Hi all,
I'm not sure if this is the right area to post this in, but I'm sure some of you may find it interesting!
What is Matched Betting?Matched betting is a way of making guaranteed profit from online and shop betting or gambling, regardless if your bet wins or loses.
Sounds like a scam, right?
It really,
really isn't.
Put simply matched betting is betting on all outcomes of a particular match or sport. Usually, this would be pretty pointless - if you bet on every possible outcome, how could you ever make money? You would win one bet, but lose the rest!
To wrap your head around matched betting you have to first understand the online betting industry. Online gambling is one of the most competitive industries there is. Because no online bookmaker actually has, or sells any products they have a limited number of ways to differentiate themselves and build their customer base. All they are really offering is the option to gamble on a particular outcome, and there are hundreds of other websites allowing you to do just that!
How do they differentiate?
1. Offer the best odds possible.
2. Develop a slick and easy to use online betting interface and engage in heavy marketing campaigns.
3. Run promotions and incentives to entice customers in.
Number 3 is where matched betting comes in.
Betting sites know the value a new customer can bring, and are willing to pay for the privilege. Pretty much every site out there runs offers along the lines of,
Bet £10 with us and get a £40 in free bets. With some maths that a five year old can do, you can turn that £40 into guaranteed risk free profit.
The MathsOne really simple way of explaining how it works is using the heads and tails analogy. A fair coin flip has a 50/50 chance of landing on heads or tails, meaning that fair odds of this happening should be 1/1 in fractional or 2.0 in decimal odds.
In the above offer you had to bet £10 of your own money to receive the £40 free bet - below shows you how to place this bet without losing anything.
Bet 1: Place £10 on heads
Bet 2: Place £10 on tails
Outcome: The coin lands on tails.
Result: You've lost £10 from bet 1, but won £10 from bet 2. meaning your P/L is exactly £0, but you've now unlocked your free £40!
Now you've got your £40 free bet below will show you how to guarantee some free money!
Bet 1: Place your £40 free bet on heads
Bet 2: Place a real bet of £20 on Tails
Outcome: The coin lands on Tails.
Result: Your £40 free bet has lost, but because it is free you have actually lost £0. The real bet you placed on tails has won, meaning you have made a profit of £20.
The above scenario is of course very simplistic, but this logic can be applied to almost any sports bet. By using Betfair Exchange, you can place and take bets on any market, allowing you to replicate the above on almost any sports market.
Given the number of online betting sites, and the constant competition between them to acquire and keep their customers loyal, there are a huge number of offers available that can be very lucrative.
How I'm using matched betting to achieve FII first discovered matched betting in my final year at university - 2.5 years ago. I would mostly do it in-between lectures and for a few hours each evening. With a £100 starting pot, I quickly scaled that into the low thousands whilst in education.
I've been doing it on and off ever since, flexing the amount of time I spend dependant on work and personal life commitments. On average though, I'm making around £750 - £1,000 a month consistently for what is ultimately sitting and watching sport, and doing a bit of maths. Pretty easy.
The real benefit matched betting has given me is the ability to save my entire salary. By leading a Mustachian lifestyle, matched betting covers almost all of my wants and needs, allowing me to save 100% of the salary from my actual job.
I'm currently 24 and aim to continue doing this for as long as possible, hopefully springboarding me into a very early retirement.
Tools that can helpMatched Betting sounds incredibly daunting - in reality it's incredibly simple, but the below tools and websites can help make it far clearer.
1.
Money Saving Expert - you probably don't trust me, a random internet stranger that this actually works, but Martin Lewis, a VERY trustworthy guy has it on his website and there's an active forum there discussing it. (This is where I first discovered it)
2.
OddsMonkey - A £15 per month service that takes all the hassle out of matched betting. There is an in-depth guide for every single offer, a calendar that is updated daily with all the latest offers, a ton of tools that scan the internet finding the closest matches between bookies and the exchange. The single best thing about OddsMonkey is by joining them you get a commission break on Betfair, reducing it to 2%. This doesn't sound impressive, but this alone saves me around £1,000 a year due to the volume of bet's I place.
https://www.oddsmonkey.com/affiliates/affiliate.php?id=55560*
3.
MatchedBettingBlog.com - this website is like a very basic Oddsmonkey, it gives you a few guides showing how it works and also houses a pretty neat calculator allowing you to ensure you're always making money.
*This is an affiliate link. (Mods - I can remove this if necessary)
Is Matched Betting for me?If you're currently a student, or between jobs, I'd urge you to look into this. It literally changed my life at University, allowing me to Graduate with £5,000 saved, without working at all. Prior to that the most I'd ever had (other than student loan day) was about £300.
For those in full time employment, it is still worth considering, at least for the sign up offers.
As much as it sounds like free money, there is still an element of work required once you've moved past the initial sign ups, but it's far easier and more lucrative than any part time job I can think of that doesn't need experience or a skill.
If you're looking for a way to boost your income or savings rate, without giving up your life it's certainly something to consider.
Oh, one more thing - it's also tax free.
Hope this is of interest to some of you :)
