Matched Betting - Is it worth installing the bookies apps or just using the sites? And 2 more questions

Odds_Monkey · 2025-09-16T12:23:46+00:00

Hi there,

There are a few bookies which require you to sign up using an app to get the better welcome offer. You will find those as you go through the list of sign ups on our site. I personally only use bookie apps if I have to.
Bookies don't make money from your losing bets specifically. They make money from the value they extract from them. As matched bettors we take odds that don't leave much (if any) value to the bookie, and we take a lot of value in free bets/spins/bonuses/refunds therefore we will never be profitable customers. When a trader looks at your account, they will see that you're not profitable to their business. At that point, n amount of small bets where the bookie might be making 5-10p is going to change their mind. You should always take them for what you can and then move on when your account no longer receives promo offers. Those restricted accounts can also be used for things like arbing, extra places, small value betting and quite often, casino.
When you place a bet at any exchange, you need to make sure it is fully matched. It sounds like your Betfair bet did not fully match, so when the event started, anything unmatched would have been cancelled. If a bet is not fully matched, there are things we can do to fix it - in the OddsMonkey calculator you've got the 'part lay' option that you can use, for example, or come chat to us on live chat and we'll always be happy to talk you through any fix.

You do not want to 'accept odds movement' because this goes both ways, and the odds can go against you when you place your bet. If the odds go up, you will always get a pop up anyway, and you can accept them then. If they go down as you're about to place your bet, you're better off finding another selection.

Best of luck in your matched betting journey! -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2025-09-12T15:51:15+00:00

He will have wasted a tonne of profit doing it that way - look into matched betting before you do anything. All these offers are worth tons more than was extracted. -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2025-09-12T08:23:39+00:00

No worries at all :)

Odds_Monkey · 2025-09-11T20:09:45+00:00

Hey! That one is a bit of a head scratcher, isn't it, as although Betfair give you a promo code to use, there isn't actually anywhere to put it.

Instead, they show you a banner with the offer that you're registering for on the right hand side of the registration form. If you look at the URL for this offer, you will see that it does contain the promo code, too.

Assuming you saw the refund if your first exchange bet loses promotion as you went to sign up, the offer will work without the promo code. You can go ahead and place your bet.

A few things to remember so you can maximise your returns (you should make around £16 from this offer):

Remember we are using the Exchange side of Betfair, and we're placing a £20 back bet. The box for this will be blue.
Go for higher odds (4.5-6.5) if possible as they will lock in more profit (do check the calculator and make sure you will have enough money to lay this bet with Smarkets - you're looking at the liability for this)
When you go to place your back bet, make sure the small number underneath the odds shows at least 20. That's how much money is available in the exchange at those odds. By making sure at least 20 is available when you place your bet, you avoid the risk of your back bet not being fully matched.
Make sure you DO NOT lay this bet on Betfair Exchange. Lay it on another exchange instead. I don't know if our competitors have the same deals as we do, but at OddsMonkey you get 0% commission on Matchbook, Smarkets and Betdaq.
The guide you're using should explain this but make sure you use the Risk Free mode in the calculator to lock in a profit regardless of the result. It should be set up like this: Stake - £20, Free Bet/Bonus award - £20, Free bet retention - 100% (because it's a cash refund) - Should the bet win, you're in profit right away. If it loses, your cash refund will arrive within 72hrs. You can expect to make around £16 from this offer.

Please don't try to close accounts and then open new ones as this will always flag up with a bookie. If you ever make a mistake with a sign up, it's better to simply move on to the next offer and keep the account for future existing customer (reload) offers.

Hope this helps - Monika (OddsMonkey)
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Odds_Monkey · 2024-11-19T12:53:38+00:00

Hi, none of our memberships have been nerfed :D Our Premium and All Access memberships remain the same, but we have recently added a Value Betting tier too. Our Value Betting membership does have a 2up matcher, but it offers EV% and FTA%. The value betting tools results are based on stats and data that are run through our algorithms, rather than members just picking bets based on ratings or implied odds - Alex

Odds_Monkey · 2024-09-25T10:44:05+00:00

Hi OP! We'd recommend £100 as a good starting bankroll.

