Here’s How to Make Money Matched Betting
Making extra money with Matched Betting is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. It can be a bit difficult to get your head around at first but I promise once you’ve got started, it’s really straight forward.
What is Matched Betting?
Here is your introduction to matched betting! If you are wondering ‘matched betting, how much can you make?’, then read on to find out how.
Matched Betting is NOT gambling.
I just want to make clear that matched betting is in no shape or form gambling.
Gambling by definition is the wagering of money or something of value (referred to as “the stakes”) on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods (Wikipedia).
Matched betting is not gambling because we don’t care if we win or lose, because we will still get some money. Confused yet?!
Matched betting is betting one way, then on another betting site – betting the other way – so they cancel each other out. You make money on this is by using free bets that are offered by betting sites.
When you use the free bet when betting both ways, you will end up winning a small part of the free bet.
When I first looked into matched betting, the terminology really confused me. I went on a bunch of different websites and it just wasn’t clicking for some reason – so I hope that I can explain it in easy to understand language. But, please feel free to ask any questions as I am happy to clarify anything or run through it with you.
How to do Matched Betting
1. Back bet
This is where you place a normal kind of bet, such as “I bet England will win the football match against Slovenia”.
2. Lay bet
You would then place a ‘lay bet’ which is where you bet the opposite way to cancel your ‘back bet’ out. So “I bet that England WON’T win (whether this mean lose or draw)”.
3. Free Bets with Betting Sites and Bookmakers
Many betting companies offer free bets as an incentive to get you to join up. By doing your ‘back bet’ and ‘lay bet’ with the free bet credits, you end up getting back a percentage of the free bet. It’s usually between 70-90%. So, if the free bet is £20 then you get 70-90% of £20.
4. Betting exchange
These are websites where you place our ‘lay bet’. The most common one is Betfair.
With me so far? So just to re-iterate, we place a ‘back bet’ on a normal betting site, then we place a ‘lay bet’ on a betting exchange site, to cancel each other out.
How to Manage Your Money Matched Betting
If this still seems confusing for you or a lot of hard work, I recommend signing up to OutPlayed*. It is a website which guides you through the process, and collects all of the offers for you.
There are a lot out there so this is the best way to save you from doing a ton of work. It will save you a lot of time!
OutPlayed* has a free trial whereby they help you complete 2 bets and then you can cancel it if you wish.
Then, if you are happy to continue you can sign up to their membership – prices shown in the image below:
How to Make Money Matched Betting
I recommend matched betting because the extra money that I have received has been so helpful to me.
You will need some money to start off with.
If you have around £60-£100 that you can start with, this is the minimum kind of amount that you will need.
The reason that you need money to do this with is because when you go on the exchange site, you will need to put money in there to lay the bet.
You will get this back because you are cancelling each bet out, but the website doesn’t know that!
Some important matched betting points to note are:
- There are only so many free bet offered on sign ups, but there are a lot of reload offers from the betting sites, so this won’t ever dry up.
- It’s worth doing some small real bets because you don’t want the gambling sites to become wise to your matched betting as they could stop giving you free offers – called ‘gubbing’.
- Some betting sites carry out soft credit checks when you sign up.
- Applying for a mortgage soon? I’d recommend setting up a different bank account for your matched betting. Even though it is not gambling, it will look like it is to the bank when they see your statements.
- Matched betting is tax-free because it is classified as gambling income.
- It is not a scam – matched betting is a totally legal thing to do, and OutPlayed is a genuine website (it was called Profit Accumulator previously)
- Make sure that you double check everything before placing your bets. The only way that you can lose money on matched betting is by following the steps wrong.
- If you have had a problem with gambling in the past, please do not go on any betting sites.
Is Matched Betting legal?
This is one of those things that people think is too good to be true, or a scam. It’s most definitely not. I do it and I know other people that do it and have been doing it for years.
It’s actually brilliant – it’s a little known side hustle that can be a really lucrative earner depending on how much time you spend on it.
Ready to make money Matched Betting?
