You’ve come across matched betting but you’re confused about how it all works. 

Is it a scam? 

Is it gambling? 

How do I place a matched bet? 

I know you have questions; I did too at first. 

I have been matched betting since September 2019 and it’s by far my favourite side hustle.

By the end of this guide, you will have everything you need to know about matched betting to start making money today.

What is Matched Betting?

Matched betting is a way to turn the sign-up offers and promotions offered by gambling companies into risk-free profits.

Let’s say that a bookmaker will give you a £10 free bet (a way to bet without using your own money) if you sign up and bet £10 with them on a horse race.

What gamblers do is bet their £10 (and then their £10 free bet) on a horse they think will win. 

If their bets win, they think they’re some kind of oracle. But usually, they lose.

What we matched bettors do is very different. 

Rather than just betting £10 on a horse to win with the bookmaker, we use another website (called a betting exchange) to bet that the same horse won’t win. 

By doing this, whether the horse we bet on wins or loses, we will still receive the £10 free bet without risking our £10. 

	Bet to Win	Bet Not to Win	Outcome
Horse Wins	+£10	-£10	£0 Profit + £10 Free Bet.
Horse Loses	-£10	+£10	£0 Profit + £10 Free Bet.

We then repeat this process using the £10 free bet we qualified for to lock in a profit. 

	£10 Free Bet to Win	£5 Bet Not to Win	Outcome
Horse Wins	+£10	-£5	+£5 Profit
Horse Loses	£0	+£5	+£5 Profit

This is matched betting in a nutshell.

I will explain more as we work through this guide.

Is Matched Betting Popular? 

Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK make money from matched betting, with the UK’s largest matched betting community Outplayed boasting over 150,000 members.

You can read my in-depth review of Outplayed here. 

Matched betting has also received a lot of media coverage over the last few years. 

But it isn’t a new concept. 

The idea of “hedging” your bets dates back to Elizabethan times when people used the term to describe ways of insuring yourself against a loss (Source: Grammarist).

Matched betting originated in 1999 (when online gambling started to become a thing), and has snowballed to become what it is today. 

Is Matched Betting a Good Side Hustle? 

Matched betting is (in my opinion) the ultimate side hustle for beginners.

I have been making money online for over a decade, but matched betting took that to a new level. 

Most of the side hustles pushed by ‘influencers’ (such as dropshipping) take a lot of time and money to start, and you might not make anything for months (if at all).

Matched betting is different. 

You can start making money online today with Outplayed’s 7-day free trial, less than £50 and an hour per day of your time. 

I’ve been matched betting since September 2019 and helped dozens of people get started. 

Matched betting isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme – it’s a proven method hundreds of thousands of people use to make £500-£1000 per month (or more) in risk-free profits. 

Remember though, how much you make with matched betting is down to you. I can’t make any guarantee of returns, all I can do is share my own experience.

How Matched Betting Works. 

In this section, I will expand a bit on the concept of matched betting and translate all the key terms you need to know. 

Back Bets vs Lay Bets.

When you make a bet with someone, there are two types of bets.

One person is betting on something to happen (called a ‘back’ bet). For example, you might say ‘I bet England will beat Germany’ when watching a football match.
The other person is betting that something won’t happen (called a ‘lay’ bet). For example, your friend might say ‘I bet England won’t win.’ To put it another way, this person thinks that Germany will win the match or that it will end in a draw.

Bookmakers vs Exchanges.

Bookmakers (such as Coral) allow you to ‘back’ something to happen by placing wagers with your money. 

If your wager wins then you get your money back plus the amount the bookmaker agreed to pay you. How much they pay you is based on the odds – or how likely your wager was to win. 

If your bet loses then the bookmaker takes your money as they have won the wager. 

Betting exchanges (such as Matchbook) let you place a ‘lay’ bet – a wager that something won’t happen. 

Placing a lay bet means you essentially take on the role of a bookmaker – you need to have the money in your account to cover the winnings if your lay bet loses. 

This is called ‘liability’.

Before you can place a lay bet, it’s important to check whether there is enough liquidity (the amount of money available in the market at those odds) to place your bet. 

The liability is shown underneath the lay odds. 

With lay bets, two things can happen:

If your lay bet wins, then you win the stake and the liability is returned to you. 

If your lay bet loses, you will lose the liability (not your stake). 

What we matched bettors do is use a simple calculator to work out how much we need to lay on the exchange. 

By backing and laying the same event we cover all the outcomes, meaning that whether our back bet or lay bet wins our profit is the same.

This is because the calculator works out the lay stake so that the liability matches how much we would get back if the back bet wins.

