matched betting

notes to self

TheGuardian.com/money/2010/jul/24/free-bets-bookies

"Any Google search will bring up matched betting sites, such as laymybet.co.uk and freebets4all.com. They will pinpoint virtually every single free bet offer available. They also give you a list of the best qualifying bets related to the various bookmaker promotions. You are told how much to bet, which bookmaker to place the transaction with, how much to "lay" with Betfair, and what your overall profit will be. They will also let you know if your partner can access the free bets, too."

"While there are different promotions available, I tended to avoid ones larger than free £50 bets– because the larger the bet, the more strings attached, such as convertibility.

For example, some online sports books may offer the matched betting to only

• new players, and only to discover there is a turn over of 3X or greater before they can withdraw. In other cases, sports books that also promote online casinos or poker, may  add terms to the matched bet whereby the
• free bet winnings can only be converted over to other games before withdrawing.

Thus the bookies are using this to entice new players or winback of lapsed players, and keep the money in the house by increasing the probability of losing the money in an online poker game, or in the casino, or better yet, having to turn over the money X fold on other wagers…all significantly increasing the probability you lose the free money."
"It’s also a good idea to check the terms and conditions, because sometimes you might find hidden strings there. Keep track of all your bets, as well as all the usernames and passwords you create in a spreadsheet or a notebook."One guide site puts the offers this way.

1. Place bet and then receive a free bet
2. Place a bet and then if your bet loses, you receive another bet
3. Cash bonuses which require rolling over a certain number of times "roll over"

Coming back to this in 2018 I still haven't tried matched betting. At a glance on search engines, the market seems to be more clear-cut than when I first blogged, with free bets links common, arbitrage calculators occasionally available free, and anything more sophisticated paid-for at £1 for the first month and then £15-20-ish a month.

Free odds comparison calculators are on
freebets4all.com/free-bets/UnitedKingdom freebets4all.co.ukThis looks the most sophisticated at a glance
Save the student
Matched Betting Blog

The paid for sites are reviewed on
https://www.matchedbettingsites.com  - from a left menu found on "toggle menu"
https://comparethematchedbetting.co.uk/

Going back a few years, the sites mentioned now charge I guess.

laymybet.co.uk - closed

betexpertuk.co.uk/what-is-matched-betting/ has 46 offers and
betexpertuk.co.uk/existing-bookmaker-account-offers/ - someone has taken over the old domain and transferred it to Bookieninja, a basic wordpress site and list of special offer adds

matchedbetting.co.uk/free-bets/- I can't quite see what this is about

https://www.bet-bonuscode.co.uk/matchbook-bonus-code/

or just try search engines

Mojeek.co.uk/search?q="free+bet"
Bing.com/search?q="free+bet"&cc=gb
Google.co.uk/search?q="free+bet"

Sites to know about and probably avoid
http://www.top100bookmakers.com/rating.php - matchedbook bad on any but the biggest market;

• Stan James bad
• Coral bad
• Totesports bad.

https://www.sportsbookreview.com/betting-sites/blacklist/ - can be set for just UK ones
Reasons people dislike the sites can be reduced with this checklist

Arbitrage can be profitable, even at UK facing bookies but you have to be selective over what you bet on.

You will quickly get gubbed (account closed) if you do any of the following:
A) Arb large bets on anything except soccer / tennis (e.g. NFL,NBA,NHL)
B) Bet over £200 / £250 on back bets at a single UK bookie per event
C) Take massive arbs (7%+) that are obvious mistakes or lines that are completely out of line D) Contact Customer Support for any reason and have a person actually look at your bets (To say cancel a bet if you do it wrong)
E) Bet on Non-UK 3rd division teams etc. (£200 on Argentinian 4th division team to win 1-0 is suicide)

I have actually salvaged a couple of limited account (due to MatchBetting and breaking rule (E) above when I was inexperienced) and got them completely unrestricted again through sensible arbing. Other accounts like BetFred/PaddyPower/Bet365 will in all liklehood Gub you no matter what you do as they just hate anyone who consistently finds value in their odds. In the case of those bookies make hay while the sun shines IMHO.

One thing you notice from the blog post is that some people try to carry-on making money from arbitrage even after the special offers run-out. Maybe they're ones who get spotted.

