Matched betting - who's done it and who's good at it? (No Referrals)
- Thread starter knowlton
- Start date
Does anyone have a speadsheet they can share which they use to keep track of profit and loss and other important details?
Preferably something I can use directly from Google Drive as I tend to do this from a few different machines.
I knocked something up quickly on Google sheets but it's becoming a bit of a mess.
Preferably something I can use directly from Google Drive as I tend to do this from a few different machines.
I knocked something up quickly on Google sheets but it's becoming a bit of a mess.
Soldato
- Joined
- 5 Aug 2006
- Posts
- 11,379
- Location
- Derbyshire
Thanks! I am doing all of this on top of a full time job. I really enjoy MB but I always remember it IS work and you still need your chill out time, and most importantly, family time!
Back in March I was already a member of most of the big ones.
I mainly make my money through reloads. Horses are OK but you can put a whole Saturday afternoon in and get zero free bets.
For me, the biggest kills come from the casino, in particular slots. The offers where you have £10 risk free (so lose a tenner and get it refunded or get it back as a bonus) as most of the time you win a tiny bit, but now and then you hit it big.
To be honest I bet stupidly on BJ so my 'real' total is around £3500 plus £1500 on BJ. I strongly recommend against this as you can lose it all.
Don't worry about that too much. New customer offers are always sweet, but they are simply one-offs.
Reloads come in fits and starts. They can appear to be crap for weeks then suddenly an amazing offer comes along.
You can discover reloads through your subscription service i.e. Yesbets, Profit Accumulator, Oddsmonkey etc., checking your emails or just browsing the internet.
In all honesty my spreadsheet is also a mess.
Yesbets has an inbuilt bet tracker. It is far from perfect but it is a nifty little tool that allows you to get on with the betting and waste less time filling in spreadsheets! Also reduces the chance of human error.
Last edited:
How on earth have PA justified a £3 increase with Match Catcher? I posted a blank version of my spreadsheet further back in the thread, will post again when I get back to my computer 
EDIT - link below for my spreadsheet (can't remember where I got it from, PA I think).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7bwty8bhoy170cs/Betting Diary Blank.xls?dl=0
EDIT - link below for my spreadsheet (can't remember where I got it from, PA I think).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7bwty8bhoy170cs/Betting Diary Blank.xls?dl=0
Last edited:
You are quite right it is work but if I can hit the targets of £500-600 a month that some people are claiming, I don't mind putting the time in. The hourly rate is pretty good if you work it out
I'm placing a few bets from work hence why I want to be able to access via Google Drive and keep track of everything.
I used to do Blackjack myself, in fact about 12 years ago I used to run a website 'The Blackjack Guide' taking people through all the casino bonuses and playing perfect strategy to extract the bonuses. Same theory as what we're doing here, the wagering requirements were much smaller back then. A x35 was very rare and I would skip it as it dwindled away too much profit, I didn't recommend anyone bet over the minimum so it was hundreds of hands at $1 each. Worked though and people made money.
How on earth have PA justified a £3 increase with Match Catcher? I posted a blank version of my spreadsheet further back in the thread, will post again when I get back to my computer
EDIT - link below for my spreadsheet (can't remember where I got it from, PA I think).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7bwty8bhoy170cs/Betting Diary Blank.xls?dl=0
Thank you very much for that, I'll check that out right now.
As a beginner I'd recommend you try a Yesbet free account then an Oddsmonkey free account, that's what I did.
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Apr 2009
- Posts
- 3,754
- Location
- North-West
Signed up to Yesbet.
To get my "free" bets I had to place a loss making match (Is this right?!)
Now my 'free' bets will make me profit but if I go back to standard bets they are all loss makers. Is this because I am using the Yesbet free acount? Will you only ever profit from free bets?
To get my "free" bets I had to place a loss making match (Is this right?!)
Now my 'free' bets will make me profit but if I go back to standard bets they are all loss makers. Is this because I am using the Yesbet free acount? Will you only ever profit from free bets?
Soldato
- Joined
- 3 Oct 2009
- Posts
- 19,893
- Location
- Wales
Most qualifying bets for normal matched betting offers will lose up to a couple of quid depending on the type of bet (e.g Match odds will lose very little, correct score bets will lose more).
Worth losing £2 for a £25 free bet that you recover £20 from
Worth losing £2 for a £25 free bet that you recover £20 from
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Apr 2009
- Posts
- 3,754
- Location
- North-West
Most qualifying bets for normal matched betting offers will lose up to a couple of quid depending on the type of bet (e.g Match odds will lose very little, correct score bets will lose more).
Worth losing £2 for a £25 free bet that you recover £20 from
Yeah so in the long run I lost 12p on the qualifying bet but recovered that by winning £20+ on 4 X free £5 bets.
Do you just move onto the next offer then?
Soldato
- Joined
- 3 Oct 2009
- Posts
- 19,893
- Location
- Wales
Yep pretty much. You don't make money off just placing normal back and lay bets outside of offers (well you can, but it isn't recommended with the exception being advertised price boosts on bookie odds).
