Matched Betting Strategy

What is a matched betting strategy?

In other words, what is matched betting and how can you use it to make profits?

Matched betting is a strategy used to make no-risk profits from betting site promotional offers. These promotions typically come in the form of free (or risk-free) bets, enhanced odds and cashback offers. A matched betting strategy involves placing a back bet at a betting site and a lay bet at a betting exchange. In layman’s terms, a back bet means gambling on a selection to win the market, whilst a lay bet is betting against that outcome.

To minimize your matched betting risks when qualifying for promotions and maximizing your profits when using free or enhanced bets, you need to find close matches between the back and lay odds. The best way of finding these matches is to use a specialist matched betting website. These sites contain details of the latest matched betting offers available, plus a matched betting calculator that locates the best matched bets to place and tells you exactly what to do in order to maximize your profits.

Matched betting strategy: An example of how matched betting works

1. A popular online betting site is offering new customers a $20 free bet if they sign up, make a first deposit and place a bet of at least $20 on an NFL market.
2. Your first step is to use a matched betting site to locate the closest match for your $20 qualifying bet. In this case, the best match is to place a $20 back bet on the Houston Texans to beat the Las Vegas Raiders at odds of +400. You then need to place a lay bet and exchange using a stake of $19.60 at odds of 410.
3. A Texans win will give you a profit of $80 at the betting site, but a loss of $80.40 at the betting exchange. A Raiders win gives you a $19.60 win at the exchange, but you lose your $20 back bet. Essentially, the result is immaterial and you are $0.40 down overall regardless of who wins.
4. This means that we have qualified for the $20 free bet. To maximize profit from this we again need to find a close match between the back and lay odds.
5. Using the same game and the same odds, we can place our $20 free bet on the Texans and lay it using a stake of $15.67.
6. In this scenario, a Houston victory would mean a win of $80 at the betting site and a loss of $64.33 with the exchange. A Raiders win would see you lose your free bet, but make $15.67 at the exchange.
7. Once again, the result of the game makes no difference. Whatever happens, you have a profit of $15.67. If you subtract the qualifying loss of 40 cents, your overall profit from this offer is $15.27.

Is a matched betting strategy viable in the United States?

The bad news for anyone looking to use a matched betting strategy is that the Federal Wire Act of 1961 effectively means that matched betting in the US is not currently a viable option. This Act prohibits cross state betting. In other words, all betting markets have to cover just a single state.

This raises the problem of market liquidity levels. Limited markets mean limited liquidity, and limited liquidity means that betting exchanges are unable to pay out on wins. This is why there are no legal betting exchanges currently operating in the United States. Sadly this means that a conventional matched betting strategy is not possible for sports betting fans in the United States.

Of course, US gambling laws can change. And whilst there are no current plans to amend the Federal Wire Act of 1961, it is plausible that the act will change in the future. Should this happen, we will update our articles accordingly.

Matched betting strategy: EV betting

That’s the bad news. The good news is that whilst matched betting is not possible in the United States, there are many alternative strategies that players can use. One such option is EV betting -  a strategy that uses the positive expected value in betting markets to enhance profits from betting offers. Expected value is the average winnings you can expect to make if you placed the same bet repeatedly at exactly the same odds and the conditions remained exactly the same.

EV discounts one-off factors such as luck, which could affect the result of an individual running of an event. Instead, it considers the long-term factors, as this gives the true value of the bet. An EV betting strategy looks for positive EV betting options (in other words, bets that will outperform their odds over the long term) and uses them to enhance the chances of making profits from betting promotions.

How to profit from EV sports betting?

So is value betting profitable? Yes, as long as it is done correctly. Let’s look at how betting markets are put together and how EV betting can put the odds in our favor.

When betting sites set odds they want to make a profit. To do this they apply a small commission to the odds. This commission is commonly known as ‘vig’ (sometimes ‘juice’). This vig creates a problem for bettors as it skews the odds in favor of the betting sites.  To get around this problem, an EV betting strategy focuses on betting promotions. Because these offers give you free bets and enhanced odds they push the odds back in the player’s favor, and make it easier to find positive EVs in the markets.

The hard way to find positive EVs is to thoroughly research sporting events and sports betting markets. This is extremely time-consuming, tedious and requires a large level of knowledge. The simple alternative is to use an expert EV betting site. These sites do the hard work for you - they provide you with tools such as an EV betting calculator and guides on how to exploit offers. These tools will enable you to discover the best EV betting options and tell you how to use them correctly. These specialist sites are the best way to progress with an EV betting strategy. They will save you time, help you find the best offers and give you the optimum chance of making profits from EV betting.

Conclusion - Matched betting strategy

As the example in the guide illustrates, a matched betting strategy can produce some excellent results, without carrying the risks associated with traditional betting. Therefore, it is hugely unfortunate that matched betting is not currently a viable option for gamblers in the United States. Fortunately, EV betting does represent a good alternative that US players CAN use. Whilst it is not entirely risk-free, if done correctly EV betting can be a solid way of making regular profits from online betting offers.

The best way of profiting from an EV betting strategy is to use a specialist site. This will help you to identify the best promotions and the best positive EV options. Of course, you will still need to put some work in yourself - always double-check your bets and always read the small print of an offer. Doing this will ensure you do not make any errors that could prohibit you from claiming a promotion. Good luck!

1.877

Pick

898

Wins

21.5%

ROI

Matched betting strategy FAQ