Here are 10 of the most common types of promotions offered by bookmakers.

1. Welcome Bonus

Welcome bonuses are promotions offered by bookmakers to new customers when they sign up for an account. These bonuses can take various forms, but they all aim to attract new customers and provide an incentive for them to start betting.

One common type of welcome bonus is a matched deposit bonus. With this type of bonus, the bookmaker will match the customer’s first deposit up to a certain amount, such as 100% of the deposit up to ￡100. For example, if a customer makes an initial deposit of ￡50, the bookmaker will match this with an additional ￡50, giving the customer ￡100 in total to bet with.

Another type of welcome bonus is a free bet. With this type of bonus, the bookmaker will offer the customer a free bet of a certain value, such as ￡10, when they place their first bet. The free bet can usually be used on any sports market offered by the bookmaker.

Some bookmakers also offer risk-free bets as a welcome bonus. With a risk-free bet, the bookmaker will refund the customer’s stake if their first bet loses, up to a certain amount. For example, a bookmaker may offer a risk-free bet up to ￡50, meaning the customer can place their first bet up to ￡50 and receive a refund if it loses.

It’s important to note that welcome bonuses are subject to terms and conditions, which may include minimum deposit amounts, maximum bonus amounts, wagering requirements, and expiry dates. Customers should always read and understand the terms and conditions of any welcome bonus before accepting it.

2. Reload Bonus

Reload bonuses are promotions offered by bookmakers to existing customers who have already made their first deposit and claimed their initial welcome bonus. These bonuses are designed to encourage customers to continue betting with the bookmaker and make additional deposits.

A reload bonus is typically structured in a similar way to a welcome bonus, with the bookmaker offering to match a percentage of the customer’s deposit up to a certain amount. For example, a bookmaker may offer a 50% reload bonus up to ￡100, meaning if a customer deposits ￡200, they will receive an additional ￡100 bonus.

The terms and conditions of reload bonuses vary depending on the bookmaker, but they often include minimum deposit requirements, maximum bonus amounts, and wagering requirements. Wagering requirements typically mean that customers need to bet a certain amount of their own money before they can withdraw any winnings earned from the bonus.

Reload bonuses may be offered on a regular basis, such as weekly or monthly, or they may be offered as part of special promotions or events. Some bookmakers may also offer personalised reload bonuses to specific customers based on their betting activity.

Overall, reload bonuses can be a great way for existing customers to get extra value from their betting, but it’s important to read and understand the terms and conditions before accepting any bonus offer.

3. Enhanced Odds

Enhanced odds are a type of promotion offered by bookmakers that provide customers with higher than usual odds on specific sports markets or events. The enhanced odds can be applied to a range of different sports and markets, including football, horse racing, tennis, and more.

The enhanced odds offers are usually advertised prominently on the bookmaker’s website, and they can vary in value, depending on the event and the bookmaker. For example, a bookmaker might offer enhanced odds of 20/1 on a particular team to win a football match, whereas the normal odds might be only 2/1.

Enhanced odds offers are designed to attract new customers and encourage existing customers to place bets. However, it’s important to note that the enhanced odds are often available only for a limited time, and there may be certain conditions that need to be met before customers can take advantage of the offer.

For example, customers may need to place a minimum bet on the event in question, or they may need to place their bet before a certain deadline. Additionally, enhanced odds offers are often subject to strict terms and conditions, which may include wagering requirements, time limits, and maximum bet limits.

Despite these conditions, enhanced odds offers can be a great way to get extra value from your betting. However, it’s important to always read the terms and conditions carefully before placing any bets, and to compare different bookmakers to find the best enhanced odds offers for your needs.

4. Cashback Offers

Cashback offers are a type of promotion offered by some bookmakers that provide customers with a refund or rebate on their losses over a certain period of time. With a cashback offer, customers can receive a percentage of their losses back, up to a certain amount, as a bonus or free bet.

Cashback offers can be structured in various ways, but they typically involve a percentage refund on the customer’s losses over a set period, such as a week or a month. For example, a bookmaker might offer a 10% cashback bonus on net losses up to ￡100 for the previous week’s betting activity. If a customer had a net loss of ￡500 during the week, they would receive a cashback bonus of ￡50.

Cashback offers can be a great way for customers to recoup some of their losses and continue betting. However, it’s important to note that cashback offers are subject to terms and conditions, which may include minimum and maximum refund amounts, time limits, and wagering requirements.

Customers should also be aware that cashback offers may not always be available, and they may vary in value and frequency depending on the bookmaker. As with any promotion, it’s important to read and understand the terms and conditions of any cashback offer before accepting it.

5. Acca Insurance

Acca insurance is a type of promotion offered by many bookmakers that provides customers with a refund or bonus if their accumulator bet loses by one leg. An accumulator, or acca, bet is a type of bet where multiple selections are combined into a single bet, with the odds multiplied together to give a higher potential payout.

With acca insurance, if a customer’s accumulator bet loses by just one leg, the bookmaker will refund the stake as a bonus or free bet, up to a certain amount. For example, a bookmaker may offer acca insurance up to ￡25, meaning if a customer’s five-fold accumulator loses because of just one incorrect selection, they will receive a refund of up to ￡25.

Acca insurance offers are subject to terms and conditions, which may include minimum and maximum stake amounts, maximum refund amounts, and eligible sports and markets. Some bookmakers may also offer enhanced acca insurance offers, where customers can receive higher refund amounts or more frequent offers.

Acca insurance can be a great way to protect against the risk of losing an accumulator bet by just one selection, and it can provide customers with a safety net to continue betting. However, it’s important to note that acca insurance offers may not always be available, and they may have restrictions or conditions that vary depending on the bookmaker. As with any promotion, it’s important to read and understand the terms and conditions of any acca insurance offer before accepting it.

6. Price Boosts

Price boosts, also known as enhanced odds or enhanced prices, are a type of promotion offered by bookmakers that provide customers with higher odds than the regular market odds on specific sports events or markets. With price boosts, the bookmaker increases the odds for a particular market or selection, which means customers can potentially receive higher payouts if they win.

Price boosts can be offered on a range of different sports and markets, including football, horse racing, tennis, and more. The value of price boosts can vary, depending on the event and the bookmaker. For example, a bookmaker might offer enhanced odds of 3/1 on a particular player to score the first goal in a football match, whereas the regular market odds might be only 2/1.

Price boosts are typically available for a limited time, and there may be certain conditions that need to be met before customers can take advantage of the offer. For example, customers may need to place a minimum bet on the event in question, or they may need to place their bet before a certain deadline. Additionally, price boost offers are often subject to strict terms and conditions, which may include wagering requirements, time limits, and maximum bet limits.

Despite these conditions, price boosts can be a great way to get extra value from your betting. However, it’s important to always read the terms and conditions carefully before placing any bets, and to compare different bookmakers to find the best price boosts for your needs.

7. Loyalty Rewards

Loyalty rewards are a type of promotion offered by some bookmakers to reward their most loyal customers. These rewards can come in many forms, such as free bets, cashback offers, exclusive promotions, and more. The goal of loyalty rewards is to encourage customers to continue using a particular bookmaker for their betting needs, and to offer them incentives for doing so.

Loyalty rewards programs can vary depending on the bookmaker, but they typically involve customers earning points or bonuses for their betting activity. Customers can then redeem these points or bonuses for rewards such as free bets, cashback offers, and more. Some bookmakers may also offer exclusive promotions or bonuses to their most loyal customers, such as VIP access to events or enhanced odds on certain markets.

To participate in a loyalty rewards program, customers may need to opt-in or sign up for the program. They may also need to meet certain requirements, such as placing a minimum number of bets or reaching a certain level of betting activity, in order to qualify for rewards.

Overall, loyalty rewards can be a great way for customers to get extra value from their betting, and to be rewarded for their loyalty to a particular bookmaker. However, it’s important to always read the terms and conditions of any loyalty rewards program before signing up, to ensure that you understand the requirements and restrictions involved.

8. Early Payouts

Early payouts are a type of promotion offered by some bookmakers that pay out customers’ bets as winners before the event has finished, if certain conditions are met. This type of promotion is typically offered on specific sports events or markets, such as football or horse racing, and can provide customers with a potential advantage by allowing them to lock in a profit or minimize losses.

For example, a bookmaker might offer an early payout promotion on a football match if a team goes two goals ahead. This means that if a customer has placed a bet on that team to win, their bet will be settled as a winner before the end of the match, even if the other team stages a comeback and wins or draws the game.

Early payout promotions are typically subject to certain terms and conditions, such as a maximum payout amount or minimum qualifying bet amount. Some bookmakers may also offer early payout promotions with different conditions, such as paying out on a horse race if the customer’s horse leads at a certain point in the race.

Overall, early payout promotions can provide customers with a potential advantage by allowing them to lock in a profit or minimize losses before an event has finished. However, it’s important to read and understand the terms and conditions of any early payout promotion before placing a bet, as these promotions can be subject to restrictions and conditions that vary depending on the bookmaker and the event.

9. Refer-a-Friend

Refer-a-friend is a type of promotion offered by some bookmakers that rewards existing customers for referring new customers to the bookmaker’s website or mobile app. Under this promotion, existing customers can receive a bonus or free bet for each new customer they refer who signs up and meets certain requirements, such as making a deposit or placing a qualifying bet.

Refer-a-friend promotions can vary depending on the bookmaker, but typically involve the following steps:

1. The existing customer shares a referral link or code with their friends, family members, or followers on social media.
2. The new customer clicks on the referral link or enters the referral code when signing up for the bookmaker’s website or mobile app.
3. The new customer meets certain requirements, such as making a deposit or placing a qualifying bet.
4. The existing customer receives a bonus or free bet for each new customer they refer who meets the requirements.
5. Refer-a-friend promotions can be a win-win for both the existing customer and the new customer, as the existing customer receives a bonus or free bet, and the new customer can take advantage of any welcome bonuses or promotions offered by the bookmaker.

However, it’s important to read the terms and conditions of any refer-a-friend promotion carefully, as there may be restrictions or limitations on the number of referrals or bonuses that can be earned. Additionally, the new customer must sign up using the referral link or code in order for the existing customer to receive the bonus or free bet, so it’s important to ensure that this step is followed correctly.

