Matched Betting Calculators

Qualifying bets are bets that we place in order for us to qualify for a free bet from a bookmaker. An example of an offer by a bookmaker would be “Bet £10, get a £10 free bet”. In order to qualify for this offer, we would need to place a £10 bet with the bookmaker.

We can match this bet by laying a bet on an exchange to make this bet risk-free. To calculate a qualifying bet’s lay stake, we would use the Calculator on “Normal” bet type. We then enter our stake, back and lay odds onto the Calculator, and an optimal lay stake will be calculated for us, which we then use to lay our bet to make it risk-free.

Note that for qualifying bets, it might be better for us if we picked bets with lower odds, as it will lower our liability and lower our qualifying losses. Qualifying losses refers to the small amount of money we’ll lose due to the differences in back and lay odds as well as the commission that exchanges charge. But don’t worry, this qualifying loss usually range between 20p to 50p, depending on the differences between the back and lay odds and your stake.

Free bets will then be given to us by bookmakers after placing our qualifying bet, and we can get a guaranteed profit from them by using laying a specific lay stake calculated by the Calculator. With free bets, we use the Calculator on “SNR” bet type. SNR stands for Stake Not Returned, as our free bet’s stake is not returned to us if we win our free bet with the bookmaker.

By using the refund calculator instead, we stand to guarantee ourselves a slightly smaller profit regardless of whether or not our bet wins or loses. To use this calculator, we enter our stake, back and lay odds, and the free bet that the bookmaker will offer us if our bet loses. In our above example of “bet £25 get £25 free bet if we lose”, we’ll be entering £25 into the free bet award section. Next, the free bet retention will the amount of real cash that we can get from the free bet. Normally, this would range from 70% - 80%, but if you’re new to matched betting, you might want to put 70% - 75% instead, until you are more confident.

The lay stake and liability will be calculated for you, and you can then place your bet with the bookmaker and lay it. Make sure you have enough balance in your exchange to cover your liability before you take this bet.

For an example, the “2 Up” offer is applied to popular fixture Chelsea v Sunderland this weekend on Paddypower. We place a bet on Chelsea to win. At half time, Chelsea are now up 2-0. Paddypower will have considered our bet won and paid us out because Chelsea are already 2 up. Even if Sunderland manages to score 2 goals in the 2nd half, causing Chelsea to draw 2-2, we would’ve still won our bet, even though Chelsea didn’t win in the end.

However, most of the time, it is very hard for the other team to catch up by scoring 2 goals, therefore most of the time, we wouldn’t profit from the “2 Up” offer. This is where the early payout calculator comes in, and we can use it to guarantee ourselves a small profit when our team goes 2 up on a “2 Up” qualified game.

Using the early payout calculator, we enter our stake and our back and lay odds. We place our bet and lay it on an exchange. And when our team goes 2 up, just enter the lay odds of our team at that moment, and a new lay stake will be calculated for us, and the profit we’ll guarantee will be displayed as well.

Casino offers often offer you a certain reward if you stake a certain amount on their casino, where the rewards range from free slot spins to free casino credits. These free spins and casino credits often come with a wagering requirement, which means you’ll need to wager a certain amount before it converts into real, withdrawable cash.

An example of a casino offer might be “Wager £50 on Blackjack, get £10 free casino credit with 5x wagering requirements”. 5x wagering requirements in this example would be £10 x 5 = £50, which means we’ll need to wager the free £10 casino credit 5 times = £50 before we can withdraw that money.

Not all casino offers have positive expected value, and that’s where the EV Calculator comes in. Matched bettors only do casino offers if they have a positive expected value.

We can use this calculator by entering the bonus amount that the bookmaker is offering us, along with their wagering requirements. The wagering requirements are often not displayed with the offer, and you’ll need to find this in the offer’s terms and conditions page. Keep in mind that some games on the casino may contribute different amounts to the wagering requirements.

House edge refers to the advantage the bookmaker has on that casino game. You can often find that particular game’s house edge by clicking on the “info” button on the game. Some casinos also provide a “Payout percentages” page.

For an example, on Betway’s “Payout percentages” page, we can see that Blackjack has a house edge of 99.89%. We can enter this into the calculator.

Once we enter all our data, the calculator will let us know if this casino offer has a positive expected value or not.