I don't know how this one will turn out, but, having contacted customer support and got a positive response, I deposited £50 into IASBet. Following the Ts and Cs, I bet my entire deposit on there being more than 2.5 goals in the Sunderland v Manchester City game at odds of 2.22, and laid with Betfair £49.78 at odds of 2.28 (£63.72 liability).
Update: Shaun Wright-Phillips return game in Man City colours is a fairy-tale. He scores twice in a 0 : 3 win, and I win £61.00 with IASBet meaning a £2.72 loss. The overall profit is down to £54.81 with a free bet to come (in theory) - but that will be another story.
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Friday, 29 August 2008
Ladbrokes
A £0.43 loss qualifying bet has been set up with Ladbrokes. The bet is that Wigan will beat Hull at 2.87 with the lay at 2.9.
Update: Hull were comprehensively beaten 0 : 5 by Wigan, so my Ladbrokes account now shows £28.75, my Betfair account is down by £19.13 and my overall profit is down to £52.38.
I used the £10 free bet on a Celtic win in the Old Firm Derby at odds of 2.1 with a lay of £5.42 (£5.85 liability) giving a guaranteed profit of £5.15.
Update: Celtic lost to Rangers 2 : 4 and I won £5.15 (£5.42 less £0.27) with Betfair making the overall profit £57.53.
Update: Hull were comprehensively beaten 0 : 5 by Wigan, so my Ladbrokes account now shows £28.75, my Betfair account is down by £19.13 and my overall profit is down to £52.38.
I used the £10 free bet on a Celtic win in the Old Firm Derby at odds of 2.1 with a lay of £5.42 (£5.85 liability) giving a guaranteed profit of £5.15.
Update: Celtic lost to Rangers 2 : 4 and I won £5.15 (£5.42 less £0.27) with Betfair making the overall profit £57.53.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Sky++
The third free £10 bet from Sky Bet became available in time for the midweek games. I bet on the Liverpool v Standard Liege Champions League qualifier, identifying the Half time/Full time bet of Draw/Liverpool as having the best bet/lay ratio of 5/5.1. A £10 bet together with a £7.92 lay (£32.48 liability) on Betfair gives an overall profit of £7.52 no matter what happens.
Update: Liverpool and Standard Liege couldn't muster a goal between them in normal time, so I win £7.52 (£7.92 less 5.05%) with Betfair making the total profit £52.76.
Update: Liverpool and Standard Liege couldn't muster a goal between them in normal time, so I win £7.52 (£7.92 less 5.05%) with Betfair making the total profit £52.76.
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Candidates
I thought it about time I listed some of the sites I'm yet to join, or am expected to join but not yet mentioned.
Paddy Power, William Hill, Totesport, VCBet, BetDirect, BetHiLo and Coral have already been joined before the experiment started.
I cannot find the details and Ts and Cs of the free bets for bet-at-home.com, PartyBets, bwin, Spreadfair, GameBookers, IASBet and Mansion.
Update: bet-at-home.com 100% bonus, but deposit and bonus must be wagered three times before withdrawal.
IASBet $100 bonus for a $50 deposit, but free bet winnings must be turned over two times in full before withdrawal. Email from the company regarding deposit requirement and possible association with Canbet:
"Just to confirm you may claim this offer and you will need to deposit 50GBP thank you."
Bet24 will give a £30 bonus for a £60 DEPOSIT (not bet). The catch here is that this bonus MUST be wagered at odds of at least 1.5 four times before a withdrawal can be made.
BetSafe will give a £20 bonus for a £40 DEPOSIT (not bet). Similar catch to Bet24 in that the bonus must be turned over at least 10 times before withdrawal.
BetUK will give a £25 bonus for a £25 DEPOSIT (not bet), but the catch here is that to get the bonus, you have to place bets totalling £100 at odds of at least 2.0, and the bonus must be bet through three times.
expekt.com will give a 100% first deposit bonus up to £25. You have to email them with your customer number and deposit amount to get the bonus. The deposit AND bonus must be turned over at least three times at odds of at least 1.50.
intertops.com give a £10 free bet for a £10 deposit, but - get this - the free bet must be rolled over at least 16 (sixteen) times before it can be withdrawn.
