I don't know if anyone already knows about it/does it, but thought I would make a thread on it anyway, since it can make you some very easy money very quickly.
In essence, matched betting makes it so you cannot lose money in your bet. In a football match, you can bet on three possible outcomes, the idea is that you find a market that has roughly equitable odds on a team winning as it does on them not winning. This is done using a website such as betfair, where instead of betting on the outcome, you act as the bookmaker, and bet against the result happening. If you had a game with Team A and Team B, if the odds of team A winning were 5.0 (Decimal odds are easier to work with), with a £10 bet you would be returned £50 if they win, and lose £10 if they lose. Now imagine you're the bookmaker, you will pay out £50 (Their £10 stake plus the £40 winnings) if team A wins, if they don't you gain £10, this means in all scenarios you will break even on £0. A bet 'as the bookmaker' is called a lay bet.
Scenario:
Team A wins from your £10 stake at 5.0 odds, you're returned £50. (£40 winning plus your stake back).
Your lay bet loses, you pay out £50. (Their £40 winning plus their £10 stake.)
£50-£50 = £0 profit.
Team A does not win (Draw or loses).
You lose your £10 stake.
You gain £10 from your lay bet
£10 - £10 = £0 profit
Now, every bookmaker offers a free bet of X amount when you register with them online, adding this factor into our equation and we now have:
Team A wins from your £10 free bet
You're returned £50 plus your free bet.
Your lay bet loses, you pay out £40 from your own money, plus their £10 stake.
So now you break even, however, since you never staked your own money, the stakes don't cancel, and you make an overall profit of the free bet.
£50 (Stake winning) - £40 (What you pay out yourself from the lay bet = £10.
With the amount of free bets available out there, that £10 can turn into hundreds very quickly. Of course, it's never as simple as making the free bet as profit straight up, you always lose some of that money to commission on the lay bet (Betfair charge 5%) and there will usually be a difference in stake and lay odds, the idea is to have the odds as close to each other as possible.
Here is a guide which explains it much clearer than me, and explains in much more detail: Matched Betting Guide | Matchedbetting.co.uk
And there are plenty of youtube tutorials for it too.
Enjoy.
In essence, matched betting makes it so you cannot lose money in your bet. In a football match, you can bet on three possible outcomes, the idea is that you find a market that has roughly equitable odds on a team winning as it does on them not winning. This is done using a website such as betfair, where instead of betting on the outcome, you act as the bookmaker, and bet against the result happening. If you had a game with Team A and Team B, if the odds of team A winning were 5.0 (Decimal odds are easier to work with), with a £10 bet you would be returned £50 if they win, and lose £10 if they lose. Now imagine you're the bookmaker, you will pay out £50 (Their £10 stake plus the £40 winnings) if team A wins, if they don't you gain £10, this means in all scenarios you will break even on £0. A bet 'as the bookmaker' is called a lay bet.
Scenario:
Team A wins from your £10 stake at 5.0 odds, you're returned £50. (£40 winning plus your stake back).
Your lay bet loses, you pay out £50. (Their £40 winning plus their £10 stake.)
£50-£50 = £0 profit.
Team A does not win (Draw or loses).
You lose your £10 stake.
You gain £10 from your lay bet
£10 - £10 = £0 profit
Now, every bookmaker offers a free bet of X amount when you register with them online, adding this factor into our equation and we now have:
Team A wins from your £10 free bet
You're returned £50 plus your free bet.
Your lay bet loses, you pay out £40 from your own money, plus their £10 stake.
So now you break even, however, since you never staked your own money, the stakes don't cancel, and you make an overall profit of the free bet.
£50 (Stake winning) - £40 (What you pay out yourself from the lay bet = £10.
With the amount of free bets available out there, that £10 can turn into hundreds very quickly. Of course, it's never as simple as making the free bet as profit straight up, you always lose some of that money to commission on the lay bet (Betfair charge 5%) and there will usually be a difference in stake and lay odds, the idea is to have the odds as close to each other as possible.
Here is a guide which explains it much clearer than me, and explains in much more detail: Matched Betting Guide | Matchedbetting.co.uk
And there are plenty of youtube tutorials for it too.
Enjoy.