- Don’t suddenly start betting on Badminton for the first time ever because there are 3 days of free bets.
- Don’t bet £9.34 to fix a bet; normal punters don’t do this unless it is the last of their money in the account.
- If you only do offers and nothing else, you can flag up – on some sites more than others.
- Try to keep the stakes of offers and mug bets similar. E.g. Don’t bet £50 every 4/1 race on Bet365, then do mug bets of £5 each.
- Use multiple devices. When matched betting, you will likely use a laptop or desktop and put the odd bet on your mobile. Normal punters would do this whilst out and about.
- The theory of 3:1. This is where to keep your accounts healthy; for every offer or free bet you win, do 3 mug bets. There is definitely a place for mug betting for account health, but if you ask many experienced matched betters, they will tell you they don’t mug at all. I have heard one person mention they have battered their Paddy Power account for six years for all offers, never placed any mug bets and had not been gubbed. The flip side of the coin is that you can open a Betway account, do five odds boosts and get gubbed within a week.
- Use the betting site’s Casinos. Typically, betting sites love you to play on their casinos and slots. They are set to guarantee profit for the bookmaker. In contrast, if all the favourites win on the first day of Cheltenham, the bookmakers can lose millions. I would recommend availing to offers on the casinos which give you a mathematical advantage to win, like wager £10 and get 10 free spins. Or simply after a lot of wins in matched betting, set out £10 to play within the casino. Try to win, of course, but think of this as a reinvestment to keep that account healthier.
- Don’t place all your single bets the night before big races. A typical punter will go race by race on the day with singles. You might do an accumulator the day before big races, but it would be a bit odd to place all your single bets then.
- Mug bet on your favourite football team. Many people will have a favourite football team and tend to follow their heart a lot more than their head. Placing mug bets on your own team regularly looks really punterish!
- Do some ACCAS. In the bookmaker’s television commercials, you will see lots of offers and mention of ACCAS. Why? Well, for the punter, an ACCA win multiplies into really high odds and great if you win. However, the bookmakers know that statistically, most of these lose, especially the more selections that are added. When I worked in the bookmakers, I used to check all of the Saturday football bets at 5pm. From a pile of maybe 500 betting slips, maybe 5 would be left in the win pile or still going to the Sunday/Monday matches.
- Bet on high profile events. For example, Manchester City V Liverpool will have a lot of liquidity in the markets, i.e., many people will be betting on this. So if you bet on this too, whether it be a mug bet, a free bet, an offer etc., this will look pretty normal to a bookmaker. On the other hand, betting on some obscure football match in the 2nd division in Germany just because it’s a good match will not hide you well.
- Get your free bets placed on the day! Does a normal punter win a £10 free bet and place on a horse running in 3 days? At Royal Ascot or Cheltenham festival maybe, but apart from some exceptions, not a chance. My advice is to get the free bets done as fast as possible. Even if the matches aren’t great, think of account health first.
- Don’t ARB, unless it is an account that is already gubbed. An ARB is when you bet and lay at a time where the bookmaker odds are actually higher than the exchange odds. This means when you bet and lay, regardless of the outcome, you automatically make a profit and the higher the stakes, the bigger the profit. From my experience and reading a lot in Matched betting forums, doing ARBS will be one of the fastest ways to get gubbed and lose a valuable account.
- Don’t use a VPN if you can avoid it. This applies to signing up for an account and ongoing use of them. If bookmakers detect a VPN, they are likely to think you may be doing this to hide multiple accounts, an out of UK location or something else. Some do use VPNs and have no issue, but if you can avoid using one, do it.
- Don’t place free bets on really high odds. What punter would win a £50 free bet and place this on a 33/1 shot? Not many. I always try to place my free bets on odds between 5 and 10.
- Don’t avail to every offer. Like if Skybet had 3 football odds boosts, don’t do all 3 just because there is guaranteed profit in all of them; it would be more common for a normal punter to like the look of one of the options and just do it.
Check out my review of Outplayed or to give matched betting a try head over for the free trial.