Interwetten is another site with a multiple wager clause. They will give a £30 bonus for a £60 deposit, but you have to wager the total deposited, including bonus at least five times at odds of at least 2.0 before a payout can be requested.
Lasseters also have a multiple wager clause. £30 bonus for a £120 deposit, but you have to wager the full deposit AND bonus three times before a withdrawal is permitted.
Unibet give a £10 bonus for a £10 deposit, but require that you turn over the bonus amount six times before a withdrawal is possible.
Update (Tuesday, 23 September): I can't find the bonus details on their site any more.
WinUnited give a £25 bonus for a £50 deposit, but the deposit and bonus must be turned over five times before withdrawal.
BetFred, CentreBet, MyBet, Stan James, Sunderlands and Boylesports do not have a secure registration form.
Good candidates:
Betway is a no hidden clauses £25 matched free bet site.
Update: Betway have a 1.75% fee on Credit/Debit card deposits.
Eurobet gives a 20% bonus of the first deposit up to a maximum of £20 (so £100 deposit required). You need to quote AFFWIN during the registration process. What is unclear and will need to be investigated is whether the bonus will be paid even though I'm already a member of the partner company Coral.
Update: Email response from Eurobet "We would like to inform you that even if eurobet and coral are sisters sites the promotions they offer are not linked between them."
Ladbrokes will give a £10 free bet for a £10 wager. Information cannot be found directly on the site, but via affiliation links. I will check with their customer support if it is valid.
Update: Email response from Ladbrokes "I can confirm that free bets are credited upon the settlement of your qualifying bet."
Paddy Power, William Hill, Totesport, VCBet, BetDirect, BetHiLo and Coral have already been joined before the experiment started.
I cannot find the details and Ts and Cs of the free bets for bet-at-home.com, PartyBets, bwin, Spreadfair, GameBookers, IASBet and Mansion.
Update: bet-at-home.com 100% bonus, but deposit and bonus must be wagered three times before withdrawal.
IASBet $100 bonus for a $50 deposit, but free bet winnings must be turned over two times in full before withdrawal. Email from the company regarding deposit requirement and possible association with Canbet:
"Just to confirm you may claim this offer and you will need to deposit 50GBP thank you."
Bet24 will give a £30 bonus for a £60 DEPOSIT (not bet). The catch here is that this bonus MUST be wagered at odds of at least 1.5 four times before a withdrawal can be made.
BetSafe will give a £20 bonus for a £40 DEPOSIT (not bet). Similar catch to Bet24 in that the bonus must be turned over at least 10 times before withdrawal.
BetUK will give a £25 bonus for a £25 DEPOSIT (not bet), but the catch here is that to get the bonus, you have to place bets totalling £100 at odds of at least 2.0, and the bonus must be bet through three times.
expekt.com will give a 100% first deposit bonus up to £25. You have to email them with your customer number and deposit amount to get the bonus. The deposit AND bonus must be turned over at least three times at odds of at least 1.50.
intertops.com give a £10 free bet for a £10 deposit, but - get this - the free bet must be rolled over at least 16 (sixteen) times before it can be withdrawn.
Interwetten is another site with a multiple wager clause. They will give a £30 bonus for a £60 deposit, but you have to wager the total deposited, including bonus at least five times at odds of at least 2.0 before a payout can be requested.
Lasseters also have a multiple wager clause. £30 bonus for a £120 deposit, but you have to wager the full deposit AND bonus three times before a withdrawal is permitted.
Unibet give a £10 bonus for a £10 deposit, but require that you turn over the bonus amount six times before a withdrawal is possible.
Update (Tuesday, 23 September): I can't find the bonus details on their site any more.
WinUnited give a £25 bonus for a £50 deposit, but the deposit and bonus must be turned over five times before withdrawal.
BetFred, CentreBet, MyBet, Stan James, Sunderlands and Boylesports do not have a secure registration form.
