Matched Betting: A New Way To Bet (For Australians)

How it works

Bookmakers offer promotions to encourage you to join their site. This signup bonus is usually in the form of a generous bonus bet.

Plus, bookmakers try to create loyalty by offering regular promotions to existing customers.

You can use these promotions to your advantage by betting with a bookmaker and laying the same option off on the Betfair Exchange.

Let’s look at an example

If you were to back Jeff Horn to beat Terence Crawford with a Pointsbet bonus bet, you could match the bet on Betfair.

Bonus bet of $100 on Jeff Horn at $9.

(Odds correct at 12:00pm on 18/5/18. Pointsbet.com)

Then lay Jeff Horn at $8.20 on the Betfair Exchange with a 5% commission.

A) Place a $100 WIN bet on Jeff Horn at $9 with Pointsbet.

B) Place a $98.16 WIN market Lay bet on Jeff Horn at $8.20 with Betfair.

The overall result from this bet was a $93.25 profit, whether Horn won or lost.

In this example we were able to achieve profit, regardless of the result, for two reasons.

Firstly, we had a bonus bet from Pointsbet. Secondly, the Pointsbet odds exceeded the Betfair Exchange market.

Matcha

If the previous example looks intimidating, there’s an automated solution that can be used for matched betting. It’s called Matcha, a custom Chrome extension created by Bonus Money.

According to Bonus Money, Matcha allows you to identify the most lucrative matched betting opportunities in real time. Plus, impressively, it does the maths for you.

As you can see from the Jeff Horn example, you may need an actuarial degree to calculate a $98.16 lay bet. Thankfully, Matcha does that for you. It works exclusively on horse racing, helping you identify the best runners to arbitrage free bets with.

In the screenshot below, you can see Matcha in action.

To find out more about Matcha, including the colour coding system and displayed calculations, click HERE.

Bonusbank ATM

If you have received a bonus bet from a bookie, the quickest way to figure out what to bet on is to use matched betting software, such as the Bonusbank ATM.

The software scans the odds at bookmakers and Betfair to find the best opportunities, and displays them on a handy table:

In this example, you can see that betting on Arsenal to beat Man City would be a great option for any bonus bets that you have at Sportsbet. If you had a $100 bonus bet you could guarantee a profit of $79.61 from it.

To do that you would place the bonus bet on Arsenal at odds of 8.50, then you would go to the Betfair market and place a lay bet at odds of 9.00. The stake for your lay bet would be determined by a matched betting calculator.

By using a lay stake of $83.80 you will be guaranteed $79.61 profit whether Arsenal win, lose, or draw.”

The challenge

It seems Matcha and Bonusbank ATM may simplify matched betting. However, as some of you would know, these opportunities can feel like a mirage. If you show sophistication with your betting, particularly with promotions, your account may be restricted.

Some bookmakers employ risk teams to profile clients and remove access to promotions or certain products from clients who aren’t losing enough.

Your best chance to avoid unwanted attention is to vary your betting pattern. An account that exclusively uses matched betting typically has an expiration date.

Conclusion

Many corporate bookmakers are competing with the same marketing playbook. Promotions. This has paved the way for an unrivalled matched betting opportunity, with some clients doing well enough to make a significant income with it.

It seems Bonus Money’s Matcha & Bonusbank ATM makes the practice even more accessible.

The biggest challenge facing matched bettors is avoiding bookmaker restrictions and account closures.