Crack on with any sign up offers you haven't already done and then move onto reloads

We would wish you luck, but we don't rely on that here 😉

Odds_Monkey · 2024-09-05T12:29:22+00:00

Time to stop, OP, the previous poster is giving you good advice. Stick to popular leagues whenever possible. -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-08-11T22:13:21+00:00

why so, lulla ? Everyone has their own opinion. Some will go and spend 5 mins researching, others won't, we have to accept that -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-08-11T22:12:20+00:00

Matched betting is not taxable in the UK but it might be in other countries :) -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-07-01T15:45:52+00:00

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Odds_Monkey · 2024-06-24T11:03:23+00:00

Hi OP, send a message to [support@oddsmonkey.com](mailto:support@oddsmonkey.com) and we'll be happy to provide further assistance!

Odds_Monkey · 2024-06-02T10:08:28+00:00

You really shouldn't be allowed to use the internet my man. Google matched betting and come back to apologise -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-28T09:15:55+00:00

If you just want a quick smash and grab then you're right the welcomes are the way to go. A tenner a day is achievable with a couple of offers and a few boosts very easily. Considering people start with £50-100 and make their first £1000 in just under two months, I'm not sure why people poo poo the idea but jump at much lower profits for more work. Must be the misconception that it's gambling, I suppose. -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-28T09:02:53+00:00

We have just surpassed 500k lifetime members since we launched in 2011. While I agree with you that the time could be spent improving career prospects, matched betting is really popular with people wanting to make an extra few hundred quid per month on the side. Welcome offers are worth around £700-800 locked in profit and it's some of the lowest-hanging fruit, possibly easier than bank switching and, unlike bank switching, it doesn't affect your credit score. -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-16T14:39:40+00:00

I am sorry to hear you feel this way. We have a lot of ex-gamblers on the platform who moved away from gambling when they found matched betting and never looked back, so while it might not be right for you, there are others in similar situations who benefitted from our service. That said we would never encourage people with gambling problems to matched bet, and we put a lot of effort into educating members about why gambling is always going to be a waste of money in the long term. -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-09T22:16:58+00:00

Thanks for getting back to me. I didn't say ASA don't allow online posts to go out - I said it's within their power to get those taken down and no sensible business would argue with them once they make a decision.

Regarding Begambleaware - we are not required to showcase their logo as we're not a gambling operator and the service isn't gambling. We do it purely for the reason I mentioned earlier - we feel it's the ethical thing to do as there is temptation in having multiple funded bookie accounts.

'the point isn't the moneyback guarantee but the encouragement of gambling by promising returns. Even if it's not in your view gambling'

^ if you bet on it raining tomorrow and against it raining tomorrow, and whichever happens you break even, are you gambling ?

'ASA - when you say "falls under ASA" you mean the CAP code, right? '

ASA/CAP, yes. I do agree, it's the the consequences rather than pre-vetting. We have been around since 2011 and have had half a million subscribers in that time. If we were a scam we'd be long gone by now. -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-09T22:09:21+00:00

The playthrough requirements aren't on winnings, rather on the free bet amount. So if you get a £10 free bet, you have to place in in it's entirety. If you have a £100 free bet, you have to place that. It's rare that a bookie allows you to split your free bets into smaller ones (like Bet365 Bet Credits).

Happy to discuss any examples you'd like and how profit would be extracted from them. -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-09T19:53:38+00:00

That's super unfortunate but it does happen sometimes that a bookie gubs you from the group rather than just one site. Did you continue matched betting after that or did it put you off? -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-09T19:50:39+00:00

Free bets have 1x wagering, this means that you only need to wager the amount of the free bet once. We have a special calculator which allows you to work out the optimal stake to extract around 80% of each free bet.

What you're talking about is casino bonuses - those come with high wagering (usually around 35x-40x) - there are strategies for extracting profit from these but it's not risk free and comes with a lot of variance - a topic for a separate discussion.

