How can you make some extra cash using FREE BETS...

A second job working in the local supermarket or overtime will bring in guaranteed extra money for no additional risk, but there are drawbacks. Is the additional money that you make really worth the additional effort? There are other ways to make money which can give a good return but which also minimise the amount of risk that you expose yourself to. Betting has always been a game of two sides, going to your local bookies and placing your hard earned cash down in the hope of it coming back with some profit attached, but there was always the chance your hard earned cash would end up in the bookies pocket. However there are some basic strategies that you can use which help to level the playing field and can turn what some people consider to be a fools game into a profitable part time income. The Free Bets that we have on offer will help to get you started! Alternatively if you fancy something completely different why not have a look at our special X Factor FREE BETS page.

First some proof that our FREE BET strategies work!

Strategy 1 - Last Minute Betting

Placing a bet on a sporting event at the last minute will give you a potential profit with a reduced level of risk. Various bookies allow you to place match or lay bets in play. By betting large amounts of money you can make a reasonable return using this approach. However, be prepared for the odd surprise and do factor in the odd lost bet if you follow this strategy! You can use FREE BET offers to further enhance your returns.

Strategy 2 - Matched Betting

In order to attract new customers many bookmakers offer free bets or free bet cashback offers. With free bet offers a free bet will be provided after signing up and wagering an amount. The free bet is usually to the value of the initial wager up to a maximum limit. A common technique is to back an outcome at a bookmaker (e.g. Ladbrokes) and lay the same outcome at a betting exchange (e.g. Betfair). By both backing and laying the same outcome either the back will win or the lay will win. Using this free betting technique you will be guaranteed of making a return. Although as with all of the strategies here it is possible that something unexpected could happen so do not use money that you cannot afford to lose.

For example consider a football game between Team A and Team B. Betting on the match result there are three possible outcomes, Team A wins, Team B wins or a draw. For the outcome where Team A wins a bookmaker offers odds of 3.0 while a betting exchange allows us to lay the same outcome also at odd of 3.0.

The back:

We wager £50 on Team A winning at the bookmaker at odds of 3.0. If team A wins will will get a return of £50 x 3.0 = £150. If Team A does not win we lose the bet and get a return of £0.

The lay:

When laying at the betting exchange we act as the bookmaker to another persons wager effectively betting against the outcome that we lay. As we wagered £50 on Team A winning at the bookmaker we will lay this outcome at the betting exchange. We lay £50 on Team A winning at the betting exchange at odds of 3.0. If Team A wins we lose and pay out £50 x 3.0. If Team A loses we win and keep the £50.

The outcome:

Either Team A wins or they do not win. We either win the back and lose the lay or lose the back and win the lay.

In this example as the odds were identical and there were no additional costs we lost nothing on the bet. In practice that is rarely the case. Betting exchanges make money by acting as a broker and charging commission. In addition the odds at the betting exchange will usually be higher than at the bookmaker. Both these factors mean the outcome will usually be a small loss. Many match bettors use a spreadsheet to help determine the value of the lay stake and calculate the outcome of a bet.

Stake returned vs stake not returned:

Many free bet offers will not return the stake in the winnings. So if you were to make a free bet of £50 at odds of 3.0 on an outcome you would stand to win £50 x 3.0 - £50 = £100. In the bettors slang a stake not returned free bet is often referred to as an SNR bet while a stake returned free bet is referred to as an SR bet. In order to maximize the return of a stake not returned free bet high odds are desirable. As the odds increase the percentage winnings represented by the stake decreases as does the loss. This means that you usually get your return from the lay bet.

Strategy 3- Arbitrage Betting

All bookies set odds on sporting (and other) events based on what they think the outcome will be, the more likely the outcome in their opinion, the smaller the odds and the smaller the payout. But with the number of online bookies today you frequently get differences of opinion and sometimes these differences are so great that they create an Arbitrage Bet, a bet where if the correct amounts of money are placed on each outcome with various bookmakers then no matter what the outcome is, the winning bet will return enough money to cover your stake and make a profit.

In the bettors slang an arbitrage is often referred to as an arb. A typical arb is around 2%, often less, however 4%-5% are also normal and during some special events they might reach 20%.

Arbitrage betting is usually done on the web by researching prices (odds) on betting web sites or the most effective way is to purchase one of the arbitrage software packages. As an investment practice, it is not completely risk-free. despite the commercially used terms no-risk and risk-free betting.

Arbitrage Betting involves relatively large sums of money (stakes are bigger than in normal betting) while another variety, betting investment, means placing relatively small bets systematically on overvalued odds most of which will lose but some win thus making a profit.

An example arb

Lets say Tim Henman reaches the Wimbledon final and meets Roger Federer

Bookie A give the odds as follows:

Henman to win 2.50 – Federer to win – 1.50

Meanwhile Bookie B think Henman has a better chance so offer smaller odds on him

Henman to win 2.00 – Federer to win 1.727

Now these odds are sufficiently different that an arb has been formed and this is how you work it out by hand

Divide 100 by the decimal odds, this will give you the required amount to bet to win £100 on either player.

So for Henman 100 / 2.50 = £40 needed to win £100 from Bookie A

Federer 100 / 1.727 = £57.90 needed to win £100 from Bookie B

So to win £100 on this match you only need to bet a total of £97.90, lets say Henman pulls of the shock win, your bet at Bookie B has lost, but you bet at Bookie A has won and you have a profit of £2.10! Now say you multiplied this by 10, you would have a guaranteed profit of £22.10. do this a few times a day and you will soon have a decent profit!

Matched and Arbitrage betting spreadsheet

click here to download the spreadsheet