Matched Betting as an Alternative Investment

nimbie

Hi all,

Sorry, I am new here and I've been meaning to join for a while but I read an article a few days ago on the Daily Telegraph's website about matched betting, which also appeared in yesterday's paper.

I was curious about something that is 'risk-free' which could make money out of thin air. Thus, I decided to give it a go on Monday evening. I signed up to the website and I started an offer for a £25 free bet, which has completed today.

In short, I had to put in £60.53 in total to cover the initial bet to qualify for the free bet. From the initial bet I made an (expected) loss of 54p which qualified me for the free bet. Using the free bet, I made £16.07 and therefore made a total profit of £15.53.

Now consider this using an investment lens. Based on my offer, I have made a 26% return on investment, which is pretty impressive and is certainly higher than any UK bond.

But here is the kicker. Treat this profit like an investment and 'reinvest' the money gained. So for example, I've used the £76.06 that I have got and put this back in as a float to do two bets - one bet requiring £19.69 and another requiring £47.71.

If what they say is true and I make £440 based on what's on the site at the moment, this would be a staggering 627% return on investment.

sonyhamster

I'm assuming you mean this piece?

What you are suggesting is a good strategy - I think I've been a bit too impatient and I've been cashing out on each one, only having to put money back in to do another offer.

betmunch

This has its own forum thread here you know?

Match Betting is a great way to earn cash if you ask me. I am helping out with it in the earn £11K in 2011 thread in the up your income forum.

Good luck with it

nimbie

I've read the thread about matched betting, but I still think there's two separate kinds of people here. There's the professionals, who do matched betting or at the very least have a good understanding of the ins and outs of it, and the consumers, like me - who don't have much time to do the research and learn about the real nitty gritty, but still want to take advantage of it.

I know you can probably make more manually, but I think I'll start off doing it automatically for now as it seems like a good starting point. (Also, their guarantee stated in the article seems rather reassuring )

I thought it was great that now there's a website that enables Joe public to do it. I've signed up with the mentioned website, and I've already made £67.18! I'm still blown over by how quickly you can make money by matched betting!

needhelpindebt

I like the sound of a guaranteed £440!!

However I have had accounts on the maority of gambling websites in the past. Would this mean that i could not take up the free bet offers? Or is there a way around this?

:beer:

GavB79

It's hard to maintain once you've used up all the introductory offers

Stella66

GavB79 wrote: »

It's hard to maintain once you've used up all the introductory offers

So how do people claim to be making thousands of pounds if it cannot be done over and over again?

dmg24

Stella66 wrote: »

So how do people claim to be making thousands of pounds if it cannot be done over and over again?

GavB79 is correct, after the first season/ year the returns are far lower and unless you are into arbing, spreadbetting etc not worth investing a lot of time in. I only do it now when there are big tournaments on.

GavB79

It can be that profitable, but it takes a LOT more work and research finding the right bets, and bookmakers can limit your account in terms of bet sizes which restricts your options. Offers are not as generous as they used to be, because it is becoming more well-known. I used to make a couple of thousand a year on casino offers, but now they have all dried up and nobody does it any more. Matched betting could go the same way. There are plenty of threads on the gambling board about this.

davidjwest

It's not risk free, you could make a mistake placing the bet or there could be a technical problem that stops you making both bets in time etc.

needhelpindebt

Is it possible to open up new accounts on the sites to take advantage of the free bet offers with new card details / email / address for example?