Matched betting - who's done it and who's good at it? (No Referrals)

[Deleted member 66701]

So you would gub your customers accounts because they bet £50 when you advertised a £50 risk free bet? Plus I don't consider doing a 6.0 bet odd when it is RISK FREE (the horse later became the second favourite)

If I was a bookie I wouldn't want a savvy punter - I'd want a mug, so yes I'd gub your account for that.

AND I don't understand why people are come to the defence of bookmakers, they are parasites and they should be taken as the mugs at every opportunity.

I'm not defending them, I'm telling you how they work so you can extract aximum profit from them before they cotton on to what you're doing.

They have the potential to pay your mortgage and bills - so be nice to them

 

[dowie]

So you would gub your customers accounts because they bet £50 when you advertised a £50 risk free bet? Plus I don't consider doing a 6.0 bet odd when it is RISK FREE (the horse later became the second favourite)

AND I don't understand why people are come to the defence of bookmakers, they are parasites and they should be taken as the mugs at every opportunity. If I got a 1% chance of getting my £50 free bet I will take it, doesn't take long to write an email to their authorites

seems like you get too emotional about this, they're parasites but so are you - they take money from mugs, you take money from their marketing budget making it less effective... they try to prevent this by putting in terms and conditions allowing them to not pay and they will chose not to pay certain people

nothing in this game is 'risk free' you're naive to think so and bitching about a single bet is ridiculous, they made the right choice, you didn't get paid out... so what - move onto the next one. You're going to have to accept that you need to chalk up some losses every so often. Do it long enough and you'll find that there are plenty of other anomalies along the way from less reputable bookies not paying out on bets you've actually won (not just cancelling your free bet) though to different rules on handling various anatomies that may occur in sports leaving you unhedged.

Its a game that you can, or at least could a few years ago, make tens of thousands from - bitching and moaning about one small bet is silly. Calling bookies parasites is silly. They're there to take your money you're there to take theirs, get a better appreciation of how this all works and ditch silly moaning. If you can't even handle simple match betting then please don't move onto taking advantage of any other +ev opportunities in gambling. I'd hate to see your reaction if you got on the wrong side of a well known person at 5dimes etc.. (if anyone is interested then google some of the reviews - makes for amusing reading, the manager there takes it very personally when he thinks people have screwed him)

 

[AndrewNR]

The exchange should be open for you to use though as even if your lay bets win it's not thier money - it's other punters - they take their comission regardless.

I've NEVER heard of anyone getting banned from the exchange.

And if you're getting banned from sportbooks/casinos/slots then you aren't mug betting enough. For every free bet offer, aim to mug bet back 20-30% of your winnings. I know it's hard to lose £100 on purpose when you've just hit £500 on the slots, but you'll still £400 up.

It was slots, not betting.

Although it may have been Bet365 thinking about it, can't remember. Either way my BetFair account got suspended.

Edit: Started this last night.
Mistake #1 so far: Backed £10 to activate free bet but Layed £10 instead of £9.70 as per the calculator.
Not a deal breaker, but annoying.

 

[Tosno]

If I was a bookie I wouldn't want a savvy punter - I'd want a mug, so yes I'd gub your account for that.

They don't know if I'm savvy or the local idiot that got a dodgy tip at the pub. If it was so easy to tell the difference match betting would be dead. If everyone was getting caught just by sportingbet and their secert technology it wouldn't be listed on PA starter offers.

 

[dowie]

If I was a bookie I wouldn't want a savvy punter - I'd want a mug, so yes I'd gub your account for that.

there is at least one bookie that does allegedly want savvy customers, for the purpose of price discovery, thought unfortunately it is no longer available to UK customers (and they don't offer any free bets for the matched betting crowd)

 

[dowie]

They don't know if I'm savvy or the local idiot that got a dodgy tip at the pub. If it was so easy to tell the difference match betting would be dead. If everyone was getting caught just by sportingbet and their secert technology it wouldn't be listed on PA starter offers.

you don't know what they do and don't know

 

[dowie]

No, it is an evasion of the reason.

its semantics... excuse/reason... their T&C allows them to do it

I don't?

correct

If they have information that other bookies don't have, why don't they say it as a reason? All they know is I put £50 on a high odds horse.

why would they say anything, as far as their concerned you're just a numpty they don't want to waste money on - no free bets for you but also slim chances of you being a sharp better so your account is still open on the off chance you develop a gambling addiction from all of this

if you deposited via your debit card they perhaps don't know anything other than the silly bet, by some other method they might have more information - they've got enough data to model who they do and don't want to receive the money and it looks like they got it right this time. You're in absolutely no position to comment on whether this is a bad move in general on their part.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

They don't know if I'm savvy or the local idiot that got a dodgy tip at the pub. If it was so easy to tell the difference match betting would be dead. If everyone was getting caught just by sportingbet and their secert technology it wouldn't be listed on PA starter offers.

Some bookies are just more risk averse though.

Sportingbet as you've found out is one of them, Ladbrokes can be finicky, Paddy Power needs some serious mug betting to maintain and Stan James will just seemingly randomly gub accounts. Any bookie in the Boyle group will eventually gub all accounts - no point even trying to keep one of thier accounts open - just hit them hard with the offers and run. Betfair will gub you if you win big on the sports book, casino or slots then withdraw without mugging any of the profits back.

However, I've never seen anyone gubbed on William Hill.

 

[Tosno]

seems like you get too emotional about this, they're parasites but so are you - they take money from mugs, you take money from their marketing budget making it less effective... they try to prevent this by putting in terms and conditions allowing them to not pay and they will chose not to pay certain people

nothing in this game is 'risk free' you're naive to think so and bitching about a single bet is ridiculous, they made the right choice, you didn't get paid out... so what - move onto the next one. You're going to have to accept that you need to chalk up some losses every so often. Do it long enough and you'll find that there are plenty of other anomalies along the way from less reputable bookies not paying out on bets you've actually won (not just cancelling your free bet) though to different rules on handling various anatomies that may occur in sports leaving you unhedged.