Good candidates:
Betway is a no hidden clauses £25 matched free bet site.
Update: Betway have a 1.75% fee on Credit/Debit card deposits.
Eurobet gives a 20% bonus of the first deposit up to a maximum of £20 (so £100 deposit required). You need to quote AFFWIN during the registration process. What is unclear and will need to be investigated is whether the bonus will be paid even though I'm already a member of the partner company Coral.
Update: Email response from Eurobet "We would like to inform you that even if eurobet and coral are sisters sites the promotions they offer are not linked between them."
Ladbrokes will give a £10 free bet for a £10 wager. Information cannot be found directly on the site, but via affiliation links. I will check with their customer support if it is valid.
Update: Email response from Ladbrokes "I can confirm that free bets are credited upon the settlement of your qualifying bet."
Thursday, 21 August 2008
BGBet Free Bet
I got my free bet from BGBet and identified the draw between Portsmouth and Manchester United as being the closest bet/lay match at 3.5/3.55. A £25 bet with a lay of £17.86 (£45.54 liability) means that I will make a £16.96 profit no matter what happens in the Monday night live game ... although I'm a little concerned that the bet may not be honoured. I withdrew my £55 before I placed the free bet so my account is £0.00 at the moment. Watch this space - I will update this post with the match result and whether the bet was honoured on Monday night.
Update: Portsmouth 0 : 1 Manchester United means that the free bet lost any way, and the money was made with the exchange. £17.86 - £0.89 is a profit of £16.97, which makes the overall profit £45.24.
Incidentally, setting up an account with BGBet means that you won't be able to get free bets with the following companies: Corbettsports, CasinoRed, Scotbet or Chas Kendall. In fact, if you do set up an account while your BGBet free bet is still outstanding or yet to be settled, you will find (according to the Ts and Cs) that the bet is voided.
I quite like the look of BetFred as the next site to join. £100 in free bets to be had - £50 initially, and another £50 after 5 more bets of at least £10. However, on closer inspection, it appears that their registration form is unsecured, so I won't be joining them.
Update: Portsmouth 0 : 1 Manchester United means that the free bet lost any way, and the money was made with the exchange. £17.86 - £0.89 is a profit of £16.97, which makes the overall profit £45.24.
Incidentally, setting up an account with BGBet means that you won't be able to get free bets with the following companies: Corbettsports, CasinoRed, Scotbet or Chas Kendall. In fact, if you do set up an account while your BGBet free bet is still outstanding or yet to be settled, you will find (according to the Ts and Cs) that the bet is voided.
I quite like the look of BetFred as the next site to join. £100 in free bets to be had - £50 initially, and another £50 after 5 more bets of at least £10. However, on closer inspection, it appears that their registration form is unsecured, so I won't be joining them.
Monday, 18 August 2008
Sky+
The second free £10 Sky Bet became available and I bet on Wednesday's game between Denmark and Spain - Spain to win at 2.2 (6/5). I laid against Spain on Betfair to the tune of £5.38 (£6.89 liability). This essentially means a £5.11 profit no matter what happens. I won't add to the overall profit until I can say what the actual result is (which won't be for another 48 hours).
Still with £63 left in the Betfair pot, I signed up with BGBet, another site offering a £25 free bet. I identified the closest bet/lay ratio being an away win on the Bosnia-Herzegovina v Bulgaria match. A 2.2 to 2.2/2.22 ratio means just a £0.92 loss for the qualifying bet. Again the match won't be played until Wednesday. I get my free bet within 24 hours of the match finishing.
Update on Thursday 21st August 00:11:
Denmark 0 : 3 Spain (seems Alonso is happier in a Spain shirt than a Liverpool one), so I lost £6.89 on Betfair but won £12.00 on Sky Bet, a £5.11 profit as predicted.
Bosnia 1 : 2 Bulgaria, so I lost £30.92 on Betfair but won £30 on BGBet, a £0.92 loss as predicted.
I am now £28.27 up with a £25 free bet and two £10 free bets pending.
