May 2020 and still the pandemic kept a lot of racing abandoned worldwide and almost all competitive football on hold. So similarly to April, there were very slim pickings for a matched bettor to aim it. Because of this, I took aim at a lot of casino offers again to try to raise the monthly profits—no big wins on the casino this month but a steady trek in the right direction. On the matched betting front, William Hill £10 cash if 2nd offers were again a godsend for me. These were mostly coming on US horse racing, some of which was still running without crowds.
With these bets, I was aiming to get them on with a qualifying loss of between 50 pence and £1, thus averaging 75p qualifying loss (QL) per horse race. According to my records, my strike rate for hitting a second-place finisher was about 1 in every 5 races. So with an average qualifying loss of 75 pence, it was costing me £3.75 on average to get £10 cash. So a £6.25 average profit for every five 2nd place races I bet on. As you can see from the stats, they are definitely profitable but quite a bit of hard work each day! The other tough point is that often the US races were late in the day. So I would complete the casino during the day then do the US racing at night.
Other offers that kept me afloat in May included regular PaddyPower money back as cash up to £10 if 2nd, 3rd or 4th. These give a great chance for a £10 free bet returned. Just try not to pick the winner. It’s harder than you would think! The PaddyPower bet club also helped. It gives a £10 Free bet and a power-up each Monday if you have placed 5 x £10 in bets the previous week. As was the SkyBet club with it’s £5 free bet each Monday for £25 of bets placed the previous week. In matched betting, every little helps!
Summary
So my stats for this month above were not bad for another really challenging month. I did have to work pretty hard to get decent money, with around an 80% reduction in matched betting opportunities due to the pandemic, but with a lot of hours put in, I managed to get £744.18 profit altogether. Another month of a high volume of casino offers was completed to keep the money coming in. Compared to April, there was almost double the number of bets placed and a rise from £174.34 profit to £474.30 profit was a super result for me.
Compared to April’s casino offers, without any monster wins, a similar number of offers is completed and £269.88 profit. Happy enough with this overall. I don’t think there will be any harder months to make money doing matched betting, and yet, with perseverance, it was still possible.
It is worth to mention that the days working stat above is a tricky one. The 27 days recorded might seem a lot. I don’t record the number of hours worked, which would give a much clearer idea. Some days I might have only sat at the computer for an hour—other days 5 hours seeking out odds boosts and other offers. So don’t be put off trying matched betting when you see 27 days worked; it is likely to translate into barely part-time hours.
Check out my review of Outplayed or to give matched betting a try head over for the free trial.