Its a game that you can, or at least could a few years ago, make tens of thousands from - bitching and moaning about one small bet is silly. Calling bookies parasites is silly. They're there to take your money you're there to take theirs, get a better appreciation of how this all works and ditch silly moaning. If you can't even handle simple match betting then please don't move onto taking advantage of any other +ev opportunities in gambling. I'd hate to see your reaction if you got on the wrong side of a well known person at 5dimes etc.. (if anyone is interested then google some of the reviews - makes for amusing reading, the manager there takes it very personally when he thinks people have screwed him)

Seems you are the one getting emotional. My 'parasiting' doesn't ruin millions of lives and families. I'd glady give up my parasiting if they close up shop. I know very well that match betting isn't risk free, but they advertise a risk free bet and that comes under advertising laws. My "bitching and moaning" (you would never do such a thing) can warn other match betters to be careful with them or just avoid them. What is silly is you taking it personally like I have insulted your mother and at the start of your post you call them parasites then at the end saying it is silly.

if you deposited via your debit card

I did.

 

[amkan13]

there is at least one bookie that does allegedly want savvy customers, for the purpose of price discovery, thought unfortunately it is no longer available to UK customers (and they don't offer any free bets for the matched betting crowd)

if you really want to, you can use them via a broker
I'd build up a good bank balance through matched betting before getting into arbing

 

[dowie]

Seems you are the one getting emotional. My 'parasiting' doesn't ruin millions of lives and families. I'd glady give up my parasiting if they close up shop.

you're not on some moral crusade here, you're taking some free money with rather low risk

I know very well that match betting isn't risk free, but they advertise a risk free bet and that comes under advertising laws. My "bitching and moaning" (you would never do such a thing) can warn other match betters to be careful with them or just avoid them. What is silly is you taking it personally like I have insulted your mother and at the start of your post you call them parasites then at the end saying it is silly.

I'm not taking it personally and yes it is silly. You're a sample size of one, there are others who've been paid out by that firm. The better thing to do would be to simply keep it informative and mention the bet you placed and that you didn't get the offer. Instead you posted a load of irrelevant nonsense about getting your bank involved etc...

 

[AndrewNR]

Just to make sure I'm reading this correctly.

bet365 have:

"You've picked a great time to open an account. Simply make a deposit of £10 or more and you will be entitled to a 100% matched amount as a bonus to bet with up to a maximum of £200. Please note you must have settled bets to the value of three times your deposit and bonus prior to making a withdrawal."

Let's say I deposit £50 and get a free £50 bet. Total bet = £100.

Does this mean I need to:
A) bet £300 (so risk £200 on something almost a certainty i.e. Djokovic winning)
B) bet with a price of 3/1 so that my settled bets come to £300 (3 x 50 + 3 x 50)

???

If it's option A then I guess there's too much risk?

 

[Mattus]

You need to bet a total of £300, making sure your bets comply with any odds restrictions that apply to the promotion. If there are odds restrictions then a bet on Djokovic winning is almost certainly going to be too short.

Why are you talking about risking £200 though? You would be laying the bet off, so you don't risk losing your stake. I think you need to read up on the concept of matched betting before depositing!

More generally, I wouldn't bet on tennis matches if you are just starting out. Most bookies' rules on player retirements differ from those of the exchanges, so you can lose the lay bet and have the back bet voided if a player retires at the wrong time.

 

[Tosno]

I'm not taking it personally and yes it is silly. You're a sample size of one, there are others who've been paid out by that firm. The better thing to do would be to simply keep it informative and mention the bet you placed and that you didn't get the offer. Instead you posted a load of irrelevant nonsense about getting your bank involved etc...

You seem to be getting rather 'excited' over something silly for you. The fact is, they advertise a risk free bet, it comes under British advertising law. It's no different from supermarket saying if you spend £50 with us you get your next £50 shop risk free. Their T&Cs don't cover false/deceptive advertising. It is my choice how I write about my experience with this offer, further more this offer is listed as a starter offer in PA when it is anything but when they can tell I'm match betting with a debit card deposit while no one else can or cares.

 

[dowie]

there isn't anything exciting about it, you're better off moving on with other bets instead of getting worried about it breaching british advertising law

top tip: they've got a legal department, they probably understand what they can and can't do here better than you - especially given that you were struggling a bit with even understanding the basics of matched betting a few pages back

 

[AndrewNR]

Why are you talking about risking £200 though? You would be laying the bet off, so you don't risk losing your stake. I think you need to read up on the concept of matched betting before depositing!

Good point. I understand it, it's pretty straightforward - bet to win and lose... lose a bit then recoup with the free bet.

Just what you suggested didn't occur to me.

Just did one for a game tomorrow. Put full £25 on a bookie and £24.35 at BetFair (got my account reinstated) as suggested but a portion is unmatched (£13.39). I assume it will be matched, but what if it doesn't?

I see - there wasn't enough in the 'pot' to cover my Lay. Another lesson learnt.

 

[Tosno]

top tip: they've got a legal department, they probably understand what they can and can't do here better than you - especially given that you were struggling a bit with even understanding the basics of matched betting a few pages back

Probably.
Uhuh because everyone is born knowing how to match bet

 

[dowie]

Probably.
Uhuh because everyone is born knowing how to match bet

point was that it is a rather simple concept

 

[Tosno]

point was that it is a rather simple concept

It was simple once I did it in practice.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

It was simple once I did it in practice.

So How much money have you made since you first posted about the issue?