Matched Betting - Kinda pearoasting from the "Get Rich Quick" QOTW
N.B. I've updated these notes from the original post to what was my end position. I've stopped doing this now, mainly due to work time pressures, but the money that I made was very welcome help in paying off my mortgage at the start of this year. Figured it was appropriate for here too...

Over 6 months during 2008, I made £4,268 by betting with online bookies, and had I continued, I could have carried on making at least a couple of hundred a month - depending on the time I was willing to invest.

At the time of the get rich quick question, I was pondering whether to post this, mainly in case I scrambled my own golden egg (if you'll pardon the mixed metaphors). But I finally came to the conclusion that the information is out there if you look for it, so I might as well. When I've described it to other people, I've always said that it's not a get rich quick scheme. You can see my numbers above, so I'll let you decide how quick it is!

This is an entirely legitimate, low risk, way to make some extra money, and I'm quite happy to tell anyone who's interested all about it. You do need a some money up front - around about £150 or so is good - but this is purely for working capital requirements (you're not buying something up front or selling things on).

Purely for the sake of berevity, I don't want to go into all the details here (see the linky below). However, the idea is to take advantage of the introductory free-bet offers made by on-line bookmakers. Sounds risky? It isn't - because it uses a concept called matched betting to eliminate the risk while making sure you are able to extract the value of the free bet. It can be slightly complicated though - you need to be comfortable with spreadsheets, and you will need to understand how betting exchanges like Betfair work!

I want to make one point very clear. While it's dealing with bookmakers and betting exchanges - so long as you do it properly and follow the guidelines, this is not gambling (or at least not as it's normally defined).

Apologies if this sounds a bit too much like a sales pitch. There's nothing directly in it for me (although there are ways you can help me out if you decide to do this). I'm certainly not asking you for any money, e.g. you don't have to buy a "system". You just need to have half a brain, some spare time, and some patience while you're learning how to do it! It worked out well for me...

If you're interested, I've put my notes online:

Here's the Linky.
(Last Post was a while ago, and some of the specific offers will be out of date, but the site'll give you an idea of the concepts)

If you've got any questions, then gaz me (although I'm not around as much as I used to be, so might take a while to respond!)
( Fireflier La la la la, not listening on, Sat 9 May 2009, 17:56, 4 replies)

Or not -
I fell for this scam a while ago - mainly because I'm an idiot, and pants with money.

it sounds all hunky dory, but the betting places and casinos won't let you withdraw the free money - it's only for playing - so you end up actually gambling - which is a gamble...

Bit pants really...
(feedingtimeatthezoo day 1 of his bikini diet started, Sun 10 May 2009, 1:22, closed)

Er, yes it does...
Friday's profit was £200. You're not doing it right.

Yesterday's profit (bit quieter): £70
Today's profit: £85.

Really, you've missed something.

Oh, and if someone does the "Pics or it didn't happen", I've got a massive Excel file with all of my accounts in. I'll happily suitable anonymise it and e-mail if you're really interested.
( shadyron, Sun 10 May 2009, 18:32, closed)

I'm sure you're not an idiot...
But there's no scam here.

If you don't believe me (or Shadyron, or even Pooflake, who also looked at this) - have a look at Moneysavingexpert.com for lots of other guidance and examples - especially a bloke called Donglemouse, who's made just over £50k from this in slightly under 4 years.

Yes, bookies have wagering requirements, but that's the whole point of what you're doing with matched betting - you don't have to worry about this. I'll repeat what I said above, you need to be comfortable with slightly complicated spreadsheets and calculations, and you need to understand how laying bets at betting exchanges works, but once you know what you're doing, it does work and it is easy.

Online casinos - they're another matter entirely, and with casino bagging you've dealing with significant variance, which means you can be up and down thousands in the short term (while being likely to make a profit in the short term. The days of profitable casino bagging are long gone.

Bingo sites - that's where I found the "play money" problem. Although I found that the bigger problem was the mind-numbing boredom and inane chat of the bingo players!

By the way - well done Ron - what's your total now?
( Fireflier La la la la, not listening on, Sun 10 May 2009, 19:55, closed)

Since August
Well, the end of, after you posted your message, just shy of 8 grand.

It's worth mentioning that I did a Bingo place and won the jackpot of about 1100 quid, so that accounts for a proportion of it.
( shadyron, Mon 11 May 2009, 0:33, closed)