Welcome to the final part of the OzProfit 3-Part Matched Betting Guide! You’re now over 70% of the way to earning over $1,500 in less than 30 days.
If you’ve landed on this page directly, then I highly recommend reading Part 1 – Meet the Concepts and Part 2 – Master the Fundamentals first.
During Part 3 – Make the Income you’re going to learn:
- How to maximise your income by following my top preparation tips.
- The best approach to signing up for new bookmaker accounts.
- The top beginner mistakes that you can easily avoid.
- Ways to reach that promised additional income of $1,000+ per month.
By learning everything on this page, you’ll have all the knowledge and confidence you need to start your matched betting journey. Let’s get started!
Preparing to start matched betting
The concepts behind matched betting are second nature to you now, having done some paper trading.
There are a few more things you’ll want to consider before diving into the deep end and tackling some bookie offers though.
Create a Bankroll
A bankroll is a key concept and refers to the total amount of cash set aside for you to conduct matched betting with.
You can start matched betting with a bankroll from $200+ but it will take you a little while longer to make money.
Why?
Well, if we only have $200 then we have a few challenges to overcome.
- Withdrawing at the bookie – You place a matched bet at odds of $3 at the bookmaker, financially it doesn’t matter whether it wins/loses. However, if it wins then you have $150 at the bookie and $100 less at the Exchange. In order to place your next bet, you’ll need to extract your cash from the bookie which can take a couple of days. This really means you can’t be working on opening multiple accounts at the same time.
- Taking high odds of your Free Bet matches – I alluded to this at the end of Part 2 – Master the Fundamentals. With a free bet, you’re ideally wanting to match higher odds. My rough guideline is anything $7 and above with $10 being the goldilocks zone. Note that any higher and it’s easy to run into problem 1 (imagine winning at odds of $25 for a $50 bet… that’s $1,250 moving from exchange to bookie!). Here’s a clear comparison using the BonusBank calculator.
So, how much would a good bankroll be?
As a beginner, I would recommend having at least $1,000 available so you can take advantage of all the opportunities available to you. The higher your bankroll is, the more offers you can take on simultaneously and the quicker you’ll earn money.
If you only have $200 – $1,000 available, don’t worry. It’ll take you a bit longer to get there, but it is definitely possible! Just make sure you don’t take on too much at once. One offer at a time.
Opening a separate bank account
I highly recommend that you separate your matched betting activities from the rest of your financial affairs.
This encourages safe financial practise and removes any gambling-related transactions from your primary banking accounts.
Personally, I use an ING Orange Everyday account for my matched betting. I even got referred by an existing account member and we both earned $50 just for opening the account. Can’t say no to free money!
Notice: If you’re planning to apply for a mortgage or significant personal loan within the next 6 months, there exists a risk that any gambling transactions will be seen negatively. I have seen cases where this hasn’t been an issue at all, however there have also been cases where this has been seen as a factor. I recommend you exercise caution.
Preparing Identification Methods
Most bookies will run an identity check through a Credit Reporting Agency when you register. This does not leave any mark or in any way alter your credit history.
In some cases, this automated check will fail or a bookie will ask for further identification. They’re simply trying to ensure there’s no fraud on their platform, so we should thank them for being so careful.
I have a recent photo of my passport, both sides of my driving license and a recent utility bill with my address available at all times. These make any requests for ID super easy as I just send over these photos and it’s job done. I recommend you do the same.
You’re ready to go!
Signing up to bookmakers
This is where matched betting becomes really exciting. I also remember back to my first sign-up and being super nervous because I didn’t want to get it wrong.
These are my top tips for getting started:
- Find time to focus – Give yourself at least an hour with no other distractions.
- Double check everything – Use a calculator, use the paper trading template and make sure you feel confident about what you’re doing.
- Choose the right bookies – Some bookies are likely to offer lower incentives in general. That means you’re dealing with more comfortable amounts when you’re getting started.
Once you’ve placed a few bets, the nerves really disappear because you understand how simple it is in practise!
Now, I’ve suggested you choose your first bookies carefully. As a beginner, you don’t want to be tackling a $250+ bonus first up and you want a website that easy to use and understand.
Fortunately, I can help you out. I’ve produced a full list of bookies in Australia for you. There’s no set order you should sign up to these, although I’ve highlighted the accounts I recommend you start with.