If you are reading this you are more than likely thinking that maaaaybe you’ll give it a go one day but not right now, because you don’t really understand it.
And that is completely understandable! If something appears too good to be true, us humans we can be wary (and rightly so).
But if you sign up to a website like OutPlayed*, you can do the free trial and just cancel if you don’t get on with it. They will explain it with guides and videos – just make sure that you double check everything and you will be fine
Don’t forget that any money you get from matched betting is tax free, and any bit of extra money is helpful. The hourly rate from matched betting is pretty good!
Here’s an article from The Guardian covering Matched Betting in case you’re wondering how legit it is.
If you want to read more about Matched Betting why not read this: How Does Matched Betting Work?
This is an interesting read will definitely try this out and check out the site, out of interest how much time do you invest into this and how much did you get money wise, out of the first month?
Thanks Jamie! Hmm the first month I got a few hundred I think. I was taking it slowly because I was so nervous about doing something wrong – but the more you do it the more confident you get!
The more time you put into it, the more you get. Hope that helps 🙂
Definitely a new idea to me – fascinating too, I can’t believe this is completely above board.
Unfortunately where I live the state government has banned “free bet” promotions, I wonder how worthwhile the returns are without free bets and added bonuses.
Jasmin
Yep it’s completely legal here 🙂 yes I believe it can’t be done in the US either.
You only make money with the free bets unfortunately, otherwise it’s just gambling!
boo I was thinking about doing this but I agree I don’t think it’s legal in the US
I’ve been ‘educating’ myself on matched betting recently as I’ve wanted to try it for a long time, but odds looked like a foreign language to me & I didn’t have a clue what a ‘lay’ bet ever was! It’s certainly daunting so I’ve been putting off the first matched bet with Profit Accumulator… Your post has inspired me and given me some confidence to go for it – I’m bookmarking this page so I can finally give it a go this week! Great post 🙂
Caz
invisiblyme.com / constantcrisis.org
I know what you mean, all of the terminology can be so daunting! When you go on the betting sites there will always be an option to change the odds from fractions to decimals, which is MUCH easier to understand. Let me know how you get on 🙂
This is pretty cool, i’ve never heard of it before. I have terrible luck so i doubt it would work for me, haha. Hey, earning extra money in anyway is great!
There is no luck involved 🙂 it’s not gambling so nothing is based on luck, it’s just betting one way and then the other.
That is so interesting, I’ve never heard of it. I will look into it for sure. I have never honestly been on any betting sites. But I do like money:)
Definitely give it a go 🙂 if you go on Profit Accumulator they walk you through it step by step and have a free trial.
Interesting post. I should try this out one day. xx
Let me know if you need any help when you do 🙂
Interesting read! I will have to talk to hunby about matched betting!
Thanks – let me know how you get on!
Well I’m definitely intrigued! Thanks for sharing the tips and explaining it so clearly!
You’re welcome Maggie!
Very interesting. I hadn’t heard of this before. I think I read that it isn’t legal in the U.S. though..bummer. Great idea though!
– – Rachel@Tidy&Teal
It’s not unfortunately!
Yeah this is definitely not legal in the US. That’s awesome you’re able to make money doing this thought!
Thanks Amanda! You’ll have to come over here and do it!
Wow I had never heard of matched betting before, great job recognizing an arbitrage opportunity and letting us know about it! Hopefully matched betting works in the US as well 😉
It doesn’t I’m afraid – just in the UK!
This is very interesting, I’d love to give it a go actually! I may message you about it sometime if thats okay?x
Yes of course Cristina, I’m happy to help 🙂
Oooh – I’ll definitely have to think about this! Such a good extra source of income 🙂
I definitely recommend going for it 🙂
I hadn’t heard of this before. But according to the comments it isn’t legal in the US. We never get to have fun.
Might look into it a little more anyway.
Thanks.
Haha! Come over here and do it 🙂
If anyone is slightly dubious about this or is thinking about whether or not to do it, I highly recommend you try it out.
