Matched Betting can seem quite daunting. If you want to get started with Matched Betting then have a look at What is Matched Betting. Then it’s worth looking over some example trades to make sure you properly understand the steps.
We’ve shown below a selection of Matched Betting Welcome Offer Examples. These show how to identify and make Qualifying and Free Bet trades. For Qualifying and Free Bets, there is no difference in the approach you need to take with your bets. You just need to tailor how you use the Calculator to determine the lay stake.
WELCOME OFFER EXAMPLE 1: Qualifying bet on Petite Dame for £10
Matched Betting Calculator Inputs
- Note the various fields in the Calculator.
- This is a Qualifying Bet on Petite DAme – your first with the bookie so you can ‘Qualify’ for their bonuses. You will typically make a small loss on your Qualifying Bet in order to access the Bookie Welcome Bonus
- You are placing a bet with Bet365 for a £10 Stake at Odds of 5.0.
- The best Lay price at Betfair is 5.1 and the Commission Rate for your Betfair account is 2% (you can choose the rate in ‘My Betfair Rewards’). Equally Smarkets has a 2% Commission Rate as does Betdaq who also have regular 0% Commission offers
- The calculator shows you should Lay Petite Dame on the Exchange with a Stake of £9.84. That will mean you will have a Liability of £40.35 (£9.84 * (5.1-1)). So you MUST ensure you have that amount in your Exchange account before you can place your Lay bet
- You will make a small loss of £0.35 regardless of the result
- After the race has finished, you will be credited with your Free Bets based on the T&Cs advised by Bet365.
Why Petite Dame?
As you walk through this example, look at the other runners. Work out for yourself why Petite Dame is the horse being used for this Qualifying Bet.
You may have spotted that Printing Dollars can be Backed AND Layed at 9.0 (or Bolt N Brown can be Backed at 10 and Layed at 10.5).
If you plugged the prices for Printing Dollars into the calculator it would show a Stake of £10.02 and a loss for the trade of £0.18 (compared to the loss of £0.35 on Petite Dame).
So surely Printing Dollars would be the better horse for this trade?
Yes it would be BUT see below where we’ve highlighted the Lay price of 9.0. You can see there is just £3 available to Lay. You want to Lay Printing Dollars at a price of 9.0 with a Stake of £10.02. Only £3 would be Matched and the remaining £7.02 would become available to Back at 9.0.
Looking at the image below, the current Best Back price of 8.8 would shift to the left and your £7 at 9.0 would replace it as first in the Back queue (blue box).
It is very likely that within minutes, if not seconds, someone on Betfair will back Printing Dollars at 9.0 for £7. Meaning your total Lay Bet of £10.02 will be fully matched (Job Done!).
BUT that is not guaranteed. When trading you MUST ensure that any unmatched / partially matched Lay bets do get fully matched. The other thing to consider is how much you have in your Exchange account. You must have at least £80.16 in your Exchange Account to cover the liability on Printing Dollars. That’s why Petite Dame is the example trade here with £97 showing as available to Lay at 5.1.
WELCOME OFFER EXAMPLE 2: Free Bet of £10 on West to the Bridge
Welcome Offer Examples – Bets Summary
Take the above 2 examples. Example 1, you’ve placed a Qualifying Bet for £10 and made a loss of £0.35. Example 2 you placed your first Free Bet of £10 and made a profit of £9.02. So your Net Profit is £8.67 for just a few minutes work.
You can see how that can be multiplied many times across the various Bookmaker Welcome Offers.
You will need to ensure you read the Offer Terms carefully but the main UK bookmakers all have similar terms.
The largest Welcome Offer currently available is with Bet365 who will give you total Bet Credits up to £100. You need to deposit £100, Claim the offer and then make Qualifying Bets to the value of your deposit (capped at £100).
Bet365 then provide Bet Credits to use on the same basis as the Free Bet example above. This is a great offer. Repeat the free bet profit above of £9.02 across your £100 of Bet Credits (Free Bets) and you’ll make Net Profit of £89.85.
Bet365 are a great bookmaker for general prices across all markets. They also offer a range of Reload Offers to their customers
Finding Welcome Offers & Best Prices
The examples shown here are based on a simple process of finding close Back and Lay prices at a Bookie and a Betting Exchange. It’s not difficult to find good qualifying bets. However, it can take a little time to find them and plug the numbers into the calculator.
You can get software to do this for you across multiple bookies and then flag the most profitable bets. All the Matched Betting Services have similar software but you can see more details at Best Matched Betting Services.
Do you think you definitely want to get into Matched Betting? If so, I’d recommend signing up for a Matched Betting Service.
Alternatively, you might want to use the information here at Profit from Sports. There are plenty of WELCOME OFFERS to try yourself before deciding to sign up to a service.
Matched Betting Services typically provide a free trial, These give limited access to their software and details of a few bookmakers offers.