Odds (Fractional vs Decimal) 

The odds are how likely something is to happen. 

When betting, the odds determine how much you will win. The less likely your bet is to win, the higher the odds.

They are shown as either a fraction (e.g. 1/1) or a decimal (2.0).

To convert fractional odds to decimal odds, you divide the first number by the second and then add 1.00. For example, 1/1 would be 1÷1 = 1 + 1.00 = 2.00.

For matched betting, we use decimal odds. If the odds are displayed as fractions on the bookmaker or exchange website, you can easily change it in the settings.

Anything over 1.0 means you get your stake back if the bet wins. 

For example, if the odds on Manchester City to win are 2.0 and we bet £10, then if Manchester City wins we would get our £10 back plus £10 from the bookmaker. 

Liability.

Liability is the amount of money you need in your account to cover the winnings if your lay bet loses. 

This is different from your stake, which is the lay bet amount.

You calculate liability by using the formula: Liability = Lay Stake x Lay Odds – 1. 

The calculator works this out for you automatically. 

For example, if the lay odds are 2.0 and your lay stake is £10, your liability would be £10 (£10×2-1). 

There is also something called shared liability.

If you have multiple bets on the same event (such as backing and laying multiple horses in the same race), then your overall liability will be lower. 

This is because only one outcome can happen (for example, only one horse can win), meaning that the betting exchange will reduce your overall liability.

Exchange Commission.

Betting exchanges charge you a commission when your bet wins with them. 

This is because a betting exchanges make their money from fees. 

When your bet wins, you receive your winnings (the stake) minus the commission. 

The commission rate is usually 2-5%, but it varies depending on the exchange and your betting volume.

You have to factor in the lay commission when calculating your profit. For example, if your lay stake is £10 and the exchange commission is 5%, then if your lay bet wins you would get back £9.50.  

Commissions can eat into your profits; that’s why I’d highly recommend signing up for Outplayed. 

They have partnerships with two leading betting exchanges: Matchbook and Betdaq, giving you 0% commission. 

Since 2019 I have paid no commission on winning lay bets thanks to being an Outplayed member, meaning thousands in extra profit.

Matched Betting Calculator.

The matched betting calculator gives you everything you need to know to match your bets. You can access Outplayed’s free calculator tool here.

All you need to input is your back bet stake with the bookmaker, the bookmaker’s back odds and the exchange lay odds. 

It will tell you how much you need to lay and the liability you need to have in your exchange account to match the bets. 

The main calculator has a few different elements: 

• Bet Type: Select if the bet is with your own money or a free bet (as this will change your lay stake). 
• Mode: Simple or advanced. For beginners, keep it in simple mode. Advanced is only used for underlaying or overlaying – making your lay stake more or less than what the calculator tells you. This should only be used by experienced matched bettors. 
• Back Stake: Input how much money you need to bet with the bookmaker. 
• Back Odds: Input the back odds from the bookmaker website. 
• Lay Odds: Input the lay odds from the exchange website. 
• Lay Commission: Input how much commission you will pay if your lay bet wins (this should be 0% if you have signed up to Outplayed). 
• Results: From the bet type, back stake, back odds and lay odds, the calculator will tell you your lay stake and your liability. It will also tell you how much you will make or lose at those odds if either the bookmaker back bet or exchange lay bet wins. 

With the example above if your lay bet loses (meaning your back bet wins at the bookmaker), you would lose £10 on the exchange (the liability). 

If your lay bet wins (meaning your back bet loses) you would get back your liability (£10) and win the £10 stake. 

The result is the same because you have matched your bet. 

Usually, the odds will be higher for your lay bet, meaning the calculator will tell you to lay less with the exchange than you have backed with the bookmaker. 

You will usually lose a few pence from your first bet, but qualify for free bets (where you can lock in guaranteed profits). 

The Oddsmatcher.

The oddsmatcher tells you what to bet on. 

It works by aggregating all of the information across (almost) all of the bookmakers and exchanges, meaning you can easily find real-time results on the best events to bet on.

Outplayed’s oddsmatcher is simple to use. 