10. Price Matching

Price matching is a type of promotion offered by some bookmakers that guarantees to match or beat the odds offered by other bookmakers for the same event or market. This means that if a customer places a bet on a particular market with one bookmaker, and another bookmaker is offering better odds for the same market, the first bookmaker will match or beat those odds.

Price matching promotions can be a great way for customers to get the best possible odds for their bets, and can help to ensure that they are getting the most value for their money. However, it’s important to read the terms and conditions of any price matching promotion carefully, as there may be restrictions or limitations on the markets or events that are included in the promotion, as well as minimum and maximum bet amounts.

Some bookmakers may also offer price boosts in addition to price matching. Price boosts are similar to price matching, but instead of matching or beating the odds offered by other bookmakers, the bookmaker will boost the odds for a particular market or event themselves. This can provide customers with even better odds than they would get with other bookmakers, and can be a great way to maximize their potential winnings.

Overall, price matching and price boosts can be a great way for customers to get the best possible odds for their bets, and can help to ensure that they are getting the most value for their money. However, as with any promotion, it’s important to read the terms and conditions carefully and to ensure that you understand the requirements and restrictions involved.

It’s worth noting that the availability and terms of these promotions may vary between bookmakers, so it’s always a good idea to check the terms and conditions before signing up for an account or participating in a promotion.

The post 10 Different Types Of Bookmaker Promotions Explained appeared first on Punter2Pro.

Don’t be put off because Matched Betting involves “gambling”. Thousands of people in the UK, from all kinds of occupations and backgrounds, are making a second income from Matched Betting. You just need to follow the process and place the correct bets.

What Is Matched Betting?

Matched Betting is the name given to the risk-free strategy that extracts a profit from sports betting promotions. It is also referred to as “bonus hunting” or “bonus bagging” — but those terms are most commonly associated with advanced techniques used to earn a profit from online Casino bonuses (which is more risky).

The process of Matched Betting requires an account with a bookmaker and a betting exchange, where at least one is offering a free bet. When the free bet is placed on a sports event, the other account is used to hedge all the possible outcomes, thereby eliminating risk and ensuring that no matter what happens a large portion of the free bet is retained. At its simplest, a matched bet involves placing a:

1. BACK bet (FOR) a sports outcome at a bookmaker.
2. LAY bet (AGAINST) the same sports outcome at a betting exchange.

More advanced versions of Matched Betting involves placing bets at multiple bookmakers to avoid the commission charged for using an exchange. This is known as dutching.

What’s The Catch?

Provided you hedge your risk, and place bets at the optimal odds, there isn’t a catch. I’ll get on this later in the article.

The only snag is that bookmakers incorporate several terms into their promotions, usually requiring that customers risk their own money (at minimum odds) before being able to obtain the free bet.

Matched Bettors get around this by placing a qualifying bet with the bookmaker and a second bet against the same result at the betting exchange. The latter is required to offset any loss in the event that the bookmaker bet does not win. This process usually incurs a small loss (￡1-￡2) temporarily, prior to securing a profit from the free bet using the same process.

Essentially, the only catch is that bookmakers don’t just give away free bets for nothing. Nonetheless, the process is still profitable.

What Do You Need For Matched Betting?

It goes without saying that you need to be over 18 years of age. But aside from that, strictly speaking, there’s only three essential things required for Matched Betting:

1. Money

You’ll need some cash to deposit to both the bookmaker and betting exchange.

Without money you can’t?become a Matched Bettor. However, you don’t need to be rich to get started as you can build up your bankroll?slowly using?low value offers (Free Bets) to begin with.

The lowest value Free Bets?are?around ￡10. In order to profit from one of these promotions?you’ll need approximately ￡30-70 of spare cash.?This is used for the?‘Qualifying Bet’ and ‘Free Bet’.

2. Free Bet

You’ll need a free bet from a bookmaker or betting exchange.

The biggest and best free bets are offered to new customers that haven’t ever deposited or placed any bets before.

So if you’ve signed up to several Bookmakers already then you’ll be?limited to the “reload” offers for?existing customers. This means you won’t be able to claim new customer “sign-up” promotions.

When claiming any bonus it’s highly important to take note of any promotional codes, “opt-in” requirements, or minimum deposit amounts. Failure to get this right can invalidate your eligibility for the offer.

To stay up-to-date the very best free bets currently available, I highly recommend subscribing to a Matched Betting Service. The best ones feature a daily list of free bets to tackle.

3. Betting Exchange Account

You’ll need to have an account with at least one betting exchange.

The obvious option is Betfair because it has the most liquidity (available money to take for a bet). This means you’re less likely to ever encounter a scenario where you have to queue your stake in order to get matched on your (opposing) Lay bets. However, there’s other exchanges that charge lower commission for using their service.

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Main Types of Sports Betting Promotions

There are two main types of sports betting promotions:

1. Free bets. This is the most common type of sports promotion, whereby customers need to earn their free bet by placing placing a “qualifying bet” using their own money. Generally winnings made from the free bet itself will exclude the stake amount; this is known as a “Stake not Returned” promotion.
2. Bonus funds. This is a less common promotion, whereby customers are credited ‘free money’ before any bets are placed. You must place a total sum of eligible stakes (known as the “rollover requirement”) before a withdrawal is allowed. The bonus amount can usually be withdrawn along with any winnings.

Note: Bookies attach tricky terms and conditions to their free bets. Usually they insist that your bets are placed at minimum odds of a given amount (e.g. 2.0), within a certain time frame. This is something you have to look out for. If you’re ever in doubt, ask the bookmaker staff on live chat to clarify your uncertainties about their promotions.

For the remainder of this tutorial I’m going to focus on tackling the most common type of promotion: A Free Bet (Stake not Returned).

Step 1: Find A Free Bet

The first step for Matched betting is to find a free bet to make a profit from. But where do you find one, and how will you know whether it’s profitable?

Unless you’re an experienced Matched Bettor, you’re unlikely to know which of the current sports betting promotions are worth taking. So my advice is to subscribe to a Matched Betting Service, which includes a lengthy list of all current promotions with explanations of how to tackle each one (and how much you’ll make from them). These services are certain to make you money provided you follow their instructions.

A Typical Free Bet from ‘Bookie X’

A bookmaker promotion might be advertised as:

This means that players must take an initial risk of ￡25 to be granted the ￡25 free bet, where their stake is not returned in any winnings.

• If the free bet wins, customers can keep the profit.
• If it loses, customers haven’t lost anything.

But the obvious problem here is that you stand to lose ￡25 from the initial qualifying bet — which you don’t want, right?

Right. So for the remainder of this tutorial I’m going to explain how to eliminate the risk in this type of promotion and capture a large portion of the ￡25 free bet using the Back & Lay Matched Betting technique. We’ll turn this typical promotion into a profitable, risk free money-maker!

I’ll assume that you have signed up to ‘Bookie X’, made a deposit, and loaded up your Betting exchange with money. Now you’re ready to place a qualifying bet.

Step 2: Set Your Account to Decimal Odds

Before we go any further, you’ll need to set your bookmaker account to the European Decimal odds format. This is necessary because Betting Exchanges use decimal odds — so you’ll need the same format in order to make Matched Betting calculations. You can change the odds format in your account settings, or sometimes from a simple dropdown on the Bookmaker’s site.

You don’t need to fully understand odds for Matched Betting, but it helps to have a very basic grasp of them. Decimal odds are very simple: the higher the number, the bigger the odds are, and the more payout you get on a win. So odds of 6.5 will give a bigger payout on a win than odds of 4.0.

To calculate winnings placed at European (decimal) odds, simply multiply your stake by the odds. For example:

• ￡25 @ 10.0 = ￡10 x 10.0 = ￡250 return

The return includes the stake. So that’s ￡225 profit (￡250 – ￡25).

Learn more: How To Convert Your Betting Odds To Different Formats

[sta_anchor id=”qualifier”][/sta_anchor]

Step 3: Select an Event

We’ve established that you need to place a bet at the Bookmaker — without losing or gaining any money — in order to qualify for the free bet. But what event do you choose?

Mathematically it doesn’t matter what sport or market you choose provided the Bookmaker & exchange odds are of a similar value. This is because the sport itself, and the result, isn’t relevant.

However, in practice some events are better for Matched Betting than others.

The Ideal Event

For all matched bets I recommend looking for:

• Popular events. The best option is Premier League football “Match Odds” or “1×2” odds — which are the same thing. These have the most liquidity (people actively betting) on the exchange. And the pre-game odds aren’t too volatile.
• Taking place soon. You don’t want to have to wait too long long for the bet to settle.

And because this is the qualifier, there’s one other thing you need to aim for:

• Low odds. This is because high odds will increase the balance you need to have in your exchange account to cover your Lay bet. So aim to keep your bets just above the minimum odds allowed at the Bookmaker for the promotion.

But most importantly you need the odds to be closely matched between the Bookmaker and Betting Exchange. This is crucial!

Why Matching Your Odds Matters

Matching the odds from the Bookmaker and Betting exchange is the most important aspect of Matched Betting. I’ll explain why in a quick lesson about hedging.

Let’s suppose that you placed a qualifying bet at the Bookmaker by backing Spurs to beat Chelsea at decimal odds of 2.5, while Laying Spurs at the available odds of 3.0 on the Betfair exchange.

The problem here is that the difference between 2.5 and 3.0 is fairly big. The Bookmaker’s price is only 83.3% of the Lay odds on Betfair. It’s a weak match.

This matters when the Bookmaker ‘Back’ bet wins and Betfair ‘Lay’ bet loses. Here’s the win and lose outcomes:

Bookmaker BACK Wins @ ￡25 Stake:

• (￡25 x 2.5) – ￡25 = ￡37.5 profit

Betfair LAY Loses @ ￡25 Stake:

• (￡25 x 3.0) – ￡25 = ￡50 loss

Due to the fact your loss at Betfair is much higher than the winnings at the Bookmaker, you make a hefty loss of -￡50 + ￡37.5 = -￡12.50. That’s not good.

If the odds were identical — i.e. they matched exactly — then you’d break even whatever outcome happens (Betfair commission aside).

