Using the Oddsmatcher

Let's look at that example for William Hill again. This time we have opened the calculator at the bottom.

Here you will see a few options for you to consider.

Stake Returned (SR) / Stake Not Returned (SNR). All the bets you place with your own money (the first or qualifying bets) are SR - that means that in addition to the profit of the bet your own money (your stake) is also returned to you.

The majority of the Free Bets on offer are SNR. You dont get the Free Bet stake back - only the profit. For this reason Free Bets are best placed at higher odds (as more profit is released) usually no less than 5. Above 6 or 7 decimal is best.

For your first bet, check the SR box and consider the odds (there is an option to change the odds here in case they vary from what is displayed on the previous screen.) Always double check the odds at the bookie and exchange first!

Next, the stake amount. Always take the maximum amount as offered by the bookie. E.g. if they will match the amount of your first bet up to £25, you don't want to only bet £5 as they will only give you a free £5 bet and you will have just thrown £20 away! Similarly you may want to bet more than you have to, if for example the Lay odds are sufficiently less than the bookie odds. This is an ARB bet which means you will be guaranteed a profit on the bet regardless of the outcome in addition to earning the free bets. Obviously ARB's are the way to go, so they warrant their own tutorial section under the ARBITRAGE tab at the top of the site.

Similarly you have the option to adjust the Betfair/Betdaq odds and commission fields also. The commission is only payable to the exchanges on your winning laybets. There is no commission at the bookies - it used to be called tax but thankfully all the money you make using this advice is 100% tax free - nothing to declare! Unfortunately there is no way around the commssion at the exchanges but it's a small price to pay for the thousands to be made. The rate is usually 5% but can be reduced dependent on the number of bets you make so be sure to check your commission rate at the exchange and adjust it accordingly here.

Once you're ready, hit the calculate button. 

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Note the lay stake amount £25.42 - this needs to be smaller than the amount indicated as the liquidity at the exchange (which was £339 - 4 minutes ago). You can double check this at betdaq (screenshots below). This is the figure you will ultimately place as a Lay bet at odds of 2.41 at betdaq.

Even though your lay stake amount is £25.42, you are not betting this amount as your your actual liabilty is £35.85. It is this amount you are actually "betting" and it is this figure that will be taken from your Betdaq account should you win the bet at the bookie and lose the bet at Betdaq. For this reason you have to have at least this amount of funds in your Betdaq balance.

Don't forget with all this talk of winning and losing that these bets actually cancel each other out. £-0.85 means that your actual profit/loss on this bet is a loss of 85pence  Check the figures for yourself before you place the bets. The net result is always the same. Whether you win at the bookie and lose at the exchange or vice versa - you will always be down 85 pence - but importantly you will now get a free £25 bet from the bookie. You have effectively just bought £25 for 85 pence and a few minutes of your time.

Now to Step 6.