At the top you have the filters: 

• The sport you want to bet on. 
• The market (usually ‘match odds’ – meaning a team to win, or ‘win bet’ meaning a horse to win). 
• The bookmaker we want to place a back bet with, and the exchange we want to place our lay bet with. 
• Rating: This is how close we want the odds to be. The higher the rating (as a percentage), the closer match the bets are. We can also click on ‘SNR’ to switch to how much we want to make from the free bet as a percentage. So 80%, for example, would show us things to bet on to make at least £8 from a £10 free bet.
• Min / Max Odds: Here we set the minimum odds to make sure we meet the terms of an offer. For example, with Coral we have to bet on something with odds over 1.5 to qualify for our free bets. We can also set a max odds to reduce how much liability we need to cover our lay bet. As a beginner, odds between 4 and 10 is ideal. 
• Availability: This is the liquidity in the exchange market. Make sure there is plenty of money in the market to cover our lay bet stake.  

There is also a filter that helps you search for events for specific promotions, such as Coral’s sign-up offer. 

Something to remember about the oddsmatcher is that it doesn’t show in-play events (events that have already started). So you will have to find bets manually using the matched betting calculator and the odds on the bookmaker and exchange. 

Perhaps the best feature of Outplayed’s oddsmatcher is the integrated calculator: 

It tells you what to bet on, provides links directly to the bookmaker and exchange, and breaks down the overall profit or loss. 

With an Outplayed subscription, you can also link your Outplayed account to your exchange account, enabling you to place a lay bet automatically when clicking the ‘place lay bet’ button.

Qualifying Bets & Free Bets.

In matched betting, there are generally two types of bets – qualifying bets and free bets. 

Qualifying bets are bets you place with your own money that unlock free bets and bonuses with bookmakers. 

Typically, you will lose a few pence on your qualifying bet, but this will qualify you for free bets with the bookmaker..  

Free bets are bonuses that bookmakers give you to bet on events without using your own money. 

Free bets are (usually) stake not returned (shown as ‘SNR’ on Outplayed’s oddsmatcher and calculator). 

This means that the free bet stake is not given back to you if your back bet wins, you only keep the winnings. 

For example, if you win £25 with the bookmaker from a free bet and your free bet stake is £5, you would get back £20. 

Step-By-Step Guide : Making £15.15 from Coral’s Sign-Up Offer. 

Now that you understand the basics of matched betting, it’s time to put everything together with a real example. 

In this case, we will be signing up to Coral and profiting £15.15 from their sign-up offer. I’ve chosen Coral because they are the first bookmaker sign-up offer you will do if you join Outplayed’s free trial. 

Doing a matched betting offer is simple. 

Let’s walk through it together, step by step. 

Step 1: Find the Offer. 

The first thing to do is to find the offer. You can do this yourself by looking for bookmaker offers, but using a matched betting service like Outplayed makes this much easier.

The next thing to do is to have a read of the offer terms – this step is really important. These will be included in Outplayed’s step-by-step guides, but it’s a good idea to read the terms on Coral’s website.

Coral will give us £20 in free bets if we meet the following criteria: 

• We are a new customer from the UK or Ireland over the age of 18. 
• We deposit £5 (using a debit card) within 14 days of registering. 
• We bet £5 at odds over 1/2 (or 1.5). 

If you follow these terms they will give you a £20 free bet to use when your qualifying bet settles, which will expire 7 days after it has been credited. 

Step 2: Sign up for Coral & Matchbook.

The next thing we need to do is to sign up for Coral and create a betting exchange account. 

To sign up, you may need proof of ID (such as a driving license or passport) and proof of address (such as a utility bill or redacted bank statement) to prove you are over 18. 

Signing up to Coral is quick and easy. All you need is some basic info, such as your email, name and address. 

Once you have signed up, you will be prompted to add a debit card. Add your card and deposit £5. 

It’s a good idea to set up a new bank account as it’s easier to track your profits.

Next, go into settings → betting settings and change the odds to decimal. 

Now that we have signed up for Coral, it’s time to create an account with a betting exchange. 

You have some good options here, but I mainly use Matchbook (due to 0% commission for being an Outplayed member). 

Note: If you follow the link in Outplayed’s training video, you will be on 0% commission with Matchbook. 

The process is the same as Coral – name, address and email. 

Next, add your debit card and deposit at least £10. This will cover the lay bet liability. 

Step 3: Find & Place a Qualifying Bet. 

Now it’s time to place our qualifying bet. 

If we go back to the offer terms, to get our £20 in free bets we need to place a £5 bet at odds of 1.5 or higher. 

By going to Outplayed’s oddsmatcher tool, we can select ‘Coral Qualifying Bet’ from the filters. This will show us the closest bets that will qualify for the £20 in free bets. 

The first result in the oddsmatcher is an FA Cup game between Liverpool and Southampton. Clicking on the icon will bring up the integrated calculator for this bet. 

The calculator tells us that we need to bet £5 on Liverpool at odds of 1.5 on Coral, and place a lay bet of £4.90 on Brighton at odds of 1.53 on Matchbook. 