Still with £63 left in the Betfair pot, I signed up with BGBet, another site offering a £25 free bet. I identified the closest bet/lay ratio being an away win on the Bosnia-Herzegovina v Bulgaria match. A 2.2 to 2.2/2.22 ratio means just a £0.92 loss for the qualifying bet. Again the match won't be played until Wednesday. I get my free bet within 24 hours of the match finishing.
Update on Thursday 21st August 00:11:
Denmark 0 : 3 Spain (seems Alonso is happier in a Spain shirt than a Liverpool one), so I lost £6.89 on Betfair but won £12.00 on Sky Bet, a £5.11 profit as predicted.
Bosnia 1 : 2 Bulgaria, so I lost £30.92 on Betfair but won £30 on BGBet, a £0.92 loss as predicted.
I am now £28.27 up with a £25 free bet and two £10 free bets pending.
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Sky
I got an email from ipoints detailing a free bet offer from Sky Bet. Bet £10, get £40 in free bets. Four lots of £10 bets each, the first one available immediately, the other three being enabled over the next three weeks. I was low in funds on Betfair, so a £10 bet would allow for a small lay. I bet on Everton to beat Blackburn Rovers at odds of 2.0 and laid £9.76 (£10.73 liability) as my qualifier. This is a £0.73 loser no matter what happens.
I got my free bet immediately, and bet on Tottenham Hotspur to travel to Middlesbrough and win. The free bet of £10 carried odds of 2.375 which was better than the exchange of 2.34. The required lay was £6.00 (£8.05 liability) which meant I would be £5.70 up no matter what happened.
Everton lost 2 : 3 and Tottenham lost 2 : 1 which meant that both lays were successful and my Betfair account improved. Overall, I was £24.08 up with three further free £10 bets to come.
I got my free bet immediately, and bet on Tottenham Hotspur to travel to Middlesbrough and win. The free bet of £10 carried odds of 2.375 which was better than the exchange of 2.34. The required lay was £6.00 (£8.05 liability) which meant I would be £5.70 up no matter what happened.
Everton lost 2 : 3 and Tottenham lost 2 : 1 which meant that both lays were successful and my Betfair account improved. Overall, I was £24.08 up with three further free £10 bets to come.
Friday, 15 August 2008
Bet freer
I'm still down, but not as bad as it was - £42.58. Time to cash in on those SportingBet and Jaxx free bets.
Jaxx first. I bet £25 on Legia Warsaw to draw with FC Moscow in UEFA Cup qualification at odds of 3.2 and countered with a lay of £15.49 (£40.28 liability). Overall profit would be £14.72 no matter what the result.
On SportingBet I chose the match between FC Haka and Brondby and bet £50 on Brondby to win at odds of 2.0. Now, as this was a refunded bet, I could treat it as a free bet stake returned so I laid £48.65 (£53.03 liability). If Brondby won, I would be £46.97 in profit, otherwise, I would be £46.21 (£48.65 less 5%) in profit.
FC Haka got one hell of a beating 0 : 4 by Brondby and I was £46.97 up. These two bets made all the difference to the overall deficit and I was now £19.11 IN PROFIT!
Jaxx first. I bet £25 on Legia Warsaw to draw with FC Moscow in UEFA Cup qualification at odds of 3.2 and countered with a lay of £15.49 (£40.28 liability). Overall profit would be £14.72 no matter what the result.
On SportingBet I chose the match between FC Haka and Brondby and bet £50 on Brondby to win at odds of 2.0. Now, as this was a refunded bet, I could treat it as a free bet stake returned so I laid £48.65 (£53.03 liability). If Brondby won, I would be £46.97 in profit, otherwise, I would be £46.21 (£48.65 less 5%) in profit.
FC Haka got one hell of a beating 0 : 4 by Brondby and I was £46.97 up. These two bets made all the difference to the overall deficit and I was now £19.11 IN PROFIT!
