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Let’s Get Started…
Thanks for signing up for a free trial. We know you’re going to love it here. First off we’re going to go through the basics of matched betting so you can get making money as soon as possible. If you get stuck with anything we’re right here so just get in touch with us.
Introduction to Matched Betting
The main concept of matched betting is taking advantage of bookies free bets and promotions. Thanks to the competitive nature of the betting industry there is a huge range of these offers available each week, most of which we can make a guaranteed profit from. To do this we need to place two bets:
Bet 1: Back Bet
This bet we place at a bookie for example Coral. We might place a bet on Leicester to win the Premier League next season. We call this a back bet as we’re backing Leicester to win.
Bet 2: Lay Bet
We place the second bet at a betting exchange for example, Smarkets. Here we bet that Leicester will NOT win the Premier League next season. A lay bet is the same as betting against an outcome or saying that something won’t happen.
Following on from our example, if Leicester win the Premier League next season our back bet (bet 1) will win and our lay bet (bet 2) will lose. The opposite would happen if Leicester didn’t win the Premier League next season. Our back bet will lose and our lay bet will win. Either way we end up where we started. We don’t win or lose any money. These two bets effectively cancel each other out.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
So what’s the point you might be asking. Well the aim is not to win or lose any money in that bet. We’re simply qualifying for our free bet. The bookies don’t give out free money therefore there’s always qualifying criteria that we must fulfil, usually in the form of a bet.
Note – In most qualifying bets we’ll lose a small amount of money in exchange for our free bets. This is due to the commission we pay at the betting exchange and the difference in the back and lay odds.
Once we’ve qualified for our free bet we repeat the same process as above. However, instead of using our own money for the back bet, we use the free bet given to us by the bookie. Therefore, as we’re not using our own funds we make a guaranteed profit from this bet no matter what the outcome of the event is.
We have a special calculator that works out the exact amount we need to place at Smarkets, the betting exchange, to either minimise our losses or maximise our profits depending on whether we’re completing a qualifying bet or a free bet.
What Do I Bet On?
Lots of members have this question when they first start out. It’s less important what event you pick for your bets and more important as to what the odds are. We’re always looking for back and lay odds as close together as possible with less importance on the actual market.
Matched betting is not gambling so we don’t need to pick a team that we hope are going to win. We’ll win whatever the outcome is.
Having said that, it’s advisable to place our bets on games where there is a large number of people betting. It makes placing our bets easier and helps us to blend in with the crowd.[/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”Full Width Line” line_thickness=”4″ divider_color=”default” animate=”yes” custom_height=”80″ delay=”200″][vc_column_text]
Example
Let’s look at a basic example to help explain.
Step 1 – Find an Offer
First off we need to find an offer to complete. This is the most time consuming part of matched betting which is why we do it for our premium members. We’re going to use the Coral sign up offer as an example.
Coral offer £20 in free bets when we sign up and stake £5. Overall we should make a guaranteed profit of about £15 from this offer.
So we sign up to Coral and deposit £5 using a debit or credit card. Other payment methods will not qualify for our free bet. You also need to sign up to a betting exchange if you haven’t already. We recommend you use Smarkets due to their brilliant platform and industry leading commission of just 2%.
Once you’re into your Smarkets account deposit £30 to help us complete this offer.
We now need to place a £5 bet to qualify for our £20 in free bets.
Step 2 – Find a Market
Now we need to look for a market to place our £5 bet. It’s important the market we choose has back odds greater than the minimum odds requirement stated by the bookies to qualify for our free bet. We show this in the ‘Key Information’ section on our offer pages. In this example Coral state that the minimum odds requirement is 1.5. Therefore, we need to select a market with back odds above 1.5. Preferably around 2.0.
When we’re searching for a market to place a bet we want the back odds at Coral and the lay odds at Smarkets to be as close together as possible. This allows us to maximise our earnings from the offer. If Chelsea have back odds of 2.0 to beat Leicester we want the lay odds to be as close to that as possible: something like 2.1 would be great.