Our liability for this bet is £2.60. 

We need to place our back and lay bets, making sure they have been confirmed. 

Whether the back bet or lay bet wins, we will lose 10p but will receive £20 in free bets.

Step 4: Find & Place Your Free Bet. 

Once your qualifying bet has settled (i.e. the event has ended, and you know whether your back bet or lay bet has won), you should see the £20 free bet in your Coral account.

Now go back to Outplayed’s oddsmatcher and select ‘Coral Free Bet’ on the filters.

The top result – betting on the Spanish team Raya Vallecano to win against Girona, looks like a decent option for our free bet. 

Again, clicking on the icon will bring up the integrated calculator for this bet.

By placing our £20 free bet on Rayo Vallecano with Coral at odds of 5.5 and placing a lay bet of £15.25 at odds of 5.9 with Matchbook, we will make £15.25. 

Our liability is £74.72, so we need at least that amount in our Matchbook account to cover this lay bet. 

Remember you can place your free bet at lower odds if you want lower liability.

Step 5: Calculate Your Profit. 

Once your bets have settled, it’s time to work out your profit. 

This is pretty simple – you just need to take your qualifying loss from the profit you made from the free bet. 

In this case, we lost 10p from our qualifying bet and made £15.25 in profit from our free bet – so £15.25- £0.10 = £15.15. 

Yes, it’s that simple!

Depending on where your bets have won, you can either choose to withdraw the winnings back into your bank account or leave it there for reload offers. 

Repeat. 

Now you know how to profit from matched betting, its time to get serious.

Outplayed has nearly £1000 worth of bookmaker sign-up offers to take advantage of, as well as £300-£400 per day in reload offers.

Reload Offers.

Reload offers are promotions given to existing customers by bookmakers, and enable you to make £500-£1000 per month (or more) with matched betting. 

There are many different types of reload offers, but the principles are the same. 

It’s important to follow the guides on Outplayed and read the offer’s terms to make sure you qualify. 

Also – keep an eye on your emails. You will get exclusive promotions from the bookmakers you have signed up to that might not be on Outplayed. 

In this section, I’ll go over all the different types of reload offers and give you a brief walkthrough of how to profit from them. 

Bet & Get Offers. 

Bet and get offers work the same as sign-up offers – you place a qualifying bet to receive a free bet. 

Dozens of bookmakers offer weekly bet clubs where you can get free bets from them every week. 888Sport for example, offer a £10 free bet if you bet £50 each week. 

There are also simple bet and get offers throughout the week on major sports events, from football to horse racing and everything in-between. 

Note that some bet-and-get offers are in-play.

The oddsmatcher doesn’t show results on events that are in-play, so you will have to find bets manually using the calculator. In-play odds can change fast, so it’s best to wait for breaks in play (such as half time). 

Just from bet and get offers alone, you can expect to make £100-£200+ per month.

Price Boosts. 

Price boosts occur when bookmakers knowingly boost the odds on a market. 

This can create an arb – meaning that the back odds are higher than the lay odds.

You can find price boosts by looking manually on the bookmaker website or by following the Price Boosts thread on Outplayed.

By simply backing at the boosted back odds and laying at the lower lay odds, we will make an instant profit.

For example, bookmakers such as Betfair offer price boosts on weekend football.

Here, the back odds on Diogo Jota to have a shot on target have been boosted from 1.36 → 2.00. The lay odds on Matchbook were 1.80. 

By putting that into the calculator, we can see that simply by backing and laying this price boost we would make £1.11 in profit.

This is a mediocre example. Some price boosts can make you £5 or more per £10 staked. It’s a very lucrative (and easy) way to make money from reload offers. 

There is one important thing to remember here, though. 

Sometimes the oddsmatcher will show us arbs that aren’t price boosts. 

We don’t want to bet on these because it is likely the bookmaker has made a mistake, meaning our bet won’t be placed at those odds (or the bookmaker may reduce the odds after our bet has settled). 

So avoid these ‘artificial’ arbs and focus on actual price boosts by following the Price Boosts thread on Outplayed.

Price boosts are one of my favourite reload offers, and can make you £100s per month in easy, risk-free profit just by backing and laying one bet. 

Refund Offers

Refund offers are a lot like bet and gets. However, this time we only get a free bet (or cash refund) if a condition is met. 

The most common refund offers are on football and horse racing. For example, some bookmakers will give us our stake back as a free bet if our bet loses, like this offer with Virgin Bet: 

However, sometimes these offers can get a bit more complex. For example, you might only get a free bet if a certain team wins and both teams score in a football match. 