The lesson here is that it’s vitally important that you match your bet properly by?finding odds that are close between the Bookmaker?and?the Exchange. The closer to 100% the better.

How to Match Your Odds

You now know what type of event to look out for (popular, happening soon, and low odds) — but how can you find those with closely matching odds?

The good news is that you don’t need to manually hunt around for matching odds. That’s far too time consuming and it increases your chance of making a mistake. There are some great tools to help you.

I recommend that you save yourself a lot of effort by signing up for a free account with OddsMonkey. Their service includes an automatcher tool — for finding the perfect sports events to bet on. I’ll use the free OddsMonkey Oddsmatcher to show you how to select a sports event for our example ￡25 qualifying bet.

Once you’ve signed up for an account at OddsMonkey, open up the Oddsmatcher?to browse the upcoming sports events. Filter the list by your Bookmaker (in our example case it’d ‘Bookmaker X’, which does not really exist, of course).

What you can see in the following screenshot are the best rated matched betting opportunities in descending % order for the Bookmaker.

Note: If you’re lucky and you’re?able to Lay at lower odds than you could back at the Bookmaker then what you’ve found is an arbitrage opportunity and you’ll make a profit regardless of the outcome. However, this is a rare case and a separate way to earn altogether!

OddsMonkey Oddsmatcher, with the bookmaker selected from the top dropdown.

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I’m instantly drawn to one particular fixture: the Stoke v Newcastle football game.

I like this event is because:

1. It’s a very popular market (two Premier League teams, at the time of writing)
2. It’s taking place in a couple of days (so I can start earning money faster)
3. The odds are low (and hopefully within the Bookmakers’ minimum odds terms)
4. The Rating % on the Oddsmatcher is very high, at 97.03%.

… I’ve found a close match.?

This is an ideal event for placing the qualifying bet at the Bookmaker, to Lay against on the Betting Exchange.

But before placing any bets I just need to calculate how much to Lay on the exchange against the ￡25 back stake, to offset the risk.

Step 4:?Calculate The Lay Stake

Due to the difference in odds, the Lay stake needs to be calculated in order to create an equal outcome for any result.

This is a very important step, so?take a little care.

Using the Matched Betting Calculator

Open up the Matched Betting Calculator from your OddsMonkey?account. Enter the details of the Stoke v Newcastle match like this:

• Bet type: Normal
• Back stake: ￡25
• Back odds: 2.0
• Lay odds: 2.04

OddsMonkey Matched Betting calculator with the bet type, Stake, Back odds, Lay odds and Commission entered.

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In case you’re wondering, the “Lay Commission” is just the % the betting exchanges charges on profits. For new Betfair accounts it’s 5% (as entered above).

Here’s what the calculator shows:

• The perfect Lay stake on Betfair, which is labelled “you could lay?￡25.13″.
• The loss you’ll make — labelled?“your overall position will be -￡1.14” — which is the same regardless of the outcome of the event (1p aside…).

It’s showing a loss. Why?

The net result of ￡-1.14 is a perfectly reasonable loss to incur on a ￡25 qualifying stake. It will be dwarfed by the profit made from the Free Bet. We’re not aiming to make money at this point, remember.

So now you’ve calculated your Lay stake. It’s time to place those two bets for the qualifying phase.

Step 5: Place Your Back & Lay Bets

Hopefully I haven’t lost you yet — because you’re now finally ready to place that ￡25 Back bet at the bookmaker, followed by the ￡25.13 Lay bet on the betting exchange.

Here’s some advice for when you’re placing your Back and Lay bets:

• Ensure you have sufficient balance in your Betfair account before you begin. You need to be able to cover potential losses.
• Manually check both betting websites to verify the odds shown on the Oddsmatcher e.g. 2.0 (Bookmaker BACK) and 2.04 (Exchange LAY) are still valid. Odds change all the time.
• Place your bet at the Bookmaker FIRST, then Lay on the Exchange?instantly AFTER. Be?sure to hit the Pink?Lay?price?and not the Blue Back price on the exchange.?That’s a common (and costly) mistake.

Then you’re done with placing your first risk free matched bet, and you need to wait for it to settle.

Well done! You’ve now learnt how to “match” your qualifying bets without losing (much) money. The process becomes a lot easier from here onwards, because it’s mainly repetition.

Step 6: Select an Event (Again)

Firstly ensure that your SNR free bet (sometimes called a “bet token”) is active in your Bookmaker account. You can often see it as an option in a betslip (if you pretend you’re making a bet). If it’s there, you’re ready to go.

Before placing your free bet you need to, once again, find a suitable upcoming event with matching odds on the Betting Exchange. Follow the same process to before, but with one subtle difference to take note of this time.

The event you want to find, just like before, needs to be:

• Popular (e.g. Premier League football)
• Taking place soon

But because this is the Free bet, you now want to look for High odds.

Why High Odds This Time?

By matching an SNR bet at high odds you retain more of your free bet. It’s more profitable. The downside is that you?also?require?more?money in your exchange account to place the Lay part. I find that a good compromise is to use odds of around of 5.0-7.0.

Without being?too mathsy, the reason for it being more profitable is that?high odds win at the exchange more frequently than at low odds. The benefit to this is that you reduce the?frequency of winning?free bets at the Bookmaker where your stake is not returned.

Step 7: Calculate The Lay Stake (Again)

So you’ve found the event that you’re going to place the free bet. Now you just need to calculate the Lay stake you’re going to place against it on the betting exchange.

This step is almost identical to the qualifier, except this time you need to set the calculator’s bet type to Free Bet (SNR).

It’s important to note that the maths is different when the stake is not returned to a regular bet. The default on the calculator is “Normal” — so don’t forget to change it this time!

Example

Let’s suppose that you have identified a suitable match from the Oddsmatcher with the following odds:

• Back: 6.0 at the Bookie
• Lay: 6.5 at Betfair

That’s a 92.3% match at high odds, which is great. So you simply enter those details into the calculator again as follows:

How to place a ￡25 SNR Free Bet at bookie odds of 6.0, betfair Lay odds of 6.5:

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The Lay stake is ￡19.38 for this example scenario. So this 2-part Matched Bet will make a guaranteed PROFIT of ￡18.41 from the SNR free bet whatever the outcome of the event.

Now, once again, you find yourself at the point where you have found close match between the bookmaker and exchange odds, and know the correct Lay stake to place against it. It’s time to place it.

Step 8: Place The SNR Free Bet & Lay Bet

Go ahead and place those two (Back & Lay) bets in this order:

1. ￡25 SNR bet at the Bookmaker.
2. ￡19.38 at the betting Exchange.

Wait for them to settle. Then you’re finally done.You’ve earned a risk-free profit from Matched Betting!

Feel free to withdraw those earnings from whatever account(s) have the money. But perhaps leave money in your betting exchange account so that you can carry on earning from more promotions.

This tutorial explains how to tackle just one particular type of free bet — the SNR bet. However, there are several other types of promotions to take on (including Casino bonuses). These are all taught by Matched Betting Services.

Was This A ‘Good’ Result?

￡18.41 is a great return from a ￡25 SNR bet, as it retains 73.64% of the ￡25 promotion. After subtracting the ￡1.14 loss from the qualifier it leaves it at +￡17.27 overall. Not bad for betting without taking any risk.

Always aim to retain around the 70-75% mark of your SNR bet. But don’t strive for perfection, or you’ll waste too much time. The aim is to tackle as many free bets as possible.

The Maths Behind The Profit

The Matched Betting process is (almost) the same for qualifying/rollover bets as it is for free bets. But the strategy is only profitable because of the inclusion of a free bet at the Bookmaker.

Without free bets you don’t make a profit, and Matched Betting ceases to exist.

Here’s how to calculate the profit for each of the two possible outcomes of the Free Bet. Note that the profit is identical whatever happens.

Case 1: Bookmaker Free Bet Wins

Bookmaker: (￡25 x 6.0) - ￡25 = +￡125
Exchange: -(￡19.38 x 6.5) + 19.38 = -￡106.59
Overall profit = +￡18.41

Case 2: Bookmaker Free Bet Loses

Bookmaker: ￡0
Exchange: ￡19.38 x (0.95) = +￡18.41
Overall profit = +￡18.41

In case 1, the Bookmaker wins and the ￡25 stake is removed from the winnings leaving a total gain of ￡125, minus the loss made at the betting exchange. This leaves ￡18.41 profit.

In case 2, the Bookmaker account loses ￡0 (nothing), because it was not placed with your own money. The exchange wins ￡18.41 (the amount Layed).

You can create an Excel spreadsheet ‘Matched Betting Calculator’ using these calculations. But it’s a whole lot simpler to use the tools provided by services like OddsMonkey. However, if you’re still keen, take a look at the formula for “calculating guaranteed profit” in my post on arbitrage. It’s the same principle.

Key Points From This Guide

Here’s a quick recap on some of the key points you need to remember about Matched Betting.

1. Free Bets Have Strict Terms & Conditions. Look out.

A Bookmaker typically?stipulates that an initial qualifying bet must be?placed for a player to be eligible for a?free bet. In most cases only your very first bet counts.

Look out for tricky terms like this because it’ll prevent you from being awarded the promotion. Remember: no free bet means no profit.

2. Always Ensure that there’s Enough Liquidity (Available Money)

“Liquidity” refers to the amount of available money on the Exchange (e.g. Betfair) to place your Lay bet.

I have suggested seeking popular sports events in order to avoid running into low liquidity problems on the Betting Exchange. But if you find that there’s not enough money on Betfair, then you may need to wait to get matched. And there’re no guarantee you will be.

In the worst case scenario, consider queuing your Lay bet at a higher price. This will increase your liability and thereby reduce your profit (but it’s more likely to be matched).

Issues like these can be resolved quickly by utilising the educational resources and support provided by Matched Betting Services?such as OddsMonkey. I highly recommend signing up.

3. Take Care When You’re Placing Both Bets.

Whether its win, lose, or draw it’s always the same process. You simply:

1. BACK at the Bookmaker, and
2. LAY that same outcome on the betting exchange with the appropriate stake provided from the calculator.?If you Back the Draw,?then you Lay the Draw. Simple.

Furthermore, remember to use:

• Low odds for qualifying/rollover bets.
• High odds for SNR free bets in order to reduce losses and maximise profits.

