Can You Really Make Money From Matched Betting? (hint: it’s not gambling)
Matched betting is not gambling. It is a technique to make guaranteed tax-free legal income from scalping free-bet introductory and reload-offers from online bookmakers in the UK and EU. I repeat — it is not gambling.
Applied correctly you’re using trading exchanges and gifted capital to make money regardless of any betting odds.
At its simplest, here’s how it works:
Step 1: You sign up with a betting exchange like Betfair.
Step 2: You sign up with a bookmaker like Coral and deposit some money in preparation for a qualifying bet.
Step 3: You use a bet-matching tool like Profit Accumulator to find suitable bets that lose a small amount of money (don’t worry, you’ll be making this back in a moment).
Step 4: You then make a back bet for an example stake of £10 which pays £27.50 if you win.
Step 5: You make an opposing lay bet for a stake of £30 which wins £7.50 if the opposite player/team/horse loses.
Stake 1 + Stake 2 =40. Both simplified example bets pay back £37.50. Your total exposure is -£2.50 whatever the outcome. So, here’s the clever guaranteed money making bit.
Step 6: Claim your free money. The previous steps have qualified you for £30 of free bets on the bookmaker. You now repeat the process. But instead when you place your £10 bet and free £30 bet you get £37.50, which nets you £27.50 above your £10 stake — a 68% return on capital for no more than a few minutes work. You will be aiming for 80%+ returns when doing it for real.
You then rinse, lather, repeat with all the introductory offers available. Then when they run out you use the daily and weekly reload offers to achieve the same.
DOES IT WORK?
Yes. It’s not right for everyone but some have made massive amounts on it or turned it into a profitable tax-free side hustle. In my first three hours I made £150 and then put it on hold as I was already trading on Betfair using those accounts which made money management a little messy. It’s also quite boring. As it isn’t gambling it’s more like data-entry than anything.
I will come back to it for some relatively quick easy cash if I move on from trading. As soon as I do I will update here.
SUCCESS STORIES
Emma Drew made nearly £4k in her first three months.
Cora Harrison made over £20k in one year.
Jamie Anderson made over £37,100 by 2019.
And there are many many more. You can then scale this up to casino bonuses and arbitrage trading. But matched betting is the ideal place to start.
WHERE DO YOU FIND THE BETS?
I used Profit Accumulator as they have an easy how-to for each introductory offer, a daily email with reload offers and full guides on how to do everything; as well as a log book to remind you which bookmakers have profit on account. There’s no point making the money if you don’t take it out!
There are other services like OddsMonkey out there. Plus you can use forums like Martin Lewis’s Money Saving Expert for free and find the trades manually. But as my modus operandi is to outsource or automate I figured the £17.50 monthly subscription was well worth it and I made that back in the first hour. You can do a trial first to see if it is for you.
HOW YOU CAN MESS IT UP
- Doing too much too soon. You can make more with higher stakes and percentages but get used to how the whole lay/back/free bet process works first. Walk, don’t run.
- Doing it when you’re tired. Seems obvious, but we’re talking real money and time here, so if your brain is frazzled from illness like mine was, sleepless nights from kids, too much work, or partying (you lucky things) then go do something else. Tiredeness can kill on the roads and it will kill your bank just as quick.
- Gambling. Remember matched betting is not gambling! If you find yourself thinking things like “If I just put £10 on that dead cert, how can I lose?” You are straying away from the matched betting trading methodology into gambling. Just don’t!
- Those who gamble are simply what the bookmakers call “mug punters”. So don’t be a mug. Stick to the the process. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
WHAT YOU CAN’T DO:
Operate outside of the UK and EU (although some people help out family members)
Scale up without increasing your bank or taking higher risks (although some people help others with their accounts, but if you run it as your own you’re committing fraud).
Keep every bookie account open. Some bookies, once they realise you’re not a mug punter will “gub” your account. This means restricting the bets you can make or stopping you betting altogether. Just ignore them and move onto the next bookie. Although it helps to stick to one sport so that their algorithms don’t flag “unusual activity”.
So, should you do it?
As long as you remember it’s not gambling and follow the process as laid out you will be fine. Matched betting, in my experience, can be kind of dull. But if you need a sideline, tax free, because of illness or lifestyle then it may well work for you.
If you try it out, post back here and let us know how you get on. And please take note, only over-18s can use these sites. You can’t hold me or Medium responsible for your successes or failures. That bit is entirely up to you.
Full Disclosure
I’ve included some affiliate links above as I’m currently researching an article on affiliate links.
That said, I will only ever post links for services I use and genuinely rate as good. I want to sleep at night. Click them if you like, or go to the site by typing in the address and getting round the affiliate link. No skin off my back.
And I would say best of luck to you, but don’t be lucky, follow the guides and be professional. Treat it as a job.
Catch you on the flip side of the matched betting coin.