We will cover a few of the basic terms that we use within matched betting on this post.
Back Bet
The back bet is the bet with the bookie where you back a selection. So for example you might be backing Leicester at odds of 3 (3 is the decimal version of 2/1)
Lay Bet
A lay bet is a single bet that covers every other outcome. So in football if we have backed Leicester, we would LAY Leicester which effectively covers the draw and the opposite team to win. We do this using a betting exchange, and we will use Betfair Exchange. Another way to describe a lay bet would be to call it 'bet against', so you would BACK team A with the bookie and bet against them (LAY) with the betting exchange.
Qualifying Bet
To get the free bets on offer we need to place a qualifying bet first. So for example (a bet £5 get £20 offer) we would place a £5 back bet as the qualifying bet, and place a lay bet in the betting exchange to cover the other possible outcomes.
Free Bet
Once we have completed the qualifying £5 bet we will be given our £20 free bet. This is where we make the profit. We place the £20 free bet as a back bet on anything you want. It is best to aim for odds of around 5 or 6, The higher odds you take the more profit you will make, but you will also need more money in the betting exchange to LAY the bet. So don't go for too high odds, it's not worth it.
Finding Your First Bet - The Qualifying Bet
Many bookies have terms such as your back bet MUST be at odds of 1.5 (1/2) or higher. To change your odds from fractional (1/2) to decimal (1.5) you can do this by clicking on 'decimal' at the very top of the page.
To have the smallest possible qualifying loss for this offer, to maximise our total profits, we need to find a close match between the bookie and the betting exchange. So if you find a bet which is 1.6 with the bookie, you want it to be as close to 1.6 on the exchange as possible. 1.6 -> 1.66 would be a perfectly good match. 1.6 to back and 1.9 to lay would not be a good match and we would look for something better. Simply, the smaller the gap between the back and lay odds, the less you will lose on the qualifying bet. A 50p loss or less from a £10 qualifying bet is fine.
Using the Betting Exchange
Before we place the back bet we want to ensure that we have located a good match for the back bet and also that you are ready to place the lay bet on the betting exchange. Using Betfair Exchange, locate the game you want to bet on. There are 2 columns, a blue one and a red one. The blue column is to place a back bet, and the red column is to place a lay bet. The lay odds in the red column are the ones we use to compare against the back odds with the bookie. When we are happy we have found a good match we figure out how much money to put on the lay bet using a matched betting calculator, and then place the bets in this order.
1 - Place the £5 back bet with the bookie.
2 - Place the lay bet with Betfair Exchange, using the matched betting calculator to work out how much to bet on the lay bet.
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Using Your Free Bet
After the qualifying bet has settles (the match is complete) you will have won money either in to the bookie or into the betting exchange. At this point the bookie will credit you £20 as a free bet.
Most sites have free bets which have terms to state that the free bet stake is not returned with any winnings. For example, if you make a back bet on something with even odds (odds of 2) you would normally have returned £20 from a £10 bet. This £20 is your initial £10 stake and your £10 profit. Using a free bet where the stake is not returned, this means if you win an even odds bet (odds of 2) then you will only have £10 returned to you, as it excludes the initial £10 stake. To maximise how much money you get from the free bet you should place the free bet on higher odds. Typically odds between 5-10 are ideal. You still need a fairly close match between the back bet and the free bet. For example, odds of 7 for the back bet and 7.2 for the lay bet would be fine.
The reason we take higher odds is because you get more profit from the free bet. Use the matched betting calculator and play around with different odds to help you understand how much profit you will make depending on the odds you use, and how close the match needs to be. You should aim to get £7.50 - £8 profit from each £10 free bet you get.
Once you have found a good match which gets you £15+ profit from your £20 free bet, we then do the same again.
1 - Place the back bet first using the free bet.
2 - Take the lay stake from the matched betting calculator and place the lay bet straight afterwards.
Once this bet settles, your combined balance between the bookie and Betfair will be around £15 higher than when you started.
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