Matched Betting to Reduce Your Mortgage

OnceBitten

Hi, - I happened upon a thread on this site some weeks ago which mentioned 'Matched Betting' as a way of getting hold of some risk free cash quickly/regularly. I had never heard of it and was quite sceptical but went to a website and had a look. It seems that some people can't quite grasp the basics but if you can, it is very straightforward. I have made £174.33 in the last month plus a further £55 from a site called Quidco. It is all based on using the free bets that bookies offer to turn a profit and signing up with the bookies through Quidco who share their commission with you! I have made a few mistakes but have not managed to lose money on a free bet yet. Take a look at one of the sites offering advice which explains the principles BUT don't sign up through them - get the Quidco commission as well. Let's give the banks/building societies some money from the bookies. I am NO expert on this but happy to share my limited experience.

David_B_2

As my signature suggests I spend most of my time here and on the match betting area.

Ok your NOT going to 'get rich quick' from match betting and won't be able to pay a modern day mortgage off with match betting alone. But you can certainly earn a very nice sum of extra FREE cash.

I started match betting in July 2007, work full time and my wife and young son COME FIRST so only get to spend 2/3 hours on match betting per week. That being said, in those few months I have made well into a four figure sum so all-in-all going towards paying my mortgage off early :-)

Anybody interested then I would highly recommend going over to the Gambling Intro Thread.

OnceBitten

Hi David, I didn't know about the thread you mention but will have a look. The problem with some of the threads I have seen on this subject is that I don't understand what the experts are talking about sometimes. A 'Matched Betting for non-gambling dummies' is what I really needed and I never quite found it so was offering basic assistance to the uninitiated by a beginner. But as long as some people make a few quid, that's all that matters.

Kaz2904

Thanks for the offer oncebitten and thanks for the pointer davidb. I think that this is something I really ought to look into but I'm scared! Maybe one day I'll get round to it!

David_B_2

Hi Oncebitten and Kaz,

Yes I can fully understand your concerns and your right to be a little nervous (that’s a good sign). I was the same when I started but I can honestly say it's easier than it looks.

All you really need now is time to look at the intro thread and understand what you are doing. The guys over on the over board are great.

Here is how I started:-

1. Went to start-up (intro) thread here and printed it out.

Over the next 2/3 months I kept picking it up and reading. To be honest I read it all the way through on each occasion but never understood it hence the 2/3 months. Finally after about 6 reads the penny finally dropped. Once you do get it then it's like riding a bike ;-)

I will state that this stage this very important and you really need to understand the principle before going ahead. Many don't and try and 'wing it' only get stung further down the line. *

2. Go the newbie thread. Start at the beginning and read as much as you can be bothered. I found that all my first questions were answered in the first 10 pages and fills in any gaps from the intro printout.

3. Any further questions can be asked there. The questions will have been asked before but are much better on the newbie thread than opening a new thread on the main board (too many repeats in my eyes).

4. Get the Matcher spreadsheet (linked on the intro, start-up thread) and play with the figures.

5. When your happy to start for real. Stick to something simple like football and post your figures on the newbie questions and somebody will check these out for you.

6. Don't rush. Sometimes you'll think, I need to do bookie 1, bookie 2, before they remove their offer. Don't worry about this, there are plenty of bookies out there and for the next 6 months at least you won't have a problem finding offers. SO steady away and stick to one at a time.

7. Enjoy!

As mentioned before, your not going to get rich quick but could well be MUCH better off this time next year thanks to a putting a little time in.

The way I looked at this MB business was, it can't be gambling (and isn't) as Martin wouldn't have it on his web site.

I told my brother-in-law about MB in late summer. He's now paid for Christmas and their new nursery with the money made

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=325861 - Start here thread
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=577362 - Index board
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=558905 - Newbie questions
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=41 - Main board

Good luck, and Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all on MSE.

Tim_L

There's quite a good analogy for matched betting, courtesy of Finnerty who is one of the stalwarts of the gambling board.