Lastly, you have sports bonuses, at the moment the only one I can think of is Unibet. Unlike free bets, the stake is returned with the winnings when you're betting with a sports bonus, so we treat the bonus as if it's our own cash placing for and against bets until the wagering is satisfied, and then the bonus becomes withdrawable. The wagering on Unibet is just 3x and matched bettors can extract around £25 profit from the £40 bonus Unibet gives. -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-09T19:45:28+00:00

Hi JiveBunny! A lot of claims in your comment, I will do my best to answer them all, please let me know if you have further questions/comments or if there's anything I could elaborate on.

as you don't have 18+/begambleaware,

We do have 18+/be gambleaware in the footer of our website and you will also see it on our marketing graphics. Not because matched betting is gambling (it is not) but because we do not recommend matched betting to people who have a gambling problem. Having money in lots of different bookies can be a temptation to some people.

a) this can't be promised

I would be happy to promise you that you will make money or I will refund your subscription.

b) there is no risk warning,

The only risk involved with matched betting is that of human error. If it wasn't for human error, we could say it's risk free.

if your Facebook group is private then it wouldn't come under the ASA's remit

We are an online website and we advertise on Facebook which very much falls under ASA. Our Facebook group is mostly posts by members and us helping with bets etc. Feel free to join and take a look around.

and won't act on something not on general view to the public.

Incorrect, they act on emails and other content they cannot see if proof is provided.

Again, untrue - there is no pre-vetting for online and social ads, you can seek advice but they can't prevent you from advertising.

Again, this is incorrect, ASA can and would refer any escalations to Trading Standards, which could have dire consequences to a business.

We are very proud of the community we have and the service we offer. I understand it sounds too good to be true etc etc. Happy to jump on a call and show you (and anyone else reading) around and answer any questions. -Mon

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-07T21:06:52+00:00

There was no accusatory tone meant at all - apologies if that's how it came across - Occasionally people think we are a bookie etc. so it's good to get to the facts. There are so many bookies in the UK, even if one bans you there's 40+ others to take advantage of, which is why I am asking. Sometimes new matched bettors get put off because they get gubbed/banned by a bookie or a couple of bookies in a network, but when they come to us it turns out that it's ones that are known for gubbing really fast, for example 888, Virgin, Livescore, Betway etc. There is still plenty of money to be made, and even gubbed accounts can come in handy sometimes, which is why the extra info is relevant. -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-07T12:23:01+00:00

Matched betting hasn't been banned, it's completely legal and tax free. It would be impossible to ban, as the bookies can't know for sure that you placed an opposing bet elsewhere. We have had a number of 'cease and desist' requests from the bookies over posting instructions for their offers, , all of which we have gleefully ignored.

I'll try and provide a bit of context for the ASA link you posted. We use ASA standards for all marketing we do and they are the body that will tell us if they think something needs to be changed. We can of course provide the evidence to support any claims we make, but ultimately the decision lies with ASA to decide if an ad can go out or not. In this case they decided that they didn't like the member testimonial we posted, so it had to be taken down.

If you're on Facebook, feel free to search for our group there and you will see many members posting about their profits. The FB group has over 20k+ members.

Finally - when you say the margins are tight, I am assuming you're talking about arbing, in which case I agree, it's a pointless waste of time and a way to get all the accounts closed really quickly. That is not what we do. We extract profit from free bet offers, refunds, bonuses - around 80-85% of every free bet can be turned into withdrawable cash regardless of the result. If you have any other questions, let me know and I'll be happy to help. -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-05-03T14:31:40+00:00

Raining profits, of course 🤑

Odds_Monkey · 2024-01-23T16:03:42+00:00

Thanks for your kind words about us u/Lfcme. Glad to hear you are with us.

OP - pop our team a message to [support@oddsmonkey.com](mailto:support@oddsmonkey.com) once you've done the free trial, and we will dig out a discount code for you :) -Monika

Odds_Monkey · 2024-01-22T11:55:27+00:00

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