Risk free matched betting using bookie offers

[richardxjr]

Some kind soul on another thread recently linked to this and rekindled my interest as a part time tax free earner.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php...

Made £200 in my first week, plenty more to come. A chunk of that is from referral bonuses so don't sign up to any bookies or exchanges just yet!

Anyone else doing this or thinking of it? The mse board is very cluttered, I thought similar PHers might be able to help each other out?

Mods: although based on gambling products, this is risk free if done correctly. I am certainly treating my exploits as a business, but please move elsewhere if you deem it necessary


The below won't make any sense yet to new visitors. But it's here on Post 1 as a general guide, a reminder of the general rules once you've read the MSE thread a gazillion times and then forgotton it!

Edited to add as suggested by TomE said:

General Rules of Thumb for Matched Betting

Qualifier Bet - odds match as close as possible, low odds to minimise lay amount required, aim for 95% retention of stake. The aim here is to lose a small amount on this bet, to release the free bet
Free SNR bet - odds match as close as possible, higher odds (7.0+) to maximise returns, aim for 80% or above retention of stake
Free SR Bet - odd match as close as possible, higher odds (7.0+) to maximise returns, aim for 90% or above retention of original stake.

Edited by richardxjr on Tuesday 22 November 14:59

[RemainAllHoof]

It certainly is risk-free if you're not greedy. I think the guys on MSE made some cock up that meant they lost a lot.

[lost in espace]

Hi Richard I am interested, did lots of casino sites a few years ago using blackjack and referral fees, and managed to make £2k but would like to have a crack at matched betting.

[richardxjr]

I would suggest immersing yourself in the MSE intro board for a few days, download the 'matcher' spreadsheet, even better 'Ultimatcher3', and try and understand the undelying maths. The search engine there is very good.

I opened a Betfair account with a referral code and cashback then did free bet offers of £10, 5, 10, 30, 40, 40, currently gaining 80% of these values in cash.
I've invested £180 and currently have a fund of £380.

Most offers are stake £xx for a matching free bet. You match each back bet with a lay bet at an exchange (eg Betfair). You lose say 5% on your qualifier then win around 80% of the value of the free bet - irrespective of the result of the market you are betting both ways on.

Skybet is a good first bookie to toe-dip: they offer a £10 bet on registration: no qualifying bet required

[lost in espace]

Thanks Richard appreciated.

[AB]

Busy until Friday but this will be in 'My Stuff' to take a look at then.

[richardxjr]

It's a bit light on football fixtures this week. You can do horses (or any sport), but football is safer (odds changing due to non runners in particular). F1 works too, I got a good odds match for the last race.

If I find a good odds match on a Friday night for the Saturday games, I'll place my bets on both sides then... if not, that's my Saturday morning job

You don't need to have any interest in sport btw (I don't), just a head for figures and an organised, methodical approach.

I use 'oddsmonkey' for finding good matching bets. It's a bit clunky and the prices are delayed 30mins, but if you're looking a good few hours before an event the odds will be pretty stable.

I've researched most of the bookies new account offers now. If anyone would like an opinion about the value of any particular offer, ask on here or email me

[Little Toast]

What happens once you've exhausted the introductory free bets, can you log in again with a different account (same computer) or are they aware of this going on (they must be with ip addresses n stuff)?
Do they continue to offer free bets after the introduction and do you suggest setting up a new email address etc before as i guess you will be spammed to hell and back with emails.

[richardxjr]

Some bookies are happy for 'partner accounts', most aren't - especially for sign up bonuses.

There's masses of bookies for new accounts: UK then Europe. And they will all email/text you further free bet offers once registered, especially around major sporting events. Cheltenham Festival in March is a biggie, then we've the olympics...

It is imperative that the T&Cs of each bookies' offer are read, printed out and thoroughly understood before signing up.


First step is a Betfair account. This is an exchange which allows lay bets, and has an excellent sign-up offer if done correctly. This is where you'll want to build up your trading balance as you'll use this for laying off your positions with the different bookies as you progress.

If you can, use a dedicated bank account with debit card for mostly fee-free deposits and withdrawals and easier tracking of where your money is.

[hairykrishna]

Little Toast said:

What happens once you've exhausted the introductory free bets, can you log in again with a different account (same computer) or are they aware of this going on (they must be with ip addresses n stuff)?
Do they continue to offer free bets after the introduction and do you suggest setting up a new email address etc before as i guess you will be spammed to hell and back with emails.

It's normally one offer per address/bank card. There used to be ways around it but, as far as I know, all the loopholes are now closed. Definitely set up an new email account.

[bigweb]

I'm well up for this as I have quite a bit of free time at the moment and made some good money from the casino sites when casino bagging was profitable.

Any tips on how to start etc would be welcome

[richardxjr]

bigweb said:

I'm well up for this as I have quite a bit of free time at the moment and made some good money from the casino sites when casino bagging was profitable.

Any tips on how to start etc would be welcome

Immerse yourself in the MSE guide linked in the first post. Take a few days getting your head around it.

Open a Betfair account. Find a referrer for £25 bonus straight into your account once you've staked £25 with them. The person whose referral code you use also gets £25 and it is usual for this to be split so you get some of this cash too. There is a referrers board on MSE or you could email me if you like

When you've got a referral code, sign up on a cashback site and click through to Betfair from their link for another few quid cashback which takes a couple of months. You enter the referral code into the Betfair sign up page.