Bluesq, Bury and Burnley
Now for a tale of fortune. About time that lady luck smiled upon me. I joined Bluesq with a £25 deposit and bet it on the Bury v Burnley game. I bet on Burnley to win at odds of 2.0 and countered with a 2.12 Betfair lay of £24.15 (£27.05 liability) - a £2.05 loss. Bluesq gave their £25 free bet immediately, so I thought - why not bet on the Bury v Burnley match again. So I set up the same £25 bet on Bluesq and laid £12.08 (liability £13.53) at 2.12 on Betfair. The bet was not immediately matched, but I wasn't overly concerned. Then, at kick-off, all bets were suspended. This was a game that didn't provide in running betting and my bet would never be matched. Unless Burnley won the game, I would be out of pocket with Bluesq.
Five minutes before half time, Paterson gave Burnley the lead. I was OK as long as Bury didn't grab an equaliser. I watched the match on Betfair's live scores service. 90 minutes showed on the clock still 0 : 1. Then the score changed - 0 : 2 - Paterson again - my money was safe. That's how it ended and the upshot of this mistake was that I was up £22.95 (£50 - £27.05). The overall deficit was down to £42.58.
Five minutes before half time, Paterson gave Burnley the lead. I was OK as long as Bury didn't grab an equaliser. I watched the match on Betfair's live scores service. 90 minutes showed on the clock still 0 : 1. Then the score changed - 0 : 2 - Paterson again - my money was safe. That's how it ended and the upshot of this mistake was that I was up £22.95 (£50 - £27.05). The overall deficit was down to £42.58.
Bet free
Just so we don't lose sight of the ultimate target, we need to be in positive territory for the experiment to be a success, and at the moment, we're £75.17 in the wrong direction. Another day brought an opportunity to redress the balance slightly, as the 888sport and Canbet free bets became available.
I chose to bet that Dundee United would beat Hamilton at odds of 2.1 on 888sport and matched this with a Betfair lay of £12.91 (£15.23 liability) giving a profit of £12.27 no matter what happened.
Canbet proved a little more problematic. The available football events to use their free wager on were limited to long term competitions such as the eventual winners of the Premiership, F.A. Cup and Champions League, so I reluctantly turned my attention to horse racing. Even here, the free bet was only available on the next race, so meant betting on a volatile market - which, for risk free betting, I found to be extremely difficult.
I found I could split my free bet, so - being a horse racing novice - I decided to split into two £15 bets. My first bet was on Bartica at odds of 5.5 in the second race at Windsor. When I crossed to Betfair to set up the lay, the odds started lengthening, and my lay was never matched. Bartica started the race at odds of 8 and may be still running as far as I know.
My second bet was on the third race at Windsor and I tried to identify a horse with more stable (no pun intended) odds. I chose Rum Jungle at 3.3 and set up a 3.45 lay of £10.15 (£24.86 liability) on Betfair. Again the odds started drifting, and - at the start of the race - the bet had not been matched, but I flagged the lay as keep, and abandoned all hope of getting any money from this free bet.
Rum Jungle didn't win, but, for a time, it must have been in the running, because my bet WAS matched and I won £9.64 (£10.15 - 5%). This brought the overall deficit down to £65.53.
I chose to bet that Dundee United would beat Hamilton at odds of 2.1 on 888sport and matched this with a Betfair lay of £12.91 (£15.23 liability) giving a profit of £12.27 no matter what happened.
Canbet proved a little more problematic. The available football events to use their free wager on were limited to long term competitions such as the eventual winners of the Premiership, F.A. Cup and Champions League, so I reluctantly turned my attention to horse racing. Even here, the free bet was only available on the next race, so meant betting on a volatile market - which, for risk free betting, I found to be extremely difficult.
I found I could split my free bet, so - being a horse racing novice - I decided to split into two £15 bets. My first bet was on Bartica at odds of 5.5 in the second race at Windsor. When I crossed to Betfair to set up the lay, the odds started lengthening, and my lay was never matched. Bartica started the race at odds of 8 and may be still running as far as I know.
