Mortgage free by 2021?!

BookWorm

:T Awesome results from the MB Hidden. Wishing you a lovely restful weekend

shangaijimmy

A few years ago I did the whole matched betting thing, but it seemed to get much harder after a few months. How easy is it these days to find them? Any sites particularly good?

debtfreeoneday

Excellent progress being made in here, puts my surveys to shame

hiddenshadow

shangaijimmy wrote: »

A few years ago I did the whole matched betting thing, but it seemed to get much harder after a few months. How easy is it these days to find them? Any sites particularly good?

I've only signed up to half a dozen bookies, so my betting goes in fits and spurts (generally coinciding with big events like now when there're recurring offers on). According to my spreadsheet I'm up £842.85 so far, though, not counting today's action. Not bad given that I started in October.

I rely pretty much entirely on http://bankofbets.com/ - they've got a forum where people post offers they've found (and tips on how to maximise them), and various calculators/odds finders that help with getting the right bets. I think it's going behind a paywall at some point but right now should still be free if you can get an invite. There are other websites that also charge, but I haven't tried any of them. (I did tip my toe into the MB board here but it didn't strike me as organised so I couldn't figure out what threads were helpful and what ones weren't.)

Hope that helps! Happy to answer any other questions (here or via PM).

EatingTheElephant

Hope the new shoes are comfy, nothing worse than uncomfortable shoes.
I keep thinking about matched betting, but not sure whether to or not. Does it take up much time?

hiddenshadow

EatingTheElephant wrote: »

Hope the new shoes are comfy, nothing worse than uncomfortable shoes.

Thanks, I hope so! I walk about 3mi every day for my commute so comfy shoes are a must.

I keep thinking about matched betting, but not sure whether to or not. Does it take up much time?

Not too much time, though some of the offers require you to place bets during the event so that can be a bit tricky to schedule around. I'd say this week I've been placing 2-10 bets a day (depending on the offers going on) and it takes me up to 20 minutes in the morning. Then I spend another 10 minutes at the end of the day putting the results in my spreadsheet and withdrawing any money if I'm done with that bookie for a while.

I just looked at my spreadsheet and counting 330-odd bets (including ones meant to take a loss to get free bets) I average £2.54 profit per bet placed (usually this works out to £1 loss and then £5 profit on the free bet). So if you're willing to do a lot of bets over time I think it can work out, but certainly with the way I do it I won't be a millionaire. (Though I guess there are people that make hundreds/thousands a month via MB, so I guess it is possible.) I'll be happy to break £1k once I've been at this for a year.

EatingTheElephant

Thanks hidden, might leave it until work is a bit quieter/less brain intensive then!

hiddenshadow

No worries Most of my MB activity is on the weekends (big fixtures like now aside), so 10-20 min over the weekend isn't too bad IMO. This week was a bit hectic but that's one bonus to getting in to work an hour before anyone else.

edinburgher

I made £10k or so in a year, but it took up *a lot* of time and was pretty stressful :eek:

hiddenshadow

edinburgher wrote: »

I made £10k or so in a year, but it took up *a lot* of time and was pretty stressful :eek:

Impressive! :j

Don't think I'd be willing to put in the time or the stress. As I'm only using it to top up OPs and/or savings I'd rather keep it fun/easy and have time/mental energy to pursue other things.