Is that matched betting or another system?
Matched betting - who's done it and who's good at it? (No Referrals)
- Thread starter knowlton
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Is that matched betting or another system?
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Its called bonus abusing
I believe he was indicating that he did both matched betting and got casino bonuses through playing black jack.
Tis less profitable now but essentially online casinos offer signup bonuses and you need to have bet over a certain amount in order to claim the bonus.
Blackjack is a game with only a small house edge when played using basic strategy (it varies according to the rules in place at the particular casino) - essentially if the bonus is larger than your expected loss would be in playing enough hands of blackjack to meet the withdrawal requirement then its a +ev proposition to try and meet the withdrawal requirement (assuming its a legit casino with proper RnG etc..).
You can obviously lose money whilst chasing an individual bonus (there is some variance) but as long as chasing each particular bonus is +ev then you should make money in the long run. Conversely you could end up being rather lucky making money from blackjack while attempting to meet a particular bonus requirement and then claiming the bonus too...
Thing is the amount you need to play to claim the bonus has increased a fair bit, some sites have stopped allowing blackjack for bonuses (you could try a low edge video poker variant). The time to do this was really 10 years ago though if you're a student and have some free time then I guess bonus bagging and matched betting might still be worth a shot.
The problem is that in the past it was mostly people who had an interest in gambling who'd spotted the opportunity to make money from bonuses who were doing it, then people discussed it on forums and later people wrote idiots guides to it etc.. you then end up with a whole bunch of people, most of whom would have never had the foresight to come up with anything like it themselves*, abusing bonuses at casinos etc.. obviously the free money decreased somewhat. Casinos want to use freebies for marketing but don't want to open the floodgates and start hemorrhaging money to a whole bunch of people mindlessly following a blackjack basic strategy card.
(*not that it required much tbh.. I'm pretty sure plenty of people around the world saw the opportunities to take advantage of casino bonuses back in the day...)
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Wow, thanks for the very detailed description!!
I think you hit the nail on the head there - in the past, it was mostly people who had an interest in gambling which is probably why it has stayed that way. However I definitely think that bonus bagging is going to be a huge trend - like it was with moneysavingexpert - when that first started, only the super savvy, accountants, lawyers, IFAs knew what is the best way in which we should save our money, as well as our consumer rights.
Websites like Fixtheodds.com are obviously trying to tap into the market of people who aren't pros or gamblers - after all, you make a profit, they make profit since they get a commission at the betting exchange.
Having read what you've said about casino offers, it seems that there's definitely more bonus bagging opportunities out there. However I haven't seen any websites that offer similar 'idiots' systems' for casino offers yet...
I guess you're right - bookmakers can't be overly happy, however they're probably in some sort of hope that some people might end up putting in the odd bet anyway.. Also, the chances that you're going to lose at the bookmaker (so good for them), is equal to that as if you'd just gone to a bookie and placed a normal bet...
For the betting exchange - they couldn't care less! They take commission from any winnings...
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Signed up to fixtheodds today. I believe I understand the theory behind it all, but wanted to see how it did it automatically first.. and hell.. when ive run out of offers on there, i can go on to do it manually! Anyone had any good success with fixtheodds? I've only done 1 offer, and i am waiting til Wednesday for the match to be played and results to be drawn so i can get my free bet (as i can only get my free bet til after the results apparently) and see what happens from there. Was tempted to just crack on and get all the offers done though!
I did my first matched bet there, realised I made lost out on about £2 profit using their automatic odds finder so switched to manual. More profit in the manual method although it will take more time
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I did my first matched bet there, realised I made lost out on about £2 profit using their automatic odds finder so switched to manual. More profit in the manual method although it will take more time
How come you lost out? It didn't pick the best match for you?
I hear everywhere that there is more money to be made in the manual method.. however it does take more time and involves a spreadsheet made of pure headache trying to keep track of things! However, once i've done a bet or two and figured it all out, i am likely to get into the manual method!
Soldato
My friend has made about £3k from this over the last couple of years, although he's not making as much now. Some of his matched bets are (by necessity, I understand) huge, so he has a specific bank account for it which can fluctuate quite a lot and he gets rung up by the bank regularly who wonder what's going on lol. He does the 'arbing' stuff as well as regular matched betting.
Some of the people on MoneySavingExpert's forum/thread who started doing this years ago have made a lot more. Seems harder to rake it in now, although the best times of year are during big sporting events.
Some of the people on MoneySavingExpert's forum/thread who started doing this years ago have made a lot more. Seems harder to rake it in now, although the best times of year are during big sporting events.
I tried this a couple of years ago and made a small amount of cash (<£100 though). I didn't continue though since I was spoilt by the massive profits you could get from casino bonus bagging 10 years or so ago. At the peak of the casino bonus fad I was raking in about £400-£500 a month. I made £7000 total before the bonuses started to dry up. I remember £10,000 profit was the magic number people used to aim for. Good times
I found darts was a pretty good thing for matched betting, when things like the BDO World Championship is on.
I found darts was a pretty good thing for matched betting, when things like the BDO World Championship is on.
