5 Ways to Ace Matched Betting Without Free Bets

Matched betting without free bets seems to be impossible. Yet, there may be times when free bets are scarce. For example, during summer break or after experiencing multiple gubbings. Luckily, you can still make money.

Just because you no longer have free bets does not mean you cannot make a profit. Several offers do not involve free bets.

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Disclaimer

Bet & Get offers, and offers that give you free bets, offer guaranteed profit. If you do not make matched betting mistakes, you’ll make money. This post covers potentially profitable offers. Over the long term, you should make money. However, over the short term, you may experience substantial variation.

Matched Betting Without Free Bets

1. Early Payout Offers (2ups)

2up is a popular offer run by Bet365 and PaddyPower. You bet on a football team, and if your team manages to get two goals ahead, you get paid as a winner. Subsequently, you can trade out your lay bet or hope the other team makes a comeback. In this case, both your back and lay bets win.

There are variations of the 2up offer, for example, 14up for NFL games. The principle is the same. If your team leads by 14 goals, you get paid as a winner. Trade out your lay bet, and you have your profit.

2ups are the most lucrative reload offers, as you can bet with large stakes. With £200 stakes, the EV of a 2up is around £4 per match. The exact value depends on the odds and your strategy.

How to Do 2ups

You can learn how to complete 2ups from Outplayed’s guide. It pays to start slowly and with proper guidance. Read more in my Outplayed review.

Outplayed finds good matches for you via the Oddsmatcher. Because the stakes are large, the QL can be substantial (£10 for a £200 bet at a 95% match). Remember that with 2ups, profit is not guaranteed. You need close matches (98-99.9%).

Finding such close matches is challenging. For this reason, you need to use an Oddsmatcher for 2ups.

2. Price Boosts

Price boosts are promotions in which the bookmaker offers odds higher than the exchange. These are marked as promotional odds. This is how you can distinguish them from arbitrages (arbs).

Arbs lead to stake restrictions; you should avoid them. Price boosts are safe (unless you overdo it) as they are a bookmaker promotion. You can profit from price boosts by exploiting the difference between back and lay odds.

Most price boosts are worth around £1 and only profitable for a short time. While the bookmaker odds may increase for longer, the lay odds will adjust quickly. Once a price boost goes live, you have around 20 minutes to place your bet.

As you can see, with price boosts, you must be quick. The easiest way to get quick alerts is to visit the price boost thread in Outplayed’s forum, where members report them. Turn on your notifications.

3. Extra Places

Extra places are more advanced. When you start doing them, it takes a few attempts to learn them and achieving true mastery is difficult.

With an extra place offer, you bet on a horse to win and to place (each-way bet). The number of places you bet on and lay at the exchange is the same. For example, you bet on the first three places and lay the first three places.

In an extra place offer, the bookmaker pays your place bet as a winner for one place more than normal. In this instance, you back four places and lay only three. If your horse places fourth, both your back and lay bet win.

You need access to Outplayed’s extra place matcher to complete extra place offers. Outplayed also has a guide teaching you how to complete this offer.

4. Refund Offers

Refund offers that give you cash refunds rather than a free bet are rare. But they exist. For these offers, you have first to place a trigger bet. If it loses and certain conditions happen (bore draw, horse places second), you get your stake back. Most bookmakers give you a free bet rather than a cash refund.

There are different versions of refund offers. The most prominent are horse refunds and accumulator insurance offers. Horse refund offers are straightforward. You bet on a horse, and if it places second, you get a refund. These are profitable offers, but sometimes they have further restrictions. For example, your horse may have to place second to the starting price (SP) favourite.

Acca insurance offers are more advanced. With this kind of offer, you bet on an acca and if one of your selections loses, you get your stake refunded. You can lay the acca with a premade acca on Smarkets, lay sequentially, or not at all.

You can find cash refund offers in Outplayed’s reload offers list.

5. Low-Risk Casino Offers

Casino offers are a way to make money without relying on sports bets. You can profit from casino offers by staking the required amount on a slot or casino game. The profit comes from the associated bonus or free spins.

Often, you can complete casino offers even if a bookmaker’s sportsbook restricts you. Casinos are less likely to restrict you, so they are a treasure box for advanced matched bettors.

Matched Betting Without Free Bets Summary

Matched betting without free bets is possible. You can still make a regular income from matched betting if you do not have access to free bets. Offers include:

• 2ups
• Price boosts
• Extra places
• Refund offers
• Low-risk casino offers

Outplayed teaches you how to complete these offers and helps you find relevant matches. You can find Outplayed’s terms here.

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