{"id":16,"date":"2019-11-07T23:52:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T23:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mumsmoney.com\/uk\/?p=16"},"modified":"2023-12-20T04:27:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T04:27:19","slug":"make-money-matched-betting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mumsmoney.com\/uk\/make-money-matched-betting\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Make Money with Matched Betting While Travelling"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve ever heard of people who make money with matched betting, you might think ‘scam’. I admit I did when I first heard of it.<\/em><\/p>\n

But when Andrew shared his experience with matched betting in a Facebook group I belong to, I paid attention. <\/p>\n

I know Andrew personally (he was a bike mechanic at my local bike shop before he left to go travelling) so I asked him to write about his experience so I could share it on the blog.<\/em><\/p>\n

I, much like you and anyone else who doesn\u2019t reply to Nigerian prince\u2019s emails, am a sceptic when it comes to money-making \u2018schemes\u2019.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all seen the cheesy ads inviting us to \u2018stop working the 9 to 5\u2019 or \u2018make money from home\u2019 and such other questionable uses of our time and capital.<\/p>\n

Recently, however, a random youtube comment has brought a whole new stream of income to my wife and me.<\/p>\n

We have been looking for a second stream of income as we left New Zealand 6 months ago and are currently travelling the UK in our van.<\/p>\n

Gambling in NZ is an accepted but sidelined vice, the TAB is there but it\u2019s pretty subtle. Sure it causes harm but it\u2019s not advertised and only a fool would surely think they\u2019ve beaten the system.<\/p>\n

When we first got to the UK, whilst having a cup of tea with my family with the telly on in the background, I became aware of how many gambling adverts there were on TV.<\/p>\n

And it feels anachronistic and a bit unclean, much like watching Fred Flinstone and Barney sharing a Winston\u2019s cigarette.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Brian Blessed\u2019s voice booms the odds and potential winnings at the viewers in the ad breaks, bingo is relentlessly plugged on the Chase, not just in the ad breaks but by the Chasers themselves before and after every segment of the programme.<\/p>\n

The high street, lined with failing or empty shops but a row of gleaming bookies, every shopping row has the effect of a scooby doo baddie chase, repeating itself in every town.<\/p>\n

Paddy Power, Will Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral with a few charity shops. Next town, same story.<\/p>\n

Now if you bite, just to add to that each one has an app you can download which will light up and ping with special offers and the latest odds. There\u2019s not just one TAB but hundreds of bookies and online casinos.<\/p>\n

And you know, it kind of stings a bit. I can\u2019t imagine how much willpower it must take for, what the industry calls, \u2018problem gamblers\u2019 (because they don\u2019t want to be associated with words like addiction) to say no to these, day in day out.<\/p>\n

My theory in life so far has been to simply avoid them. If the casino can afford marble pillars and gold bannisters then there\u2019s a good reason for it. Therefore, my gambling knowledge was very limited and my knowledge of sports even less.<\/p>\n

Now the hooks they use to draw people in go beyond simply offering good odds. William Hill offers \u00a330 ($60) in free bets when you bet \u00a310 ($20). Bet 365 offers \u00a3100 in free bets.<\/p>\n

Anyway, a couple of months back, I was watching a BBC documentary called \u2018How to beat the bookies<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Some were self-titled professional gamblers but they made little during the programme. One did very well from online poker.<\/p>\n

Another was a courtsider, a complex but effective way of making money from tennis.<\/p>\n

I decided to do the one thing no one should ever do and read the comments.<\/p>\n

One person said something along the lines of \u2018There\u2019s only one way to consistently beat the bookies – matched betting\u2019.<\/p>\n

So I googled it and it sounded so dodgy I nearly clicked off. I\u2019m really glad I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

After much reading, I found it to be a potential income and sticking it to the bookies in one! And it\u2019s 100% legal!<\/p>\n

So I watched a video on the subject by a company, which went in-depth into how it works.<\/p>\n

How does matched betting work?<\/h2>\n

\"Matched<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the short version.<\/p>\n

Bookie A offers \u2018Bet \u00a35, get \u00a320 in free bets\u2019<\/p>\n

So I signed up to Bookie A and deposit \u00a35. I used a calculator provided by the company, in which they walked me through it, practically clicking for me. This found the best bet possible for my situation.<\/p>\n

Now we go on to the exchange. Very similar to a bookie for our purposes so we\u2019ll call them Bookie B.<\/p>\n

On bookie A we bet the \u00a35 on, let\u2019s say Burnley vs Everton, backing (betting on) Burnley.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On bookie B we bet AGAINST Burnley winning. Note this isn\u2019t the same as betting on Everton as a draw would mean you lose both bets.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

You will be guaranteed to lose a certain amount, whichever way the best falls. In the case of \u00a35, after costs and differences in odds, maybe 20-50p.<\/p>\n

But this bet now unlocks \u00a320 of free bets. I go back onto the calculator and input the details to come out with a range of bets I could make and their respective profits.<\/p>\n

Now we make a second bet, let’s say, Aston Villa vs Liverpool, backing a draw at bookie A and against a draw at bookie B.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Whatever happens in the match, you win. It\u2019s a draw, you win at Bookie A and take your money. It\u2019s not a draw, you win at bookie B and take your money.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

With decent odds, you\u2019re likely to make 70-90 % of the original free bet amount back in cash. So we\u2019ve got something like a \u00a314-18 profit! In time you can put a simple deal like this together in 10 minutes or so.<\/p>\n

If you understood that from reading it the first time, perhaps matched betting isn\u2019t for you, maybe try designing algorithms for investment banks or even the bookies themselves.<\/p>\n

For me, it took a few hours to get my head around it and a further hour or two to place the bets on the first deal.<\/p>\n

All I could grasp was that the mathematical principle made sense and I dutifully followed the instructions on the matched betting website. It will make more sense quite quickly, by deal 5 or 6 it starts to become routine.<\/p>\n

By doing more and more of these offers, in the last 24 days, I\u2019ve made a grand total of \u00a3621.60! And as you get faster and better at it, you make more. In the last 4 days, I\u2019ve made \u00a3146.69.<\/p>\n

Not bad really, covers all our travel costs and it\u2019s quite fun too. I tend to pop to the pub with the laptop, they do a cheap bottomless tea\/coffee and that\u2019s my work office. Not a bad life!<\/p>\n

It turns out gambling\u2019s quite exciting when you know you\u2019re going to win. I still know nothing about sports but I have been learning a lot about gambling.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s opened up some other doors to a gambling based income which I\u2019m currently exploring.<\/p>\n

The Downsides to Matched Betting<\/h3>\n

\"Matched<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s not all roses. I\u2019d like to run through the downsides.<\/p>\n