There are also the popular horse racing refund offers, where will get our stake back as cash or a free bet (depending on the terms) if the horse we backed finishes in 2nd or 3rd, for example. 

We can use Outplayed’s bonus lock-in calculator to guarantee a profit from these offers irrespective of the result. 

What this calculator does is overlay – it increases the lay stake we need to place on the exchange compared to a normal qualifying bet. 

By doing this, the calculator ensures we lock in a profit irrespective of the result. 

In the above example, we get a £10 free bet if our horse loses. As you can see from the results section, there are two outcomes (both resulting in the same overall profit): 

1. If your back bet wins, you will not receive a free bet but will make £6.22 in profit. 
2. If your lay bet wins, you will lose £1.76 but get a £10 free bet. As you can expect to make around £8 from a £10 free bet, your results will be roughly the same. 

Most refund offers are really easy to do. It’s just a case of using the calculator. However, some more advanced refund offers (such as Horse Racing Refunds) require another lay bet. 

Let’s say, for example, that you would only get a £10 free bet if the horse you bet on finishes in 2nd. In this case, you would use Outplayed’s Racing Refund Calculator to place a lay bet on the place market on top of your usual back and lay bets on the horse. 

This might seem a little complex, but it’s easy once you get the hang of it. 

You can expect to make around £100 per month or more from refund offers. 

Early Payout (2-Up). 

On to one of the more advanced (but most lucrative) reload offers. 

Early payout offers run on many sports, but the most popular is the 2-up football offer by Bet 365.

The bookmaker will pay your bet as a winner if your team leads by 2 goals at any point in the match, even if they go on to lose or draw. 

This is pretty awesome. It means that both our back and lay bets can win, giving us the potential for big profits. 

The first step to this offer is a simple qualifying bet. We find a close match on a qualifying football game using Outplayed‘s oddsmatcher. They also have a 2-Up thread where members post close matches they’ve found.

Because the odds are close between these bookmakers and the exchanges, we can use larger back stakes for the potential for big payouts if the team we bet on goes 2 goals ahead, and the other team comes back to draw or win the match. 

This is called a full turn-around. 

If the team we backed goes 2 goals ahead, we have a few options. 

Let it ride. This strategy is pretty simple. If the team we backed and layed goes 2 goals ahead and they win the match, we will take a small loss. If they go 2 goals ahead and lose or draw the match, then both our back and lay bets win and we make a huge profit. We can use Outplayed’s Early Payout Calculator to see that, using this method, if the team we backed wins after going 2up we would lose 99p, if a full turn around occurs we would make a profit of £199.01.

Partial cash out. For this strategy, if the team we bet on goes 2 goals ahead then we can partially cash out our lay bet using Outplayed’s Early Payout Calculator. We do this by placing a back bet on the exchange. For example, say we backed and layed a team for £100 and they go 2-up. We input the exchange back odds into the caclulator and click ‘yes’ on ‘early payout selection triggered’ and ‘early payout lock-in active’. In this case, the exchange back odds are 1.2, and the calculator tells us to place a back bet on the exchange with a stake of £99.01. 

If the team goes on to win, we would lock in £15.68 in profit. If the team fails to win (i.e. the other team draws or wins the match) then we would make £115.68. 

Full cash out. If the team we backed goes 2 goals ahead, then we can place a back bet on the exchange to fully cash out our lay bet and lock-in a profit. 

In this case, we cash out our lay bet by placing a back bet on the exchange of £166.67. This way, irrespective of the result, we will lock in £32.34 in profit.

If you’re thinking of giving 2-ups a try, here are a few tips: 

• Aim for odds between 2-5. This means the game is closer, so there’s a higher likelihood of a full turn-around occurring. 
• Keep your qualifying losses low. The team you backed won’t always go 2 goals ahead. Expect to lose £5 or more in qualifying losses before you hit a 2-up payout. 
• Start with small stakes. £10-£20 is ideal if you’re trying this offer for the first time. 

Once you get more experienced you could consider upgrading to Outplayed Pro and take advantage of their 2-up master software.

Early payout offers are some of the most lucrative reload offers available, but I’d recommend waiting until you’re a bit more experienced with matched betting. 

Horse Racing: Extra Place Offers.

Extra place offers are another more advanced reload offer, but they can be very profitable. 

Essentially, bookmakers and exchanges have a ‘win’ and a ‘to place’ market (for your horse to finish 2nd or 3rd, for example). 

When you open the bet slip for a horse, there will be a tick box to also bet ‘each way’ on the same horse. 

