Matched Betting Explained – The Ultimate Guide

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It would not be an exaggeration to say that matched betting has changed the lives of many of those punters who have realised what a wonderful opportunity it is and who have rolled their sleeves up to get involved with making some fantastic guaranteed cash.

This is basically a matched betting for dummies guide which will take you by the hand and show you exactly how it all works.

If you are not yet familiar with matched betting, it is the process of taking advantage of the many sportsbook’s bonuses and promotions with the aim of extracting as much risk-free value from these bonuses and promotions and in many cases, completely risk-free.

Let’s take a look at a very basic example which will show you exactly how it works so you can see how to match bet.

Bookie A is offering a 100% matched bet up to £50 for punters who are opening a new account with the bookie.

The punter, therefore, signs up and places a £50 bet on Manchester United to beat Newcastle United at odds of 2.2.

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This will result in a loss of £3.23 whatever the score so let’s take a quick look at the total profit from this £50 sign up bonus.

Add the bookie balance of £47.23 to the return from the sign-up bonus of £46.67 (£50 – £3.23) which equals £93.90

This equates to a total profit from the £50 sign up bonus of £43.90.

Not bad at all don’t you think, especially when you take into consideration that you will be looking at about ten minutes work and that there are literally hundreds of opportunities like this out there.

So, if you have ever wondered how does matched betting work, you now have the answer.

Is Matched Betting Legal and Safe?

Before we go any further, it is important that we address the questions, Is matched betting legal / is matched betting safe, because these questions are often the first questions that are asked by punters who come across matched betting for the first time.

The answer to the first question about matched betting being legal is, yes, it is.

Some punters get slightly confused by the terms and conditions which are associated with bonuses and promotions, but the important thing to remember is that bookies terms and conditions are not the law, they are simply the rules which have been put in place by the bookie.

Some bookies might not like punters just using their bookie accounts to claim bonuses, but by doing so, you are not breaking the law.

In answer to the second question, matched betting is perfectly safe providing that you take your time and don’t make any simple mistakes and you will find that when you have placed a couple of matched bets to get the hang of how the process works, it is unlikely that any mistakes will be made.

The Beauty of Matched Betting Reload Offers

After the Is matched betting legal / is matched betting safe questions, the next big query that newcomers to matched betting have is, what do you do when all of the bookie sign up bonuses have been claimed?

After all, even though there are literally hundreds of sportsbooks on the market, the sign-up bonuses can only be claimed once so surely the profit opportunities with matched betting are limited.

If you are a punter who is asking this question you will be pleased to discover that the last thing that matched betting is, is limited because most sportsbooks have in place what are known as reload bonuses.

Reload bonuses come in all shapes and sizes, but one thing that you can be sure of is that there will be plenty of them.

Reload bonuses are particularly evident in the football and horse racing markets, and it is perfectly possible for the astute matched bettor to quite literally make themselves a monthly income from the matched betting reload offers alone.

If you look at the matched betting reload offers which are available on every day of the week, not just on the occasions of big matches or on Saturdays, it would not be an exaggeration to say that you would be absolutely amazed by what is on offer.

Organisation Is the Key

You probably already realise that if you want to get seriously involved with matched betting, the whole operation will need to be well organised.

Many matched bettors will be taking advantage of several matched betting offers on the same day and when you take into consideration how many bets that could involve with both the backing and laying, it would be easy completely lose track of where you stand at any given time.

On occasions, a bonus will not be added automatically so you will need to get onto a bookies live chat in order to chase it up, but if you don’t keep accurate records, it would be easy to completely forget that you are owed a bonus and the process of matching out that particular offer would have been a complete waste of time.

Different funding options should also be set up, whilst Skrill and NETELLER are both highly recommended web wallets, some bonuses and promotions will not be triggered if using these wallets to make a deposit in which case a debit card should be used.

How to Find Matched Betting Reload Offers

The key when it comes to how to win from matched betting would have to be the ability to be able to find the offer and promotions, quickly and easily.

You need to be in a position whereby you wake up in the morning and know exactly what offers you will be taking advantage of on that particular day.

If you have to spend hours looking for the offers yourself, it takes away the value of matched betting so even if you have to pay for a service which finds these offers for you, it should be regarded as money well spent.

There is an extremely viable method which can be used to find many of the latest matched betting bonuses and promotions which won’t cost you a penny and this is to open a Twitter account which will only be used to follow every bookie that you can think of.

Don’t use the same Twitter account that you may use for personal tweets because bookie tweets will end up being missed but what you will find is that bookie’s will tweet their latest offers and more often than not, these tweets will be promoting limited offers.

If you respond to one of these tweets very quickly, you will find that it is very easy to make a profit from them.

More often than not, these tweeted offers come in the form of price boosts, so it is just a case of checking the exchange price, and if there is an arbitrage opportunity available (matched betting without free bets) it is just a matter of placing a bet on the price boost and then laying it off on the exchange.

Many of these price boosts will realise a profit of only a few pounds but please don’t let that put you off because these profits of only a few pounds can soon mount up over the course of a day or a week.

