Back Bets and Lay Bets

• A back bet is where you bet on something happening.

  A bookmaker accepts back bets.

• A lay bet is where you bet on something NOT happening

  An exchange is where you place lay bets.

• In football there are 3 outcomes: home win, away win and a draw.

  You can place a back bet on any of those 3 outcomes happening.

• You can also place a lay bet on that same outcome.

  This means that you are betting on that outcome NOT happening. You can think of it as betting on either of the other 2 outcomes happening.

For example if Manchester City are playing Arsenal.

• If you place a back bet on Man City to win, then the bookmaker will pay you if they win

  They keep your money/stake if Arsenal win or if it is a draw.

• If you place a lay bet on Man City at an exchange, then you will get paid if Arsenal win or if it is a draw.

  You lose money if Man City win.

The Opportunity

• If the odds of the back bet are very close to the odds of the lay bet then you can place 2 bets (A back bet and a lay bet on that outcome).

  It doesn't matter what the outcome is, you will make or lose a small amount of money.

• Rather than risking £10 of your money to get £30 of free bets (as a sign up offer), you can place a matched bet (a back bet and a lay bet) so that you are only going to lose a few pence.

This site tells you which fixtures/matches/outcomes are suitable for matched betting. Find matches

• Take a photo of either your driver's licence or passport.
• Take a selfie of you holding that photo id.

  Hold up the id so that your photo and details on it are visible.

• Take a photo of a utility bill to use as proof of address.

• Consider creating a new email address.

  In order to get free bets you need to opt into marketing emails.

Smarkets (like Matchbook and Betfair) is an exchange. You can back an outcome at a bookmakers and then bet against that outcome (place a lay bet) on an exchange. When the odds of both the back bet and lay bet are very similar there are opportunities to make money.

Use the promocode COMMFREE for commission free trading at Smarkets.

• Find the best promo code for the bookmaker

  Signup for an account using the promo code.

• Check the promo code is entered before depositing any money.

  Once you deposit you could miss your chance (BetFred).

• Deposit money with a bank card

  If you use PayPal or other then you may not qualify for your free bets.

• Use our odds matcher to find a qualifying bet.

  Find matches
  There will be minimum odds in the terms and conditions. It may need to be at least Evens (1/1 fractional odds) (2.0 decimal odds). We are working on a sign up search for each bookmaker.

• Use the filters to set the minimum odds to match the bookmakers terms and conditions.

  Find matches

• Open up the bookmakers site and view the event.

  You can copy the link by clicking on the outcome in the odds matcher.

• Open up the exchange site and view the same event

  You can do this by clicking the link in the odds matcher.

• Check that the odds in both sites match those in the odds matcher

  Odds can change. The bookmaker may have full time results and early payout odds. Make sure you use the right ones.

• Find the outcome that you are backing.

  Click on the odds.

• View your betslip and enter your stake.

  Check the odds again and place the bet.

Betfair

To place a lay bet against Leeds you would click the pink coloured square in the same row as Leeds(that has the odds 1.61)

Smarkets

To place a lay bet against Leeds you would click the blue coloured square in the same row as Leeds(that has the odds 1.61)

Entering a Stake

When the betslip is open you enter the stake. Our odds matcher calculates the lay stake for you. When you click details, you set the size of you back bet stake and the lay stake is shown to the right. There are also detailed calculations of what is paid out for both outcomes. You will see that there is a 26 pence loss regardless of the outcome. If that was the cost of £30 of free bets you would think that it was a fairly good deal, much better than risking £10. Please note that a typical qualifying bet would need to have decimal odds of over 2.0 (evens .. 1/1)

• Welcome offers from other bookmakers Find 2Up matches

• Join the bet clubs Bet Clubs

• Try 2Up matched betting Find 2Up matches

• Always lay off your bets (We will cover this).

  Otherwise you are just gambling, and the bookmaker will take your money

• Don't put your free bets on your favourite team.

  Use our matching tool and extract the money.

• Start small - You may make the odd mistake when starting out.

  If you are placing small bets then it won't cost you.

• Don't get addicted.

  If you don't trust yourself then perhaps it is best to avoid betting sites.

• Don't draw attention to yourself.

  It is best to avoid placing lay bets at quiet times, stick to busy days like the weekends. Avoid arbitrage (when you make a profit on a matched bet), bookmakers may search for customers who place bets when the odds are vulnerable to an arb.