Matched Betting - Is this the answer to Funding your Travels?

I have recently read articles in the Guardian and the Huffington Post about matched betting as a risk-free option for making an online income. As with many ‘online schemes’ it is only natural to be a little dubious. But, after researching what matched betting actually was, I decided to give it a try for myself, to see if I could fund my next flight using this method.

What is Matched Betting?

Matched betting is a form of online betting whereby you bet a bet with the bookies and then lay the bet with the exchange. In other words, you cover all possible outcomes by betting on a win and against at win. This means that you cannot lose money on the bet.
So where do you profit from this? You can profit from matched betting by signing up to a number of bookies and matching bets to release a signup bonus or ‘free bets’. When is the free bets or bonuses are released, you then repeat the process again, meaning that you will either win on the bookies or win on the exchange. Either way, you will profit!

You need to make sure that the odds match up in what you are backing and laying – they should either be the same or as close as possible. Many professional gamblers or people who are bit hitters in the industry will use odds matching software such as Profit Accumulator.
You can also profit by ‘arb’ betting. This means that when the odds for a lay bet with the exchange are higher than with the backed bet on the bookies. You simply match the bet by betting that winner and laying it on the exchange, and either way, you will profit!

My Matched Betting Experiment

I did matched betting online from home for just half an hour a day on my laptop for just 5 days. At the end of that 5 day period, I was £103.00 up just from a bit of matched betting on football. I decided to try to do a little more, and I’m now quids in for my next flight to Spain.
I basically bet on a few Real Madrid and Liverpool matches where the odds matched up quite well and matched them on Betfair Exchange.

Once the free bets were released, I then bet on more matches and played the bets on Betfair again. This released up to 75% cash value of the free bets. I found that with these bookies, I could withdraw my winnings commission free immediately (some bookies don’t allow withdrawals of less than £10, so be aware of that).

I’m going to continue with this, and report back to you on my earnings, so look out for my next matched betting blog!

If Matched Betting is so Easy, why isn’t Everyone Doing it?

If you are against the gambling industry, you probably do not want to get into matched betting.
If you forget to match your bets or place them incorrectly, you could lose money.
If you have an addictive personality, the ‘offers’ that you receive by email could trigger a gambling problem – this could be a long road of suffering for you and your family.
Some people don’t have the capital to invest initially.
Some people just don’t understand the maths, and they don’t want to do something that they don’t understand (understandably!)
It’s not allowed some countries or in some States in the US.

I actually posted in an online forum for travel bloggers about matched betting, and someone called me ‘Spammy McSpamface!’ I didn’t even have any related affiliate accounts set up at that point!

I was genuinely trying to help other travel bloggers to earn money for their flights, but I guess that everyone has the right to remain skeptical, and it’s better to be overly cautious in case you are a victim of a scam.

With matched betting, you don’t have to pay for a scheme or anything to do it, you can just learn it yourself with all of the resources that are out there online.

Using Profit Accumulator for Matched Betting Success

However, now that I am becoming more serious about matched betting as a legitimate online income, I am using Profit Accumulator.

Profit Accumulator gives you a free odds matching tool and a matched betting calculator that you can use on this site to calculate exactly what your lay bet should be, so that you don’t lose money on your bets (you will lose minuscule amounts on qualifying bets such as 26p, but this is an acceptable loss for a qualifier and comes back to you when you release the bonuses!)
Basically, it will save you a lot of time searching for odds and trying to work out what your lay stake should be.

I have been asked about this technique quite a lot over on my Facebook group, so I will be writing another blog talking you through the exact steps of matched betting.
*This article contains some affiliate links, which help me to pay for the web hosting and get this information to you for free.

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