Matched Betting Q&A

How much can I earn from Matched Betting?

This largely depends on what free bets are on offer, and how many you claim.

Dedicated matched bettors invest a lot of time into claiming offers. They’ll hoover up every free bet they can get their hands on, and earn hundreds from it every month.

Do bookmakers mind Matched Betting?

Matched Bettors aren’t their ‘model’ customers. But they know that it goes on and they don’t try to stamp it out.

There’s been several public statements?that?imply that Bookmakers don’t?particularly care about it. After all free bets attract new customers — many of which become regular gamblers and lose money. A percentage of Matched Bettors?will continue to bet recreationally, too.

Furthermore, Bookmakers can’t be sure that you’re Matched Betting to begin with. They don’t have any rights (or ability) to investigate your betting activity outside of your account with them. So they won’t know you’re Laying on the betting exchanges.

Is Matched Betting legal?

Yes, of course. There’s nothing illegal about placing promotional free bets, or Lay bets. Combining the two doesn’t make Matched Betting illegal.

From a Bookie’s perspective, it’s always the same loss they incur on free bets — regardless whether customers create a no-lose bet from it.

Furthermore, specialist?Matched Betting companies?wouldn’t exist in the public domain if it was illegal.

Can I claim signup bonuses more than once?

No, definitely not.

Signing up to the Bookmaker for a second time in order to claim a new customer’s free bet isn’t smart. In doing so the Bookmaker will either: invalidate your winnings, close your account, or leave the account open?without?the ability to claim any future promotions. They?don’t take kindly to customers?trying to claim promotions they aren’t entitled to — and their terms & conditions always state this. Don’t try?it.

Is there such thing as Matched Betting without free bets?

Yes and no. You?can’t?profit from Matched Betting without free bets. However, the same process can be applied in situations where the Bookie offers?better?odds than the betting exchanges, to earn a risk free profit. This is known as?arbitrage betting.

For the best arb finders, read my post:?What’s The Best Sports Arbing Software? (Sure Bet Finder)

Is Matched Betting only for the UK? What countries can do It?

Matched Betting is primarily aimed at the UK because sports betting is legal here. But strictly speaking Matched Betting can be done at?any?Bookmaker offering?+EV?promotions, provided you also have an account at a?betting exchange.

If you’re unable to sign up to Bookmakers or claim offers because of your country of residence (e.g. the USA) or any other circumstances, then needless to say you won’t be earning from Matched Betting.?No offers means no profit.

Can I use an e-wallet for Matched Betting?

Most free bet promotions state that you can’t deposit using an e-wallet. This helps to prevent fraud.

You’ll need to use a bank account, or other eligible deposit method.

Do I need a separate bank account for Matched Betting?

You don’t need it — but it’s advisable. If you are planning to apply for a loan or mortgage then having tons of gambling activity might not work in your favour. It’s best to keep it private.

However, if you open a bank account and only ever use it for betting activity, then there’s a risk it will be closed by the bank. Therefore the best compromise is to use your account for general expenses, too. Why not spend from that account?

Should I use a VPN for Matched Betting?

I wouldn’t advise using a VPN for Matched Betting. It will look suspicious to the bookmaker. You don’t have anything to hide.

Is it true that promotions are restricted to one account per household?

Yes, that’s usually the case. If two people share the same address (and/or IP address) then you won’t be able to claim multiple free bets. The Bookmakers have to protect themselves against abuse.

Is it OK to use the same email for all the bookmakers, betting exchanges, and any Matched Betting sites?

It shouldn’t be a problem. You might decide to avoid using the same email at OddsMonkey (or other?matched?betting?sites) as the Bookmakers. Just in case.

Should I use a different username for each and every bookmaker, betting exchange, and Matched?Betting site?

It’s your call. They shouldn’t be allowed to share information between one another. However, with so much consolidation between betting companies in the UK I would suggest mixing it up to protect yourself.

Should I consider the time I place bets? Is there a ‘best’ time window?

To be safe, do it in the evenings, after work or at weekends. You might be mistaken for a professional bettor (or addict) if you bet at unusual hours. Neither are good labels to be given.

Do bookmakers suspect people using decimal odds are Matched Bettors?

It’s definitely possible. No concrete evidence, though.

You could always keep your Bookmaker odds in fractions and convert them into decimals yourself, outside of their site. It’s just a bit inpractical.

Will betting on too many ‘close matches’ look suspicious to the bookmakers? Is this something they will notice / know about?

Yes, that’s one of the only ways they might suspect you’re?matched?betting. Don’t consistently bet on events that are too closely matched between the bookmaker and betting exchange.

Think about it. If there’s a really close match, then it’s also where 99% of other matched bettors will be placing stakes. You don’t want to be mixed in with those guys for the sake of saving a few more pence per bet.

Is it possible to create a situation where Matched Betting is win-win for the punter and the bookmaker?

Not really. Free bets lose the Bookmakers money. Whether or not you’re matching it off on the betting exchange at your end makes no difference to them.

So don’t kid yourself that Matched Betting is highly detrimental to the Bookmakers’ bottom line. It doesn’t really impact their profits unless players fraudulently claim bonuses that they aren’t entitled to.

Are there any bookmakers who are particularly savvy when it comes to identifying ‘Matched Bettors’?

Smaller bookies may have more ability (or inclination) to monitor individuals. In general, if you avoid close matches, the only other way Bookies can detect you’re matched betting is if you have a history of betting using only free bets. That’s a good indication that you’re not interested in betting?for fun.

Will I be gubbed for Matched Betting? Should I place mug bets to conceal my activity?

Anyone that does Matched Betting?over a long period of time is likely to be gubbed eventually. Or you won’t be offered free bets any more — which is much the same outcome.

I don’t advise “Mug Betting” as there’s no guarantee it will help you. Plus it loses money. But you may experiment and find your own strategy that works.

Be aware that once you’re gubbed you won’t convince the bookies to ‘un-gub’ your accounts. They won’t listen to your stories or excuses. They’ll ignore you!

Can fraud prevention software be used to identify whether you do Matched Betting?

You’re not committing fraud by Matched Betting on your own account.

Besides, I don’t think a system can prove you’re Matched Betting unless it’s capable of snooping on all of your browser activity (which is generally illegal). You could use your Matched Betting Service in a different browser to what you normally use, or switch on incognito/private mode. That should be safe enough.

Also, you could?even place your Bookie bets on your phone, in a shop, or through the app. Then place the Lay bets on your desktop or phone afterwards.

Remember that you’re placing standard bets in popular markets. Unless you go out of your way to seek a 100% match (i.e. identical odds) between the bookie and exchange, then you won’t draw much attention to yourself.

Does maximising my free bet from the bookie’s welcome offers affect my long-term account health in any way? Should I take less than the maximum bonus?

No, it won’t. They offer these promotions to get new customers, after all. Some of them are gamblers, some are matched bettors. Might as well maximise it.

Should I mimic the patterns of a ‘Real Gambler’? (e.g. bet frequently on my favourite football team)

There’s no need to mimic anything. Just stick with popular fixtures, that’s all.

But you’ll make yourself obvious if you decide to bet on Division 2 Kazakhstan League football correct scores markets, etc. Just use common sense.

Can Matched Betting be done by identifying bets without the use of an Oddsmatcher?

Yes — but I strongly advise using an Oddsmatcher.

With the help of an odds matching tool, which comes as part of a Matched Betting Service, you’ll consistently find a strong match between the bookmakers and betting exchanges. This ensures you maintain good profit margins, saves you time, and decreases the risk of making a (potentially costly) error.

Is Matched Betting sustainable? How can I maximise what I earn from Matched Betting?

Matched betting has been around for many years — but it might not last forever. I wouldn’t recommend doing it as a full time job. It’s just a great way to make some extra cash from home.

Once you’ve signed up to several Bookmakers then your Matched Betting activity will be strictly limited to the “reload” offers for existing customers. This means you won’t be able to claim juicy new customer “sign-up” promotions. There is still consistent money to be made, though.

I highly recommend that you subscribe to one of the top?Matched Betting Websites as provide the tools such as a Matched Betting Calculator, daily offers (free bets, promotions, casino bonuses), dummies guides, and ongoing support to help you sustain a regular income from Matched Betting.

Want to Take Matched Betting Further?

• Use your Matched Betting skills to earn money from Arbitrage Betting.
• Learn more proven ways of profiting from sports betting.

Originally posted 6th July 2016, and updated for 2023.

The post Matched Betting Beginners Guide 2023 | Step-By-Step Tutorial appeared first on Punter2Pro.

These services provide software, tools, tutorials, support, and up-to-date information on the latest free bets. This enables members to sustain a long term income from Matched Betting with ease.

In this post I compare the top Matched Betting Subscription Services.

What Is A Matched Betting Service?

In case this is the first time you’ve heard of Matched Betting altogether, then all you need to know for now is that it’s a risk-free method used to earn money from free bets and promotions offered by online bookmakers. Yes, you use online bookmakers — but there’s actually no gambling involved.

If you want to learn more about Matched betting then take a look at my Step-By-Step Guide. That should bring you up to speed.

Over the past decade Matched Betting has soared in popularity, appealing to seasoned bettors as well as non-gamblers looking to earn some extra cash. Many university students profit from it in their spare time. The problem is, to become a successful Matched Bettor you need to constantly stay up-to-date with all of the latest sports betting bonuses and promotions and know how to tackle each one. You also need to find the right bets to place in order to capture a profit. That’s where Matched Betting Services come in.

There’s a couple of major Matched Betting sites available, providing highly valuable information and software to help you maximise your profits.?Simply sign up to?one of the following top Matched Betting sites to start earning today.

1. Profit?Accumulator

London-based?Profit Accumulator is one of the most recognised and renowned Matched Betting Services. It’s OddsMonkey’s closest rival, and it’s debatable who’s bigger nowadays.

Profit Accumulator boasts being the UK’s largest community of matched bettors. The service is devoted to finding the best, most profitable free bets/bonuses, and providing members with detailed information on the optimal strategies to use.

