BetConnect is the perfect platform for Matched Betting – but don’t just take our word for it. This Matched Betting Blog explains exactly how one user made over £1,500 in just two weeks!

Matched Betting Blog: Introduction

I’m not a gambler – I never have been. I first heard of matched betting from a friend at university a couple of years ago. Risk-free profit from ‘gambling’?! Surely not! It was constantly on my to-do list, but exams (and other less important endeavours) got in the way. As time passed since then, it slowly slipped my mind.

That was until the same friend mentioned in passing a new site called BetConnect. He excitedly told me they had ‘revolutionised his betting’ over the last few months. I initially had my doubts about whether to sign up. But after a quick tutorial and a look at how much he’d made, I decided to create an account. As my friend informed me, being able to lay bets at bookmaker prices and at 0% commission means that there is no qualification loss and you don’t have to waste time searching for bets that are close to the exchange prices. 

Read on for my Matched Betting Blog, a day-by-day rundown of my experience using BetConnect…

Matched Betting Blog: Day 1 (03/02/2020)

Here we go then. I have created a Bet365 account and deposited £100 into it. This means I qualify for their full £100 new account free bet offer. I think I’ll use this while I test out BetConnect and expand to other bookmakers later. When you create a BetConnect account, you are given £50 with which to lay your first three bets. This has since been reduced to a £20 offer since I signed up. I was sent two horse racing bets (£5 on Winds Of Fire at 11/4 in the Carlisle 16:30 and £5 on Opportunist at 3/1 in the Wolverhampton 20:00) and £5 on the draw in the Vfl Bochum v Hamburger SV match. All of these lay bets won, i.e. the pros lost, so I’m £15 up before I’ve even started! 

BetConnect

It’s a quiet Monday for racing and sport in general. I spent an hour or so clicking the BetConnect button in the afternoon to see what these pros are backing. It’s a lot of fun, and it really feels like I’m competing with other people to see the bets! For now, I think I’m going to stick just to horse racing. I will look for bets which might provide profit from Best Odds Guaranteed winners and use the free bets I have.

Sure enough, only the third bet I opened was the Bet365 price! I laid £50 at 4/1 on Talkofgold in the 16:00 at Carlisle on BetConnect and placed the same bet at 365. Ten minutes in, and I’ve already got half my £100 free bet credited with no risk of losing anything (the horse came third, if you were wondering). I then laid £50 of Sleepy Haven at 11/2 in the Carlisle 16:30, which was 6/1 at Bet365! This would have meant a risk-free £25 arb profit if it had won, but unfortunately, no dice this time. However, qualifying bets are complete, and I have the £100 free bet in my account ready to go. 

Free Bets

I will ideally be looking for long shots to use my free bet on. They are more likely to lose, and my lay bets on BetConnect will hopefully win. I didn’t see any I fancied using for this today, but I laid a couple of other small bets and placed them at the same price hoping for a bit of BOG, with no luck. Still, £15 profit overall on day one while just trying it out is not to be sniffed at! I think tomorrow will see me getting stuck in a bit more. I really enjoyed the feel of the site and have no complaints so far!

Daily Profit: £15.00
Total Profit: £15.00

Matched Betting Blog: Day 2 (04/02/2020)

I woke up this morning eager to get going. I spent an hour first thing setting up new accounts so I could take advantage of more free bets today. Now I have accounts with William Hill (Bet £10 & Get 2 x £15), Ladbrokes (Bet £5 & Get 4 x £5), Betway (Bet £30 & Get £30) and Paddy Power (£20 cash refund if the first bet loses using my mate’s referral code).

By mid-morning, I had found three bets on Betconnect at Bet365 prices, perfect for the free bet.

Bets:

• £40 Brinkley’s Katie 10/1 Kempton 20:30
• £20 Ultimatum Du Roy 14/1 Market Rasen 14:45
• £40 Sory 9/1 Sedgefield 16:35

Unfortunately, the 14/1 shot won its race, but the others lost, so I made a tidy £80 from the offer!

With my remaining BetConnect balance, I laid £45 at 6/1 on Kilcrea Bridge in the Sedgefield 16:05 and placed this across William Hill, Ladbrokes and Betway to qualify for their free bets. I almost fell foul of the time running out on BetConnect here as I stumbled around to the bookies trying to find the correct horse, but managed to lay it with a few seconds to spare! 

