Matched betting is an exciting and innovative way for you to beat the bookie and turn a guaranteed profit.
By following a simple procedure and understanding the process, you can quickly begin to turn a profit from matched betting. Newcomers to matched betting might take a little convincing and one of the most commonly asked questions from beginners is ‘how much can I make?’. Is it going to be worth my time, and energy, or will the reward per month simply not be enough?
Once people realise how much money they can make from matched betting, by taking advantage of free bets and reload offers, they quickly realise that it is a system they can make solid use of. So, how much money can you make from matched betting?
Getting Started
Before you start to talk about profit and figures, you have to get set up and how you do this will affect your profit.
How much money you can make is dictated by several factors. Remember, to begin matched betting you must have an account with a betting exchange, someone like Betfair, as well as with traditional betting sites such as Paddy Power or Betway.
You will need an initial stake before you sign up and that will determine how much you can make at first. If you have a larger stake to invest, you will certainly make money quicker. If you hold off on drawing out money you do make, and instead reinvest it, you will make money quicker. Matched betting is a foolproof way of making money, if you hold your nerve and understand exactly what you are doing.
Once you have selected an initial stake, let us say £100, it might take a short while to get set up, especially if you need to place a qualifying bet. You will deposit that money with the betting exchange, then look for a site offering free bets, money back or reload offers. You will use those offers to place your back bet, whilst your stake money with the exchange will be used to place your lay bet. The process may well take a couple of days, but you will only put in half an hour or so of work yourself to get everything moving.
Your £100 should quickly become £120 and that will allow you to move on to the next free bet offer, which will see you firmly begin your matched betting journey. With each round of profit and each completed bet, you should be able to get signed up and take advantage of extra offers.
How Much Can I Make?
How much money you can make will vary, depending on how much time you can commit to matched betting as well as the initial stake. Remember, the more you can invest in the first place, the larger the scope for grabbing multiple free bets offers and sign ups.
Time is a key factor in matched betting. If you are putting in half an hour a day, five days a week, there is no reason why you could not see a minimum profit of £400-£500 over the course of a month. Again, adjusting the initial stake and the time you commit to matched betting would see that figure change. It is not unheard of for some people to make £1,000 a month or more, but do not focus on what others make. Matched betting is a great system that must work for you, and how you make money depends on how much time you want to commit. If matched betting is a hobby, a sideline to earn a bit extra for the household, then your profits will be less than someone committing several hours a day.
Remember though, once you start to turn a profit, don’t be tempted to pull it out and spend it; that stake money allows you to keep on finding the free bets and reload offers on accounts you already have open. If you take it out too quickly, then you will negatively impact your ability to make serious money over a period of time.
What is the Minimum Amount I Should Be Looking to Make?
From adding your initial stake and placing your first bet, we think you should look to make around £100 per week through matched betting. That is £400 per month and it would give you a firm base from which to kick on. It is advisable to look to put in an hour or two per day, five days a week. You can perhaps alternate weekday evenings, then put a couple of hours in at weekends when you have a little more spare time.
When starting out, your aim is to make the time you spend on matched betting as efficient as possible. You would not want to place five £10 bets to earn yourself £10 back, it is not the best use of your time. Start out by going for the highest value offers first and make sure you understand the process properly in the short-term. In the long-term, it will become second nature, but those first few bets might take you a bit longer. Do not become disheartened if you do not see the return on your time that we have mentioned here, matched betting is something you become better and more efficient at over time. We certainly advise taking your time in the first instance, which is why going for the best free bet offers is important.
How Else Can I Make More Money Through Matched Betting?
If you are simply looking to top up your income with a couple of hours a week, then the matched betting process should be simple for you. By finding the right offers, you will provide a risk free
addition to your income for around 16 hours per month. That will include time finding free bets, placing a bet, and making sure you are completing the process carefully.
If you feel a little more ambitious and want more ways to make more money, then there are methods you can look at to increase those possible earnings. Match betting is relatively straightforward, taking a certain market, placing opposite bets with the exchange and the bookmakers offering a free bet and making a profit.
Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
You may feel comfortable placing a bet on football or tennis, but there are other avenues you can explore within matched betting which can increase your profits. You could look to casino offers, accumulator offers, or any extra place offers if you want to grow your profits. All three of them are considered to be quite profitable, but will increase the demand on your time and attention.
Horse racing is an area of matched betting that some beginners tend to avoid, but it too can be profitable if done correctly. At first, you will want to stick to the basics, but like any hobby the better you get at it, the more scope there is for improvement and refining your skills.
How to Source Offers
There is also the case of how you source your bets. You could spend hours looking for the best bet offers and promotions, but that is time you could be spending placing matched bets. It is advisable to find a service that draws all of those offers together in one place, saving you time trawling the internet and ensuring you do not miss out on the best offers.
Offers can spring up at any time, but remember to make matched betting work for you. If you try to stick to a schedule, you will find a routine which works and that will include a method of sourcing offers. You could sit at your computer screen all night waiting for Ladbrokes to drop new betting offers, but is that a wise use of your time? Also, if you can find a website that brings all the odds together, you will save time looking for the best bets to place and where to place them.
Avoid Being Gubbed
Another way to ensure those profits keep coming in is to avoid gubbing. Gubbing is where an account gets restricted offers to free bets because the bookmaker picks up on matched betting activity. That means placing the odd mug bet here and there, to mask the matched betting process, preventing your account being restricted. A restricted account cannot make you any money, so keeping them open and functional is an important aspect of your matched betting routine.
Keep a Diary
This is a tip that could help you make even more money from matched betting. It stands to reason, when a big event is planned, bookies ramp up their offers and free bet enticements to bring in new customers, and you need to be ready to strike. It does not matter if you do not follow tennis, knowing when Wimbledon starts will be to your advantage, because bookies will be looking to draw in new customers. Not a football fan? Do not let that stop you noting when the FA Cup Final is due to be played so you can take advantage of the match betting and make some easy money.
Just grab yourself a desk diary and make a note of the big sporting events. Cheltenham is another to be aware of, as well as international tournaments like World Cups. These are the times when bookies will be expected to push those offers and free bets and that is when an experienced matched bettor will be ready to strike.
Multiple Accounts
This is a method by which you can take advantage of more offers and place more bets, but we do advise caution. Put simply, if you open several accounts under a different name, email address and user name, then an offer can be exploited twice, or many times more.
There is a risk here that you could find yourself suspended from that provider if you get found out. Bookies call this practice ‘gnoming’ and they take steps to prevent it, but it does expand your scope for placing matched bets and can be used to increase your profit. All you need is to create accounts using a different user name, email address and details to make the bookmaker believe you are a different person.
Stay Focused
Another method to ensure the profits remain consistent is staying focused even when things appear tough. Betting sites such as Coral will not always be offering £20 free bets, some weeks you may only be able to find little £5 ones here and there. After a couple of big wins, these might not seem lucrative, but good matched betting relies on you taking the small wins along with the bigger ones. Your profit curve might not always show a steep rise, but even a slight incline is better than none. Some weeks, your time might bring bigger wins than other weeks, but as long as you stay consistent in the time you give and the attention to a free bet promotion, how much you make will always be on the rise.
Do Not Withdraw
We cannot stress this enough; once that profit starts coming in, you must keep it in those accounts and make it work for you. You will not make half as much as you could if you are
drawing out the profits every time you hit a certain figure. Matched betting relies on you being considered, careful and playing the long game. You can make it pay, but you must be considered in your approach.
How Much Can I Make from Matched Betting Again?
To return to the original question, how much you can make is really down to you. As a bare minimum, with a £100 stake and a couple of hours a day, you should be looking at £400 every four weeks, but that is merely a starting block.
By following some of the advice here on our guide, you can look to make each free bet work for you, each exchange bet going that little bit further. Some matched bettors report making a thousand pounds per month, guaranteed. However, that relies on finding a routine and a strategy, trying new things once you have grasped the basics and giving your matched betting plenty of thought.