There’s also no guarantee that every bookie will give you a bonus when you sign up, due to the regulations governing gambling incentives. So, I’ve also included a ‘rating’ for how likely it is you’ll receive a bonus in each state. Super helpful.
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- All the Australian bookies you need to start matched betting.
- The chances of getting initial bonuses depending on which state your in.
- The potential amount of free bets you could earn.
By getting your free guide to Australian bookmakers, I’ll also occasionally send you emails with new blog posts and news from the matched betting world.
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Finding great matched bets
Once you’ve signed up to a bookie and received your first bonus offer, it’s all about finding the right things to bet on.
Now is also a great time to make sure you’re comfortable with using Betfair – this OzProfit Betfair Australia guide helps you take advantage of their exchange features.
To make sure you make the most of these initial offers (you only get them once!), I’m going to set you some targets and help you meet them.
Qualifying Loss (QL)
When you’re betting your own money at the bookie, we call that a ‘Qualifier‘ and you’ll always expect to make a loss on these bets. The key is to try and minimise that loss.
To do this, you should always aim to keep your loss to <10% of the bets value. That means for every $100 of qualifying bets, you’ll lose $10.
The best way of achieving this to keep the odds relatively low with the Back and Lay odds as close together as possible. Ideally odds of $4 or lower.
Most free bet offers require you to use odds above $1.5 or $1.8 which can always be checked in the Terms & Conditions. For simplicity, I will generally keep my qualifying bets above $1.8 to be safe.
Free Bet Retention
Betting with your hard earned free bets is the most exciting part of matched betting. You’re finally realising your profit! So, we really want to retain as much of that value as possible.
You should realistically aim to retain at least 75% of the value from your free bets. That means you’ll get $75 profit for every $100 of free bet value. It’s not uncommon to be aiming for 80%+ if you’re patient.
As I mentioned earlier in this article, the best way to do this is using odds of $7 and above. Again, you’re looking to keep those Back and Lay odds as close together as possible.
Using BonusBank to find the best matched bets
With so many different sporting events to bet on, it can be quite time-consuming finding the best matches available. Whilst it’s absolutely possible to find great bets manually with some patience, it’s much quicker using a tool like BonusBank’s ATM.
This tool automatically checks the bookmaker odds against the exchange odds and instantly presents the best bets for you to make. Across thousands of sporting events.
There’s a fantastic video they produced that explains exactly how the software works.
As I was writing this, I went to see what good qualifying matches I could find and within 5 seconds I had 13 different options for bets that match my target qualifying loss. So simple! It would have taken me around 20 minutes to find all those manually.
Nothing great ever comes free in life, BonusBank costs $47 per month. However, I guarantee it will easily pay itself back both by saving you time and earning you more from your bets.
When I moved to Sydney, it was the first thing I invested in. Even with 8 years matched betting experience, using tools like the ATM save so much time. Not only that, but they also have:
- Detailed tutorials covering a really wide range of matched betting topics.
- New techniques and tactics for matched betting such as Dutching.
- Daily Plays that are perfect for beginners as they tell you exactly what to bet on.
- A forum and active chatroom where you can easily get help from experienced matched bettors.
Beginner mistakes to watch out for
In the last 8 years, I have made a lot of mistakes… and only some of those doing matched betting.
Seriously, if there’s a mistake to be made when matched betting, I’ve probably made it at some point. So, I want to share with you my top 3 beginner mistakes to watch out for.
Never place your Lay bet before your Back bet.
For me, this is rule number 1 when matched betting. Alternatively, see it as always placing your bet at the bookie first.
This is simply because of your liabilities during the gap between placing your two bets (only 30 seconds or so). Anything could happen, including your internet failing or some big news changing the odds dramatically.
If you place your bet at the bookie first, then you have any trouble with your Lay bet at the Exchange, you’re only risk is the Back bet amount (normally $50 or less).
If you place your bet at the exchange first, then you have trouble with your Back bet at the bookie, you’re on the hook for paying out the full liability of your Lay bet. This can often be $300 – $1000.
If you find yourself in the difficult position of having a Lay bet not matched at a bookie, you can do one of two things:
- Find an alternative bookie and match it there, often at worse odds.
- Place an equivalent Back bet at Betfair.