Another way to find matched betting reload offers is to use one of the many best matched betting sites which have been developed in order to help you with your matched betting activities.

You will need to be aware though that some of them are better than others, but the common consensus amongst the matched betting community is that Oddsmonkey is the best of the bunch.

The technical team at Oddsmonkey are continually raising the bar when it comes to designing and updating the various pieces of software which are available within the membership which at the time of writing is less than £20 per month.

Software and training videos which show you how to profit from accumulator offers (which are one of the most common types of offers out there at the moment), as well as all sorts of other matched betting software, means that the monthly subscription is just a drop in the ocean compared with the kind of money you could be earning.

Believe it or not, they even have matched betting software in a place where you enter the name of the bookie who is offering a particular promotion and the software will find the best markets where you can place the bets for the smallest qualifying loss.

Perhaps the most appealing feature of the Oddsmonkey membership though is the daily calendar which not only lists every matched betting offer which is available for any particular day but it also explains clearly what you have to do in order to take advantage of the offers.

All you actually have to do is follow the clearly laid out steps which is ideal for anyone who is getting involved in matched betting reload offers for the first time.

All of the best matched betting sites have the most important piece of matched betting software, and that is the calculator which is used to work out the various back and lay stakes which are required in order to take advantage of an offer.

Don’t worry, matched betting software such as this is very easy to use and more or less foolproof.

A word of warning though, a Google search will uncover lots of free matched betting calculators but make sure that they are from a reliable source before you start using them.

The Different Types of Matched Betting Offers

The list of different types of matched betting offers is endless but let’s take a look at a few of the most popular ones.

Price Boosts

We have already touched on price boosts, but it is not difficult to realise why they are so popular.

You will see price boosts on bets like trebles on the football markets, and these will usually be displayed on the bookie’s website.

They can offer value, but the most lucrative type of price boosts are those which are single bets such as a team to win or the goalscorer markets.

It is important to act fast on these offers because there are usually a limited number available and more often than not, for a set stake.

An example of a price boost could be something like Harry Kane to score the first goal at 4/1 when the price being advertised on the website is only 5/2.

The maximum bet allowed might only be £10, so if you were to lay the bet off you could be looking at a £2 profit but if you are thinking that it would not be worth your time, think about it for one minute.

To take advantage of the price boost would take you about two minutes and whilst £2 profit is not much money, it is a profit, and there will be plenty more where that came from.

You would be surprised by how quickly these small profits mount up and some of them will be a lot bigger than £2.

Hat Trick Heaven

This particular promotion has been offered by Betfred for some time now, but other sportsbooks offer variations of it.

The way it works is that the bookie will choose a number of football fixtures for the week ahead and this offer focuses on the first goalscorer market and the best way to describe it is to look at an example.

You see that the Chelsea v Fulham match has been chosen as a Hat Trick Heaven match, so you place a £10 bet on Eden Hazard to be the first goalscorer at odds of 5/1.

After ten minutes, Hazard scores the first goals so you are looking at a nice profit of £50 and if you had placed the bet with a bookie who wasn’t offering this promotion, that would be the end of it.

With the Hat Trick Heaven offer though, if Hazard scores a second goal you will get double the odds so it will mean profit of £100 instead of £50.

It gets even better though if he scores a third goals, you will get treble the odds and a profit of £150.

The way that a matched bettor would approach this bet is that they would simply back and lay Eden Hazard to score the first goals and if he scores a second and even a third, they will be looking at a nice profit with only a small loss on the qualifying bet.

Horse Racing Matched Betting Reload Offers

Horse racing matched betting offers are extremely popular, but you should be aware that if you are waiting until as close to the start of the race as possible in order to get the best qualifying bet, the markets can move extremely quickly and it is not unusual to be trying to lay the bet off on Betfair, only to find that the price moves completely against you.

This can be frustrating to say the very least so bear that in mind and take some time before you get involved to experience how the horse racing markets move.

The type of horse racing matched betting reload offers are wide and varied with the most popular ones being a refund of your stake in the form of a free bet if your horse gets beaten into second place by a head (happens more often than you might think) or if your horse wins a race by more than two lengths.

The way to take advantage of offers like these is to simply back and lay the same selection for a minimum loss, and if the even actually happens (second by a short head or wins by two lengths in the two example which we have given), you will receive a free bet which you can then match out.

Should You Get Involved with Matched Betting Offers?

If you are interested in making guaranteed profits from your betting activities, you should definitely get involved with matched betting offers.

It doesn’t really matter which industry you are involved in, you will rarely come across an opportunity like this, and for those that think it is too good to be true, it isn’t!

All it takes is a little organisation and a few hundred pounds to get started, and you will soon discover that you have actually found a way to win whenever you need it.

Quite an unbelievable claim but if you give matched betting a go, you will soon understand why this is considered to be the Holy grail of making money online.

It is not uncommon for people to learn how to do matched betting and then go on and share the info with their family and friends which will then obviously enable them to go out and make some risk-free cash.