You should be recovering about £4 profit from a £5 free bet
You should be recovering about £4 profit from a £5 free bet
That's the deal
I'm sitting on £930 profit on day 21 of doing this and have a few offers still do finish up. Not started on any of the tennis offers yet though.
Helped that I started at the beginning of the Euros so there were lots of offers and matches every day.
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Apr 2009
- Posts
- 3,754
- Location
- North-West
That's the deal
I'm sitting on £930 profit on day 21 of doing this and have a few offers still do finish up. Not started on any of the tennis offers yet though.
Helped that I started at the beginning of the Euros so there were lots of offers and matches every day.
Awesome thanks, I guess more offers will come about when the football season starts too.
DBT85 how much did you initially start off with if you don't mind me asking, so what did you originally put into the pot?
Just as a point of reference; I think my housemate only started with a couple of hundred and is about £200 up but she's gone quite slowly. I started off with a similar amount but increased it to £500 shortly after. I now have £750 at any given time but ideally I think double that would mean I don't have to be tactical during busier periods. If you want to move through it quickly (e.g. not wait for days to withdraw money from the bookies to continue feeding your lay account), you need at least £500 but preferably £1k.
Also keen to know
as my liability during the Euros hasn't been that bad because it been generally low numbers. I may need £1-2k for the final though 
PS - I don't do what they all recommend and keep all my profits, instead spend it as additional wages or pay for things (most recently pretty much all expenses paid holiday to Croatia).
Also keen to know
as my liability during the Euros hasn't been that bad because it been generally low numbers. I may need £1-2k for the final though PS - I don't do what they all recommend and keep all my profits, instead spend it as additional wages or pay for things (most recently pretty much all expenses paid holiday to Croatia).
Deleted member 66701
Deleted member 66701
Once you get a bank that lets you do all the available offers and cover the liability at the exchange then its's fine to cream off the excess as wages, treats or whatever. It can be very frustrating to have a great offer come up but not have enough funds available to take advantage of it.
I found I needed £10k in the bank/exchange to cover all the offers though. If you're only single accounting, then £2-3k is probably enough.
Associate
- Joined
- 7 Nov 2005
- Posts
- 499
I have been thinking of starting doing this once I find some free time. How long would people say on average they spend doing this and for what kind of return?
£10k
. I have been building the bank just very slowly but have various ways to help on those more difficult days. It really depends. I probably do a good few hours* a week an average £200 a month in profit, there are some that can hit £500 without too much bother. I am coming up to my 12 months and have made ~£2.5k (documented so at least another £500 on top from bits and bobs) for me and ~£2k for the Mrs though she started a few months after me.
*It can be time consuming at first but once you have the hang of it, it's very quick to do. Research and mug betting are take up the most time outside of the matched bets.
Standard bet, or qualifying bets are usually loss makers. If it's in profit it's what's known as an arb (odds lower at the exchange than the bookmaker) and should really stay away from them most of the time, as they will likely get your account limited. The cash is made on the free bets, of which there are many. The key to making consistent long term profits is to get close matches on your qualifying bets (not too much of a loss) and then get the free bets (automatic with signups, triggered based on certain events with reloads a lot of the time). So it sounds like you are on the right track.
Soldato
- Joined
- 3 Oct 2009
- Posts
- 19,893
- Location
- Wales
I've got around 2.5k-3k in exchanges and 1k in bookies which seems plenty sufficient for what I'm doing at the moment. I can see myself needing a bit more if I was to really get into horses/acumulators etc though and I've got money in the bank to top up certain accounts quickly if needed without having to wait to withdraw.
This month I've probably spent around 1-1.5 hour a day average (none some days, 2-3 hours some busier ones) to make £800 profit (+£125 i lost through an incorrect horse bet!)
I've only been logging on my current spreadsheet since 27 April (accidentally deleted my previous, less accurate one) and I'm at £1,466 profit since then.
This month I've probably spent around 1-1.5 hour a day average (none some days, 2-3 hours some busier ones) to make £800 profit (+£125 i lost through an incorrect horse bet!)
I've only been logging on my current spreadsheet since 27 April (accidentally deleted my previous, less accurate one) and I'm at £1,466 profit since then.
Associate
- Joined
- 8 Oct 2009
- Posts
- 865
Hi guys, I want to take a look at sports trading using Bet Angel or similar. Any idea where to start first? Want to learn first so I don't lose money as I know there is more risk than match betting.
you can get a 30 day free trial of Betting Assistant - you can attach your betfair account to it. You don't actually have to make any bets if you don't want, and you can just watch it, learn it etc.
After that you can bet very small amounts, with stop losses in place so that if it goes against you, you only loose pennies etc.
Aside from that, you need to read/watch/read etc - think of a strategy whether it's in play betting or something else.
check youtube for loads of videos etc - Caan berry etc.