There is less matching, if any, for bingo and roulette for reasons that are probably obvious to people who know about this stuff; it is sports and events that provide the matched bets on https://www.freebets4all.com/AutoMatcher and that leads to another point- the sites that allow bets the other way

Sites to know about
https://www.freebets4all.com/AutoMatcher has a column called "exchange" which quotes

• betfair most
• matchbook several times a day
• smarkets several times a day (the dark banner that's hard to read)
• betdaq once on the day I looked (a purple banner)

Cashback on these various sites is good, with the mainstream P2P markets the best places to note at the top of a list. The Guardian article says that the free offers run-out; you can make £20 an hour for a while but then get nothing. (If the style of this reads as notes-to-self, that's because it is a set of notes to self, but written on an old post of a blog to promote veganline.com the shop that sells vegan shoes online, mainly made in the uk.)

http://www.oddsmonkey.com/STARTHERE/Tutorial1%E2%80%93MatchedBettingIntro.aspx

This one has a step-by-step guide. The first is jargon. I am on to the second about Betfair, the largest supplier of bets the other way ("lay bets" in the jargon, apparently) which isn't the cheapest but will probably have to be used. You'll notice that I post afffilate links to Betfair; if you can find some way to sign-up through a free introductory offer, that might be better. You can join the schemes - Topcashback & Quidco - through the links to each site below below.

As someone who has written about this matched betting thing but not done it, I suppose I am a likely customer for the sites which charge fifteen pounds a month to take you through the process step by step. Their names are Oddsmonkey (premium), Profit Squirrel, and Profit Accumulator. A search for those names together will get some reviews and http://www.matchedbettingsites.com/ seems to do the comparisons very neatly.

Where were we? Free-to-use sites for the more organised and adventurous.

Laymybet.co.uk/

Freebets4all.com/cashback/
The site has a nifty way of finding the exact bet and match on eg betfair and one of a dropdown list.

The cashback sites have offers on casinos: Betfair: TCB; Betdaq: Immutual; Smarkets; none.
Topcashback plus is a special deal for people who expect to earn more than £100 a year on its site
(£5 membership + hassle of cancelling - extra 5% on earnings and quicker payouts / customer service)
I don't know why my notes also list cashback site links to sports bookmakers below - why separate?

Looking at the betting markets, most of the events seem to be a month or more away - like who will be president of the USA. I suppose that's an extra reason to bet on sports. There is a

Sportinglife.com/calendar sports betting calander links to
Oddschecker.com/

Both give an idea of what people are gambling on although I am still not sure. It says things like "wimbledon" and "Iceland v France" so I suppose a google would help.


As someone who has posted this stuff online but not got-around to doing it for a year or two, I suppose I might sign-up to one of the sites that's cheap for a week and then charges £15 a month. I think they are callled



Imutual.co.uk/bookmakers

up to £41 cashback + 400 shares

10 Bet Sports

£35 cashback + 343 shares

888 Sport

£17.50 cashback + 420 shares

888games.com

Betbrain

£21 cashback + 200 shares

Betdaq

up to £20 cashback + 300 shares

Betfair sports

up to £15.50 cashback + 150 shares

Football Pools

Ladbrokes

£20 cashback + 200 shares

MyBet

£7.50 cashback + 200 shares

Paddy Power Sportsbook

SeanieMac Suspended

Smarkets

Victor Chandler (VC Bet)

Wannamakeabet

£20 cashback + 320 shares

Topcashback.co.uk/bookmakers/

10Bet Sports Cashback Exclusive

Exploding onto the online sports bookmaking scene in 2003, 10Bet has quickly established itself as one of the premiere international bookmakers in the

