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Skycard - How to double the value of your points
andyd
Posts: 112 Forumite
in Credit cards
For those of you with a Skycard,the standard way of redeeming your points would prob be to pay off your monthly Sky TV bill.
This would give you a 1% return on your points,i.e. £1 of spending = 1p in points to redeem against your Sky TV bill.
But, you can now redeem your points at the rate of 2% by buying credits to a Skybet betting account and using the money to bet with. E.g. 5000 Sky points would give you £100 in bets, i.e. a 2% return.
You can then use your £100 free bet and do a "matched bet", e.g. bet your £100 with Sky on one player in a tennis match and bet on the other player with another bookie.The principles of "matched betting" are explained in more detail in the Gambling forum.
So, for example you bet your free £100 on Andy Murray with Skybet at evens (1/1) and the total return is £200 including your stake, and bet £105 on Tim Henman with William Hills at say 10/11 and again your total return is £200.
This means that whoever wins you get £200 back but you've only actually spent £105 with William Hills so your profit is £95.Your £100 bet with Skybet was free of course.
Therefore your 5000 Skycard points are worth £95,rather than being worth £50 if you used them to pay off your SkyTV bill.
Hope the explanation is clear.As I say,for more on matched betting,see the Gambling forum.
This would give you a 1% return on your points,i.e. £1 of spending = 1p in points to redeem against your Sky TV bill.
But, you can now redeem your points at the rate of 2% by buying credits to a Skybet betting account and using the money to bet with. E.g. 5000 Sky points would give you £100 in bets, i.e. a 2% return.
You can then use your £100 free bet and do a "matched bet", e.g. bet your £100 with Sky on one player in a tennis match and bet on the other player with another bookie.The principles of "matched betting" are explained in more detail in the Gambling forum.
So, for example you bet your free £100 on Andy Murray with Skybet at evens (1/1) and the total return is £200 including your stake, and bet £105 on Tim Henman with William Hills at say 10/11 and again your total return is £200.
This means that whoever wins you get £200 back but you've only actually spent £105 with William Hills so your profit is £95.Your £100 bet with Skybet was free of course.
Therefore your 5000 Skycard points are worth £95,rather than being worth £50 if you used them to pay off your SkyTV bill.
Hope the explanation is clear.As I say,for more on matched betting,see the Gambling forum.
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Comments
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An excellent recommendation0
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andy - With respect I'm a bit worried about your suggestion! I too have a Skycard and I have converted points to free bets. Not used them yet but I will be doing in my normal betting activities.
But most free bets - if successful - do not normally involve the return of the free stake. That has always been my experience so far and I think (perhaps I should have checked before I did this!) skybet is no different. I have one proviso - my free bets have been dealt with as an addition to my current balance with them, so perhaps they have lost their identity as free bets. Time will tell and maybe skybet IS different.
Having said that, I had to chase them up over a period to actually get the free bets.
To shut me up they may have done a straight credit to my account rather than have my free bets identified by some code or other (the normal routine).
Now to your scenario! If Murray loses, you win your £100 from Hills and lose nothing to skybet. If Murray wins, you win your £100 from skybet and lose £105 to Hills. So if skybet DON'T reimburse the free bet stake, you have lost £5 (though with the excitement of being in with a chance of £100!)
It needs further investigation, I think.0 -
Just been on skybet's website. Under 'Free bets Rules' it says:
'Free bet stake is not returned with winnings'.
Another point which needs mentioning. In the process of the above scenario, you also lose the £50 potential value of the points of course.
One technique that might work is backing something with a free sky bet and laying the same choice on Betfair (same odds, same stake). This is complicated and you finish up - I think - with the same situation, in that you need your choice to lose with skybet.
And if you are pretty infallible at picking things that lose, you should give up the day job and spend all your time on Betfair!
As far as I'm concerned I just use them as free bets in the normal way and, if I back a loser in so doing, I've saved myself a bit of my own money!0 -
schiff, in normal circums you are right that free bets don't return the stake.
BUT, in this case because you have "paid" for your bets with the Sky points then the stake IS returned.
I know cos I did it last week and turned 90 quids worth of points into 175 quid :T
So, go ahead and double your money :beer:0 -
Never thought about it like that Andy. I've used my free bets (in a much more modest sum than you, I should add!) but I've only backed losers so far, so it's not been tested. But I'm sure you are right.0
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