Matched Betting Blog – Everything you need to know
Pretty much everything you need to know about Matched Betting is here in this Matched Betting blog!
Please make use of the table of contents below to jump straight to the bits you need.
Don’t forget to check out the exclusive Outplayed discount I have for my readers too!
[lwptoc]Matched Betting is one of my absolute favourite ways to make money online and it’s something I talk about a lot. BUT I do remember the days when it was all brand new to me, and I understand that it can initially come across as some kind of scam or even gambling. So, I wanted to put together one big Matched Betting blog where I can answer all the doubts, help out and hopefully help you to make some money from it too.
A little while ago, I asked the members of my Facebook group what it is that puts them off Matched Betting as I noticed that some of them were a little anxious and nervous about getting started. I got a few questions that I remember asking about myself in the early days, so here are a few Matched Betting FAQ.
How much of my own initial money will I have to put in?
The whole point of starting Matched Betting is to make extra money, so the chances are that many of us won’t have a large amount of free cash to put aside as our Matched Betting bank.
The simple answer to this question is that the more money you can put into your Matched Betting “bank”, the better. More money means you will be able to do more offers at once which will inevitably mean you can make much more money.
But, if you have limited funds (and this is likely at this stage), then a starting bank of £50-£60 will be enough to begin with. This will allow you to do the first couple of offers and you will slowly be able to build your Matched Betting bank from there.
If you’re completely new to Matched Betting, then you can take advantage of the free trial from Outplayed. A bank of £50-£60 will allow you to complete the offers included free of charge and you should make a profit of around £45.
Ideally, don’t dip into your Matched Betting profits for a while and just let your bank continue to grow. This will mean that you can start to do more and more offers as you grow your bank and your profits will follow.
Don’t be put off by the large amounts of money other long term matched bettors have access to. Don’t forget that they were brand new to this too, your bank will grow and you will soon be able to take money out of your Matched Betting pot to do with whatever you choose!
How much money should I be keeping in my accounts?
This really depends on the size of your bank and how much Matched Betting you plan on doing.
If you’re new to Matched Betting and have a small bank to begin with, then you will probably need to move your money about between the exchange and the different bookies so that you can move onto the next offers.
It’s always a good idea to have some money in the exchange so that you can get offers done quickly without waiting for funds to hit your bank. If you can afford to leave £100 in there initially, then that’s a great start. You can reassess this as you do each offer though. Obviously, the bigger value offers you do, the more money you’re going to need in the exchange to cover the liability of your lay bet.
Personally, I’ve always withdrawn from bookies as soon as I’ve completed the offer/mug bet and left a sum in the exchange. It’s a personal choice though really, and every Matched Betting blog you read will have their own opinion on this!
Is it safe? Can things go wrong?
As long as you take your time and follow the instructions, Matched Betting is completely safe. And if you’ve signed up to Outplayed, then there is ALWAYS somebody on hand to help you out of a hole! Outplayed offers forum support AND a phone line too, so you can get help really quickly. They also have lots of members who Matched Bet full-time and can help you out if you’ve slipped up.
Of course, when humans are involved, it’s always possible to make mistakes, but with Matched Betting, there is usually a way to fix it. There are calculators designed specifically to resolve bets placed in error and the exchanges often have a cash-out option, meaning you can claw back your lay bet cash and start over again.
What can I bet on?
Always try to bet on big events – doing this will help to keep your account under the bookie’s radar. Betting on obscure events can mean that bookies start to take a closer look at your account and this could flag you up as a Matched Bettor.
Stick to high profile events. If you’re not really a sports fan and don’t know what these are, then you can usually tell by the amount of money being traded on the exchanges.
As a general rule though, here are a few high profile events:
Football
- Premier League football
- FA Cup football
- English EFL Cup
- Scottish Premiership
- Italian Serie A
- Spanish La Liga
- German Bundesliga
- Champions League
- Europa League
- World Cup
Tennis
**AVOID TENNIS IF YOU’RE NEW TO MATCHED BETTING – THERE CAN BE DIFFERENCES IN THE TENNIS RULES BETWEEN THE EXCHANGES AND THE BOOKIES MEANING THAT BOTH OF YOUR BETS COULD LOSE**
- Wimbledon
- French Open
- Australian Open
- US Open
- Masters
Horse Racing
- ITV Racing (every Saturday)
- Horse Racing festivals – Cheltenham, Goodwood etc.
