Student’s guide to make money - Matched Betting,UK A student’s guide to making money from Matched Betting I have made enough money from bookmakers in just four months to pay for a return flight to Australia and I still have change – a lot in fact. This trip will be my reward after my studies are finished – I have earned it – earned it with the hours spent on my coursework and exams I mean, not the actual ‘earning’ of the money – that was actually easy in comparison. From my opening statement, you’ll probably assume that I’m gambling. After all, that’s what we go to bookmakers for isn’t it? Well yes, I am betting, but I’m not gambling. What I’m showing you here is a completely legal, tried-and-tested method called ‘matched betting’. It basically allows you to clean up at the bookmakers to extract their free bet and bonus offers, turning them into serious cash. The national press has often covered matched betting as a way to make a risk free income.
What is matched betting? Matched betting is a way of squeezing out the many free bets offered by the hundreds of bookmakers. All the bookies promote these offers to entice new customers in to place bets with them. For example, ‘bet £25 with us and we’ll give you a £25 free bet!’
How does it work? Firstly, don’t worry, you don’t need to know all of the betting terminology, it’s more about ‘working’ the numbers than being an expert on sport. It is however, important that you know two types of bet which allows matched betting to work:
A 'back’ bet Is betting for a certain outcome to come true, eg. ‘I bet Chelsea will win, is a backing bet. If it comes true, you win the bet and the winnings. If Chelsea lose or draw, you lose your stake. You can place a back bet at any bookmaker, such as Coral, William Hill, and Ladbrokes etc.
A 'lay’ bet Is betting against a certain outcome to come true e.g. ‘I bet Chelsea will not win’ is a lay bet. If they lose or draw, you win the bet. You can only place a lay bet at a betting exchange such as bet fair.