Daily Profit: £80.00
Total Profit: £95.00

Matched Betting Blog: Day 3 (05/02/2020)

Another day, another few new accounts were set up: Skybet (Bet £5 & Get £10), Virgin Bet (Bet £10 & Get 2 x £10), 888Sport (Bet £10 & Get 3 x £10). From now on I will be setting myself a couple of aims for the day before I get started, so here we are for day 3.

Aims:

1. Find bets for Skybet, 888, and Virgin to qualify for their free bets
2. Find bets with high odds to place my free bets at Paddy Power, William Hill, Ladbrokes and Betway, which should lose, and therefore win on BetConnect.
3. Start using my Bet365 account primarily for arbs (bets where I can back the bet at a higher price than I am laying it on BC) and potential BOG profit.

This morning was the busiest start to any day since I signed up regarding the number and size of the bets coming through. I qualified for the free bets at my three new bookie accounts using the first bet I saw this morning; Red Stripes at 7/1 in the Southwell 13:30 – Goal 1 complete.

I had to wait a little while for the longer price horses to come through on Betconnect to place my bookie free bets on, but before lunch, I matched.

Bets:

• £45 Dinos Benefit 9/1 Ludlow 14:45 (£30 Betway, £5 Ladbrokes, £10 888Sport)
• £15 Fuschia 16/1 Wolverhampton 17:40 (£10 Skybet, £5 Ladbrokes)
• £35 Capella Fella 14/1 Wolverhampton 19:40 (£20 Paddy Power, £15 William Hill)

All of which lost! Another £95 in the bank!

With my remaining balance, I laid £100 Polish at 13/8 16:45 Ludlow and £40 The Dellercheckout at 6/4 16:15 Ludlow and placed them both at Bet365. Polish shortened before the start and won, so no luck there, but The Dellercheckout drifted to 7/4 and landed me a nice £10 BOG! Just a week ago, I wouldn’t have had a clue what that meant but this betting lark is proving easy so far!

After three days and £200 in the bank, the only thing holding me back from laying more bets at the moment on BetConnect is my balance running out. Since it’s gone so well so far and I’m enjoying the experience of using the site, tomorrow I think I will fund the account more and have a real go at matching as much as I can.

Daily Profit: £105.00
Total Profit: £200.00

Matched Betting Blog: Day 4 (06/02/2020)

As I alluded to last night, my first action this morning was to deposit into my BetConnect account so I’ll be less limited in what I can match going forward. I will also prioritise bets on races earlier in the day so my balance isn’t tied up.

Aims:

1. Use remaining free bets at William Hill, Ladbrokes, Virgin Bet and 888Sport
2. Make a profit from at least one arb/BOG
3. Match my first each way bet (potentially try to take advantage of an extra place offered by the bookies if I can find one)

As was the case yesterday, the very first bet of the day I received proved to be fruitful – I laid £10 each way Connect Four in the Huntingdon 15:40 at 12/1 with the place at ¼ odds. Not only were Bet365 14/1 with the same terms so I had already locked in a healthy arb, but it came third at 16/1. This meant a profit of £10 – not a bad way to start.

With bets coming through thick and fast I matched a few (including £100 Whatsnotoknow Thurles 14:15) and used a mixture of my accounts to place them, but with no luck. They either shortened and won or were well beaten.

Before the morning was out I found three suitable bets for my remaining free bets.

Bets:

• £40 Handsome Yank 12/1 Chelmsford 13:40 (William Hill £15, Ladbrokes £5, Virgin £10 and 888 £10)
• £15 Jenkins 14/1 Doncaster 14:55 (Ladbrokes £5, 888 £10)
• £10 Cluan Dara 14/1 Thurles 13:45 (£10 Virgin)

None of them won, so I pocketed another £65! This proved to be the end of my luck today, unfortunately, with no arbs coming off and nothing in the way of BOG throughout the afternoon and evening. However, £75 for the day is not to be sniffed at. Bring on the weekend!

Daily Profit: £75.00
Total Profit: £275.00

Matched Betting Blog: Day 5 (07/02/2020)

With no more free bets in the bookmaker accounts I have set up, I will mainly concentrate on making a profit from BOG/arbs over the next few days. I may also look to expand my horizons into football and two ups, where Bet365 and Paddy Power will settle your bet as a winner if your team goes two goals ahead, so you can end up winning both the lay and back bets. I’m very unlikely to strike gold but you never know! Since utilising the free bet offers provides such an easy way to make a bit of money I will look into creating more accounts at the start of next week when I assume the traffic will be quieter on BetConnect.