My second bet was on the third race at Windsor and I tried to identify a horse with more stable (no pun intended) odds. I chose Rum Jungle at 3.3 and set up a 3.45 lay of £10.15 (£24.86 liability) on Betfair. Again the odds started drifting, and - at the start of the race - the bet had not been matched, but I flagged the lay as keep, and abandoned all hope of getting any money from this free bet.
Rum Jungle didn't win, but, for a time, it must have been in the running, because my bet WAS matched and I won £9.64 (£10.15 - 5%). This brought the overall deficit down to £65.53.
Thursday, 14 August 2008
The next round
Undaunted, I continued setting up the free bets. The next candidate was 888sport. A wager of £25 will result in a £25 free bet (although as of Friday 15th August, that offer seems to have disappeared). I chose to bet on the Community Shield between Manchester United and Portsmouth. A draw offered odds of 3.4 and I offset this with a lay of £23.94 (£62.24 liability) at 3.6, a loss of £2.25 no matter what the result of the game. As it happened, Darren Fletcher sat on the ball when it was easier to score, Tevez was rugby tackled in the penalty area but the referee stared at it but didn't see it and the game finished 0 : 0. A draw - not affected by the resulting penalty shootout which Manchester United won 3 : 1. The overall pot showed a loss of £75.10.
I then turned my attention to Canbet who were offering a variety of free bet options, the best (in my opinion) being a £30 free bet for a £20 stake. I bet my £20 on the Irish Premier League game between Patricks Athletic and Drogheda. I bet that there would be nothing to separate the two sides and it would finish in a draw at odds of 3.2. I managed to get lay odds of 3.1 which meant that my loss was limited to £0.07. "Paul Keegan struck his first goal of the season to hand Drogheda United a precious win over title challengers St Patrick's Athletic." The overall loss was now £75.17.
I then turned my attention to Canbet who were offering a variety of free bet options, the best (in my opinion) being a £30 free bet for a £20 stake. I bet my £20 on the Irish Premier League game between Patricks Athletic and Drogheda. I bet that there would be nothing to separate the two sides and it would finish in a draw at odds of 3.2. I managed to get lay odds of 3.1 which meant that my loss was limited to £0.07. "Paul Keegan struck his first goal of the season to hand Drogheda United a precious win over title challengers St Patrick's Athletic." The overall loss was now £75.17.
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Another day, another gamble
Three companies down (SportingBet, bet365 and Jaxx), two pending free bets and a deficit of £12.61.
The next betting site identified was extrabet. Joined via Quidco to get £25 cashback. Here's the free bet offer: Open an account ... and we'll automatically match your first bet stake with a Free Bet of up to £25 on the same selection. A great, no-hassle way of doing the free bet in my opinion. I bet £25 (effectively £50) on there being more than 2.5 goals in the Celtic v St. Mirren game at odds of 1.67. I countered with a Betfair lay of £35.03. If there were less than 2.5 goals, I would lose £25 with extrabet, but win £33.28 (£35.03 - 5%) with Betfair. If there were more than 2.5 goals, I would lose £25.22 with the lay and win £33.50 with the bet. Either way, this was an £8.28 profit.
But now I really messed up.
The next betting site identified was betinternet.com (£10 Quidco cashback). I read the terms and conditions incorrectly and saw what I wanted to see rather than what was written. I bet £25 on Celtic to beat St. Mirren by 1 : 0 at odds of 7.0 - this would have returned £175 (£150 + £25 stake) if it won. The terms of the free bet were Simply place your first single bet of £10 (or the equivalent in your preferred currency) or more, at odds of evens (2.00) or above, on any of the sports markets covered by betinternet.com, and first time new account customers will receive a 50% cashmatch bonus upto the value of £25. I think it was the word cashmatch that threw me. I interpreted this as they would match your bet with a 50% matching stake, effectively betting £37.50 on the Celtic 1 : 0 win. I essentially assumed that this site handled free bets in the same way as extrabet.com. With that thought in my head, I set up the counter-bet on Betfair.