The tutorials and videos available via the?Profit Accumulator?website are second to none. They?walk subscribers?through the process step-by-step, revealing all of Matched Betting’s little-known tricks. No matter what prior experience members have of gambling, they’re?able to follow the simple instructions and start enjoying?profits almost instantly. And if there’s ever a problem then the community and support features are highly?responsive —?so it’s resolved in no time.

One of the features I particularly like about Profit Accumulator is?the ‘Reloads’ section, for earning ongoing?profits. All? reload offers are rated by Profit Accumulator’s?expert staff, meaning that subscribers?never dive into a promotion?that they’re?uncertain about. Members can sort the offers with the highest star rating at the top and also mark them?as ‘complete’, where necessary. It’s easy to toggle between ‘complete’ and ‘incomplete’ offers, which is handy for?keeping?track of past activity.

The Odds Matching Software helps users to?find tight?odds between the Bookmaker?and the exchange — an essential part to Matched Betting. Like OddsMonkey’s equivalent, this tool is a huge?time saver, and a must-have for anyone looking to maximise?profits from Matched Betting.

Profit Accumulator Platinum is just ￡29.99 a month

SUBSCRIBE TO PROFIT ACCUMULATOR

Profit?Accumulator Features

• Provides all the required training to become a Matched betting expert
• An extensive list of promotions, updated daily
• Excellent support, including a telephone line from 9am – 6pm
• All required tools (e.g. the Odds Matcher & Matched Betting Calculator) are included in the price
• Access to an excellent, active Platinum member forum.

Profit Accumulator Price

The service costs ￡29.99 /month.

If you sign up to the highly popular Profit Accumulator Platinum subscription (￡29.99 per month) and decide at any point during your first 30 days that Matched Betting isn’t for you, they’ll refund your money… just as long as you haven’t made a profit (which you will if you follow all instructions correctly).

2. Odds Monkey

OddsMonkey is arguably the most popular Matched Betting website and has served a large portion of the UK’s matched betting community. Their subscription service provides comprehensive tutorials (both written and video), as well as high-quality Matched Betting software & tools.

Their industry-leading Odds Matching tool makes finding current Matched Betting opportunities?a breeze. It’s the most popular and longest running Matched Bet Finder on the market. OddsMonkey Premium users automatically unlock a wider selection of Matched Betting opportunities on the Oddsmatcher.

But OddsMonkey haven’t stopped at that. They’re?constantly?improving their Matched Betting software by developing new features. This ensures that they always stay one step ahead of competing companies. For instance, they recently added a 2-way and 3-way Dutch Finder to their Premium package. So what?started out as a specialist Matched Betting Software bundle is rapidly transforming into?an integrated?value betting?service — at?no extra cost.

Both Free and Premium members of OddsMonkey benefit from the simple (yet important) Matched Betting Calculator. This tool eliminates confusion, and the need for Excel spreadsheets to work out your stake sizes. I feature this Calculator prominently in my guide here.

Unlike less-valuable Matched Betting Services,?OddsMonkey provides?ongoing value to subscribers through it’s?daily offers calendar.?It’s up-to-date and fully loaded with information on the latest free bets. Dedicated staff manually break down every offer into small steps, making Matched Betting simpler and much more efficient. This feature alone justifies the monthly fee.

Upgrade to?OddsMonkey Premium for just ￡19.99 a month

SUBSCRIBE TO ODDSMONKEY

Odds Monkey Features

• An in-browser odds matcher for identifying “strong” matches (and arbs!)
• 5 free guides showing members?how to make an estimated ￡45 in under an hour from Matched Betting.
• It?unlocks the door?to thousands of pounds worth of free bets
• An excellent daily offers calendar which guides subscribers on how to profit from the latest sports & casino bonuses
• An active forum of?members?from the Matched Betting community
• Profit Tracker to make it easy to log/monitor how much money you’ve made from each promotion
• 24 hour support from OddsMonkey members and staff

Odds Monkey Price

The service costs ￡19.99 /month.

For the small monthly investment of ￡19.99 OddsMonkey?enables customers?to?seamlessly incorporate?Matched Betting?into their busy schedules, and maximise their risk-free profits. They offer a free trial with some excellent welcome offers. Paying subscribers are entitled to?a 30 day money back guarantee.

Another Useful Matched Betting Product

In addition to this list, I can also highly recommend Mike Cruickshank’s Profit Maximiser: a complete Matched Betting tool kit & low risk betting package, helping to set bettors onto a professional path. It’s nowhere near as ‘polished’ as the above services , but it’s significantly cheaper and offers an array of excellent features.

Profit Maximiser can be purchased individually for ￡12 per month, or as part of the larger Betting Mastermind package — which provides everything you need to start matched betting, placing basic arbitrage bets, and several types of value bets.

Check out my Betting Mastermind Review to learn more.

Which Matched Betting Site Should I Use?

The top two Matched Betting Services are miles ahead of their distant competitors. You will earn a profit by subscribing to either of them:

• Profit Accumulator has a larger community and is a little better for beginners than OddsMonkey.
• OddsMonkey is very well-established and cheaper than it’s main rival,?Profit Accumulator.

You won’t go wrong with either website: they’ve both been in the Matched Betting scene for a long time. Personally I’d avoid most other less-known services purely because so many of them have come & gone, while these two companies have stood strong for many years.

Free Matched Betting Resources

Want to learn Matched Betting without subscribing to a service? Here’s some of the free alternatives I recommend:

1. Guides & Tutorials

Naturally I’m an advocate of this route?because I’ve written my very own Step-By-Step Tutorial.?I’ve tried to cram in as much helpful information as possible — so be sure to take a look. There’s also plenty more free e-books and blog posts out there.

2. Forums

Money Saving Expert?was?the place?I discovered?Matched Betting (several?years ago now). The forum was helpful,?active and current. There’s comparable?sources of?information available?today — provided you’re willing to search a little.

My advice is?to look for Matched Betting forums where?members frequently?share both?good and bad experiences.?Learning from others?reduces your?chances of unknowingly walking?into an avoidable issue, and losing money.

3. Reddit

There’s a Matched Betting subreddit?here.?It’s not particularly active, but has the odd useful post.

4. Ask Online

If Google hasn’t?delivered?the answers you want then be more direct. Try asking a site?like?Quora?or?Yahoo Answers. Online communities have specialists who’s?able (and willing) to answer?your question. Alternatively, you could ask me?in my comments section below!

5. Other?Matched Bettors

Do you have any friends that are?Matched Betting experts? Try picking their brains and learning the ropes.

6. Youtube

There’s loads of video?tutorials on Youtube — but they aren’t necessarily current, or all-encompassing. Always look for recent uploads.

Why Pay For A Matched Betting Service?

Free Matched Betting resources have limitations. You’d benefit from upgrading to an inexpensive subscription Matched Betting Service because:

1. They Assume No Prior Experience of Sports Betting.

Most free guides, forums and matched betting blogs aren’t aimed at the absolute beginner. Matched Betting websites enable those with zero?understanding of gambling to earn risk-free profits from online bookmakers.

2. They’re?the Most Credible Source for Learning?the Basics.

Some free publications are inaccurate and out of date. And the answers to your questions aren’t always all in one place. You often need to use multiple sources to verify the information and?put together all?pieces of the jigsaw.

Thus learning from a specialist website is more efficient. Matched Betting Services grant you access to all of the best, most reliable tutorials (both written & video), an active forum of experts, and the essential Software you need. It’s undoubtedly the fastest, ‘neatest’ route to learning all the tricks.

3. Promotions are Analysed, Thoroughly.

This is crucial. If your aim is to be?self-sufficient at?Matched Betting then you’ll need to be able to:

• Tackle?any type of?promotion without breaching the Bookmaker terms & conditions, and
• Maximise your profits from?the [said] promotions. In other words?you need to know the optimal “plan of attack” for every scenario.

Why not save yourself the headache?

Subscription services do?all of the analysis?for you and provide the breakdown of the best step-by-step strategy.

4. The Ongoing Support Is There When You Desperately Need It.

If you run into a problem whilst?Matched Betting then you may?struggle to find a quick solution online. If it’s a time-sensitive?issue then you simply can’t?rely on free publications.

A paid service offers live help, an active forum, a ‘bank’ of documents (and videos) to draw from, as well as various other contact methods to help resolve your problem. You’ll receive?the?assistance from a specialist that’s?best-equipped to offer sound?advice.

5. Potential Pitfalls are Highlighted.

Mistakes happen in Matched Betting, and they?can be very costly. Betting bloggers tend to?shy away from?pointing out all?of these?dangers as it doesn’t make for exciting reading.

On the other hand, subscription Matched Betting Services do?their utmost to ensure that?their?members?are aware of?each and every potential pitfall every step of the way. For example, they’ll highlight misleading?terms & conditions that may cause you to invalidate your eligibility for a free bet.

6. Free Bets & Promotions are Researched and Listed on the Website Every Day.

Matched Bettors require?a continuous supply of promotions. Therefore running out of free bets means it’s game over. If you’re busy at work or simply don’t have time to research the latest promotions?then that’s?going to drastically?reduce?your profitability.

Nothing compares to the paid Matched Betting Services for their selection?of researched promotions. Every day?the offers are published?in the members section along with instructions. So instead of researching new free bets and reloads yourself you can focus on?raking in the money.

7. All of The Software & Tools are Included In the Price.

Matched Betting is very profitable, so it’s no surprise that companies charge a fee for providing software that facilitates it.

The tools bundled in the top subscription packages make?Matched Betting a seamless, repetitive process. Importantly, they each include their own variation of a Matched Bet Finder.

Additionally, as?a bonus,?they’ve started to include other tools aimed at profiting from Dutching, Arbing & Casino Bonuses.

Originally posted July 2016, and updated for 2023.

The post Best Matched Betting Subscription Services | Top Software 2023 appeared first on Punter2Pro.

In this article I firstly introduce Mike Cruickshank and then review each of his main money-making sports betting products.

Who Is Mike Cruickshank? What Does He Do?

Mike Cruickshank is an industry leading creator of low risk betting systems. All of his strategies are based on mathematically sound principles, and most of them involve hedging: betting against one outcome with other bookmaker/exchanges so that your betting bank is never at risk.

