The Complete Beginners Guide to Matched Betting

I’ve talked a few times recently about my desire to experiment with “matched betting”.

Many other personal finance bloggers have made a ridiculous amount of money from it, so I thought it was about time I gave it a spin myself.

This article marks the end of my first full month of matched betting, so you’ll get to hear all about the process, the results that I’ve had and my plans for the future.

In doing so, I hope that you will be able to make an informed decision about whether this money-making opportunity is right for you too…

What Is Matched Betting?

I’ll be the first to admit that I hate gambling. I’m proud to say that I’ve never put a bet on a horse, or a football match, or even bought a lottery ticket. As far as I’m concerned, standard gambling is really just a tax on people who don’t understand maths.

Matched betting is rather different.

In essence while you’re using gambling as the process of making money, you follow a very clearly-defined system that guarantees your winnings. In essence it’s gambling, without gambling.

By placing bets that are mathematically guaranteed to win you can earn some nice income – tax-free.

How Does Matched Betting Work?

Let’s look at an example.

The way most matched betters start is by making use of free bets offered by many bookmakers.

An example might be a bookie that offers you a free £20 bet, after you’ve deposited and made a bet of £10.

To make money from this we use two different bookies, and gamble in opposite directions.

Let’s start with our £10 bet. Doing this with both bookies will set us back £20 in total. We bet on one match (such as a specific horse in a specific race) to win. Then, at the other bookmaker we bet on them losing.

We carefully calculate the odds in such a way that these two bets essentially cancel each other out. Normally we’ll lose a few pence (20-50p for example) on this first bet.

Our balance, from the initial £20 would now stand at something like £19.80.

Now, however, we get our free £20 bet, and this is where we can make some money.

We again follow the same process, betting both ways using two different bookies, and carefully-calculated odds.

The end result is that no matter whether our horse (or football team) wins or loses we make money. Quite how much depends on the odds chosen, but it’s normal to make roughly 75-80% of your stake. In this situation, with a £20 bet we’d probably expect to make around £15 profit.

Place a couple of these each week and its easy enough to add £50 or so to your income.

Even better, as time goes on your “bank” to place bets with grows, as does your experience, so you can place more frequent, or larger, bets and increase your monthly income. There are people out there making £1,000+ per month with this strategy.

Do I Need To Know About Gambling/Sports?

I started learning about matched betting in depth at the beginning of August 2016, but I didn’t place my first real bet until the 11th of the month. It took me over a week of careful study and analysis before I felt confident enough to place a bet.

Why? The answer is that I was a total noob. I hate watching sports (I couldn’t even tell you what “league” a well-known team is in) and I’ve never placed a bet before. Therefore this was all totally new territory.

Luckily, the process was a lot easier than I expected, though the first few bets were quite nerve-wracking for me thanks to my lack of knowledge.

The message here, therefore, is that anyone can learn to do matched betting, even if – like me – you start off knowing nothing about sport or gambling.

How Much Do I Need to Start?

Matched betting is a case of “spending money to make money”. You’ll need some cash to get started. Quite how much depends on your personal situation. I know that one blogger started with a bank of just £60, while another started with £1,000.

Personally, I started with a bank of £200. My goal was to use only these funds no matter what the outcome. I even set up a new bank account just to manage this process, so there was no way I could be tempted to overdo it.

I think £200 was a decent bank to get started with, but if I’d started with £500 or more I’d have made a lot more money (because I could place more bets).

Fortunately, I’ve been re-investing my profits so far, so this bank has grown considerably over the last few weeks.

How Much Money Did I Make?

OK, so the obvious question is quite how much I’ve made.

In truth, the first few weeks were quite slow. A lack of knowledge, and the low starting bank, meant that I made slow initial progress. As both my bank and my knowledge started to grow the process sped up considerably. Now it takes just minutes to place a bet.

I started off on August 11th with £200 and ended up a month later with a bank of £365.02. In other words I made £165 profit in a month, having no idea what I was doing. I’d say I invested 3 hours a week initially, into learning and placing bets, but over time that has dropped down considerably.

I expect my earnings for month two will increase quite a bit as I’m more efficient and better-funded now.

Still, making £165 in a month, with little or no risk, investing just a few hours of my free time, is a healthy ROI in my book. As stated before, numerous people are making £1,000+ per month, so the sky is the limit. For me, I’m going to aim for around £500 a month by month three.

How Could I Have Done Better?

I’ve done well (in my opinion) as a complete newbie. But other people have achieved far more.

So if I was started all over again, what would I do to make even more money from a standing start?

Firstly, I’d start with a larger bank. A start of around £500 would probably have doubled my total profits, if not more.

Secondly, I’d consider getting a Skrill account sooner. Here’s why… Once your bets have settled you’ll have money winnings in a range of accounts. In order to re-invest those into more bets you’ll want to withdraw the cash to your bank account, so you can place bets elsewhere.

This process of withdrawing funds, however, takes some 3-5 days. That means if you place a bet on a Saturday, then cash out on the Sunday, it might be Friday the next week before you can “re-use” that money.

All that time waiting represents missed opportunities for profit. A Skrill account is rather like Paypal and allows near-instant withdrawals, making for a faster turnaround of capital.

The Keys to Success with Matched Betting

So almost £200 profit in my first month, with a goal to taking with closer to £350 in month two. But what do you need to do, dear reader, if you want to get involved with this exciting (and profitable) opportunity?

Personally, I’d say there are three essential steps to success…

Training – The first thing you’re going to need to know is what you’re doing. If you’re a complete newbie, like me, then you’ll want to invest in some serious training to show you the ropes and give you the confidence you need.

Opportunities – There are dozens of bookmakers out there, each with different offers. Finding these offers, and figuring out how to make the most of them isn’t easy. For maximum efficiency, therefore, you’ll be wanting an extensive list of offers to utilize.

Odds Calculation – The last thing, which is arguably the most important, is a way to calculate the right odds. Choosing the wrong matches or races will make it difficult, if not impossible, to make a profit. Therefore you’ll be wanting a tool that helps you find and calculate odds in order to find the opportunities guaranteed to make you a profit.

Luckily, while this list is extensive, there is a place that offers all three of these benefits and that’s a site I’ve been using called Profit Accumulator. For a low monthly subscription you’re literally hand-fed everything you need.

You receive extensive training in both article and video format, a carefully organized list of the latest offers, guidance on how to complete each one, and a calculator that helps you decide exactly what to bet on.

Indeed, its that £20 investment in a subscription which has been central to turning £200 into £365 in just four weeks. If you’re considering getting involved with matched betting then you can take a free trial, or learn more, by clicking here.