Aims:

1. Make a triple-digit daily profit.
2. Match my first football bet.

I felt like I was in arb heaven this morning, with bet after bet being sent through to me at a lower price than I could back them at. Maybe the pros become more generous after a hard week’s work as the weekend looms! The most notable of these bets are listed below.

Bets:

• £30 Capac 12/1 Kempton 13:50 (14/1 at William Hill)
• £10 Episode 25/1 EW Kempton 14:55 (28/1 at Skybet)
• £57 Noble Account 7/1 Southwell 15:05 (15/2 at Bet365)
• £48 Waikiki Waves 10/1 EW Kempton 15:30 (11/1 at 888)
• £50 Oscars Leader 6/1 Bangor 15:50 (13/2 at Bet365)
• £120 Stimulating Song 11/4 EW Bangor 16:20 (3/1 at Bet365)
• £45 Pearl Spectre 13/2 Southwell 16:40 (7/1 at Ladbrokes)

Happily, three of these came to fruition: first, Episode placed, earning me £7.50, then Oscars Leader won to pocket me £25, and finally Stimulating Song placed, making me £5.40 (including the application of a 10p Rule 4 deduction). Not huge amounts but every little helps! This morning also saw me lay my biggest bet so far: £950 Annie Mc 10/11 Bangor 13:40, which I backed at the same price across a range of accounts. It won but unfortunately shortened to 4/5 – with these high stakes and short prices, though, even a small shift in my direction could lead to a big win in future.

My biggest win of the day was saved until last! I laid £10 Morph Speed 28/1 in the Dundalk 19:00, and placed the bet at 33/1 Paddy Power. With no expectation of this winning, I didn’t even watch the race, but when I came to look at my BetConnect account this evening I was amazed to see that the pro had won. Another £50 in the kitty, making today my best day yet, discounting offers, and nearing the optimistic £100 target I set myself! I’m looking forward to my first weekend here on BetConnect as I imagine there’ll be even more bets sent through and more chances to make money.

Daily Profit: £87.90
Total Profit: £362.90

Matched Betting Blog: Day 6 (08/02/2020)

Normally my Saturdays start with a headache and a lie-in, but today I was up bright and early, ready for the first bets to come through. Despite yesterday’s success, I didn’t fulfil my aim of matching a football bet, so this was one of the main focuses for the day.

Aims:

1. Match my first football bet (again)
2. Beat yesterday’s profit record
3. If there are any quieter periods, have a look at bets in other sports to see if there are any possible arbs.

Sure enough, I only had to wait until 9:10am to complete my first aim! A pro who clearly knows a lot more than me (or at least I hope they do) placed a bet on the big BFA Vilnius v FC Vilniaus Vytus match, backing the away team to win at ⅘. After trawling through the Club Friendlies on William Hill for a couple of minutes I found the same bet at 10/11. I laid on Betconnect and backed £100 at William Hill and, despite not being able to find a stream to watch the game, pocketed £10.91 as my new favourite team edged the match 3-2.

There are simply too many horse racing bets that I match each day to mention them all now, especially as the majority don’t come to anything. Today alone, I matched 53 in total! I will therefore just list those where the horses win or place, along with the profit from each if there is any.

Bets:

• £42 Karakoram 11/1 EW Warwick 13:30, backed at 11/1 at Virgin and placed third at 12/1 (£10.50 profit)
• £65 Theo’s Charm 9/1 EW Uttoxeter 15:07, backed at 9/1 at Bet365 and placed second at 7/1 (no profit)
• £90 Aione 5/6 Naas 15:57, backed at 5/6 at Skybet and won at 10/11 (£6.82 profit)
• £125 Ahorsecalledwanda 7/4 EW Lingfield 16:05, backed at 7/4 at Bet365 and won at 9/4 (£75 profit)
• £120 Never Said Nothing 11/4 EW Wolverhampton 18:30, backed at 11/4 at William Hill and won at 2/1 (no profit)
• £20 Birkie Queen 14/1 EW Wolverhampton 18:30, backed at 16/1 at William Hill and placed third at 14/1 (£8 profit)
• £30 Hooflepuff 4/1 Wolverhampton 20:30, backed at 4/1 at 888 and won at 10/3 (no profit)

The drift of Ahorsecalledwanda made my day today, almost single-handedly getting me to the triple figure profit for the day!