Readers of this site will be familiar with some of the methods Mike teaches including matched betting, casino bonus bagging, arbitrage betting, value betting, sports trading on Betfair — and combinations of them used together.

However, Mike has spent the past decade not only sharing his knowledge, but also producing software that weaves elements of these proven methods together into a one-stop shop for aspiring professional bettors.

Why Should I Trust Mike Cruickshank Products?

Sports betting is rife with scam artists who sell e-books, tips, software, and strategies that offer little or no value. Mike Cruickshank doesn’t fall into this category.

Admittedly from the outside Mike Cruickshank’s software looks a lot like most other “money making” products: big promises with a subscription fee attached. And on that basis, you could easily dismiss his wide array of tools.

However, unlike the majority of other so-called sports betting experts and gurus, Mike’s promises aren’t hollow. The techniques he teaches, and tools he provides, guide members to guaranteed — or low risk — profits.

His videos and resources are indicative of an experienced, knowledgeable bettor that genuinely understands the importance of gaining a mathematical edge, staying rigid, and completely removing luck from the equation.

In other words, his software is not a waste of money.

What Products Does Mike Cruickshank Sell?

The main product packages he currently sells are:

• Profit Maximiser — a popular matched betting service
• Each Way Sniper — an Each Way arb finder
• EV Maximiser — a casino bonus bagging course
• Betting Mastermind — all of the above three products, plus many others, rolled into one.

Let’s take a look at each of these sports betting product packages one by one…

1. Profit Maximiser

Profit Maximiser is a complete Matched Betting tool kit & low risk betting package, helping to set bettors onto a professional path. It’s the most well-known product offered by Mike Cruickshank.

If you’re not yet familiar with with Matched Betting, then check out my beginner’s guide. The process involves generating a risk free profit using Bookmaker free bets and promotions.

In some ways Profit Maximiser is the “suped-up” version of its (rather basic) predecessor — named ‘Bonus Bagging’ — with many more features and a much improved layout.

Profit Maximiser includes a lot of very lengthy, detailed, video tutorials to teach members about all intricacies of the Matched Betting process, along with an extensive list of offers to tackle. This is all very valuable to members.

The main tools available on Profit Maximiser are as follows:

• Matched Betting Calculator
• Odds Converter
• Bet log (for recording progress)
• Daily offers calendar
• Spread Betting offers
• Bingo offers
• Casino offers
  • Advanced casino offers

Cost: ￡12 per month, or ￡116.40 per year.

Using The Product

As a new member, you should begin with the “Start Here” button — which outlines a very clear road map to follow. This firstly points users towards tutorial videos, before moving onto the next stage.

SUBSCRIBE TO PROFIT MAXIMISER

Mike’s videos aren’t as polished as those you’ll find on some of the more expensive Matched Betting services. But they’re designed for those wanting to understand exactly what’s going on with matched betting rather than merely following a set of instructions. It sets up bettors up for continued growth.

Following on from the videos, members can immediately begin generating money through matched betting with no further delay. For this, there’s a large list of bookmakers offering free bets to new customers. Clicking one of them will direct you to concise instructions of how to profit from their current signup promotion.

SUBSCRIBE TO PROFIT MAXIMISER

The Odds Matcher and Calculators included with Profit Maximiser makes it very easy to find a suitable event, and to work out the correct stakes to place at bookies and betting exchanges. It loads fast, has a huge list of compatible bookmakers, consistently shows arbitrage bets (where the match rating is over 100%), and works just as well as the competitors’ versions.

SUBSCRIBE TO PROFIT MAXIMISER

What’s next after the signup bonuses?

Profit Maximiser also provides detailed information on other more specific offer types — such as financial, bingo, casino — along with a calendar showing daily offers (commonly known as ‘reloads’). This ensures that members receive ongoing value beyond the initial bookmaker signup offers.

Over the course of two days, my Profit Maximiser was notified of over 40 new reload bonuses to tackle. There really is so much value to scoop up using the information on this service.

Verdict

Is Profit Maximiser as fancy as the leading matched betting services? No.

Does Profit Maximiser provide the resources & tools necessary to help members learn the ropes and consistently earn from matched betting? Absolutely — and for a small cost!

Profit Maximiser is only ￡12 per month, or ￡116.40 per year.

For those looking for a low-cost matched bet finder, excellent tutorials, a list of current signup offers, ongoing offers, and a more personal (albeit no thrills) experience — look no further than Profit Maximiser.

2. Each Way Sniper

The Each Way Sniper enables bettors to exploit Each Way arbitrage opportunities on horse racing. It works by identifying cases when the difference in the bookmaker’s EW odds and the Betfair Place & Win Lay odds differ enough to create a risk free betting opportunity.

Each Way arbing employs the “back and lay” process used in matched betting (as taught by Profit Maximiser). The main difference with an arbitrage bet?is that it doesn’t rely on free bets to generate a profit.

To learn the basic principles of arbitrage betting, see my arbing guide.

Here’s what’s included with Each Way Sniper (or ‘EWS’ for short):

• Training resources
• Calculators
• Software for:
  • Each Way horse racing and golf arbs
  • Dutching

Cost: ￡1 for 14 days, or ￡118 for an entire year.

Using The Product

To get to grips with the Each Way Sniper, Mike has put together a collection of video tutorials. This is where new members should start out. As with all of Mike’s videos, the content is comprehensive and informative.

Those from a matched betting/arbing background will find all EWS learning materials very intuitive, as it builds on prior knowledge. However, even a complete newcomer can learn everything they need to know about Each Way arbing within a couple of hours. It’s pretty straightforward.

Once you understand the process, you can head straight over to the software section to start identifying Each Way arbitrage bets to “snipe” (on race days). These all appear in a table that’s very similar to the matched bet finder.

Take the following Each Way arb scenario as an example:

SUBSCRIBE TO EACH WAY SNIPER

The calculations provided show that a profit of ￡1.35 profit is completely risk free (provided you place all bets, of course!). The key thing to note here is that in the Win market alone, there’s no arbitrage opportunity. But the low Betfair Place Lay odds (1.5) create a misalignment between the Bookies theoretical Place odds of 1.82, enabling a risk free bet.

Additional Bet Types

Mike has extended EWS to include additional features:

1. Golf arb finder
2. Extra Place Dutching.

The Golf arb finder is almost identical to the horse racing version, accessed via a different page. It enables users to earn risk free profits from EW golf bets.

The Dutching calculator, however, is an entirely different piece of software altogether. It helps users to capitalise on “extra place” promotions at bookies to lock in a profit by backing every horse in the race. This requires a lot of different stakes, but no need to use the betting exchange. It’s a highly profitable system that, again, is mathematically sound.

“Value System”

Lastly, Mike incorporates a “value system” section into his Each Way Sniper. This is not an entirely new strategy in itself. It’s simply a riskier approach to EW arbing that involves no hedging (i.e. betting at bookies without placing Lay bets on the exchange).

I know for a fact that the riskier “value system” approach is more profitable than regular EW arbing in the long run. The obvious downside is that losing runs will be disheartening… and damaging to your bankroll.

Verdict

The Each Way sniper is not an all-encompassing piece of arbitrage software for multiple sports and bet types — like RebelBetting.

It is, however, a tool that focuses on one particular type of arb. It works brilliantly, and during the time I wrote this section of the review, my Each Way Sniper detected several opportunities.

The price of Each Way Sniper is ￡1 for 14 days, or ￡118 for an entire year.

At that cost I have absolutely no doubts, provided your Bookmaker accounts are not heavily all limited, that you’ll earn a comfortable profit using this product. Although, as with any winning system, your accounts will eventually be limited.

3. EV Maximiser

EV Maximiser is a Casino Bonus Bagging training resource that includes several articles and calculation tools. It’s designed for those keen to venture further down the advantage play route.

I’ve provided some details about Bonus Bagging on this site. Mathematically speaking, it’s sound. But the process is notorious for creating player/casino disputes. You’ll inevitably need to fight for payouts at some stage; so be prepared for that. This isn’t for everyone.

Cost: ￡59.99 one-off fee.

Using The Product

New EV Maximiser members need to log in and access the ‘Training’ section. From here they’re able to follow an entire course — including video explanations — on how to tackle casino bonuses. Below is snippet of some of the topics covered:

SUBSCRIBE TO EV MAXIMISER

Members are provided with calculators and data simulators to work out the EV (expected value) of casino offers before taking them on.

While the information is clear and accurate, and the tools are excellent — the obvious downside to the EV Maximiser package is that there’s no Casino bonus list included. This is a shame, because without the offers provided, you’re going to need to search for them yourself. This means only the most devoted bettors will truly succeed in applying this method.

Verdict

EV Maximiser is well laid out, and provides sound information on little-known casino bonus strategies.

However, I find it the least appealing product in Mike’s large offering. Casino Bonus Bagging is a niche that only risk averse players should venture into. Furthermore, there are some other free resources that could be an equally good starting point for beginners — such as BeatingBonuses.

EV Maximiser costs a ￡59.99 one-off fee.

The price is, however, very competitive and help is always at hand. And it’s worth remembering that assistance is very difficult to come by in such a secretive realm of online money-making.

Nonetheless, I view EV Maximiser as no more than a ‘sweetener’. It’s a product that works best as part of a larger package involving multiple lines of attack. That larger package is Betting Mastermind (up next).

4. Betting Mastermind

Betting Mastermind is the ultimate package from Mike Cruickshank — which includes Profit Maximiser, Each Way Sniper, EV Maximiser and several more products that I’ll detail in this section.

While the content is superb, the individual parts of Betting Mastermind are not particularly well integrated from a user interface standpoint. It feels as though its parts came from individually sold items, now bundled together. While this takes away from the user experience a little, it’s a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things.

Here’s all additional components of Betting Mastermind:

1. Bonus Bagging
2. Accumulator Generator
3. Bookie Blowout
4. Golden Parachute
5. Dutching Bounty
6. Acca Booster
7. Betfair Sniper
8. Betfair 1% Club
9. Betfair Renegade

Cost: ￡216 or 4 x ￡58.80. ￡40 yearly admin fee. All other costs are waived for life.

1. Bonus Bagging

Bonus Bagging is the name of Mike’s entry-level product. It’s a very basic Matched Betting information service.

