Matched betting

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Lobworm

Lobworm

Player Valuation: £8m
For the uninitiated it's also known as 'bonus abusing' by the bookies, whereby you (typically) make a qualifying bet, and then get a free bet. However instead of gambling, you back and lay the same outcome.

So, on the qualifying bet, you back and lay the same outcome for a small loss. Then when the free bet comes in, you then do the same with the free bet and usually make anything between 60-80% of the free money.

Did any of you lids get on this back in the day? Do any still partake?
 

Lobworm said:
For the uninitiated it's also known as 'bonus abusing' by the bookies, whereby you (typically) make a qualifying bet, and then get a free bet. However instead of gambling, you back and lay the same outcome.

So, on the qualifying bet, you back and lay the same outcome for a small loss. Then when the free bet comes in, you then do the same with the free bet and usually make anything between 60-80% of the free money.

Did any of you lids get on this back in the day? Do any still partake?
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First online account i had was with bet 365 because they offered a matched bet bonus for new sign ups. I always stuck to between £10 - £20 football bets on a saturday.

I placed £40 on a treble and they matched it with £40. The bet won and i tried to withdraw the money and close the account. Turned out i had to wager it so many times before i could withdraw. I started doing in-play bets for the first time and there started a very bad spiral into gambling addiction.

Promos exist for the bookies benefit, not the punters.
 
IrishBlue2022 said:
First online account i had was with bet 365 because they offered a matched bet bonus for new sign ups. I always stuck to between £10 - £20 football bets on a saturday.

I placed £40 on a treble and they matched it with £40. The bet won and i tried to withdraw the money and close the account. Turned out i had to wager it so many times before i could withdraw. I started doing in-play bets for the first time and there started a very bad spiral into gambling addiction.

Promos exist for the bookies benefit, not the punters.
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Indeed.

I think every person should only be allowed a set amount per year to allocate to gambling - like credit score, but for gambling. Not a perfect solution but it would help.
 

If you're willing to put the time and effort in you can make a very tidy profit.

I made around 1.5k before it become too much of a chore.

At first you're making good profits with the sign up bets, once that well has run dry you're spending hours a night for minimal profit but it all adds up. It would be around 5-£10 a day after the sign up offers.

Over time though the bookies will ban you so there is a ceiling to it unfortunately but I would recommend it. If you stuck at it for a year you'd make a decent amount of money before the bookies got on to you.

For example, bet MGM are giving £40 in free bets. If you can take advantage of that in the right way you could turn that into a few hundred.

Would say wait until there's a big sporting event to do it though.

This isn't gambling. You're guaranteed profit over time.
 
IrishBlue2022 said:
First online account i had was with bet 365 because they offered a matched bet bonus for new sign ups. I always stuck to between £10 - £20 football bets on a saturday.

I placed £40 on a treble and they matched it with £40. The bet won and i tried to withdraw the money and close the account. Turned out i had to wager it so many times before i could withdraw. I started doing in-play bets for the first time and there started a very bad spiral into gambling addiction.

Promos exist for the bookies benefit, not the punters.
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I don't disagree. It takes a certain type of discipline to not actually gamble. It was always the case of wanting/trying to lose at the bookie, and thus win at the exchange. However once any sort of 'winning' pattern emerged at the bookie, and the money promptly withdrawn, the non gamblers got banned pretty sharpish.
 
ClausThomsen said:
I did it for a month or so and hoovered up an easy £500 - £600 but after the initial opening offers are done it becomes a lot more time consuming and convoluted to make a few quid as all the offers turn to stuff like accas or extremely low value matched bets so I binned it.
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My experience reflects this, although it was nigh on 15-20 years ago, I did about £1500 over a few months initially. Several bookies had the ongoing offers, PP had the 'bet before, free bet in play' for all televised games which was great for beer tokens. Coral used to have regular free £50 for some live games too. That is until they cottoned on you were abusing, then you were promptly banned.
 
Charro said:
If you're willing to put the time and effort in you can make a very tidy profit.

I made around 1.5k before it become too much of a chore.

At first you're making good profits with the sign up bets, once that well has run dry you're spending hours a night for minimal profit but it all adds up. It would be around 5-£10 a day after the sign up offers.

Over time though the bookies will ban you so there is a ceiling to it unfortunately but I would recommend it. If you stuck at it for a year you'd make a decent amount of money before the bookies got on to you.

For example, bet MGM are giving £40 in free bets. If you can take advantage of that in the right way you could turn that into a few hundred.

Would say wait until there's a big sporting event to do it though.

This isn't gambling. You're guaranteed profit over time.
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I've not looked at what the offers are currently. The last time I looked there were very few compared with 15-20 years ago, now you need to make umpteen small bets for a small profit and it becomes very much a chore like you say. Given the nature of matched betting, given that most of us want to lose at the bookie, I often wondered why a bookie never surfaced that was 'matched betting friendly'?
 

neil999 said:
Sounds similar to signing up for bank switching, credit cards with cashback etc etc...
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It was very lucrative way back, but you must not gamble. That's the whole point. You manipulate the free bet using a spreadsheet to select the right lay bet, in order to maximise the amount of free money.
 
I did poker and casino offers back in the day, and made 2 to 3 grand. If you could play break even poker and optimal blackjack play you could do ok. These days the wagering requirements are so high it's a waste of time. Also you end up gambling to try and shortcut the offers and that's a quick way to gambling addiction. I cancelled all my accounts a few years ago and just go into the bookies very occasionally now.
 
Dddddd said:
Not true
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I have a mate who works pretty high up for one of the major firms and he said they will actively close any account that gets too successful.
Used to work on VIP accounts and said the amount of footballers and football managers betting was crazy.
I mean, he might be talking out his hoop I guess.
 
JimmyJeffers said:
I have a mate who works pretty high up for one of the major firms and he said they will actively close any account that gets too successful.
Used to work on VIP accounts and said the amount of footballers and football managers betting was crazy.
I mean, he might be talking out his hoop I guess.
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That definitely goes on but it’s still wrong to say the bookies always win - gambling for most people is a fun hobby to have and from time to time you can win a few quid
 

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