I didn’t see any football bets today which were suitable for the 2 up offers but I matched £200 of Chennaiyin FC at 51/20 v Bengaluru in the Indian Super League and backed it at Betway at 13/5, meaning a profit of £10 if they win. The match isn’t until tomorrow so I’ll update you then.

Today was yet another great day overall, but it looks like my William Hill account has been restricted to ~£200 takeout, for horse racing at least. I was aware that this might start to happen over time with various accounts, but it’s a slight concern that I’m seeing it after only a few days. Hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come, but I’ve still got plenty more accounts to open yet so I remain optimistic!

Daily Profit: £111.23
Total Profit: £474.13

Matched Betting Blog: Day 7 (09/02/2020)

Fairly predictably, I woke this morning to the news that the high winds due to Storm Ciara had caused all three scheduled race meetings to be called off. Whilst not ideal as I’d hoped to finish off the week in style, it gave me the perfect opportunity to create a raft of new bookmaker accounts and also concentrate on making profit from bets on other sports.

Aims:

1. Create new bookmaker accounts.
2. Take advantage of the bookies’ sign-up offers.
3. Make profit via arbs/2 ups etc. from sports bets.

The accounts that I created throughout the day when there were quieter periods on BetConnect and their respective offers are: Betfair Sportsbook (Bet 25 x £10 & Get £100), BetVictor (Bet £10 & Get £10), Unibet (Money back as a bonus up to £40 if your first bet loses, then bet 3x bonus to complete), Coral (Bet £5 & Get 4 x £5), and Betfred (Bet £10 & Get £30).

In the absence of horse racing, I didn’t get through any long price bets in the range of 10/1 or higher on which to use the free bets themselves. I did however find bets to qualify for the BetVictor, Coral and Betfred free bets, and 11 of the 25 required to fully obtain the Betfair free bet bundle (currently £40 of a possible £100).

Below are the bets I managed to arb today and any associated profit.

Bets:

• £60 Espanyol v Real Mallorca, de Tomás first goalscorer 23/5, backed at 24/5 at 888 (bet won so £12 profit)
• £200 Italy (+25) v France 6 Nations 99/100, backed at 1/1 at Betfred (bet won so £2 profit)
• £200 Celta de Vigo 39/20 v Sevilla, backed at 2/1 at Virgin (bet won so £10 profit)
• £400 Holstein Kiel v FC St. Pauli Over 2.5 goals 17/25, backed at 7/10 at Bet365 (match is tomorrow so I will keep a keen eye on it)

I also matched a bet on Sevilla in the match against Celta de Vigo at 27/20 and backed it at the same price at Paddy Power, looking for my first 2 up. Unfortunately, despite going a goal up, they didn’t manage to find that second before succumbing. Chennaiyin only drew 0-0 from the bet yesterday so no luck here either I’m afraid. 

Despite this, I would still call today productive, showing that even without horse racing it is relatively easy to make money matched betting on BetConnect. I also now have the new accounts to utilise and the free bets to exploit, which I will look to do tomorrow. Having said that, I can’t say I didn’t miss the racing today and I hope the weather clears enough overnight for it to be back for the start of my second week.

Daily Profit: £24.00
Total Profit: £498.13

Matched Betting Blog: Day 8 (10/02/2020)

Fantastic news! Ciara has moved on enough to allow two of the three scheduled race meetings to go ahead today at Wolverhampton and Plumpton. It’s amazing to think that just over a week ago I didn’t even know that racing was on every day and only really watched the Grand National, and now I’m glued to a bleak mid-February Monday night meeting at Wolverhampton.

Aims:

1. Find 14 more bets at Betfair Sportsbook prices to place and therefore fully qualify for the £100 free bets (ideally all to settle as early as possible as the bonus is only credited upon settlement of bets).
2. Find long price bets to utilise the free bets from my 5 new bookie accounts.

Despite my excitement about horse racing being back on the menu today, the first bet I matched this morning with a profit opportunity was on the NBA – £700 Golden State Warriors (+6.0) v Miami Heat at 9/10, which I backed at 10/11 at William Hill. If this wins in the early hours of tomorrow morning I will only bank £6.36 but every little helps! It looks like my William Hill account is only restricted on horse racing as I had no issue placing this basketball bet which is promising.

