Matched Betting

Unlike several decades back when punters had limited ways of betting on their favorite sporting events, such isn’t the case as of today. With the sports betting industry continuing to expand at unprecedented speeds, bookies now offer their customers a chance to bet in many ways. One particular form of betting that seems to be gaining ground is matched betting.

But what does matched betting entail? How does it work exactly? These and many other questions seem to puzzle plenty of players willing to try their luck with this type of betting. Are you on the verge of trying this form of betting but lack full information about what it entails? Don’t worry. We are here to help you. This in-depth matched betting guide explains almost everything you need to know about matched betting.

Here, you’ll get to know everything to do with matched betting, how it works, key terms and definitions, how much you can make, and an example of this type of wagering to show you how you can get started immediately. Are you ready? Let’s dive in!

Yan Zhylinski
Yan Zhylinski
Matched Betting

Matched Betting Explained

Matched betting, also known in other terms as lay bet matching, back bet matching or double betting is a technique in betting that bettors use to make profits from incentives and free bets that the bookie of their choice offers them. Many punters consider this type of betting somewhat risk – free because it relies on the application of some mathematical equations as opposed to chance.

No risk matched betting is one of those new and clever methods of turning free bets that are on offer by online bookies into some real cash. It does this by ensuring that it covers all of the potential outcomes of a given sporting event by placing several multiple bets. If you do this, your winnings are a guarantee every time, as it no longer depends on which team or player emerged victorious during a sporting event.

How does it Work?

Matched betting works in a very simple and easy-to-understand manner.This form of wagering works by employing a ‘back and lay betting’ strategy to turn free betting credit into some real cash. Lots of online sportsbooks give their customers ‘free bets’ as some sort of a welcome bonus aimed at enticing and encouraging potential punters to sign up to their site.

With standard or conventional forms of betting, there’s no guarantee that any bets will win. However, with matched betting strategy, you eliminate any risk tied with every bet for a particular result (back bet) by getting to place an equivalent bet against the same result (lay bet), meaning that you win, regardless of the result. The back and lay betting technique allows bettors who use it to realize some profits.

As a bettor using this method, at the end, you’ll end up with 80% of the free bet amount. For example, a $30 free bet will turn into around $24 profit. Many players do matched betting by themselves. However, the math may end up being complicated, and it’s easy for one go wrong. That’s the reason as to why many people rely on a matched betting calculator. If you use this betting calculator, it will show you the amount of money you’ll have to bet in order to realize some profits.

If you intend on getting a head on your matched betting journey, make sure that sign up to a betting exchange. Betting exchanges are those sites that make everything to do with matched betting possible. Here, you’ll find free helpful guides that will inform you when and how you’ll need to use them to realize some profit.

Parts of a Matched Bet

There are two important parts of a matched bet worth noting: the back bet, and the lay bet. A back bet is a wager for an outcome to come true. Here, a player wagers that something will take place. For example, you can back The All Blacks to win their next match. If the outcome happens as you predicted, you will win your stake based on the odds by the time of wagering. That’s the potential return. But if the outcome doesn’t happen, you will lose your entire stake. This is the liability.

The second part of a matched bet is the lay bet or betting against the outcome. Here, you are betting that something will not happen. A bookmaker that has a matched betting service under its menu of services will do this if they accept a back bet. For example, if you lay Manchester United to win, your bet will become successful if they happen to draw or lose the match. You can place these types of bets at the betting exchange of your choice such as Betfair.

Betting exchanges allow players to bet against each other rather than a bookie. Here, customers can request odds or offer odds to fellow bettors. Betting exchanges facilitate all these by providing a platform where customers can match bets against each other. To stay afloat, the exchanges take some agreed commission on winnings.

Placing a Matched Bet: How to Do it Quite Easily

Placing a matched bet isn’t a difficult task. If you want to place a matched bet without too much trouble, you need to do the following:

  1. First, search for matched betting offers that not only suits you, but is also the one that you can take an advantage of any time.
  2. Get to identify an outcome to back and lay (for example, Australia to win). To ensure that you minimize the initial loss, ensure that the odds are not only low, but they are also close together.
  3. Next, sign up to the bookmaker site and head straight to wager to punt on the qualifying bet.
  4. After you complete step three, sign up to a betting exchange of your choice and place the corresponding lay Here, you can rely on a matched betting calculator to assist you in determining the correct stake.
  5. Wager on your second matched bet by using your free bet credit for the back bet. However, you need to ensure that this time, both the lay and the back odds are high and close together so that you maximize your profits.

Example of Match Betting

Do you happen to be new to the world of matched betting or gambling? Here is a brief example of how matched betting works, step by step. First, let’s assume that a bookie is offering £30 of free bets to players who stake £10. Do you know that you can turn this into some sort of profit by wagering on two matched bets?

On matched bet number 1, you visit a matched betting service site and stake £10 on New Zealand to win at odds of 2.0. Since this action will unlock the £30 free bet deals, it becomes the qualifying bet that you can use later. On the other hand, assume that the betting exchange does offer lay odds the same New Zealand to win, but charges a 5% commission. By using a matched betting calculator, you find out that you have to stake £9.76 so that you ‘match’ your back bet. You’ll realize that this gives you a liability of £10.74.

Regardless of the outcome of New Zealand’s match, you’ll make little net loss if New Zealand wins the match. That’s because your back bet is a success while your lay bet isn’t (you get to lose the £10.74 liability). Overall, if you take back your £10 stake into your account, you’ll notice that you are down by 74p.

In the second scenario, if New Zealand doesn’t win the match, you will lack a qualifying bet, meaning that you have an unsuccessful back bet. Here, you get to lose the £10 stake. But if your lay bet sails through, you will get the £9.76 stake minus the commission that stood at 5, meaning that you’ll be down by 73p.

How much you can earn from matched betting depends on the time that you put in. Signups offers tend to be very profitable. After that, you stand a good chance of moving to the reload offers. Bookies use offers and promotions to attract new customers while retain the old ones. Reload offers are some of the aspects that make matched betting long-term and viable.

Jargon Buster and Matched Betting Tips

The moment you immerse yourself in matched betting, more than often, you’ll come across several unfamiliar terms, phrases and words that may seem somewhat confusing. Some of the most common ones include the following:

EV

Expected Value

ARB

Arbitrage bet

FB

Free Bet

SR

Stake Returned

SNR

Stake Not Returned

MBing

Matched Betting

PA

Profit Accumulator

KYC

Know Your Customer

The above aren’t all of the expressions you might find but they are some of the most popular words and phrases that you may come across. Have you ever heard of the word acca? And what does acca actually mean when it comes to matched betting? In full, acca stands for an Accumulator bet. This is a bet or a wager of one selection, but still in the same bet.

Now that you are fully aware of what matched betting entails, to boost your chances of winning, you need a matched betting strategy or a few helpful tips. If you intend on  realizing profits more than losses, ensure that you keep everything simple. Start small as you build up since this type of betting isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. Secondly, monitor you funds. Keep track of your cash and wager with what you can afford to lose. Thirdly, ensure that you stay secure by keeping a list of passwords and username by using something such as LastPass. This will save you a lot of time and keep all your details secure. Lastly, there’s no harm in seeking help. If you don’t understand this type of betting just seek some assistance from a bookie of your choice.

The Bottom Line

So there you have it. We hope that we have mentioned all the important aspects that you may have wanted to know about matched betting. As you can see, this is more of a no-risk type of betting where you can win some cash, regardless of the outcome of sports betting events. Try this type of betting today and get to profit from some juicy free bet offers!

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