Last updated: May 31, 2023
I’m really pleased to announce that today’s post is a guest post from Jodie at Matched Betting Mum. Jodie is a stay at home mum who earns an income from home through matched betting, and is very successful at doing it. In her post below, Jodie shares her story with us of how she got started, how much money she makes each month, and how you too can get started.
If you’ve never heard of matched betting before, or if you have but don’t know what it is or how it works, read on.
Make Extra Money From Home Matched Betting
Thanks to Melissa for welcoming me here on At Home & Online.
She asked me to write an article explaining what matched betting is since it’s such a brilliant way of making extra money from the comfort of your own home. It’s something that’s made me more than £7000 – for only a few hours effort each week – since I started 11 months ago. As a full-time mum of two young children, it’s been perfect as an extra source of income for me.
It shocked me just how little information there was about matched betting when I first started. None of my friends had heard of it. And it was difficult to understand how it worked. But I’m glad I placed my faith in the journalists from The Telegraph and Guardian. They had tried and tested it themselves.
“With bookmakers offering ‘free bets’ to tempt new customers, you can play the system and pocket hundreds of pounds – with little risk to your own cash” (The Guardian, June 2010)
Now I’m on a mission through my blog Matched Betting Mum to tell as many people about matched betting as possible.
What Is Matched Betting?
Despite its name, matched betting doesn’t involve you betting or gambling in the traditional sense. Instead, you only place bets you are guaranteed to make money from.
Bookmakers give away huge amounts of money to attract new customers and make sure they keep betting with them. Matched betting simply exploits these offers by placing the required bets & taking cash out of the bonuses they give you. By betting on all outcomes you don’t leave anything to chance and profit is guaranteed. This means it is a risk free way of making money. And anything you make is also tax free.
How does it work?
It is actually very simple to play the system and make money from free bet offers. But it does take time to get your head around how and why it works.
- Sign up to an online bookmaker which is offering a free bet for new customers.
- Sign up to a betting exchange website. These sites let you bet against the outcome of a particular game or match.
- Place a qualifying bet. You don’t just choose a random bet which could win or lose. Instead, you need to place 2 bets – 1 for and 1 against the same outcome. This means backing a bet with a bookmaker and also laying against that outcome with a betting exchange. By doing this, all the outcomes are covered. This means that when the match or game finishes you will get your money back.
- You will then be awarded a free bet from the bookmaker.
- You repeat the same process with the free bet, placing bets both for and against the same outcome. Once again, you’ll get your money back. But as this was free money given to you by the bookmaker in the first place you actually make the value of the free bet. So you will be in profit.
How Much Money Can You Make?
By following this simple method, you can always make at least 70% of the value of the free bets offered by bookmakers. There are more than 50 bookmakers in the UK with introductory offers worth well over £2000. This means there’s at least £1500 to be made simply by signing up to them.
The bookmakers want you to continue betting with them once you’ve signed up. There are ongoing offers all the time as a consequence. I completed all of the initial sign up offers in my first few months matched betting. However, I still make about £500 per month simply from these reload offers. I publish monthly diary updates on my blog which set out which types of offers I complete and how much I make from them.
How Can You Start Matched Betting?
It’s completely possible for you to research all of the offers that are available. Analyse their terms and conditions, and look manually for bets where the back and lay odds are the same or very close. But this takes an awful lot of time!
If you’re anything like me, the whole matched betting world can also seem very complicated and a little daunting. Before I started matched betting, my experience of bookmakers was very limited, apart from an annual visit to place a bet on the National (which other customers or the cashier helped me work out how to do). Not to mention that as a mum of a 1 and 5-year-old, I really don’t have much spare time to do all this on my own.
I quickly found that there were several different matched betting services available to help. In return for a monthly or annual fee, these sites spoon feed you all of the information you need. They help you place the bets you need to. The site I use is called Profit Accumulator. It tells me what offers are available, helps me find suitable bets, and talks me through placing the back and lay bets. They offer a free trial where you get access to the training and tutorials for 2 offers, from which you will easily make £35-£40. I’ve done a full review of the service they provide on my blog.
Where Can I Find Out More?
If you do decide to take the plunge and give it a go then do check out my blog for some tips and advice. I feel a great deal of responsibility if people start matched betting as a result of what I’ve written. So I want this to be a useful resource for people. There are some top tips for getting started, frequently asked questions and a guide to the terminology of this strange land.
Thanks once again to Melissa for having me. I’m looking forward to finding out how she gets on when she has a little more spare time to get stuck into matched betting once again.
Thanks so much Jodie for sharing your story and your tips with us! Your extra income is so inspiring. I definitely need to start setting time aside to continue matched betting. I love how it’s so lucrative and it’s completely tax-free income. Find out how much money I made the first time I tried matched betting.
With a little know-how and Jodie’s advice you could be bringing extra money in to your home each month.
Have you tried matched betting yet? If not, are you tempted to give it a go?
That is interesting! I’ve never heard of this before, I want to play!
Definitely give it a go! I’m going to pick it up again this year. Lots of money to be made doing it!