It was a slow start from the pros this morning. They must have been recovering from the havoc caused by the storm over the weekend. They woke up by lunchtime, however, and I matched these bets for the free bets.

Bets:

• £80 Marmont 25/1 Plumpton 15:15, backed £40 Unibet, £10 BetVictor, £5 Coral, and £25 arbed at 28/1 at Betfair. 
• £30 Cuban Spirit 14/1 Wolverhampton 20:10, backed at Betfred.
• £20 Encoded 20/1 Wolverhampton 20:10, backed £15 Betfair, £5 Coral.
• £20 Red Allure 20/1 Wolverhampton 20:10, backed at Betfair. 

None of these bets won so another tasty £150 in the bank from free bets alone! In order to be able to withdraw the £40 from Unibet I will have to place bets totalling £120, but this won’t be an issue as long as I am sent bets at Unibet prices on BetConnect. I also throughout the day placed the remaining 14 bets at Betfair to qualify for the full £100 free bet, £60 of which I have so far used.

In addition, these are the winning bets I matched today.

Bets:

• £100 Calva D’Auge 1/1 Plumpton 14:15, backed at Skybet and won at 5/6 (no profit).
• £50 Amlovi 6/1 Plumpton 16:45, backed at Betfred and Ladbrokes and won at 13/2 (£25 profit).
• £75 Clap Your Hands 15/8 Wolverhampton 18:10, backed at Unibet and won at 2/1 (£9.38 profit).
• £150 Windsorlot 15/8 EW Wolverhampton 18:40, backed at 2/1 at Bet365 and won at 7/4 (£22.50 profit).
• £40 Rangali Island 11/2 Wolverhampton 19:40, backed at 888 and won at 5/1 (no profit).

Despite it being a relatively quiet day, the pro’s were on form and I smashed my record profit for a day! I matched a few each way bets which places as well, but didn’t make any money from them so haven’t listed them above. An added bonus this evening saw Holstein Kiel beat St Pauli 2-1, meaning my arb from yesterday came good for another £8. On a slightly negative note, my 888 account appears to be the second to start suffering restrictions on horse racing, so I’ll keep an eye on that over the coming days.

Daily Profit: £214.88
Total Profit: £713.01

Matched Betting Blog: Day 9 (11/02/2020)

What a great day it was yesterday even with only two race meetings on! I’ve made over £700 already and only been matched betting for just over a week. The effects of the storm are still on show with two more meetings at Ayr and Lingfield being cancelled again today, but with Chelmsford and Newcastle going ahead I’m hopeful of another good day.  Overnight the Golden State Warriors went down 101-113 to Miami Heat and didn’t cover the +6 handicap line in the bet from yesterday morning. Whilst that means no profit, it may not prove to be a bad thing for the longevity of my William Hill account to lose £700 to them. My friend is always talking about ‘nursing his accounts’ in order to keep them open, which I think I’m starting to understand.

Aims:

1. Use remaining free bets: £40 Betfair, 2 x £5 Coral.
2. Consecutive £200 plus profit days.

Before lunch I had completed the first of these with the following bets.

Bets:

• £5 Ska Ridge 33/1 Newcastle 16:50, backed at Coral.
• £45 Mia Mento 12/1 Newcastle 17:50, backed £40 Betfair, £5 Coral.

Neither of these came particularly close to winning, finishing sixth and fourth respectively. This £50 means I have got 3/4 of the way to the £1000 mark after nine days, without even counting the rest of the day’s activity. Who would’ve thought risk-free betting could be so easy?! 

This afternoon I matched £250 on Swansea 21/20 v QPR and placed the bet at Bet365 at the same price, in the hope of making a £512.50 profit from the 2 goals ahead early payout offer. The teams didn’t comply unfortunately and played out a dour 0-0 draw. I’m still waiting to strike gold on this front. 

As usual, here are a list of the horse racing bets I matched today which either won or placed.

Bets:

• £80 Indian Affair 3/1 EW Chelmsford 13:35, backed at Virgin and BetVictor, and placed third at 4/1 (£16 profit).
• £40 Grandscape 9/1 EW Chelmsford 16:15, backed at Unibet and placed third at 8/1 (no profit).
• £30 Zeshov 18/1 Newcastle 17:20, backed at Coral and won at 12/1 (no profit).
• £15 Betty Grable 20/1 EW Newcastle 17:20, backed at 22/1 at Unibet and placed second at 16/1 (£6 profit).
• £25 Athollblair Boy 13/2 EW Newcastle 17:50, backed at 7/1 at Bet365 and won at 4/1 (£15 profit).
• £60 Dream Game 9/1 Newcastle 18:20, backed at Betfred and won at 13/2 (no profit).