To get started with Bonus Bagging, users need to log in to their account and click the ‘Request new bet’ to receive information (via email) about a bookmaker signup promotion. This email will provide a bet that you need to immediately place using a new bookmaker account in order to trigger a free bet. Learn about bookmaker free bet types.

SUBSCRIBE TO BETTING MASTERMIND

Once you’ve placed the initial bet, to realise a profit you must continue following the next instructions from either the ‘Rollover’ or ‘Claim Free Bet’ section — depending on what type of promotion you’ve started. You can request missed bets if you didn’t complete the instructions before the odds changed, or the sports event ended.

Profit Maximiser has, in my opinion, made this whole system pretty redundant. It doesn’t have huge value, aside from regular emails containing information on new reload bonuses.

2. Accumulator Generator

Accumulator Generator enables bettors to take advantage of bookmakers’ accumulator refunds.?I would recommend this product to anyone that’s already familiar with matched betting.

I must admit, accumulators are one area of professional sports betting that I’ve never properly looked into. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there were multiple ways of earning from them. These types of profitable techniques occasionally crop up in lengthy sports betting forums, but are rarely wrapped in a software package for the public to utilise.

Mike not only provides the vital knowledge through Accumulator Generator — but also a list of the latest accumulator bonuses, as well as the calculators to do the maths. This is everything you’ll need to start making profits from accas.

3. Bookie Blowout

Bookie Blowout is a service whereby Mike provides early horse racing selections via email on a daily basis. The idea is that his selections will shorten in price, enabling bettors to Lay them off (using Betfair or another exchange), to lock in a profit on the race day. In many ways, Bookie Blowout functions like a Tipster service.

Advice comes in the following format:

SUBSCRIBE TO BETTING MASTERMIND

The package comes complete with a lengthy PDF, along with some easy-to-use calculators, and several videos. The selections Mike provides specialise in a beating the Start Price (closing line). When mastered, beating the SP is, in my opinion, the Holy Grail of sports betting.

Having read Mike’s PDF, I was able to get an inkling as to the types of methods he might be using to pre-empt odds that’ll drop on the day of the race. Generally, it seems that the early odds are often vastly inaccurate and quickly sharpen up on the race day, which makes sense.

Admittedly, I haven’t verified a large enough set of results to prove the service consistently delivers value. Reliable sources state that this service works, but ultimately leads to your accounts being limited. Standard.

4. Golden Parachute

The Golden Parachute method takes advantage of bookies’ Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) — where if the starting price of your selection ends up being higher than the price you took, the bookie will pay you out at the higher odds.

With Golden Parachute, you are taught how to use different BOG bookmakers to bet on all horses in a race so that if odds one of the selections drifts and wins, it bags a profit. Normally there are more than 10 races with the eligible criteria available each day.

Mike recommends this winning strategy when it’s a slow week and there isn’t much else going on.

5. Dutching Bounty

Dutching Bounty extends Each Way Sniper. The system works by generating a profit when bookies pay more for a horse to place than the win-odds imply they should.

With this method, instead of backing & laying (like in EWS), you Dutch all of the horses EW at different bookmakers using the Dutching calculator.

The target is to have a break-even worst case scenario when the favourite wins. Then if an outsider wins you will secure a large profit — usually in excess of ￡100. If any of the other horses win you’ll make roughly 30%-50% of the maximum profit.

6. Acca Booster

Acca Booster teaches seasoned matched bettors how to profit from boosted accumulator bets — which mainly occur during weekend football. These are value bets; where the boosted back odds are higher than the lay odds on the exchange.

Mike states that you’ll need to persevere with this method for results to average themselves out. Thus, the Acca Booster requires a bigger bankroll, patience, and risk tolerance.

7. Betfair Sniper

Betfair Sniper is a detailed PDF explainer containing information on several entry-level Betfair strategies for horse racing.

The principles of Betfair Sniper are logical and — given how useful other Mike Cruickshank products are — could well be valuable. However, it is one of the products within Betting Mastermind that I cannot entirely vouch for. That’s because there’s no mathematical edge that can be specifically quantified when no two traders would yield the same results. It requires practice, discipline, refinement, and the ability to spot the correct market conditions to succeed.

I view Betfair Sniper as a helpful starting point for traders looking for hints on where to find value on the exchange. But there’s no guarantees.

8. Betfair 1% Club

The Betfair 1% club is another PDF explainer that teaches bettors how to apply effective scalping techniques prior to kick off, in order to lock in a profit no matter which team wins.

Ultra-efficient match odds markets in the world’s largest football leagues — such as the Premier League, La Liga, Series A, Bundesliga & Champions League — are required for the best results.

9. Betfair Renegade

Betfair Renegade is system that calculates the ‘true odds’ of sports events. If Betfair currently offers better odds, it advises that you back at those odds. Again, this is value betting put into practice.

In my trial, the advised bets tended to be on less-popular football markets (e.g. correct score in lower or overseas league football).

SUBSCRIBE TO BETTING MASTERMIND

I must admit, If Betfair Renegade weren’t part of this particular package I’d remain highly sceptical of how accurate the ‘true odds’ are (given past experiences in pricing up markets). So I’m keen to explore Betfair Renegade further to verify its long term profitability.

Assuming there’s value to using this service, I suspect it comes from the fact the targeted markets are either not well formed (illiquid), so the prices are speculative. Or that these niche markets have far less smart money in general, even when they are seemingly well formed.

I’d treat Betfair Renegade as if it were a tipster service: proceed cautiously, but with an open mind.

Verdict

Even if you do not come to use each and every component of the Betting Mastermind package, there’s ample value to be gained from using just a few of them. Take Profit Maximiser and Each Way Sniper — both included into the package — as an example.

Along with the huge list of additional resources and tools, there’s absolutely no doubt that Betting Mastermind is worth its fee.

The Betting Mastermind package costs ￡216 (one-off cost), or 4 x ￡58.80. With the?exception of a yearly ￡40 admin fee, all other costs are waived for life.

For ￡216 + a yearly ￡40 admin fee thereafter, Betting Mastermind is a serious prospect for any aspiring professional bettor.

Are Mike’s Products Worth The Investment?

Mike’s Cruickshank products are an example of substance over style.

You could easily be put off by all the sales spiel, overwhelming array of tools, slightly confusing user interface and general lack of… shininess. But once you get to grips with this slightly disjointed — but highly valuable — medley of products, you’re only going to reap the rewards.

Pros

• Solid reputation in the matched betting and advantage play community.
• Includes an array of tools and resources that succeed in setting amateur and intermediate bettors onto a professional path.
• All methods are rooted in mathematical foundations. There’s no ‘hit & hope’ strategies involved.
• Several little-known techniques are taught. This vastly increases the likelihood of identifying a sports betting ‘niche’ without too much competition or unwanted attention from bookies.
• Well known for offering helpful advice via email support, or via an exclusive (and active) Facebook group of other subscribers.
• Extremely good value for money. Any half-dedicated member will comfortably make back the subscription fees, and earn a substantial profit.
• Moneyback guarantee. If you’re unhappy with your purchase, you’re fully entitled to a refund via ClickBank.

Cons

• Various different systems have been merged together — particularly in Betting Mastermind — making it a little bit confusing and awkward for beginners to navigate around.
• Some additional specialist products (e.g. arb and value bet finders for all sports) would be required to fully expand a professional sports betting operation.
• Videos, materials and the user interface are less polished than other (admittedly more expensive) services.

Very few sports betting products deliver on their promises.?Mike Cruickshank’s products do, and at any extremely low cost. That’s a far cry from the vast majority of other flawed, na?ve, expensive sports betting services you could just as easily fall victim to.

Without a doubt, his products are worth the investment. Especially Betting Mastermind and Profit Maximiser.

The post Betting Mastermind Review – Profit Maximiser, Each Way Sniper & More appeared first on Punter2Pro.

The aim is to “bag” as much of the bonus amount as possible by meeting the minimum playthrough requirements set by the Casino. An optimal strategy must be played on eligible games without breaching notoriously strict bonus terms & conditions.

Matched Betting is a risk-free form of Bonus Bagging for sports betting promotions. But to extract value from a Casino bonus calculated risks must be taken.

Do the rewards of Bonus Bagging make the risks worthwhile?

Casino Bonuses: An Overview

Casino bonuses are promotional offers that encourage players to sign up and deposit.

The Decline In Casino Bonuses

The earliest online Casinos offered extremely generous bonuses. They were so easy to exploit that players didn’t need to apply any form of advanced strategy for it to be profitable.

But after years of “abuse” from advantage players (who took no real interest outside of the bonuses offered), Casinos tightened up the terms of their promotions. Nowadays most bonuses offer little or no value to players — unless optimal playthrough strategies are used.

Strict Bonus Terms & Conditions

The biggest problem with modern Casino bonuses are their strict, complex terms & conditions. It’s the cause of countless disputes.

The terms & conditions of a promotion dictates elements such as:

• Which Casino games you’re allowed to play
• How much money needs to be wagered before a withdrawal is allowed
• The weighting each games counts towards the wagering requirement
• The maximum stake you’re allowed to place in one bet
• The order of the games you play

There’s usually other highly ambiguous terms, which state that the Casino is allowed to identify bonus abuse “at their discretion”. These terms don’t always stand up in disputes, but they’re still a hindrance.

Furthermore, the Casino software itself doesn’t stop players from making ‘mistakes’. It doesn’t enforce the bonus restrictions. It’s down to the player to check their every move against the terms & conditions.

I fail to see how any genuine customer could enjoy playing under the restrictive Casino bonus schemes currently on offer. An average gambler flits between their favourites games without giving it much thought. Yet it’s those same (genuine) players who stand to be punished by the strict T&C’s.

I can only assume that, despite the complications and disputes bonuses create, they also help to generate a lot of profitable player acquisitions for online Casinos.

Withdrawals

Players that manage to complete the wagering requirement without breaching any terms (or busting out) will be able to withdraw their funds.

Each bonus type is dealt with differently upon withdrawal. Here’s the three main types:

• Non Withdrawable. The bonus value is subtracted from your withdrawal, and removed from your account. Only winnings from your bonus remain.
• Withdrawable. The bonus is included in the cashout. This is more profitable, of course.
• Sticky.?The bonus amount is non-withdrawable, but it remains in your betting account. You may be to produce additional withdrawable winnings using the bonus (until you inevitably bust it out).