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I caught onto Casino bagging at the end unfortunately, made about 3k from it. Moved onto free bingo sites, turned nearly 500 quid on those... and frm matched betting I was over 1k in the bank.
Problem I had was that when it was quiet, id look in my Betfair account and see a few hundred quid and think, might as well have a punt. Ended up betting on full time scores on games that had 10 mins or so left...... all on one Sunday I made about £500 going from game to game, then I remember this distinctly, lumped it all on Caen v Toulouse it was 1-0 and I bet on the game ending with less than 2.5 goals or something... would have made about £50 not much but worth it.
Anyway 2 goals in injury time ruined that, left me out of pocket and although it was 'winnings' as such, I actually felt sick and havent touched it since.
Might run the easy ones again though as ive a new address, new bank and a pot of cash doing zip.
Problem I had was that when it was quiet, id look in my Betfair account and see a few hundred quid and think, might as well have a punt. Ended up betting on full time scores on games that had 10 mins or so left...... all on one Sunday I made about £500 going from game to game, then I remember this distinctly, lumped it all on Caen v Toulouse it was 1-0 and I bet on the game ending with less than 2.5 goals or something... would have made about £50 not much but worth it.
Anyway 2 goals in injury time ruined that, left me out of pocket and although it was 'winnings' as such, I actually felt sick and havent touched it since.
Might run the easy ones again though as ive a new address, new bank and a pot of cash doing zip.
Yea, I've made around £400 now... The nice thing about Fixtheodds is that it's quick and easy so I just do it whilst I'm on lunch..
It's a nice idea and it's something I'm planning on doing as well.
Completely agree - Also, I've done a bit of trawling on the MSE threads, and it would seem that those who do it manually, tend to make marginally more as they chose liabilities are far higher - some are putting hundreds on a £25 offer... It seems that Fixtheodds's initial suggestion is reasonable, however you can change it to matches with higher liabilities if you wish... (and hence, get a better return)
Another thing I should point out, according to the Telegraph article, if Fixtheodds gets it wrong they will apparently refund you... A pretty nice guarantee if you ask me..
So I guess the decision on whether to do it automatically or manually is a matter of time vs security vs profit vs how much you have in your bank account!!
Did you do this manually, or did you have an automated website?
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All manually, the bagging was easy in them days it was Blackjack... so you just followed a chart, did the wagering requirement and then withdraw.
Bingo is a gamble, but when its free money you have nothing to lose... all you needed was to earn £20 winnings (easy when you played late hours as the room would be about 7-10 people and the jackpot around £20-£30) so I hopped from site to site just cashing in.
Matched betting was all manual, ie use Betfair, find a bookie that I wanted to do the MB with... then match the odds as best I could. I had a calculator that told me what to bet/lay and the profit etc, but nothing automated as such.
I think Casino bagging might well have some life left if you have a bank as well, ive found a few good sites with monthlys and starters.... not all Blackjack, some VP but still a decent enough edge to be able to turn a profit if you stick in.
Bingo is a gamble, but when its free money you have nothing to lose... all you needed was to earn £20 winnings (easy when you played late hours as the room would be about 7-10 people and the jackpot around £20-£30) so I hopped from site to site just cashing in.
Matched betting was all manual, ie use Betfair, find a bookie that I wanted to do the MB with... then match the odds as best I could. I had a calculator that told me what to bet/lay and the profit etc, but nothing automated as such.
I think Casino bagging might well have some life left if you have a bank as well, ive found a few good sites with monthlys and starters.... not all Blackjack, some VP but still a decent enough edge to be able to turn a profit if you stick in.
Right let me get my head round this.
When you sign up to X bookies, they give you a £50 free bet which you can only withdraw into your bank account after making 2 bets.
You sign up to an exchange and then try to find a bet which has very similar odds on an outcome on both websites?
You make bets, which then cancel each other out, i.e. win £20 on one and lose £20 on the other (obviously minus commission, so a small loss).
After making said bets and losing a small amount you can now withdraw (whats left) the free bet, for example £36 quid?
Am I completely wrong is that about right?
When you sign up to X bookies, they give you a £50 free bet which you can only withdraw into your bank account after making 2 bets.
You sign up to an exchange and then try to find a bet which has very similar odds on an outcome on both websites?
You make bets, which then cancel each other out, i.e. win £20 on one and lose £20 on the other (obviously minus commission, so a small loss).
After making said bets and losing a small amount you can now withdraw (whats left) the free bet, for example £36 quid?
Am I completely wrong is that about right?
That was how it was at the start, but the bookies have caught on and you now have to "rollover" the bonus, which essentially means you have to make several more bets which cancel each other out, each time eating away at the bonus you get, before you can withdraw the cash. Ends up making every bonus more time-consuming and ultimately less profitable.
Essentially yes.
Though I have to say, and I don't mean to be rude here, but if it was something that you had to think out like that and then ask for reassurance that you had it right then perhaps give it a miss. There isn't much free money out there these days anyway and T&Cs of offers can and do change, it might well turn out to be more time consuming than its worth tbh...