A small guaranteed loss is far better than a chance of facing a big loss. No matter how tempting it can be to think “this $10 shot won’t win” but it will always happen at the worst possible time. Avoid gambling.
Don’t try and cheat the system
It can often be tempting to see matched betting as a money printing machine. You wouldn’t be the first person to come up with the idea of having multiple accounts to keep getting Bonus Bets.
The bookies have become very good at spotting betting patterns and connection fingerprints, so it’s very difficult for an average person to maintain multiple accounts at the same bookie. You’ll most likely end up getting yourself banned and risking any money that’s sitting in your account.
The same thing happens when odds are ‘too good to be true‘. If you see bookie odds of $10 with Lay odds of $5 then this isn’t a perfect opportunity to make your millions. These are seen as palpable errors. If the bookie can prove the odds are a clear and obvious mistake, they do not need to pay out on the bet at those odds.
You’ll often see things the $10 Back and $9.5 Lay which is an arb and a great opportunity to make guaranteed profit. However, be very careful when the difference is clearly wrong.
Avoid betting on South Korean football
There’s a concept I haven’t spoken about yet in this guide, called gubbing. This is when bookies limit your allowed stake (e.g you can only place $10 on a bet) or prevent you from receiving any bonus bets. You can check out my top 20 strategies to avoid restrictions for more information.
Why do they do this?
Well, whilst matched betting is not illegal, it is considered as playing an ‘advantage’. You end up betting on events that are good value for you as a punter in the long term. This means you’re not a very profitable customer!
Sadly, bookies are perfectly within their rights to limit their own liabilities and it’s not an uncommon event.
There are lots of theories around the best way to avoid being gubbed, however nobody really knows for sure. The primary objective is to look as much like a regular gambler as possible, although sometimes even this doesn’t work.
The simplest and easiest way of doing this is to primarily focus on the more common sporting events (AFL, NRL etc.) with most bets happening on the weekend. A vast majority of bets are placed on the day of the event itself, so blend in with the crowd and do the same thing.
Making an ongoing income
One of the common questions I get about matched betting is whether it’s profitable after you’ve received all the initial bonuses from every bookie.
The simple answer is YES!
In fact, it can get even more profitable.
All bookies offer ongoing offers, giving you the chance to rack up thousands of dollars worth of free bets. Earning these does take a little more work than those initial offers, however they’re totally worthwhile.
I haven’t got the space in this guide to detail out all the different offers available, so instead I’ll provide you an example that’s been very profitable for me.
Money Back if your Horse comes 2nd or 3rd
A lot of different bookies give out this offer to their customers, where you bet on a horse and if it comes 2nd or 3rd, you earn yourself a Bonus Bet. The Bonus Bet is up to the amount of your original stake, normally limited to $50.
With this offer, we can place a matched bet on a Horse, aiming to lose less than 10% of our original stake. If that horse comes 1st or after 4th then we move onto the next race and try again.
However, if you’re horse comes 2nd or 3rd then you have a $50 Bonus Bet to match like a normal SNR Bonus Bet. Earning you around $40. With over 50 races on a normal Saturday, this can be very profitable.
The maths dictates that we only need to have a horse come 2nd/3rd once every 8 bets in order to make a profit. When you’re betting on short priced horses, the reality is that they come 2nd/3rd around 50% of the time.
Other examples of offers we can take advantage of are:
- Payout when your team goes 2 goals ahead.
- Payout if your team leads by 8 but goes on to lose.
- Cashback if your team loses by 3 points or less.
BonusBank have a fantastic service where they provide ‘Todays Plays‘ which gives a daily recommended bet that’s likely to trigger ongoing bonus bet offers. These average $1000+ profit per month if you place them every day.
Make the Income – Key Takeaways
These are the key takeaways I want to make sure you leave this guide with:
- How to create and manage your matched betting bankroll.
- The best approach to signing up for bookie accounts (and which ones to start with).
- How to minimise your qualifying loss and extract the most value from your Bonus Bets.
- The knowledge required to avoid some of the most common beginner mistakes.
- The confidence to make a long term additional income.
You made it!
You now have all the required skills to make good money from matched betting. Hopefully this 3-Part guide has inspired you and given you the confidence to start your matched betting journey.
There are a few direct next steps you should consider if you haven’t already:
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