Those who have heard of matched betting can sound confusing, especially if you’re new to betting. Betting can be quite scary, knowing that you may win big or lose big. With matched betting, you eliminate the risks and have massive upsides. It’s by far one of the best techniques for betting out there. But many still ask, how much can you make from matched betting? We’ll cover everything like what is matched betting, how it works, and how much you can make.
Table of Contents
What is Matched Betting
Match betting is a betting technique used to guarantee your profits by taking advantage of bookmakers’ opening offers and incentives. To successfully ensure your profits, you need to bet on both sides or hedge bets by betting an equal amount on all possible outcomes. Many advertisers use free offers on their site as a bet £25 and receive a free £25 bet.
How It Works
To truly understand how matched betting works, you’ll need to understand the term back bet and lay bet. A back bet occurs when you are betting that a particular outcome will come true. For example, if you are betting that the England football team will win, you are making a backing bet. If England does win, then you win back your bet and the winnings. If England draws or loses the game, then you lose the stake that you originally bet with. Back bets can be placed with any bookmaker such as Ladbrokes, William Hill, and Paddy Power.
A lay bet is betting against a particular outcome to come true. For example, you place a bet that England will not win. If England does lose or draw, then you win the bet. Lay bets are made at betting exchanges such as Betfair instead of bookmakers. With qualifying offers, you’ll need to make the first bet with real money. Once you’ve bet with real money, you will receive a free bet. The free bet is where all the money is made. To make a profit, you need to use a free bet with a back bet and lay it. In essence, you are betting that England will win and lose at the same time. Either way, you make a profit. One of the outcomes will yield you a return, while the other one will be lost. But the profit you earn will outweigh the stake that you originally bet.
Upfront Costs
Most experts agree that you should invest about £100 when starting. With £100, you can qualify for most free bets, where you can bring back £120. From there you can turn £120 into £140. After completing the initial sign up offers, you can ideally reach at least £500 in pure profit. You can incorporate other tactics such as dutching and using reload bonuses to sustain the profit and make a full-time living from matched betting.
How Much Can You Make From Matched Betting
The amount of money varies based on the amount of time that you put in. Expert matched betters claim that you can make a healthy £500-£600 per month by simply working 4 hours per week. The amount depends on how many different bets you’ve placed and how many offers you can find. The more matched bets you place, the more money you’ll make. Some people easily make upwards of £3,000 or more per month and do match betting for a living. To make more money, you need to complete as many offers as you can find.
You can go to a site such as OddsMonkey to find daily offers. Just be aware that some offers may be tedious. If you’re a beginner, you can start by completing these easy offers first. But when you’re advanced, you can be very selective with your offers. You can begin to maximize your time spent by going after the high value offers first. You don’t want to spend your time placing five different £10 bets to get one free £10 offer.
For example, Bet365 has a risk-free in-play offer where you bet £50 on an occasional football game for a £50 bonus in-play. You will typically see these offers once a week so that you can expect about £9 per week or £36 per month. You can begin to stack a lot of recurring offers and easily make a minimum of £400 to £500 from just standard offers.
We have a full in-depth Oddsmonkey review here.
What's the Risk?
In theory, there is no risk involved. Matched betting is not gambling since you can’t lose. Matched betting entails that you cover all bases so that either way you win. On the other hand, gambling means that there is a possibility that you can lose.
But, there are risks if you make mistakes, such as placing two different bets. Also, free bets may take a little while to come through. Additionally, when you begin to win, bookmakers may prevent you from being eligible for free bets. So you’ll need to find other sites or use the other bonuses to continue to profit. Lastly, you might lose a little bit of money upfront because you need to bet with real money once before receiving a free bet offer.
Pros of Matched Betting:
- Guarantees profit
- Tons of sporting events to place bets on
- Winnings are tax-free
- Doesn’t take a lot of time
Cons of Matched Betting:
- Bookmakers may ban you from receiving free offers
- Continuously need to find incentives
Final Thoughts
Matched betting is incredibly easy and rewarding. What’s great about this method of betting and making money is that it requires very little time. You’re simply finding the best offers and placing bets. It can be insanely fun once you earn a profit and begin tracking all of the recurring offers from every site. Unlike starting a business that requires a tremendous amount of skill and time to build, matched betting allows you to make a substantial side income with little time or skill. You also don’t have the responsibility of satisfying customer demands.
We hoped you enjoyed this in-depth guide on how much can you make from matched betting!