For this horse on Paddy Power, you can see that the each way section covers 2 places (so 1st or 2nd) at odds of 1/4 (or 1.25). 

By entering a £10 stake and selecting ‘each way’ it doubles our stake to £20. We have a £10 bet on the horse to win at odds of 2.2, and also a £10 bet on the horse to place at odds of 1.25. 

But how can we profit from these offers? 

Well sometimes the bookmakers will offer to pay out on an extra place, so instead of only paying out on 2nd and 3rd, for example, they might also pay out if the horse finishes 4th. 

The exchange ‘to place’ lay bet, on the other hand, might only cover 2nd and 3rd. 

So what we do is: 

1. Place a back bet on the bookmaker, selecting the ‘each way’ box. 
2. Place a lay bet on the exchange covering the ‘win’ market. 
3. Place another lay bet which covers the ‘to place’ market. 

Then, if the horse we backed finishes 4th both our back and lay bets will win.

Pretty cool, right? We can use Outplayed’s extra places thread in conjunction with their Extra Place Catcher software to find low qualifying losses (ideally £1.50 or less) on these types of bets.

Like 2-Up offers, extra place offers aren’t completely risk-free. You might go through ten qualifying bets before you hit an extra place. However, the potential profit is worth it. 

Outplayed Pro members can also take advantage of their Extra Place Master software, which shows the implied odds (probability) that the horse will finish in the extra place.

Accumulators.

An accumulator bet (or ‘acca’) involves betting on multiple selections in a single bet. 

For example, you could bet on Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal all to win. 

Usually, accumulators are doubles (2 selections), trebles (3 selections) or ‘folds’ (fourfold is 4 selections, etc). 

They are called accumulators because each selection increases the odds, meaning your lay bet liability will be higher.

For an accumulator bet to win, all the selections must win. 

Some reload offers require us to bet on accumulators to get a free bet, such as this offer with LiveScore Bet: 

For other offers, we might only get a free bet if one leg of our accumulator loses. 

Outplayed’s Acca Catcher software can help you find accumulators to bet on. 

When it comes to laying accumulators, you have a couple of options. 

Sequential Lay. If you are betting on multiple events then you could work out the start and end times of each event. You would start by laying the first event in the accumulator. If the first team you backed in your accumulator loses, you would finish the offer. If the team wins, you would then lay the second team in your accumulator. Repeat this until either your acca has lost, or you have layed all the events. This can be a little tricky and time-consuming. 

Lay all. The easiest way to do this is to use Smarkets exchange and their acca lay feature. You just add the selections to your betslip as back bets, and click ‘sell’ (meaning lay) in the multiples box in the betslip. However, there are more advanced tutorials on how to lay all on other exchanges too. 

Accumulator offers are very similar to bet and get or refund offers, but they require higher liability and an understanding of how to lay them properly.

They also shouldn’t be confused with ‘bet builders’ which are (usually) two or more selections on the same event. For example, a team to win and both teams to score. These can usually be laid quite easily on exchanges. 

Free Games & Competitions. 

Most bookmakers have free-to-play daily games and competitions that are a completely risk-free way to increase your profits.

They give out free bets, free spins on casino games and even free cash prizes just for opting in and playing them daily. 

You’ve probably seen these advertised. 

For example, Betfairs’ Prize Pinball. 

Or Paddy Power’s Beat The Drop.

Again, these offers are completely risk-free and you can expect to make around £50 per month or more from them.

Notifications & Reload Offers Section. 

If you decide to join Outplayed, make sure you follow OffersTeamOP to make sure you get notified when they post new offers. It’s also a good idea to follow the Price Boosts (No Chat) thread to get notified when new price boosts are live. 

Outplayed aggregates all of the offers available each day in their ‘Reloads’ section. 

Typically, there’s £300-£400 worth of offers posted there (updated daily). However, not all of them are worthwhile. On top of this, there are 2Ups, Horse Refunds and Extra Place offers to do as well as any exclusive offers you get via email.

Casino Offers.

Matched betting isn’t just all about sportsbook promotions, there’s just as much money to be made from casino offers.

To access the best casino offers and guides, it’s a good idea to get Outplayed’s diamond membership. This gives you access to over £1450 worth of casino sign-up offers, and hundreds of pounds per month in potential profits. 

Casino offers are very much like bet and get offers.

You have to wager a certain amount on a casino game (such as slots, or blackjack) to unlock free spins and bonuses.

Many of the bookmakers you sign up for when doing sign-up offers will likely give you free spins and casino bonuses simply for having an account.