You go into a supermarket and find beans on a Bogoff. You buy two cans for 15p, then go down the car boot sale and sell one can for 14p and one can for 12p (to a dedicated bean haggler). The total profit on the deal is 26p-15p = 11p.

That in essence is what matched betting is. You use BOGOF introductory and promotional offers at bookmakers, but you sell the bets to other people so you make a profit. This is done at a betting exchange rather than a car boot, but the principle is the same.

It's not really that difficult either. The problem most people have with this is psychological. Betting is a big social taboo, and most people are terrified of even engaging in the process of signing up with bookmakers and placing bets - it's well engrained into most people that "the bookmaker always wins" and most people have someone who went astray because of betting in their family history. There are barriers because of the terminology too, and because many people have no interest in sports.

Anyway, the introductory guide that is on the Gambling board here is very detailed and has a step by step illustrated guide. There is lots of help available. And believe me, once you've done a couple of matched bets, it all clicks in seconds. The thing to do is to try it out.

Is it worth it? Well most people make £500 in a few weeks without any great effort and just sticking to the major UK bookmakers. A great many go on to £1000, a hard core keep going still further and the sky is the limit, there are literally tens of thousands of pounds that can be made. It's also an absorbing and profitable hobby in itself. Obviously it also gives a means of cashing in on some of the cashback deals at places like Quidco and Rpoints without taking any chances.

Karmacat

Heartily support what Tim is saying about matched betting, and what has been earlier up the thread about the Board on here. I've just started these last 3 weeks, and have been met with real kindness, and the willingness of strangers to go the extra mile for me, with no hint of profit in it for themselves, is wonderful. I'm bad on detail, so I'm not making quite as high a % return as I should - but, compared to clicking surveys, or even going on mystery shops, its fantastic money even so. But its taken me months, literally, of reading through and letting it sink in, to get to the point where I've committed money to it.

Tim_L

Here's an idea - I'd be willing to take on one MFW matched betting virgin and mentor them directly through the process, maybe via MSN, e-mail and so on.

If they were to keep a diary here of their experiences as this proceeded, others could learn from it in a place outside the Gambling Board. Because most people there are up the learning curve, a lot of things are assumed as being known which means that it can be a little offputting.

This isn't an "I'll teach you everything" offer. I'd expect you to do the groundwork, read the guide and so on. What I'll be here for is clarifications, checking bets, and fixing any emergency problems. What I can do too is guide you through the offers and the order to do them in initially.

I did read elsewhere that someone was thinking about it but didn't have the maths background. I think the ideal experimental subject would be someone like this, maybe someone without any interest in sports (one of my co BGs on the gambling board, Jess, came from this situation to being quite an expert on Polish division 3 football teams). And obviously someone who would be willing to share experiences and help others.

TallGirl

I am also a keen MFW and I have used up all the Casino and Bingo offers on all the cashback sites both for me and DH. I have made a nice tidy sum and I know they are not risk free but I have had fun doing them. Read the guide to Matchbetting once but never really got the hand of it. I have already signed up for some of the bookies for bingo I may not get them now so left it at that. I do find the thing with gambling is that it can get a bit addictive and I fear MB really would be for me.

I wish you all the best of luck with your MB and dont forget to check out the other cashback sites such as Greasypalm, MoneybackMadness Topbackback etc etc as they sometimes have better offers than Quidco.

Tim_L

I read the way you were doing Casino betting, TallGirl, and it filled me with horror. It's actual gambling, even though it did come out with a profit.

Matched betting, which is essentially risk free (there are risks, but they're external, mostly the risk of a mistake or a bookie being dishonest or insolvent) has an odd effect on people. It is slightly addictive, in the sense that free money is quite nice to get, but people get quite obsessive about maximising returns, and so not taking the slightest risk. It's more of an antidote to gambling than anything else.

Any takers for the mentoring, PM me.

Tim_L

We have a taker! I've suggested that she starts a thread to document the process of learning how to matched bet, so hopefully it will be helpful to those wavering.