Note – The lay odds at a betting exchange are almost always slightly higher than the back odds at a traditional bookie.
Tip – We recommend beginners place their first few bets on football games or horse racing events.
Step 3 – Calculate Lay Stake
So, once we’ve found a suitable market we can enter the numbers into the matched betting calculator. Select ‘Qualifying Bet’ from the Bet Type options and enter the back stake, which in this example is £5, the back odds of 2.0 and the lay odds of 2.1. We can leave the back commission and lay commission alone for this offer. The lay commission’s default is set to 2.0. Once you’re happy hit ‘Calculate’.[/vc_column_text][image_with_animation image_url=”1399″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%” el_class=”image” delay=”200″][vc_column_text]So the calculator tells us our lay stake needs to be £4.81, this is the amount we’ll stake at the betting exchange (Smarkets).
The ‘Results’ section of the calculator tells us that if our back bet wins we’ll win £5 at the bookie (Coral) and lose £5.29 at the exchange (Smarkets) and if our lay bet wins we’ll lose £5 at the bookie and win £4.71 at the exchange. Either way we’ll lose 29 pence completing this qualifying bet. However, we’ll now have £20 in free bets.
Step 4 – Placing our Bets
So we’ve found a suitable market and worked out our lay stake and overall qualifying loss so we can now go ahead and place our bets. It’s important to always place the back bet first as this makes the process easier when the odds change. Click on the correct market and enter the correct back stake, £5 in this example and hit ‘Place Bet’. Do the same for the lay bet adding the lay stake of £4.81 that the calculator worked out for us in the previous step.
Step 5 – The Outcome
As we’ve already worked out, no matter what the outcome of the game is we will lose 29 pence qualifying for our £20 free bet.
Step 6 – Using our Free Bet
Once our qualifying bet has been settled and we’ve received our free bets we can go ahead and repeat the same process as above. Find a market, calculate the lay stake, place our bets and we’re done.
When we’re looking for a market to place our free bets we’ll aim for tight back and lay odds of around 6.0. The higher the odds, the more money we’ll make from our free bets. As a general rule we aim to extract about 80% of a free bet in cash. Therefore, using this example we’ll aim to extract £16 from our free bets.
Note – Coral give 4 x £5 free bets rather than a £20 free bet. Each free bet needs to be placed on a separate market. However, we’ll still aim to extract £16 from these four free bets.
Let’s say that Man Utd have back odds at Coral of 6.5 to beat Hull. We want the lay odds at Smarkets to be as close as possible. Let’s say 6.6.
Now we can go over to the matched betting calculator and work out our lay stake and overall profit. Select ‘Free Bet’ from the Bet Type options and enter the back stake, which is £5 in this example, the back odds which are 6.5 and the lay odds which are 6.6. Again we’ll leave the back commission and lay commission alone for this offer. Once you’re happy hit ‘Calculate’.[/vc_column_text][image_with_animation image_url=”1424″ alignment=”” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%” el_class=”image” delay=”200″][vc_column_text]So the calculator tells us our lay stake needs to be £4.18. The ‘Results’ section shows that if our back bet wins we’ll win £27.50 at the bookie and lose £23.40 at the exchange. If our lay bet wins we’ll win nothing at the bookie and win £4.10 at the exchange. Either way we’ll make a profit of £4.10 using 1 of our four £5 free bets.
Once we’re happy with the outcome we can go ahead and place our bets. Place the back bet first followed by the lay bet. Each bookie is different however you’ll usually find your free bets somewhere within the bet slip.
Awesome, so now you should be ready to complete your first offer on the next page. If you’re still unsure about anything then we recommend that you replay the videos and re-read the tutorial above. Failing that visit the support desk where we can help you with anything.
Now lets get making money![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”center” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][nectar_btn size=”medium” button_style=”regular” button_color_2=”Accent-Color” icon_family=”none” url=”https://www.thesurebettor.com/trial-offers” text=”Start Earning” margin_top=”30″][/vc_column][/vc_row]