For a lot of the sign-up offers you do there is likely a casino welcome offer you can do with them as well. 

Unlike most sportsbook offers, casino offers are not risk-free (unless you are just given free spins and bonuses to play with). 

We need to calculate whether a promotion has a positive estimated value (EV). This means the reward we get from an online casino is worth the wagering we have to do to qualify for it. 

Note that Outplayed does this for you when posting their offer guides, and they also have an EV Calculator to help you. 

The reason casino offers are not risk-free is because of variance. A slot machine has something called a Return to Player (RTP) percentage, usually around 96%. This means that on average we can expect to get back £9.60 of every £10 wagered. However, because this is the average we could lose our £10 or hit a jackpot win, and everything in between. 

This means that we rely on doing offers with a positive EV – because we are more likely than not to profit from the offer.

Casino offers have been my biggest source of profit with matched betting, so I’d recommend giving them a try once you’ve finished the bookmaker sign-up offers.  

Issues & Mistakes.

Matched betting is risk-free if done correctly. 

In this section, I’ll cover everything you need to know so that you don’t get caught off guard and show you how to fix any issues you face while matched betting.

Fixing Mistakes.

The reality of matched betting is that you will probably make a mistake at some point, so it’s important to know how to recognise what you have done and fix it. 

The most common mistake people make is backing and laying the wrong event. For example, you might back Chelsea against Manchester City, but accidentally lay Chelsea in their next game against Liverpool. 

The easiest way to fix this is to avoid it in the first place. Make sure you double check the bets before (and after) you have placed them, and use the integrated calculator’s ‘lay bet’ button to make sure you have placed back and lay bets on the same market. 

If you realise you have made a mistake, don’t panic. 

The first thing we need to do is click the ‘cashout’ button on our lay bet. 

This places a back bet on the exchange that will cancel out the lay bet. You will lose a few pence here, but it will save you from potentially losing both the back bet and lay liability if both your bets lose. 

Then, check the bet you have placed with the bookmaker and figure out the correct lay using the calculator. 

So, to recap: 

1. Recognise you have made a mistake, and figure out what the mistake is. 
2. Cash out your lay bet on the exchange. 
3. Place the correct lay bet using the calculator. 

Don’t panic if you make a mistake – it’s easy to fix. 

Unmatched and Partially Matched Lay Bets. 

Unmatched and partially matched lay bets happen when you try to place a lay stake which is higher than the liquidity in the market. 

What happens is that your lay bet will either be rejected or it will be partially matched. For example, if you are trying to place a lay stake of £10 but there is only £5 in liquidity then the exchange would match £5 of your lay stake but leave the rest as ‘unmatched’. 

The ‘unmatched’ section of your lay bet will match automatically if more liquidity is added to the market, or you can cancel it and try to calculate your new lay stake if the odds have changed. You can use Outplayed’s Fixabet Calculator to work out the new lay stake you need to place if you need to cancel and re-lay a partially matched lay bet.

Usually, the unmatched part of your lay bet will match automatically so you can leave it a while before deciding whether to cancel and relay your bet. 

Rule 4 Deductions.

If a horse doesn’t race they are declared a ‘non runner’ (shown as ‘NR’ on the bet). 

Because there are fewer horses in the race (and especially if the non-runner was a favourite), the odds will be reduced accordingly. 

Note: If the horse you backed refuses to run, the bookmaker may also refund your stake. It’s worthwhile checking this.

For the remaining horses, the odds will be reduced by a percentage factor (known as a Rule 4 Deduction). 

The percentage reduction depends on the odds of the non-running horse – the higher the odds the lower the reduction. 

Any withdrawn horse at odds of 15 or above doesn’t cause a reduction in the odds of the other horses.

Bookmakers have a set table of reduction percentages, whilst exchanges have a ‘reduction factor’ as a percentage figure (based on the horses’ forecasted price). 

As long as you have backed and layed correctly, you don’t have to worry about Rule 4 deductions. It may just mean that your qualifying loss or profit is slightly lower, depending on the reductions applied. Sometimes you may also make slightly more if the reduction applied by the exchange is less than that of the bookmaker. 

If a Rule 4 deduction is applied before you have placed your lay bet, you can use Outplayed’s Rule 4 Calculator to work out the new lay stake. 

What if a Bookmaker Refuses to Pay Out?

This happens very rarely, but there a few reasons why a bookmaker might refuse to pay out your winnings or process a withdrawal. 

1. You have breached their terms and conditions. 
2. You need to complete KYC before withdrawals can be processed. 
3. Technical issues (causing delayed bet settlement). 

