I’ve got to say that 12 months ago I didn’t think I would be writing one of these posts, and my WordPress account hasn’t been hacked.
I’m not going to suggest doing a million product reviews or surveys, or suggest you join an eBook pyramid scam, but instead make the most of Matched Betting.

Now this isn’t some kind of trading scam or one of those turn £10 in to £10,000 by doing a 50 fold accumulator, but instead playing the maths behind making the most of free bets that a bookmaker gives out.

Imagine you’ve just popped to Ladbrokes and stuck £10 on Millwall to beat Leicester. They’ve offered you 2/1, which means if Millwall win you make £20 profit.
Now you are down the pub and tell Barry what you’ve done, but you’ve lost confidence in your bet. Barry however thinks that Millwall will easily win and offers to buy the betslip off you.
To make it worth while you sell it to Barry for only £9. Now no matter what the score is you are down £1. Whereas Barry now has a £9 bet to win £21 (Ladbrokes return your stake, of which Barry didn’t pay a pound for).

However what you didn’t tell Barry was that Ladbrokes gave you a free bet token to use on another game and for a laugh you’ve gone for a long shot of Oxford to beat Middlesbrough at 13/2. If Oxford win Ladbrokes payout £65, but again you’ve not too confident in this bet either. So Dave offers to buy this betslip off you. Now because Ladbrokes don’t return the stake when you win with a free bet, you need to price the slip so that Dave will make more than if he went to Ladbrokes. So we sell this one for £8. Now no matter what the result is in the game you are £8 up, and for Dave if Oxford win he gets £57 profit, which is a fiver more than he would have got if he placed the bet himself.

So for a quick trip to the bookmakers I’ve just made £7.

Now it’s a lot easier than this. All the bookmakers are online and Dave and Barry are just other users on the Betfair and Smarkets betting exchanges, where you can lay your bets off.
Most bookmakers will have nice welcome offers like bet £20 get £20, but the bread and butter of matched betting is making the most of the ongoing offers the bookmakers have. These include free bets if your horse comes second (you’ll get weird looks when you cheer on a horse not to win), extra winnings if the crossbar is hit, free bet if you have one losing leg in a five fold acca.

In the last 12 months I started with just £200 and placed 2191 different bets, totalling £32,000 in which I’ve made £5,000 from. Throw in some advantage play casino and bingo offers and my total was £8,000. I’ve been on holiday, purchased a new Pixel XL, iPhone 7, iPad Mini and had lots more meals out with the family.

Now how do I know which bookmakers have offers on, and the best way to make the most of them? I use OddsMonkey.com their forums are full of really useful advice (including a lot from me) and they have odds spotting software to help you find the best matches available to back and lay. It’s £15 a month, but worth every penny, and they’ll even give you a free trial to get you started.