The racing today didn’t quite reach the heights of yesterday. Most of the prices shortened after I placed the bets. This means I am running the risk of having accounts restricted and also creating no opportunities for BOG. All in all, £37 in addition to the free bet profit is a good return for a quiet Tuesday. I can’t complain!

Daily Profit: £87.00
Total Profit: £800.01

Matched Betting Blog: Day 10 (12/02/2020)

Today followed the pattern of the last couple of days. All bar two race meetings were abandoned, leaving Kempton and Southwell as the sole hosts of action. I’m hoping that everything is back to normal by the end of the week so I can end it with a real bang and target £1500 profit by Sunday.

Aims:

1. Make at least £100 profit from horse racing today.
2. Make at least £50 profit from other sports today.

As was the case a couple of days ago, the first bet I matched this morning was for the NBA: £750 Toronto Raptors (-2.5) @ Brooklyn Nets 9/10, backed at Skybet at 10/11. I’m in two minds about whether I’d rather the bet win, and therefore make me about £7, or lose and keep Skybet interested in me sticking around. I’ll update you tomorrow morning on the result as it kicks off in the early hours of the morning.

These are the four-horse racing bets that won/placed that I matched today.

Bets:

• £80 Tigray 9/2 Southwell 13:45, backed at Unibet and won at 3/1 (no profit).
• £425 Badayel 4/6 EW Southwell 14:55, backed at Betway at 8/11 and won at 8/15 (£32.20 profit).
• £25 Piazon 11/1 EW Southwell 16:00, backed at 12/1 Bet365 and won at 8/1 (£30 profit).
• £150 Chloellie 3/1 EW Kempton 18:00, backed at Betfred and placed second at 7/4 (no profit).

A couple of nice arbs there, but it came at a price. The next time I went to place a bet at Betway it would only let me have £7.36! This is the first account that it doesn’t appear worth trying to use for horse racing anymore – both 888 and William Hill have been partially restricted but I can still place moderate bets with them.

In my efforts to expand my betting horizons, I matched £300 of Duran/Londero 8/13 v Caruso/Sonego in the Argentina Open doubles and placed the bet at 4/6 at William Hill. They ran out comfortable straight set winners and pocketed me £15.38. After the horse racing finished this evening, the pros really got stuck into the midweek football. I found a few first/anytime goalscorer bets to arb, including the legend that is Wayne Rooney! However, the only one to come off was £200 Mitrovic anytime scorer for Fulham away against Millwall, matched at 11/8 on BetConnect and backed at 6/4 at Virgin. I didn’t have to wait long. He slotted in after just three minutes to net me another £25.

Finally this evening I had another attempt at winning my first 2 up profit, matching £150 Reading 3/1 v West Brom and backing it at the same price at Bet365. Unfortunately they lost 2-1. Another near miss but I feel like it’s getting closer!

Daily Profit: £102.58
Total Profit: £902.59

Matched Betting Blog: Day 11 (13/02/2020)

For the fifth consecutive day the weather majorly disrupted the horse racing calendar. Meetings at Clonmel, Fontwell and Kelso were called off. My initial hopes of a full schedule by the weekend are looking unrealistic now as Storm Dennis closes in to take the place of Ciara last weekend. Overnight the Toronto Raptors went down 91-101 so came nowhere near covering the -2.5 handicap from yesterday.

Aims:

1. Make the £150 daily average profit needed for the rest of the week to reach £1500 by Sunday.

The first bet that I matched this morning was also the source of my first profit of the day: £200 Sakkari 10/11 v Cornet in the WTA St. Petersburg Trophy, which I backed at 19/20 at William Hill. Sakkari came out on top in straight sets, earning me £8.18 before lunch.

As you can see below, a fruitless afternoon at Leicester was followed by a brilliant evening at Chelmsford!

