12 Common Matched Betting Mistakes (& How to Fix Them)

Matched betting mistakes can be costly and put your profit at risk. It means your time and effort will go to waste. Learn from my mistakes so you don’t make them yourself.

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1. You Placed the Lay Bet Before the Back Bet

With a lay bet, you have more to lose (liability) than to gain (stake). Thus, you should place your back bet first. Your back bet will not always go through, leaving an unprotected lay bet.

If this happens to you, trade out your lay bet or place another back bet. If you place another back bet, the exchange will have the best odds. Pop the back odds into your calculator and place a back bet at the exchange.

2. You Laid Your Bet on Betfair Exchange

Beginners commonly start with Betfair because the user interface is intuitive. Yet, Betfair charges a commission (2% or 5%) that eats into your profit.

Experienced matched bettors use Smarkets. Smarkets charge 2% by default, but you can get a 0% deal. Set up an account with OddsMonkey and place a bet from the integration in the Oddsmatcher.

3. You Are Not Using an Oddsmatcher

You must manually search for odds if you do not use an Oddsmatcher. This is time consuming and tedious. Furthermore, you won’t find the best matches.

Thus, you lose money and waste time. The Oddsmatcher enables you always to find the closest matches. You can minimise the losses from your trigger bets and maximise profit.

4. You Have an Unmatched/Partially Matched Lay Bet

An unmatched bet is when you have placed your back bet and laid this bet at the exchange without liquidity. Your lay bet is not placed, and you will lose money if your bookmaker bet loses. Partially matched means that only a part of your lay bet is matched. You will also lose money if your back bet loses.

Unmatched and partially matched lay bets are easy to fix. For unmatched bets, cancel the bet from the exchange. If you do not cancel your lay bet and it is later matched, you will have two lay bets.

Input the new lay odds into a matched betting calculator and lay your bet again. You can use the part lay function for partially matched bets. Many free calculators offer this function. You should see a slider at the bottom right corner.

5. You Did Not Read the Terms of an Offer

Every offer has terms. You won’t qualify for it if you don’t adhere to them. It is too late to fix if you have placed your bet. You can only take this as a lesson and move on. Reading the terms may take time, but eventually, you will know what to look for. Important points include:

• How to opt in
• Qualifying period
• Eligible betting market or casino games
• When the free bet or spins is/are credited
• Wagering requirements
• Device

You can avoid this mistake by using Outplayed. Outplayed lists the key terms and tells you what to do.

6. You Let Your Free Bet Expire

When you have multiple open bets, losing track of your free bets is easy. Plus, expiration dates differ between bookmakers and promotions. The solution is to get a diary reserved for matched betting. You can note the day you’ll get your free bet. Place your free bet immediately. If you wait, you may lose it if the bookmaker restricts your account.

7. You Placed Arbitrage (Arb) Bets

Arbitrage betting (arbs) means placing a bet where the bookmaker’s odds are higher than at the exchange. You will profit from the bet, but you may lose your account. Do not place arbs unless the account has no value.

8. You Stopped a Casino Offer after a Big Win

Low-risk casino offers are profitable, especially if you have sportsbook restrictions. Yet, many beginners stop casino offers halfway through because they made a profit. This is not a true profit. Stopping an offer midway is expected value (EV) negative. You will lose money over the long term this way.

Always complete an offer you have started. Even if you are happy with your profit, remember the EV.

9. You Accidentally Gambled

Bookmakers and casinos are aware of matched bettors. Their best countermeasure is to turn matched bettors into gamblers. Some bettors think they have a winning strategy to beat the bookmaker or casino. Others see the big numbers from their winning bets and think laying is unnecessary.

No matter your reason for gambling, you always lose money. If you think you can beat the bookmaker or the next spin will be the jackpot win, go back to the basics.

If you feel tempted to gamble, take a break from matched betting. It may be best for some people to stop and look for alternatives to matched betting.

10. You Are Not Diversifying

It is easy to stick with the offers you know. Yet, this is dangerous as offers may change. You might also lose your account, or the bookmaker might close. You must diversify to make a sustainable income. You can look at Outplayed’s daily offers list to find new offers. The general rule is to try each offer you find at least once.

11. You Gave up Matched Betting Because of Gubbings

As time passes, more of your accounts may become restricted (gubbed). Many matched bettors find this disheartening and give up. Yet, becoming gubbed is part of the journey. There are many ways to do matched betting with gubbed accounts.

12. You Are Only Doing Sports Offers

Outplayed is the matched betting service with the most comprehensive list of reload offers. Yet, only doing sports offers means you are missing out on profit.

You can upgrade your Outplayed membership to Diamond. This will give you access to casino offers. If you want a different website, Team Casino is an alternative. Read my Team Casino review to find out more.

Matched Betting Mistakes You Do Not Want to Make Summary

Matched betting mistakes are easy to make and easy to fix, including:

1. Placing your lay bet before your back bet
2. Using Betfair exchange
3. Not using an Oddsmatcher
4. Having unmatched/partially matched bets
5. Not reading the terms of an offer
6. Letting free bets expire
7. Arbing your accounts
8. Stopping a casino offer after a big win
9. Gambling
10. Not diversifying
11. Giving up because of gubbings
12. Not using a separate casino website

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