Matched betting

[RetroPug]

Just google it if you want to know what it is.

A very quick summary:
You get free bets from most online betting sites, you can't withdraw this money you have to use it to gamble.
You place a bet on a sport with this free bet.
You then place a bet on a different betting site betting for the opposite of this ie. one bet for Team A to win, one bet on another site for Team A to lose.
You will lose one of the two free bets, but no worries, they were both free.
You will win one of the two free bets, this allows you to withdraw the money as it is now betting winnings.

It is basically a method of converting 50ish percent of the free bets that gambling sites offer into actual money in your bank account without just trying to gamble with it and potentially either winning or losing.

So essentially it's borderline fraud.

It's completely legal, and betting sites know that it is possible for people to play in this way and accept it, and even gladly allow it to continue by offering free bets because for every few people who do this, many more use gambling sites and lose money overall even if they occasionally win. They offer the free bets to entice people to play, as even if multiple people cash out, one new regular customer earns them a lot of money over time. If you have an account and don't use it for ages they offer you more free bets to try to coax you into playing.

This is also why they publicise people who win big with them and gladly pay out. It is great advertising and it encourages more customers to join and existing ones to gamble more. If one person wins 20k on an accumulator that sounds like a lot of money but how many people up and down the country have spent 5 to 10 pounds each placing bets? A lot is the answer.

It is not fraud. You are playing with their free bets, either winning or losing, and then withdrawing if you do win. The fact that you're a customer of two sites at the same time isn't fraudulent. If you use their free bet, and win, you are entitled to withdraw your winnings, as stated by their own terms and conditions. For every tenner they give away to you, countless others gamble hundreds or thousands of pounds over their lifetimes after being enticed by a starting free bet.



My preference, instead of matched betting, is to simply use the free bets and bet on things with crazy low odds that are almost guaranteed to happen eg. a team to win at football in the 80th minute when they are 3-0 up. If you do lose, no worries, it was free. Then you can withdraw all of the free bets once you've used them to win about 2p.