Bets:

• £20 Risk And Roll 5/1 Leicester 16:30, backed at William Hill and won at 9/2 (no profit).
• £125 Garsman 2/1 Chelmsford 17:30, backed at Betfred and won at 11/4 (£93.75 profit).
• £50 Come On Bear 7/4 Chelmsford 18:00, backed at Ladbrokes and won at 7/4 (no profit).
• £170 Solar Heights 8/11 EW Chelmsford 19:00, backed at Bet365 and won at 4/5 (£15.45 profit).
• £5 Da Vinci 12/1 Chelmsford 20:00, backed at Bet365 and won at 16/1 (£20 profit).
• £20 Mukha Magic 18/1 EW Chelmsford 20:30, backed at 20/1 Skybet and placed third at 10/1 (£10 profit). 

It really takes the pressure off when a large proportion of the daily target is met by one bet. The £93.75 made from the drift of Garsman eclipsed the £75 profit from Ahorsecalledwanda on Saturday for a single bet. The evening once again presented me with arb opportunities on first and anytime goalscorers. However the only one which won was former boy wonder Martin Odegaard at 9/4 for Real Sociedad against Mirandes. I matched £75 on BetConnect and placed the bet at Unibet at 5/2, which produced a profit of £18.75 when he slotted in just before half time. This rounded off another great day and I have reached a four figure total gain in just 11 days!

Daily Profit: £166.13
Total Profit: £1068.72

Matched Betting Blog: Day 12 (14/02/2020)

Normally the lack of a date on Valentine’s Day makes February 14th one of the lowlights of the year. On this occasion it turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise. With the good news that four race meetings were on today and only Sandown abandoned, it meant no awkward long trips to the bathroom mid-meal to match bets and the inevitable arguments that would follow. As the weekend nears, the goal is simply to keep consistently making larger profits in order to reach the £1500 mark by Sunday so:

Aims:

1. Make a daily profit of £150 plus for the second consecutive day.

Due to my expectation that there would be a significantly larger volume of horse racing bets today with double the number of meetings and that horse racing has accounted for the vast majority of my profit so far, I deselected other sports in my preferences throughout most of the day, only reversing this in the evening once most of the racing was over. I don’t want to miss out on a goldmine while I trawl through £5 bets on obscure basketball leagues! Here is a list of today’s winning or placed bets that I matched.

Bets:

• £120 Badri 13/8 Lingfield 15:10, backed at Betfair and won at 9/4 (£75 profit).
• £115 Senior Citizen 6/4 Fakenham 15:20, backed at Betfair and won at 13/8 (£14.38 profit).
• £25 Alvaro 13/2 EW Lingfield 16:40, backed at 7/1 at Ladbrokes and won at 6/1 (£15.63 profit).
• £100 Martello Sky 5/1 Fakenham 16:50, backed at Coral and won at 4/1 (no profit).
• £125 African Dance 4/1 EW Fakenham 16:50, backed at Betfred and placed third at 10/3 (no profit).
• £150 Sandridge Lad 8/11 Southwell 18:45, backed at Unibet and won at 8/11 (no profit).

After a great start with three profitable matches in the afternoon, I had absolutely no luck in the two evening meetings despite a few near misses. It just goes to show that there aren’t any guarantees. I shouldn’t necessarily be expecting every day to be as successful as I’ve been so far. 

There was one saving grace this evening in the form of Super League rugby: £200 Leeds Rhinos (-8) v Hull KR 10/11, and placed at Betfred at 1/1. After a frustrating second half of the day, I sat back and relaxed as I watched Leeds demolish them 52-10, landing me £18.18 as a last minute Valentine’s gift.

Daily Profit: £123.19
Overall Profit: £1191.91

Matched Betting Blog: Day 13 (15/02/2020)

After my midweek concern that a second straight weekend of racing and of sport in general would be curtailed by extreme weather, it seems like a bit of a miracle that five meetings were on today with only Wincanton abandoned. With this piece of luck and just over £300 profit required to reach £1500 since I started a mere 12 days ago, it should be achievable by the end of the weekend.

Aims:

1. Make a £200 profit to break the back of the £1500 target before tomorrow.
2. Search for the elusive Bet365/Paddy Power 2 up.

Like yesterday, I concentrated my efforts during the day on horse racing. I expanded to football and other sports in the evening once the racing traffic had died down. The pros certainly seemed to be busier and on better form today than yesterday, hence the longer list of winners and placed horses I matched.

