Matched betting - who's done it and who's good at it? (No Referrals)

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For those seasoned enough to remember Donglemouse's diary on Money Saving Expert's website, matched betting has been a way which geeks have been making money online.

In short, matched betting is a loophole whereby you take advantage of free bets offered by bookmakers and turn them into real cash that you can spend. It's not a 'system' but rather a nifty trick which makes use of the fact that the free bet, is well free.

A nice example can be found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matched_betting

It's well known, however it's renowned as being time consuming and sometimes complicated since you have to do research, match the odds, calculate, etc.

However, now you can do it with ease through a website, https://www.fixtheodds.com that I discovered in the Daily Telegraph before Christmas: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...tips/8185280/Is-this-a-bet-you-cant-lose.html

*I do NOT endorse the website, just stating it as a matter of fact*

Since that piece, I have made just over £300 by doing it on and off since Christmas time. The website claims that you can make over £1k, and whilst I'm aware that I have a number of offers that I have yet to do, I was wondering if anyone else has tried matched betting (either manually or automatically) and how much people are making!?

***Reminder of the rules - no requesting, or posting of, referrals***
 
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There was a huge thread here a while ago. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17753529

edit: actually that link is over 4 years old:eek:

Ahh - I did have a search to see if there was one...

I was posting on another thread and it seems that quite a few people here know what they're talking about so I thought I'd set one up.

Let's see if this takes off - maybe we'll emulate the success of the Moneysavingexpert one! ;)
 
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How many hours did it take you to earn that £300?

That's difficult to estimate - for each offer, I probably spend about 10 - 15 minutes in total. Each offer can make a varying amount in profit. For example, if it's a £25 offer, than I might make £22, whereas a more complicated £200 offer might make me £160.

When I first started, I must admit, it did take me about 30 - 40 minutes to follow the instructions (yes, I was slow and I was double/triple checking). However after that, it's uber-easy as you get accustomed to the process.
 
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Wow £500!! Nice - how long has that taken you? Interesting site - kind sits in-between doing it manually via spreadsheets and automated websites.

Seems pretty good as a calculator, although you do have to find the matches yourself and have some understanding on what the terms mean - I can see someone opting 'Stake Not Return' and making a nasty mistake, which is the problem of amateurs doing it manually.
 
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I've made about £500 on and off over the last few months. Haven't really had much time to concentrate on it, will do after exams.

By the way, using sites like FixTheOdds probably limits the amount you make, you can do it manually and try to maximise the amount you get out of each offer.
 
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I made about 1200 quid doing this back in 2009/2010. The offers aren't as good anymore and it does take up a lot of time.

There are a lot of risks and you must make sure you know exactly what you are doing as o e false click can leave you seriously out of pocket. There is an lot of info on the MSE forums and I would advise you to read through it all, also try to get a spreadsheet which calculates your back and lay prices as it makes it much easier.

Some good money to be had, guy at work cleared 5 grand easily but a lot of that was on the nags and not footie.
 
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I've made about £500 on and off over the last few months. Haven't really had much time to concentrate on it, will do after exams.

By the way, using sites like FixTheOdds probably limits the amount you make, you can do it manually and try to maximise the amount you get out of each offer.

Agreed - I had a look at the MSE forum and people were making marginally better profits doing it manually. I guess it's a trade off - spending more time and doing it manually, or spending less time doing it automatically.

To be honest, I'm only doing it automatically (knowing the clumsy me) because of the guarantee that if the site's instructions are wrong, they will refund me the value of the bet.
 
Soldato
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I remember reading about this in the older thread - Although I am interested in it, it certainly went a lot over my head :(

I've just read the Wikipedia link and I think I understand it a little better now... Fixtheodds.com certainly looks like it makes it easy for the newbie to win some cash...
 
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