First, a handful of sure bets mopping up small amounts of money in my accounts:
1. Deportivo v Elche
Centrebet, 1 £6.35 @ 1.53
SkyBet X £2.16 @ 4.5
SkyBet 2 £1.14 @ 8.5
Centrebet won £9.72, a £0.07 profit.
2. Real Betis v Castellon
Bet365, 1 £13.65 @ 1.66
SkyBet, X £5.66 @ 4
SkyBet, 2 £2.67 @ 8.5
Bet365 won £22.75, a £0.77 profit.
You'll notice two bets placed at the same bookmaker. Big mistake. My SkyBet account is now flagged as an arbitrage account and my available stakes are pitifully low and unusable for sure betting.
3. Konyaspor v Denizlispor
Bet365, Konyaspor -0.5 £4.64 @ 2.1
Sportingbet X2 £5 @ 1.95
Sportingbet won £9.75, a £0.11 profit.
4. Fenerbahce v Ankaraspor
Betdirect, 1 £77.77 @ 1.62
Sportingbet, X2 £45 @ 2.8
Betdirect won £77.77, a £2.86 profit.
Now for something unexpected. I identified a very profitable sure bet in the tennis:
Federer v Roddick, First Set
Unibet, 1 £163.90 @ 1.4
888sport, 2 £55.31 @ 4
This would have netted me about a tenner, but Roddick got injured, meaning that the bet was voided with both bookmakers. Now I had £163.90 in Unibet that I didn't expect and identified another very profitable sure bet:
Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg
Betsafe, <3.5 £152.98 @ 2.25
Unibet, >3.5 £163.9 @ 2.1
In fact, the Betsafe odds were so generous, I deposited a further £50 to bet again against another bookmaker. However, after depositing my money, I was surprised to see that my account was in excess of £200. My Betsafe bet had been cancelled! The reason (after a long email argument about the rights and wrongs of such a practice):
"Betsafe.com reserves the right to declare a bet partly or totally void, at it’s on discretion, if it’s obvious that the bet was placed or accepted due to an error in typing, matchups, odds/prices etc.
This odds was switched around, and opposite of what other bookmakers offered. We also had almost same odds on over/under 2,5 and 3,5, so a case like this we consider as an obvious mistake."
So, I now had a £163.90 bet with no counter bet. I needed to minimise the loss. I joined Bwin with a deposit of £185, getting a £20 bonus for my troubles. The intention was to lay with Bwin, but my maximum stake allowed was only £81.90. So, I joined PinnacleSport too, depositing £110 and getting a £11 bonus.
Bwin, <3.5 £81.9 @ 1.7
Pinnacle, <3.5 £117.72 @ 1.741
Sods law then came into play. If I had done nothing, and been totally ignorant about the Betsafe cancellation, I would have won my Unibet bet and been quids in. As it was, this was the result:
Unibet wins £180.29, a £19.33 loss, but £31 in bonuses added, so a £11.67 profit in real terms.
Betsafe have now flagged my account as an arbitrage account, too.
| Company | Money In | Money Out | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centrebet | £6.35 | £9.72 | £3.37 |
| SkyBet | £11.63 | £0 | -£11.63 |
| Bet365 | £18.29 | £22.75 | £4.46 |
| Sportingbet | £50 | £9.75 | -£40.25 |
| Betdirect | £77.77 | £125.63 | £47.86 |
| Unibet | £163.90 | £344.19 | £180.29 |
| Bwin | £81.90 | £20 | -£61.90 |
| Pinnacle | £117.72 | £11 | -£106.72 |
| Total | £527.56 | £543.04 | £15.48 |
| Overall Profit | £461.12 | ||
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