Please do NOT post referral codes here: Betfair do not like this.


If you just sign-up to Betfair you'll get a £25 free bet offer which is not as profitable as going the cashback+referrer route


Edit: I've another, better cashback available for Betfair, which pays out in just a few days from registration. With a decent friends shared referral & cashback you can now get £57.50 from signing with Betfair. I've detailed this all out if you'd like a copy just ask.

Edited by richardxjr on Wednesday 9th November 13:22

[richardxjr]

Ooh a real live example

Just signed with L*dbr*kes. Topcashback £20.60. Free £50 bet (stake not returned ) matching £50 deposited and staked on a qualifier today.

Qualifier: Oxford v Southend, Oxford to win @ 2.37 - matched at Betfair @ 2.34 so that will be a net 85p loss on this £50 qualifying bet.
matcherxls. spreadsheet (find it on MSE) works out my BF stake as £51.75 and liability of £69.35

I'll talk you through it:
My outlay is £50 for the qual stake @ laddies PLUS £69.35 liability @ BF = £119.35
If Oxford win I win £68.50 at laddies, plus stake back £50 = £118.50
If Oxford don't win I get credited at BF, my liability £69.35 plus (stake £51.75 less 5% BF win commission) £49.16 = £118.51
So, whatever the result of the match I've lost 85p on that qualifying bet. (1.7% loss = good. Aim for <5% loss on a qualifier)

On settlement of that qual bet Laddies will credit me my £50 free bet which I will match at higher odds to max out 80% profit.

Edited by richardxjr on Tuesday 8th November 13:54

[Dan_1981]

Interesting stuff.

[richardxjr]

Right, my quali has finished Oxford 0 - 1 Southend. So I lost my bet at the bookie and won on the lay side. 84p loss as calculated beforehand.

I've received my £50 free bet token and placed my free bet on Thursday's England v Iceland Under 21. Got a great odds match again, so I know whatever the result I will be £43.20 better off, after the 84p loss on the quali.

So I'll have retained 86.4% of the free bet value in cash


Quick review:
I bet £50 real money, lost 84p, bet my £50 free bet which will return £44.04.

ETA nearly forgot, I'll also receive £20.60 cashback in due course from signing up to this bookie via topcashback.

Edited by richardxjr on Tuesday 8th November 23:04

[TVR MAN]

Very nice Richard.

I've read about this a few times but never got round to doing anything about it. I think I must start soon.

In your above post - once you have qualified for your free bet, could you decide to remove the riskless element and just place a £50 bet that has only really cost you 84p? Would you be able to cash out the winnings if you bet your £50 free bet at say 10/1 and won?

[951TSE]

Not wishing to take anything away from Richard's efforts but I use this service:

http://bonusbagging.co.uk/welcome.html

Useful if you don't want the hassle of working out all the lay bet details, and is quite a helpful chap with near instant response to query e-mails.

Also has some offers on casino bonuses, and won't bombard you with loads of affiliate links to various tipster sites like some will.

[Defcon5]

951TSE said:

Not wishing to take anything away from Richard's efforts but I use this service:

http://bonusbagging.co.uk/welcome.html

Useful if you don't want the hassle of working out all the lay bet details, and is quite a helpful chap with near instant response to query e-mails.

Also has some offers on casino bonuses, and won't bombard you with loads of affiliate links to various tipster sites like some will.

That seems good - Im not good at working things out!

What do you actually get for your £30 though?

[951TSE]

Defcon5 said:

951TSE said:

Not wishing to take anything away from Richard's efforts but I use this service:

http://bonusbagging.co.uk/welcome.html

Useful if you don't want the hassle of working out all the lay bet details, and is quite a helpful chap with near instant response to query e-mails.

Also has some offers on casino bonuses, and won't bombard you with loads of affiliate links to various tipster sites like some will.

That seems good - Im not good at working things out!

What do you actually get for your £30 though?

You get told which bookmaker to sign up with and how much to spend to get the advertised bonus,you also get a bet and a lay for the first bet (you need a Betfair account, but all details about this will be sent as well). Depending on how your first bet goes you then get the second bet to use the bonus also with a lay to make it risk free. Then you just carry on repeating the process at your own pace. It's a one off fee not monthly or anything like that.

Starting bank is approx £200 but I did it with less, it all depends on how fast you want to operate. there are loads of bookies with approx £50 signup bonuses so you won't run out anytime soon.

There's a review on this website http://www.moremoneyreview.com/bonus-bagging-revie... although you need to sign up to it to see the full review.

[g4ry13]

951TSE said:

Not wishing to take anything away from Richard's efforts but I use this service:

http://bonusbagging.co.uk/welcome.html

Useful if you don't want the hassle of working out all the lay bet details, and is quite a helpful chap with near instant response to query e-mails.

Also has some offers on casino bonuses, and won't bombard you with loads of affiliate links to various tipster sites like some will.

So you pay the guy £32 for information which is free on the internet? Sounds like a great plan!

You can just go to this site for free and ask questions too. More offers here i'm almost tempted to have a go again with it, only thing is it's time consuming and annoying waiting for money to move back and forth between accounts especially when they start doing compliance stuff and asking for copies of ID.

Edited by g4ry13 on Friday 11th November 00:14