You can contact a bookmakers’ customer support and escalate the issue to the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) or the Gambling Commission if needed. Resolutions can take a while, but you should be able to recover any funds that you are legally entitled to. 

As long as you upload proof of ID and address, and make sure you read the bookmakers offer terms you should not have issues when withdrawing your funds. 

Gubbings.

‘Important information about your account’ is an email heading that matched bettors have nightmares about.

A ‘gubbing’ is a term used by matched bettors to describe their accounts being restricted by bookmakers. 

Gubbings come in various forms:

• Restricted access to promotions,
• Stake restrictions (only being able to bet certain amounts, particularly on price boosts), and 
• Account closure (the worst case, usually for abusing or breaking their terms of service). 

It’s important to note that matched betting is not illegal, and bookmakers aren’t as hostile against it as you are led to believe. 

Even if you are gubbed by bookmakers, you can usually still take advantage of some promotions such as price boosts and extra place offers (but remember to check you’re eligible first). 

A gubbing can happen for any reason, such as strange betting patterns (don’t bet £100 on an obscure 10th tier football match), or making too much money from particular offers, amongst other factors. 

Gubbings are just a by-product of matched betting, and some bookmakers like to gub everyone (looking at you: Betway!). 

You can try to avoid being gubbed by sticking to high profile events and avoiding arbs on ungubbed accounts. 

Some bookmakers (notably Betfair) may also ungub you, so it’s a good idea to keep checking if you are eligible for offers despite being gubbed. 

Ultimately, being gubbed is just part of matched betting – expect it, accept it, and move on. There’s plenty more profit to be made elsewhere!

Getting Started with Matched Betting.

Now that you know everything you need to about matched betting, this section will cover exactly how you can get started. 

How Much Money Do I Need to Start Matched Betting?

I have helped people to start matched betting with £50 or less. As long as you have enough money to cover the bookmaker back bet and exchange liability, you can place a matched bet. 

However, the more money you have the more bets you can place and the more profit you can make.You might also want to consider opening a separate bank account, just so it’s easier to track your profits. This isn’t essential, but it makes life much easier. Also remember to use a debit card to ensure you qualify for bookmaker promotions.

How Long Does Matched Betting Take?

I usually spend around an hour per day matched betting, rising to two hours during weekends or busy periods (such as the Cheltenham Festival). 

Placing a matched bet takes seconds.

It’s a great way to monetise your spare time.

KYC.

Whilst matched betting is not gambling, it does use gambling websites so you must be 18+ and able to prove your identity with a form of photo ID (such as a passport, driving license etc) and proof of address (such as a utility bill or bank statement). 

If you are betting through a significant amount with bookmakers and exchanges, they may also issue a proof of wealth request. This is a set of questions to see if you can afford your current betting patterns (remember: bookmakers think we are gambling addicts, and they are under strict laws to make sure their customers gamble responsibly). 

What if I Already Have Some Bookmaker Accounts?

Don’t worry. There are plenty of other bookmakers you can sign up to, and lots of reload offers to do with the accounts you already have. 

What Betting Exchange Should I Use?

There are plenty of great betting exchanges: Matchbook, Smarkets, Betfair and Betdaq are the most popular. 

As a beginner, I would recommend signing up for Matchbook to start with due to their 0% commission offer for Outplayed members.

Tracking Your Profits.

The easiest way to track your profits is by using a simple spreadsheet like this:  

All you need is a way to track your balances, bets and free bets. You can also use Outplayed’s profit and balance tracker tools. 

Is Matched Betting Right For You?

This is a decision only you can make. 

Matched betting is (in my opinion) the ultimate side hustle for beginners, so if you want to make an extra £500 per month or more then I’d recommend giving it a try. 

Even though matched betting is not gambling, if you think using online bookmakers and casinos might encourage you to gamble then avoid matched betting. 

Your Next Steps.

If you think matched betting is right for you, Outplayed has a no-obligation free trial where you can get access to £950+ in bookmaker sign up offers (plus beginner casino offers if you sign up for diamond).

Outplayed gives you everything you need to make matched betting easy and maximise your profit, from market-leading software and tools to a huge community of matched bettors on their forum. 

If you want to learn more, consider checking out my Outplayed Review. 

Ready to Start Matched Betting?

This post has covered everything you need to know about matched betting. You should now have everything you need to start profiting today. 

For some more FAQs about matched betting and Outplayed, please check out my Outplayed Review. 

If you think matched betting is right for you, give it a try with Outplayed’s 7-day free trial.

You won’t regret it!