I laid £33.11 against a Celtic 1 : 0 win at 7.6, which was a liability of £218.52, but the bet would only win me £150 rather than the £225 I thought. So - if Celtic DID win 1 : 0, I would be £68.52 out of pocket on this bet.
In the 61st minute, with the game 0 : 0, St. Mirren's defender Will Haining was shown the red card for pulling back Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. Barry Robson converted the penalty to make it 1 : 0, and I felt rather confident that a St. Mirren team playing with 10 men for the final 30 minutes of the game at Celtic Park would concede at least one more goal and save my bacon. The game ended 1 : 0.
I was £72.85 in deficit.
READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS!
The next betting site identified was extrabet. Joined via Quidco to get £25 cashback. Here's the free bet offer: Open an account ... and we'll automatically match your first bet stake with a Free Bet of up to £25 on the same selection. A great, no-hassle way of doing the free bet in my opinion. I bet £25 (effectively £50) on there being more than 2.5 goals in the Celtic v St. Mirren game at odds of 1.67. I countered with a Betfair lay of £35.03. If there were less than 2.5 goals, I would lose £25 with extrabet, but win £33.28 (£35.03 - 5%) with Betfair. If there were more than 2.5 goals, I would lose £25.22 with the lay and win £33.50 with the bet. Either way, this was an £8.28 profit.
But now I really messed up.
The next betting site identified was betinternet.com (£10 Quidco cashback). I read the terms and conditions incorrectly and saw what I wanted to see rather than what was written. I bet £25 on Celtic to beat St. Mirren by 1 : 0 at odds of 7.0 - this would have returned £175 (£150 + £25 stake) if it won. The terms of the free bet were Simply place your first single bet of £10 (or the equivalent in your preferred currency) or more, at odds of evens (2.00) or above, on any of the sports markets covered by betinternet.com, and first time new account customers will receive a 50% cashmatch bonus upto the value of £25. I think it was the word cashmatch that threw me. I interpreted this as they would match your bet with a 50% matching stake, effectively betting £37.50 on the Celtic 1 : 0 win. I essentially assumed that this site handled free bets in the same way as extrabet.com. With that thought in my head, I set up the counter-bet on Betfair.
I laid £33.11 against a Celtic 1 : 0 win at 7.6, which was a liability of £218.52, but the bet would only win me £150 rather than the £225 I thought. So - if Celtic DID win 1 : 0, I would be £68.52 out of pocket on this bet.
In the 61st minute, with the game 0 : 0, St. Mirren's defender Will Haining was shown the red card for pulling back Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. Barry Robson converted the penalty to make it 1 : 0, and I felt rather confident that a St. Mirren team playing with 10 men for the final 30 minutes of the game at Celtic Park would concede at least one more goal and save my bacon. The game ended 1 : 0.
I was £72.85 in deficit.
READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS!
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Bad start - does it get better?
To recap, after one bet I have a pending £50 free bet, but am £18.85 down.
Then came the bet365 difficulties. This should have been straight forward, but I got confused by the terms and conditions of the free bet offer. To start with, I put too much in (£50). I then didn't read the free bet terms and conditions correctly. I saw place one qualifying bet of £5 or more and you will be entitled to a free bet ... £25. Essentially, I read what I wanted to read and thought 'oh goody - just £5 to get a £25 free bet'. So I bet my £5 and got a £5 free bet. The terms actually say place one qualifying bet of £5 or more and you will be entitled to a free bet to the same stake as your largest qualifying bet up to a maximum of £25. You get to use the free bet immediately, so I did.
For the record, I bet £5 on Sochaux to beat Grenoble at odds of 1.90 and then used my free bet of £5 to do the same. I countered this with a lay of £10.03 at the exchange at odds of 1.95. I've still got £45 in the account, so I read the terms once more and again misread them. bet365 give further free bets the more you use them. I didn't want to make the minimum stake mistake again, so I put three £15 bets on Sochaux again thinking that would get my next free bet of £15. a further 5 qualifying bets of £5 or more I then read. So I end up depositing a further £30 to get my £15 free bet. Messy. I countered all these with a lay of £75 to match the bets and £7.11 for the free bet.