Bets:

• £500 Cilaos Emery 1/2 Gowran Park 13:44, backed at Virgin and won at 1/4 (no profit).
• £30 Behind The Wall 10/1 EW Lingfield 14:00, backed at Coral and placed second at 6/1 (no profit).
• £50 Even Flight 14/1 EW Gowran Park 14:19, backed at 16/1 at Betfred and placed third at 16/1 (£25 profit).
• £15 Smooth Stepper 28/1 EW Haydock 15:15, backed at Skybet and won at 33/1 (£90 profit).
• £35 Riders Onthe Storm 3/1 Ascot 15:35, backed at Bet365 and won at 7/2 (£17.50 profit).
• £70 Deolali 15/2 EW Newcastle 17:30, backed at 8/1 at Unibet and won at 7/1 (£42 profit).
• £200 Salsada 3/1 EW Newcastle 19:30, backed £100 at Paddy Power and £100 at Coral, and won at 2/1 (no profit).
• £15 Patrick 9/1 Newcastle 20:30, backed at Skybet and won at 10/1 (£12.75 profit taking into account a 15p Rule 4 deduction).

Without the unlikely win for Smooth Stepper (after drifting to 33/1!) it would have been another steady but unspectacular day for horse racing, but it turned out to be very successful in the end. It wasn’t, however, without casualties – my Virgin account is being limited now after Cilaos Emery shortened massively, and William Hill appears to have gone the way of Betway and no longer any use for horse racing. 

I had another attempt at a 2 up this evening, matching £140 Atalanta 3/4 v Roma and placing the bet at Bet365. I feel like maybe I’ve been jinxing it by watching the games so I didn’t check the score of this one until the end, but Atalanta won 2-1 and prolong my wait further.

Daily Profit: £187.25
Total Profit: £1379.16

Matched Betting Blog: Day 14 (16/02/2020)

Whilst yesterday was another good day, it left the target in the balance, as once again, the adverse weather and subsequent ground conditions only allowed two race meetings to go ahead today: Kempton and Navan. Irish meetings have tended to be significantly quieter in terms of traffic than those in the UK, so today may see me fall agonisingly short of the target. 

Aims:

1. Break the £1500 total profit barrier.

As the winning/placed racing bets that I matched show, I was correct in thinking that it might be a slow day.

Bets:

• £5 Cracking Smart 25/1 EW Navan 13:50, backed at 28/1 at BetVictor and won at 16/1 (£18 profit).
• £10 Twpsyn 16/1 EW Kempton 14:50, backed at Unibet and won at 20/1 (£48 profit). 
• £40 Sassy Yet Classy 10/1 Navan 14:55, backed at Bet365 and won at 8/1 (no profit).
• £40 Rainbow Dreamer 4/7 Kempton 15:55, backed at Betfred and won at 8/15 (no profit).
• £20 Elwood 11/1 EW Navan 16:00, backed at 12/1 at Skybet and placed second at 6/1 (£5 profit).

In the absence of much racing, it gave me a good chance to concentrate on other sports today. My efforts to secure a 2 up continue to be in vain. I matched £200 Schalke 13/8 and placed the bet at Paddy Power, and £250 Real Betis 21/10 v Leganes and placed it at Bet365, only for both matches to end 0-0.

I did, however, manage to arb quite a few bets this afternoon, largely first and anytime goalscorers. The below were successful.

Bets:

• £120 Inglot/Qureshi 11/8 v Johnson/Opelka in the final of the New York Open Doubles, backed at 6/4 at Betfred. They won in two straight tie-break sets for a profit of £15.
• £100 Mertens First Goalscorer 22/5 in the Serie A match Cagliari v Napoli, backed at 5/1 at Unibet. He scored the only goal of the match midway through the second half for a profit of £60.

Daily Profit: £146.00
Total Profit: £1525.16

Conlcusion

What a first two weeks’ matched betting it’s been! When I started I thought it was an interesting project and I might make a few quid. I never imagined that I would be one and a half grand richer in such a short period of time!

It is worth noting that you will have to work harder once all the bookies’ offers have been utilised. However it is definitely possible as I have shown. I’m absolutely going to keep using BetConnect whenever I can as it’s great fun as well as proving so profitable.

You never know what bet you’re going to see next and what opportunities it will bring! I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading my matched betting blog! I really would recommend it if you’ve got some time on your hands.

Hopefully this Matched Betting Blog has given you an insight on how you can make decent profits through matched betting. So if you fancy having a go for yourself, why not sign up for a BetConnect account here?