You can do a free trial and they will walk you through how to make £40-60. Why wouldn’t you try it?
Excellent blog, and I love the layout of the site! 😀
Thanks for your comment, that’s very kind of you to say!
I love your explanations their really clear. I just wanted to know, do you have to have a SPARE £60-100 to start off with? How soon are you able to transfer the money into your account? I’m a little confused how you get a percentage of both bets whether you win or lose.
Thanks Rochelle. Yes when you place the bets you have to put your money into the lay bet because it’s what you would pay out if you lost. But because it’s matched betting you get it all back so it’s fine – but you still need the money to put in there.
After the bets are complete you can transfer it out straight away. With both bets you are essentially cancelling each of them out, but because you use a free bet on one, you get the cash amount of the free bet back. Does that make sense? Happy to answer any questions!
I’ve paid for a trip to New Zealand with some of the proceeds from matched betting. I already understood a little about betting but couldn’t believe how much I can make – best month £1200 when I was able to do it most days, usually around £600.
Thanks Anthony – so happy that it has worked so well for you!
Matched betting really does work. I’ve made a few grand and I’m continuing to bring in over £500 per month. Got it down to about 30 mins of effort a day on average, so that’s like being paid over £30 an hour!!
It’s great isn’t it! Glad it’s working well for you.
Love this! I’be been matched betting since March 2015 – it enabled me to leave my job by August 15 and do it ‘full time’ (along with other online ventures!). To anyone who thinks it’s too complicated for them, please don’t let the terminology etc put you off – I had never even placed a bet before starting this, and if I can do it, anyone can!
You can’t lose, if you do it right (we all make mistakes and lose maybe once or twice in the early days, due to an error, but you soon learn from that!).
Gill
Thanks Gill, glad to see that it has worked so well for you! 🙂
I am just starting up with matched betting using Profit Accumulator and I am starting to get my head around it!!
Is it best to pick higher odds (and as a result pay in more to cover the liability) as the winnings will be more?!
Thank you in advance!
If you are just getting started I would recommend starting out small to make sure you understand everything before you start paying in more, in case you do a step wrong. 🙂
Sounds too good to be true but going to give it a go
Let me know how you get on! 🙂
To anyone in doubt whether this is legit or not then I can vouch for the fact that there is definitely easy money to be made with matched betting and this definitely isn’t gambling.
As Francesca says, just start slowly and gradually get used to the idea and really try to understand what you are doing first of all.
Secondly, don’t overdo it. If you only use the offers with certain bookmakers then you’ll soon have you accounts closed or be ‘gubbed’ by a bookmaker.
The best thing to do is to win small amounts on a regular basis and don’t overdo it with a single bookie and you will be fine!
Good luck,
Martinos
Thanks for the comment, it’s always nice to get some extra validation as people can be nervous about trying it 🙂
Thanks for sharing. This is something that has come onto my radar recently and I’m trying to find a flaw in this plan…. It seems foolproof. How long have you been doing it and how much have you made, if you would t mind sharing?
It is foolproof as long as you don’t make a mistake 🙂 I started last year I think. I’ve not been doing it as much now as I’ve been concentrating on other things. Was making a few hundred each month with little effort.
This also exists in Australia and New Zealand as well!
There are a few services now that give you all the guides and software to figure out the backs and lays.
I have loved it! Great income for earning money while traveling 🙂
I thought it may do! That’s great news 🙂
I’ve been doing this for the last 10 mths now (thanks to your good self for blogging about it). I spend a few hours a day on it and make on average about £800 per mth. It is a fantastic way to make money and I would recommend it to anyone. Takes a while at first to get your head around it but it’s basically free money. The only thing it costs you is your time.
Emma, thank you so much for coming back and leaving a comment – I am so happy to hear that it has been so successful for you! You have done so well, well done for going for it and sticking at it! <3
Do you have to ‘declare’ match betting earnings and could they therefore potentially affect benefits such as child tax credit?
No, they are classed as ‘gambling’ income, so you do not need to declare them – it’s tax free 🙂