so be careful of that if you see them. Having said that, I like these types of offers because they can be very lucrative. *(5) Enhanced Odds:* This is when bookies enhance the odds on their side, meaning you can profit simply by matching your bet on the exchange. William hill does this a lot, and 888 sport are also quite good for this offer. *(6) Money back if you lose:* An offer where the value of your bet is refunded as a free bet if you lose. Boylesport would be the number one bookie that seems to offer this type of promotion in my experience. Betway also seems to offer this promotion quite a bit, they also do a promotion called "First Goal Wins" which is similar and can allow you to win on both the bookies and the exchange, which is great. *(7) Bet Clubs:* Require you to make a certain amount of bets every week in order to be awarded a free bet at the end of the week. *(8) Bet X Get Free Spins:* These are offers where making a bet of a certain value awards you with a variable amount of free spins. VirginBet, Skybet and Coral seem to be very keen on this particular offer, it's not always super profitable but if you can match the bet at a low qualifying loss, there's no reason not to try it out. And that's it, I hope this guide can be of help to some people, if you have any questions at all just ask.