What is match betting and how match betting works
You are probably reading this article because you have read online or been told by a friend that you can make money from match betting. So what is match betting? In this guide I will explain how match betting works and give a full detailed description of what match betting is.The short and simple answer is: Yes you can make some decent money from match betting. This is one of the easiest and quickest ways to make money. Done correctly it is completely risk free. And the best bit is you do not need to pay tax on any profits.
Match betting is really straightforward and I have used this method to make over £20,000 of additional income. Match betting is the ultimate side hustle and one i have used to make £500 a month every month for the last 4 years.
What’s Matched Betting?
Match betting is a way of making money from home by taking value from the free bets that bookies provide. In simple terms you need to; sign up to a bookies website that’s offering a free bet. Then make a bet on an event and then make a counter bet on the same event with another bookmaker. When both bets have settled you will have lost nothing but gained a free bet for say £30. Once you have the £30 free bet credited to your account you then repeat that process using a slightly different calculation and will make about £23. Rinse and repeat this process and make as much money as you can.
So that’s the quick description of match betting, but let’s break it down into more detail. Match betting is a low risk form of gambling where you use a mathematical advantage to guarantee a profit. The process of match betting is really straightforward once you grasp the basics.
Match betting is sometimes referred to as a ‘Risk Free’ way to make money. I preferred to call it a super low risk way to make money online. I refer to match betting as a low risk way to make money because if you don’t bet the right amounts on the right events then you can make a loss. But don’t worry, if you take some time to read this article and follow the offer descriptions you will be just fine.
“It is a betting technique used by individuals to profit from free bets and other incentives offered by bookmakers. It is generally considered risk-free as it is based on the application of a mathematical equation rather than chance.” – Wikipedia
Hundreds of thousands of people have done match betting and still do. This method of making money online is most commonly referred to as ‘Match Betting’ but does also go by the name of ‘Bonus Hunting’ and ‘No-risk Betting’.
Free bets and other bookie promotions are what matched bettors use to guarantee profits. You will cover all outcomes of a football match (or other event) by making both a back and a lay bet, but more on that later. The profit then comes from the free bet that’s granted to you by the bookie.
There is no shortage of free bets. When you first start match betting you will need to go through what we call sign up offers. A match betting signup offer is something like:
Bet £25 and get a £25 free bet with Bookie ABC
I have personally completed well in excess of 100 signup offers. There are new bookies setting every month so you will have plenty to get you started.
Once you have finished the free bets you can then move on to what we refer to as reload offers. A reload offers are promotions offered by bookies to keep you betting with them on a regular basis. You should start these offers after you have done the signup offers. Reload offers are slightly more difficult and tend to look something like this:
Bet £30 in play and get £10 free bet with Bookie ABC
How do you work out the calculations for a match bet?
By using a bet finder tool (often called an odds matching tool) you can find a close match where the odds to back and lay bet are as close as possible. This tool will ensure you pay as little as possible to obtain your free bet. I will cover more about qualifying bets further down in this article.
Once you have a good event match you will then need to use a match bet calculator to work out how much you should place on the back bet and the amount you should lay bet. You don’t need to know anything about betting or sports to do this, you simply need to follow the directions of the offers and make the bet amounts shown in the match betting calculator.
Back Bets & Lay Bets in Match Betting
The back and lay bets within match betting are the two most important things to understand and get right. You need to understand the difference between back bets and lay bets before you get started with match betting. To further illustrate this example I will use an example of Manchester United vs Newcastle United. (The sport and event is typically irrelevant though)
What is a Back Bet in Match Betting?
A back bet is the easiest bet to understand. You are essentially placing a bet of say £10 on the outcome of an event “I think this team will win”. Using our example you may place £10 on Manchester United to win.
If your selection (in this example Manchester United) goes on to win, then you’ll win your bet and the profit along with it. So in this example you would get your initial stake of £10 plus the winnings. If Manchester united lost however, then you would lose your £10 stake.
This type of bet is the most common and straightforward bet. You have probably done this in the past. You are basically betting on what you think will happen and placing the amount you are willing to bet on that outcome to come true.
What is a Lay Bet?
A lay bet is the complete opposite of a back bet. This is where you are betting on something to not happen. So in our example you would be betting on Manchester United not to win their game against Newcastle United.
The Lay bet has become more popular over the years with the increased popularity of online gambling.
If you made a lay bet on Manchester United and they don’t win the match, your lay bet would win. This also covers the potential outcome of the draw, because that also means Manchester United didn’t win the game.
How does Match Betting Work
Match betting is made possible by making a normal Back Bet and then cancelling out that bet by making a counter lay bet on the same result.
By backing and laying the same result you are ensuring you have removed all risk from that bet. Because you are covering all outcomes/results of that event you are going to win no matter what happens. In simple terms you have every outcome covered for that event.
Typically you will go through the above process in order to ‘Qualify’ for a free bet. This would be the ‘Bet £25’ part that enables you to be granted the ‘and get a £25 free bet’ part of the offer.
With a qualifying bet you are probably going to lose about £0.30p. However, within the qualifying bet you are covering all outcomes of the event you have chosen. Once that game has settled you will be down 30p but then granted a £25 free bet. You should never make a profit on a qualifying bet and you should make a small loss of just a few pence.
Once the event has settled you will be granted with the free bet as per the terms of the offer you are taking part in. Some bookies will grant their offers immediately and others can take a day or so.
Now you have the free bet in your account you can use this to guarantee a profit. You guarantee the profit by using the same back and lay methods as described above. However, this time you are technically using someone else’s money. (the bookies free bet)
Because the free bet is not your money you can extract the value to ensure you’re guaranteed a profit. So with the free bet you will guarantee a profit regardless of the outcome of the event you bet on.
Simple Match Betting Example
Qualifying Bet:- Back bet of £25 on Manchester United to win.
- Lay bet of £25.30 on Manchester United to win. (remember a lay is for Manchester United not to win)
- No matter what happens in the match you will be -£0.30 and a free bet of £25 is on it’s way to your account.
- Back free bet of £25 on Aston Villa to win.
- Lay bet of £20.08 on Aston Villa to win. (remember a lay is for Aston Villa not to win)
- No matter what happens you will stand to make £19.68 from the free bet
£19.68 (profit from free bet) – £0.30 (cost of qualifying bet) = £19.38
I will go into more detail later as to why the lay bets have different values to the back bets.
Risk Free Match Betting
This is why many people refer to match betting as ‘risk free’. You are using the bookies money to make your profit and the outcome of the event is irrelevant. You are only risking your money if you make a mistake by backing the wrong events or enter the wrong amounts into the calculator tool. But we will cover this in more detail later and when you’re first getting into it endure your check twice before you bet and always make the back bet before you lay the bet. Again or on this later.
The key to successful and prolonged match betting profits is to constantly find and source as many free bets as you can. This is the simple rinse and repeat process of match betting. Free bets equal risk free profit.
That’s the simple explanation of how match betting works, and this is probably enough detail for you to get started. There are some more intricacies and complexities as you get into the world of match betting such as commissions on lay bets and liabilities within your exchange accounts. I found that I picked this up as I started the simplest sign up offers. I was about 2 days into the process, i had made around £80 and the penny dropped.