Matched betting is an extremely simple concept.
if I flip a coin and bet a dollar that it’ll land on tails, I’ve set myself up for two outcomes: one where I make a dollar, and one where I lose a dollar. That’s how normal betting works. It’s the same as betting the Yankees will beat the Mets, except the odds are probably different.
Now, if I flip the same coin and bet a dollar that it will land on tails, and bet another dollar that it will land on heads what happens? No matter the outcome, I walk away with zero dollars. In this scenario I’ve matched my bets so my net profit is 0 no matter what happens. It’s the same thing as not betting at all.
Well how do we make money here?
Through free bonuses the sportsbook gives us dummy…If you asked yourself this question you should check out my intro to matched betting guide here.
The real trick to matched betting is the T&Cs
The difficult part of matched betting is that these bonuses aren’t the same as getting free cash. The books put weird rules and stipulations on these bonuses, almost as if they were trying to make sure people didn’t cash them out….weird…
Sometimes these rules are so over the top that the bonus simply isn’t worth the effort of matched betting.
Just take a look at betamerica’s promo:
Wow so if I bet $50 dollars, they’ll just give me $50, just like that? Amazing!
….but if you read the T&Cs…
This tells us that ‘GET $50’ actually means get a $50 bonus bet. This bonus bet has to be wagered three times before you can see a dime of actual money. But wait a minute; even if we bet this money three times and get lucky three times, we don’t even get to the bonus money itself, only the winnings. In other words, this offer is basically worthless and you should avoid it at ALL COSTS.
But there’s some good news…
The good news is that Betamerica’s intro offer is, to my knowledge, the worst intro offer in America. It’s all uphill from here baby! But that doesn’t mean you don’t absolutely NEED to look at the T&Cs
Below I’m going to list out major questions you should be asking when you’re looking at the T&Cs. This list is pretty exhaustive, but remember to think for yourself….don’t put your money in until you absolutely understand how the bonus will work. Well, without further ado, here we go…
What are the wagering requirements?
Wagering requirements, also known as playthrough requirements, is the number of times you need to bet your bonus money in order to withdraw it as cash. In the US most of the bonuses are 1x, as in you only need to wager them once, but there are a few (looking at you betamerica) that have higher wagering requirements.
I know matched bettors in England who have satisfied crazy wagering requirements and turned a profit, but as a beginner in America I would recommend avoiding any bonus with a playthrough greater than 1x.
So, you should do a control f to find the playthrough requirements in the T&Cs. If nothing is listed, you either didn’t look hard enough, or it probably is 1x. If you search and search and search the T&Cs and can’t find any info don’t just assume the playthrough is 1x, send a quick message to support.
Will I get the bonus money itself or just the winnings?
The answer to this is, unfortunately, almost always just the winnings. You should look for this in the T&Cs for risk free bets, but otherwise, you can simply begin placing a bet and look at how much payoff you get if you win; does it include the initial bonus money?
Are there any restrictions on what I can use this bonus on?
Some books will put odds restrictions on your bonus bets; this is generally to prevent people from making extremely safe bets just to get their bonus money. Don’t just look at restrictions on odds, make sure you get a full picture of what you can and can’t bet your bonus money on.
Will this bonus expire and if so when?
Most bonuses expire fairly quickly, and some within days, so I wouldn’t recommend making an account with a book until after deciding on your bets, and upon making an account, I would claim/convert your bonuses as quickly as possible. Definitely double check the T&Cs beforehand to see when the bonus will expire regardless…I don’t think a book would make an offer expire that quickly, but considering the other crap they pull I wouldn’t put it past them.
Did I actually read the full T&Cs?
This might sound like a no a brainer to some, but I can’t tell you how many people will read a blurb of info and think that they’ve just read the full T&Cs. Even if you’ve read the T&Cs for the specific bonus itself, a lot of books have a separate T&Cs section on bonus money in general or promotions in general. This can be quite tricky, as books love to hide their T&Cs, but in my experience a quick google search of “x bonus terms and conditions” and “x intro offer terms and conditions” will normally get you the full T&Cs.
Do I understand exactly what will happen in every scenario?
This is really the meat of matched betting itself, and what you should be asking yourself every step of the way. But basically, if you don’t understand something then read it again, read this guide again, or even shoot me an email.