Withdrawals are often a substantial size when Bonus Bagging. This is due to the betting strategies used.

Example Bonus Terms & Conditions

The way you play your Bonus Bagging strategy is determined by the wagering requirements, and various other terms & conditions attached to the bonus. Here’s a typical example of a Casino promotion you would find online:

After your first deposit, the total account balance would be $400.

I’ve picked out and summarised the main terms & conditions that might apply to a typical bonus like this. It takes some work to dig through the fine print, but it’s absolutely necessary.

Basic Terms

• Bonus eligibility: 7 days from the date the new account was opened
• Minimum deposit: $10
• Wagering requirement: 50x bonus
• Games which don’t count towards the wagering requirement:?Roulette, Sic Bo, Craps, Baccarat, Table Poker, Casino War & Red Dog
• Games which do count towards the wagering requirement:
  • 100% All Slots, Keno & Scratch Card games
  • 8% All table pokers, all roulettes, all video/power Pokers, all blackjacks (excluding Classic Blackjack), and Casino War
  • 2% Classic Blackjacks, All Aces video pokers, all Jacks or Better video pokers
  • 0% all baccarats, all craps, Red Dog, Sic Bo, bets using the gamble feature & wagers placed using the gamble feature.
• Time limit to complete wagering: 2 months

Ambiguous Terms

• Playing on any 0% games may void winnings, at the Casino’s discretion.
• Before any withdrawals are processed, your play will be reviewed for any irregular playing patterns[…]
• Other examples of irregular game play include but are not limited to, placing single bets equal to or in excess of 30% or more of the value of the bonus credited to your account […]
• The Casino reserves the right to decide in its sole discretion which activities constitute “irregular play” and to withhold any withdrawals where irregular play has occurred to meet playthrough Requirements.
• In the event that the Casino believes you are abusing or attempting to abuse a bonus or other promotion, or you are likely to benefit through abuse or lack of good faith from a gambling policy, the Casino may at its sole discretion, deny, withhold or withdraw from you any bonus or promotion, or rescind any policy either temporarily or permanently, or terminate your access to the Services and/or block your account.

Ambiguous terms are the root of many player/casino disputes. I don’t think they should be allowed by the gambling regulators. Yet even the most reputable Casinos include terms like these as standard.

Bonus Bagging Services

A Bonus Hunter has to somehow get through Casino promotions without being accused of breaching any of the tricky terms and conditions.

The only route I’d recommend is using a reputable Matched Betting Service. They hand pick the “safest” Casino bonuses, analyse the terms & conditions, and detail the exact strategy to use.

I can also recommend EV Maximiser, a specialist Bonus Bagging course put together by Mike Cruickshank. Check out my Betting Mastermind review to learn more.

These services will save you time and effort. They also have helpful staff and large member communities that’ll give you pointers along the way — which reduces your chance of making mistakes or miscalculations.

The “Two Tier” Strategy

For any Casino bonus to be worth taking it needs to have a positive expected value (known as “+EV”). Most Casino promotions are not +EV unless they are played through using a “two-tier” staking strategy.

By two-tiering a Casino bonus advantage players will bust out of their balance, losing their entire deposit and bonus, the majority of the time. But, mathematically at least, successful attempts will outweigh losses in the long-run.

Needless to say: Bonus Bagging requires risk tolerance. It’s not a risk-free strategy like sports arbitrage. It’s more like value betting which, with the right strategy, is plus EV — but variance impacts the actual results.

Note: not all Casino promotions require a two tier strategy. Each bonus has to be assessed on an individual basis.

Selecting the Right Games

Before two-tiering, you need to decide what games to play. Your game choices depend on the house edge of the eligible games. You have to work out what’s most economical.

The 50x bonus wagering requirement from the example bonus can, theoretically, be completed using the Slots, Keno and Scratchcard games — which all count 100% towards the wagering requirement. This means that on a $200 bonus, a total of $10,000 must be rolled over for the player to become eligible for a withdrawal.

The alternative is to use another category — such as ‘table games’, which features games with a much lower house edge (e.g. Blackjack, or French Roulette). The trade-off is that the wagering requirement is enormous, as these games only count 8%. Players need to rollover $125,000 to make a withdrawal using only table games.

There’s a simplified way of calculating the best games to play: multiply a game’s house edge by the wagering requirement. This gives an approximate expected loss after wagering through the bonus.

Let’s compare two popular options: slots and table games.

Slots vs Table Games

• Slots have very high house edge (~2-15%). This means the expected loss during the rollover will be high — but it counts for 100%.
• Table games have a low house edge (~0.5%). This means the expected loss during the roller is relatively low — but it counts for 8% only.

Suppose a Blackjack table game has a house edge of 0.5%, and a Slot game has a house edge of 5%. Here’s the comparison:

• Slots: 5% x $10,000 (WR) = -$500 expected loss
• Blackjack: 0.5% x $125,000 (WR) = -$625 expected loss

So, despite the higher house edge, the slots game has the lower expected loss thanks to the (much lower) $10,000 wagering requirement. Therefore this is the better option of the two, mathematically speaking.

Similar comparisons can be made between any eligible Casino games. Every Casino game needs to be assessed independently. Not all Slots, or types of Blackjack (for example) have the same house edge on every Casino platform. Game rules vary, too.

Learn more about Casino house edges from The Wizard of Odds?and The Pogg (great for info on slots).

Two Tiering Example

By now you’ve probably realised that the expected loss of the example bonus is very high.

However, applying the two-tier betting strategy improves the situation. Here’s how it’s done.

1. Set A Target Balance

The advantage player needs to place high variance (large) bets to quickly reach a target balance, before switching to (lower) normal variance bets to complete the remaining wagering requirement. The higher the target, the more EV is “bagged” from the bonus.

For instance, the player could set a 4x (deposit + bonus) target — which is neither too high that it rarely ever comes off, or too low that it offers no value.

The simplest way to reach that 4x target is to place the entire balance ($400) on a game with a 25% chance of winning (which pays 4x). For example, covering 1/4 of the numbers on an eligible Roulette table. However, some T&C’s will not allow for this, and the bettor would need to place a series of large, high-variance bets on eligible games to hit their target, or bust out.

2. Target or Bust?

Assuming the $400 bet on Roulette is allowed, and the player decides to wager through the requirement using slots once the 4x target is reached, there’s two scenarios:

1. Bust out: -$400 (-$200 of their own money). Game over.
2. Reached the 4x target: $1,600 (+$800 of their own)
   • After wagering on slots: $1,600 (balance) – $500 (expected loss) – $200 (deposit)= +$900

Therefore the advantage player either loses $200 of their own deposit, OR wagers through the bonus with an expected profit of $900 ($1,100 total balance) to withdraw.

So is this bonus really +EV?

If the bonus enables players to raise their balance in a series of large bets, then yes. Here’s the expected results if you were to claim this same bonus four times, using the same strategy:

-$200 LOSS
-$200 LOSS
-$200 LOSS
+$900 PROFIT

This equates to approximately: (-$200 -$200 -$200 +$900) / 4 = $75 expected value (EV).

In extreme cases you could win all four, or lose all four. Variance is all part of the game.

With a lower target balance, the EV goes down, as does the chance of busting out. But be warned: for many of today’s Casino promotions a low 2x target isn’t enough to make the promotion +EV. So substantial risks must be taken.

Points to Consider

1. Some bonus terms will not permit you to bet your whole balance in one hit. For illustrative purposes, I chose to simplify the two-tiering example. In practice, a smaller series of bets on high-variance games (using slots, for example) may be required to hit the target balance.
2. The higher your target, the higher the EV. But the more chance there is of busting out. Your bankroll needs to be large enough to cope with consecutive losses.
3. While meeting your target balance, you’ll notch off some of the wagering requirement. That’s a positive thing, which I did not factor into my (simplified) calculations.
4. While you try to reach the target balance, you’re betting against the house edge (which I also did not factor into the example). This slightly cuts into the profit. Hence why you want to bust, or hit the target, in as few bets as possible.
5. Many Casinos stipulate that you cannot drop your average bet size by a certain percentage (e.g. 30%). So you won’t always be able to reduce the variance to within your comfort zone.

And if you do successfully reach your target balance and complete the wagering requirements, you’re not out of the woods yet…

Post-Wagering Issues

Remember those ambiguous terms I highlighted earlier?

Well, Casinos tend to save those terms for players that successfully use the two-tiering strategy to wager through a bonus and request a withdrawal.

There’s a vast amount of disputes which arise from players being accused of using “betting patterns”.?Many Casinos (particularly those outside of the UK), do their utmost to avoid paying customers at the best of times. Problems are extrapolated when a bonus is involved.

Delaying tactics, unreasonable identification requests, unfair accusations, and account locks/closures are commonplace. Many players are forced to take legal action.

Is Bonus Bagging Worth The Hassle?

There are pros and cons to Bonus Bagging. Here’s my honest take on it.

Positives

Bonus Bagging is profitable, albeit with potential grief.

It’s mathematically sound. Plus there’s also more than one type of Casino bonus; some are a little more generous than the one featured in my example.

I’m also aware that there’s pro gamblers that have found other, more imaginative (usually higher variance) ways to circumvent strict Casino bonus wagering systems and avoid withdrawal issues.

Negatives

Bonus Bagging is burdened by obstacles. Casinos evidently do their utmost to deter players that only seek to earn a profit by claiming their bonuses.

The process is time consuming, tedious, and risky; one failed withdrawal could wipe out a lot of winnings.

My Opinion

I’d focus on Matched Betting and keep away from online Casinos; Sportsbooks aren’t anywhere near as defensive. This is largely because they manage their risk by adjusting their prices, balancing their books, and maintaining a market overround.

Perhaps venture into the simplest entry-level Casino bonuses (e.g. free spins). Beyond that — proceed with caution.

There’s certainly easier, less risky, and more fulfilling ways to earn from betting?than Casino Bonus Bagging.

Originally posted on 19th December 2016.

The post Casino Bonus Bagging – Does It Work? Is It Worth The Risk? appeared first on Punter2Pro.