You’ve heard the term ‘matched betting’. You may even know that it’s a legit way of making money from the bookmakers, risk free! But how does matched betting actually work?
In this article we’ll take you through the very basic principles of matched betting, and show you exactly how you can make guaranteed profits.
Whilst it isn’t exactly rocket science, it requires a bit of concentration. So brew yourself a tea, pay attention, and let’s get started….
What is matched betting?
Matched betting is where you place a bet at a bookmaker and then simultaneously place an offsetting bet on an exchange.
People make money from matched betting by profiting from free offers given by the bookmakers, by placing offsetting bets in a combination which locks in a profit, whatever the result of the event being bet on.
The basics of matched betting – understanding Back and Lay bets
When we first came across matched betting it seemed so impossibly complicated that we were nearly put off by it all. But that would have been a big mistake. It’s not rocket science, you just need to understand a few basic concepts. Here we go….
The key to matched betting is understanding two different types of bets: a back and a lay bet. They are the foundation of a matched bet:
- A back bet – where you’re betting on something to happen. E.g. Manchester United to win.
- A lay bet – where you’re betting on something not to happen. E.g. Manchester United not to win.
Back bets are normal bets that can be placed with bookmakers. Most people would be familiar with this type of bet. Look, here’s an example of what you’ll see at a bookie:
We’re using decimal odds (matched betters prefer to look at odds this way – it makes it easier to compare). In the above, we see that we can back Liverpool to win at 1.44, Arsenal to win at 7.00, or the draw at 4.60.
If I place a £10 back bet on Arsenal to win at 7.00 then I’ll get £60 profit if it happens (that’s £70 less my £10 stake). But if they don’t win (i.e. they draw or lose) then I’ll lose my £10 stake.
A lay bet is not your normal type of bet. You need to use a betting exchange (such as Betfair or, our favourite, Smarkets). They will show you a screen that looks like this, for the same Liverpool vs Arsenal match:
The exchange will allow you to place a back bet – you can see that the odds for this (the numbers in blue) are very similar to the bookie above. However, the exchange also allows us to place a lay bet (these are the bets in pink).
When we’re doing a lay bet, we’re effectively acting as a bookmaker.
So, if I place a £10 lay bet on Arsenal to win at 7.6 then if Arsenal do win I’ll need to pay out £66 (£76 less a £10 stake). If Arsenal don’t win (i.e. they either lose or draw) then I’ll make a profit of £10.
How to combine ‘back’ and ‘lay’ bets to win every time
To see how matched betting works, we now need to think about how to use back and lay bets together. We’ll work through 3 examples.
First, let’s see how you can use a back and a lay bet to make sure that you don’t carry any risk. Matched betting is all about using these two types of bet so that you aren’t exposed to any risk.
Let’s say that Manchester united are playing Arsenal and I can back them at 4.0 to win, and I can lay that bet at odds of 4.0 as well (let’s ignore any commission that the exchange might take, for now):
Whatever the outcome of the game, I’ll not lose. If Manchester united win then I’ll make £30 (the bookmaker will pay me £40 which includes returning my stake of £10) and I’ll lose £30 on my lay bet.
If Manchester United don’t win then I’ll lose my £10 stake on my back bet but I’ll get £10 on the lay bet (as I’m effectively acting as the bookmaker there).
Now, this all begs the question, why would anyone want to put on this type of bet?
The key to matched betting is using the above concept with the free bets given to you by the bookmakers. There are loads of these (here’s just a small sample):
If we can use one of these free bets, then we can make money with matched betting!
Let’s do the same example as before. But instead of doing a normal £10 back bet, let’s assume we’ve now got a £10 free bet. This changes the outcome:
If Manchester United win then the profit is still the same as above. But if they don’t win, we haven’t lost our £10 stake (as it was a free bet, so we’ve lost nothing). Overall, we’re able to make a profit! And that’s the point of matched betting.
But it’s still not ideal having an outcome like the above, where we sometimes win and other times make nothing. There’s actually a better combination (and we’ll talk more about how to calculate your bet below) you can improve the bet even further:
By changing our lay, to be only £7.50, we’ll need to pay out £22.50 if Manchester United win and we’ll get £7.50 if they don’t. In both cases, we’re guaranteed a profit of £7.50 overall!
Now, if you’ve understood things up to here (and don’t worry if it was tough – it may need another read), congratulations, you’ve got the hang of matched betting!
The last example we did was almost exactly the sort of bet you’re going to try to put on (though your calculation will be different, depending on the game and how much commission the exchange takes).
If you’ve understood the above, you should not longer be wondering ‘how does matched betting work’. You’re now in the club of people who understand it.
Congrats if you understood it so far! If not, take another read at your own pace, it’s not always that easy if you’re new to it.
How to get started with matched betting – for complete beginners
Having understood the concept, what you now need to do is:
- Find free bet offers at the bookmakers (most have sign-up offers for new customers)
- Find odds that minimise your losses (on qualifying bets) and maximize your winnings (on free bets).
- Calculate exactly what you should place as a bet at a bookmakerand what you should lay on an exchange (the two usually aren’t the same).
If that still sounds a little complicated, that’s fine. We thought the same when we started.
All of the information to do this on your own is out there on the internet for free! There are forums on moneysavingexpert.com, for instance that have loads of detail on matched betting to get you started as well as video’s on YouTube. One interesting site is www.freebets4all.com, but it isn’t the nicest interface and user experience. Personally we wouldn’t recommend this to anyone starting out or who has precious little experience of betting. Nevertheless, we’ve tried giving it a go.
However, digging all this information out on your own can be time consuming, and daunting. Eventually we decided to use a service called Oddsmonkey:
We’ve done a full review of OddsMonkey and whether it’s worth the monthly fee in the linked article. In short, we completely recommend to help you get started (and you can do a 7-day trial for just £1).
Oddsmonkey will help you with all of the above and get you started with what you need. They even have videos walking you through the first few bets and an online community and help section if you’re really lost (the videos are invaluable when you’re starting out).
Where next?
We recommend the following articles to help you get further into the world of matched betting:
- Is matched betting legit? And is it worth it? – this guide looks at whether it’s legal and what the bookmakers think of it. And, of course, if it’s actually worth doing.
- 12 Essential Matched Betting tips for Noobs – this is everything that we think a complete beginner should know in order to avoid making potentially expensive mistakes.
- OddsMonkey Review: is it worth the Money – one of the most popular tools out there, and one that has all the tools and tutorials to get started. Here’s why we use it.