What Is Matched Betting?
Every day, betting sites such as TAB give out free bonus bets.
Matched betting is a method of using these free bonus bets to generate risk-free profits.
Matched betting is still reasonably unknown, but people all over NZ and Australia use matched betting to create a second income, and some even do it full time.
I have made over $40,000 from matched betting since I started in 2020.
Don't worry, it's completely legal, and anybody can learn to do it.
In this guide, you'll learn how to make your first $100 in matched betting winnings by the end of the day.
An Example:
Imagine France and Italy are playing a soccer match.
France is paying 1.80 to win, Italy is paying 2.20 to win.
We’re going to bet $100 on both sides. The possible outcomes are:
If France wins, we win $180 ($100 x 1.80).
If Italy wins, we win $220 ($100 x 2.20).
I know what you’re thinking.
This isn’t a good bet, right?
We’ve spent $200, and if France wins, we’ll only get back $180.
This means there’s a chance we’ll lose $20.
But here’s the catch:
What if one of our bets was free?
That means we only spent $100. And no matter what happens, we’ll get back $180, or $220.
That would guarantee us between $80 – $120 profit.
Now, what if you could get a free bet from a bookmaker every single day?
In one week, you’ll have made a guaranteed profit of $560 – $840.
That's matched betting.
What You Will Need:
Matched betting requires a few things.
This step should take you around 5-10 minutes.
- You will need an account at Betfair. Betfair is a betting exchange where people can place bets against each other. It's just like TAB, but instead of betting against the house, you're betting against another human. Click here to sign up for an account
- You will need an account at bonusbank. Bonusbank is a matched betting service, which gives you pre-made calculators to work out all the numbers for you. Don't worry, an account is free. Click here to sign up.
- Finally, you will need around $100-$500 in cash available. Don't worry - you will not be risking any of this cash on real bets, so you are not at risk of losing any of it. If you put in $500, you will get at least $500 out at the end of it. I need to stress this - you will not be gambling/betting any of this money, it's not at risk.
Getting Your First Free Bets
To place a matched bet, we need to get some bonus bets.
The easiest way to do this is by getting a deposit bonus.
This is when you sign up for a new betting account, and they say "Deposit $100 and get $100 in bonus bets!"
It will look something like this:
Remember, you are only offered deposit bonuses for NEW accounts, so if you already have a TAB account, you won't be able to get the sign up bonus.
Don't worry, there are many other bookies you can try.
If you are in New Zealand/AU, your best chance of getting a deposit bonus are as follows:
Tab.co.nz (usually around $100)
Ladbrokes.com.au (up to $250 bonus)
Sportsbet.com.au (usually around $100)
Bet365.com (usually $100)
Unibet.co.au (usually $100)
Palmerbet.com.au (usually $100)
Bluebet.com.au (usually $50 or $100)
If you are in Australia, you could also try these:
Tab.com.au (usually $100)
Betdeluxe.com.au (usually $100 to $200)
Betr.com.au ($100)
How it will work is, after you sign up, you will receive a deposit match offer.
They will say something like "Make your first deposit and we'll match it in bonus bets up to $200" or something along those lines.
Remember, this is only after you've signed up for the account.
This is because gambling laws in Australia prohibit them from advertising promos to the public. You must be a member before they can offer you promotions.
Once you've loaded yourself up with some bonus bets, we're ready to get started.
How To Bet On Both Sides
In the earlier example, I showed you how to guarantee a profit by betting on both teams.
That was a simplified example to help you understand the logic of a matched bet.
When we place our matched bets in real life, there's a subtle difference.
Rather than backing both sides, we place two different types of bets on the same side.
Let me explain:
In betting, you have two types of bets.
Back bets
Lay bets
Let’s say New Zealand is playing Australia in rugby.
If I bet on New Zealand to win, that is known as backing New Zealand.
If I bet on New Zealand not to win, that is known as laying New Zealand.
Understanding the difference between a back bet and a lay bet is very important in matched betting.
Here’s why:
Laying a team means you are betting for that team not to win.
This is not the same as betting for a team to lose.
Why not? Let's say the result is 10-10.
A draw.
If you had placed one bet on Australia to win, and one bet on NZ to win, you would lose both bets, because neither team won!
However, if you had placed a bet on New Zealand not to win, you would win. Because they didn’t win.
By placing lay bets we cover all outcomes, including a draw, and guarantee we still win one side of our bet, no matter what happens.
Now, let's earn you that $100.
Your First Matched Bet
Let's say we've signed up for an account at Sportsbet and received $200 in bonus bets.
For this example, I’m going to use an AFL game.
Here are the current odds at Sportsbet for Brisbane vs Gold Coast:
When converting a bonus bet, it’s usually better to take the higher odds, because the payout is usually bigger (that’s just how the maths works out).
So in this case, we’re going to back Gold Coast at 3.60.
I'm going to take my $50 bonus bet at Sportsbet and place it on Gold Coast.
Here’s what it should look like:
Now we need to match that bet.
Since we’ve backed Gold Coast, we also need to lay Gold Coast.
This means if Gold Coast wins, we’ll win one side, and if Gold Coast doesn’t win, we’ll win the other side.
To place our lay bet, let’s head to the account we set up at Betfair and find the same AFL game:
Lay odds are always on the right (pink) side.
As you can see, we can lay Gold Coast at 4.2.
But to know how much to lay, we need to use the calculator.
You should have access to this calculator with the free account you opened at BonusBank.
Here's what it looks like:
Let me go through each box with you.
I put in the stake at $50, because that’s the amount of our bonus bet.
Then I put in the odds.
We backed at 3.60 at Sportsbet, so that goes in the Back Odds.
We lay the bet at odds of 4.2 at Betfair, so that goes in the Lay Odds.
The lay commission for AFL games is 2.5%. To find out the commission rates, click the rules button on your Betfair market (it's usually 5%):
The calculator works everything out, and tells us at the bottom we should lay Gold Coast for $31.14:
Let’s do that.
It will look like this:
The third and fourth line tells us our profit (in green):
If Gold Coast wins, we will profit $30.36.
If Gold Coast doesn’t win, we will profit $30.36.
In other words, no matter what happens, we will win $30.36. Guaranteed profit.
To earn your first $100, simply repeat this 3-4 times.
Welcome to matched betting.
Want to learn more?
What you've seen above is the most basic form of matched betting.
If you'd like to learn more advanced techniques to level up your earnings, you might like to check out my course Simple Bets.
Hundreds of Kiwis and Aussies have used Simple Bets to build reliable second incomes, and I personally have made over $40,000 from matched betting.
In fact, what you've read above is a lesson from the first chapter. If you enjoyed this, you'll love the course!
You can learn more about it here.