	£10.10 Cashback
	188BET Cashback Exclusive Bet on sports at 188BET. View in-play markets, play bingo, blackjack, poker and slots on your iPhone, Android or tablet and earn cashback rewards.	Up to £25.25 Cashback
	Bet365 Cashback Exclusive Visit Bet365 for online gambling and sports betting. Play games and bingo, poker and roulette, watch live horse racing and sport and earn cashback.	Look out for discount codes and deals Continue
Faster Paying	Betfair Cashback Exclusive Play bingo, casino games and slots at Betfair, as well as bet in-play, on your mobile or tablet on sports. Get free bets and earn cashback rewards.	Up to £70.70 Cashback
	Coral Sportsbook Cashback Bet on sport with Coral Sportsbook. Bet on football and horse racing, golf, boxing and tennis. View live scores, bet in-play and get cashback rewards.	Look out for discount codes and deals Continue
	Ladbrokes Cashback You will be on to a winner with these great Ladbrokes cashback and voucher code deals. Ladbrokes offer bingo and casino games such as roulette and...	Up to £35.35 Cashback
	SuperCasino Cashback Play live roulette, live blackjack, poker, slots and more online, on your mobile or by phone at SuperCasino. Play for top jackpots and earn cashback.	£20.20 Cashback
	Victor Chandler Cashback Visit Victor Chandler for online betting. Bet on football, cricket, rugby and horse racing, as well as casino games such as poker, and earn cashback.	Look out for discount codes and deals Continue
	Virgin Games Cashback Virgin Games service Ltd was founded in 2004, and operates the following sites: Virgin Casino, Virgin Bingo and Virgin Poker...	5.05% Cashback
	William Hill Sports Betting Cashback Exclusive Get the best live odds and free bets, whether betting on horse racing, football or golf, with William Hill Sports Betting. Bet and earn cashback.	£15.15 Cashback

Quidco.com - search for their ".../sportsbook" url & heading. Joining through this link can earn you £1 .

Betfair Sportsbook FASTER PAYING

£10 cashback Exclusive

William Hill Sportsbook

£1 cashback

Ladbrokes Sportsbook

£30 cashback Exclusive

188BET Sportsbook

£10 cashback

888Sport

£50 cashback

Titan Bet Casino

£26.50 cashback Increased

Totesport Sportsbook

Football Index

£12 cashback

Totesport Pools

10Bet

Up to £25 cashback

10Bet Sports

£10 cashback

Ladbrokes Sportsbook

Place your bets on the UEFA Euro 2016 games + £30 cashback
Go to the offer

Swarovski

Earn up to 8% cashback
Go to the offer

Airconcentre

Earn 5% cashback
Go to the offer

Stuarts London

Earn up to 8% cashback
Go to the offer

http://www.coinrebates.com/stores - nothing shows for gambling and their offers of a few pence for surveys all end "no surveys available" after getting a bit of free information

Smarkets.com/politics/uk/ - UK - more fancy than the mainstream - 2%
I- click for no money T- no Q-
Matchbook of Alderney charges 1% for loosing or winning. US sport and some UK?
I- T- Q-
Betdaq.com/ - Alderny and Dublin - now merged with Ladbrooks and charge 5% of winnings
I- T- Q-
Betfair.com/ - UK - now merged with Paddy Power  and charge 5% of winnings
I- T- Q-
ipredict.co.nz/ - NZ

Searching for the names together leads to this guide

Software called Geekstoy is free for Betdaq and Matchbook, but using it uses-up your free trial for Betfair which appears to be where most of the bet matches are found, to judge from the freebets4all site.

Looking back a few months later I discover

---

https://veg-buildlog.blogspot.com/2012/10/bitcoin-notes-in-progress.html

There are some notes in progress about bitcoin, that works for these matched betting sites and special offers

Gambling

Rare to find a sign-up bonus, so there is no point except that one or two gambling sites let you take a part of their winnings if you find their bankroll.

I'm not sure why I noted this list a few months ago

https://www.bitcoingg.com/bitcoin-gambling/sports-betting/ (go through a link on the right to get UK compatible ones?)
http://www.top100bookmakers.com/currencies/btc.php
- https://www.bodog.eu/promotions link to each site's promotions page
https://www.bitcoinsportsbooks.com/sports-betting-sites/ only mentions 3 btc ones
- claims a 5btc exclusive bonus on their cloudbet signup link
- reviews 5dimes n/a to UK
https://www.cryptocompare.com/spend/#/gambling - estimates commission rates

Just some early discoveries written-down

Fairlay.com/ - US - free
Predictious.com/ - Dublin - Bitcoin "prediction" - 108 sport events - fees - OK review -
Jetwin.ps/us/deposit-bonus/ - $35 signup bonus or €18 for a deposit
Getbets.eu now has minimum $300 withdrawal even by bitcoin. Previously in Simonblogspark 
sports.Betcoin.ag
Cloudbet - players from my juristiction are forbidden - 5BT loyalty bonus if I can find a way
Betmoose - same
Anonibet - same
5dimes.eu - same