How much time will I need to put in to make a decent income?
The answer to this isn’t straightforward. You will obviously make more money the more time you put in. Especially in the early days when you’re still learning the ropes.
It’s a good idea to get yourself into a routine early on. Keep a diary so that you know when offers are on and then plan what time you’ll need to place your bets. It’s also worth keeping a note of when you expect free bets to arrive and how long they’re valid for so that you don’t forget about them (been there a few times myself).
Ideally, you want to be spending at least an hour every day Matched Betting. If you can, then spend some time each morning checking out the offers for that day, then again in the evening placing your bets. The offers on Outplayed tend to be published between 9 and 11 am and again from 6 pm in the evenings, so these are prime times for you to be online.
Is Matched Betting seasonal?
It’s true that a lot of Matched Betting offers focus on football, so when the football season stops, these offers inevitably come to a halt too.
However, there are still plenty of other offers you can take part in each day even without football.
There are daily horse racing offers and plenty of ITV race days which always have lots of profitable offers.
There are also casino offers happening every single day of the year. Some of these do involve an element of risk though, so if you’re still building your bank then I would leave the offers that aren’t risk-free for now.
If you do find that the summer means you struggle to find profitable offers, you can use this quiet time to learn more complicated methods such as 2up accumulator refunds which you can then use to make money once the football season kicks back off again. These are the things that will help you to consistently make a good income from Matched Betting.
If you’re stuck for what to bet on, leave a comment on this Matched Betting blog and I’ll do all I can to help.
An idiot’s guide to Matched Betting
I was a little reluctant to call this section an idiot’s guide, if you’re looking into Matched Betting then you’re definitely NOT an idiot.
I remember the very early days when I first heard about Matched Betting. I was pregnant so my mind was even more full of mush than usual, and the whole thing completely baffled me! So, I’ve put together this easy to follow guide to help you out if you’re a brand new Matched Bettor!
If you are completely new to Matched Betting, then I’ve got a series of emails that explain the whole lot.
The emails explain:
- What is Matched Betting?
- What is lay betting?
- Matched Betting FAQ
Bear in mind that this set of emails is aimed at the complete beginner, so if you have some understanding, then you may already know most of this stuff, but I guess you can never go over it too many times!
Outplayed Free Trial
I think that one of the things that initially put me off Matched Betting was that I thought that anything that involved me paying upfront for a subscription must be a scam. It’s definitely true that you need to be extremely cautious when it comes to putting money into anything, particularly a money-making scheme! As a general rule these things are to be avoided like the plague!
BUT I did A LOT of research before signing up to Outplayed so that I knew exactly what I was getting into. They have a free trial which is the perfect way to ease yourself in, watch some videos on how the whole thing works and even get stuck into your first two offers following their step-by-step instructions. There’s no time limit on the free trial either which means you can take your time learning the ropes and only place your bets once you’re 100% happy.
You can also take some comfort that Matched Betting has been hailed as a great way to make money by various press, including Huffington Post, The Guardian, Save the Student, Money Saving Expert and more. And then, of course, there’s this Matched Betting blog singing it’s praises too!
Matched Betting Discount
I’ve been Matched Betting personally for over four years, so I know that it works and I’d love to help you. That’s why I wrote up this Matched Betting blog, to answer a lot of the questions that you might be asking in your head but just don’t know where to turn.
If you’ve read all you can read and given the free trial a go, then you might be ready to take the plunge and pay for your Outplayed membership.
You can opt to pay a monthly membership fee with no obligation to continue from month to month.
Or, if you’ve loved it so far, then an annual membership will save you money in the long run.
Let me help you
Please, as always, let me know if I can help in any way at all. I’ve written this Matched Betting blog in the hope that it will help you to get to grips with the whole thing and make a success of it. But there are always going to be questions that need answering or things I haven’t thought of. Believe me, there’s no such thing as a stupid question, I’ve asked pretty much every question you could think of about Matched Betting over the years, so send me an email, drop me a message or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