Apparently, "new boys Grenoble produced a stunning late comeback to get their Ligue 1 campaign off to a winning start at Sochaux" (1 : 2) resulting in a net gain on this bet set of £7.53. I'm £11.32 down, but making life complicated.
Undaunted, I chose my next site from those on offer in Quidco. I chose Jaxx. £25 cashback from Quidco, £25 deposit and bet gives a £25 free bet. The smallprint - I paid a little more attention this time - bet odds of at least 1.6 and the bet will be matched up to a value of £25. For the qualifying bet, I chose to back Reading away to Nottingham Forest at odds of 2.5. The lay at Betfair was £25.51 at odds of 2.5. The game ended 0 : 0, which meant that I won £23.71 (£25.51 - 5%). You should expect to lose slightly on a qualifying bet and win a larger amount when using the free bet. I was down £1.29 on the bet, and overall down £12.61. The free bet should show in the account in no more than two working days.
Then came the bet365 difficulties. This should have been straight forward, but I got confused by the terms and conditions of the free bet offer. To start with, I put too much in (£50). I then didn't read the free bet terms and conditions correctly. I saw place one qualifying bet of £5 or more and you will be entitled to a free bet ... £25. Essentially, I read what I wanted to read and thought 'oh goody - just £5 to get a £25 free bet'. So I bet my £5 and got a £5 free bet. The terms actually say place one qualifying bet of £5 or more and you will be entitled to a free bet to the same stake as your largest qualifying bet up to a maximum of £25. You get to use the free bet immediately, so I did.
For the record, I bet £5 on Sochaux to beat Grenoble at odds of 1.90 and then used my free bet of £5 to do the same. I countered this with a lay of £10.03 at the exchange at odds of 1.95. I've still got £45 in the account, so I read the terms once more and again misread them. bet365 give further free bets the more you use them. I didn't want to make the minimum stake mistake again, so I put three £15 bets on Sochaux again thinking that would get my next free bet of £15. a further 5 qualifying bets of £5 or more I then read. So I end up depositing a further £30 to get my £15 free bet. Messy. I countered all these with a lay of £75 to match the bets and £7.11 for the free bet.
Apparently, "new boys Grenoble produced a stunning late comeback to get their Ligue 1 campaign off to a winning start at Sochaux" (1 : 2) resulting in a net gain on this bet set of £7.53. I'm £11.32 down, but making life complicated.
Undaunted, I chose my next site from those on offer in Quidco. I chose Jaxx. £25 cashback from Quidco, £25 deposit and bet gives a £25 free bet. The smallprint - I paid a little more attention this time - bet odds of at least 1.6 and the bet will be matched up to a value of £25. For the qualifying bet, I chose to back Reading away to Nottingham Forest at odds of 2.5. The lay at Betfair was £25.51 at odds of 2.5. The game ended 0 : 0, which meant that I won £23.71 (£25.51 - 5%). You should expect to lose slightly on a qualifying bet and win a larger amount when using the free bet. I was down £1.29 on the bet, and overall down £12.61. The free bet should show in the account in no more than two working days.
The Experiment Begins
This is an experiment in risk free betting. Essentially, it's whether money can be made from on-line betting sites offering incentives to join such as free bets by betting against the selection on a betting exchange such as Betfair so that there is a guaranteed profit.
If you want to follow the experiment and perform your own risk free bets, please learn by my mistakes, of which there are bound to be many.
I already have a Betfair account. If you don't have an account, I recommend you set one up via a cashback site such as Quidco, who are currently offering £10 cashback for new Betfair customers.
I started by loading my Betfair account with £175 on 9th August.
My first attempt to set up a free bet was with SportingBet. They are offering a £50 risk-free first bet. Essentially, what this means is you bet £50 on a football match during August and September, and it loses, they will refund the £50. This is effectively the same as giving you a free bet except that you only get it if you lose.
I chose to bet the full £50 on a draw in the Le Havre v Nice game at odds of 3.0 (2/1). The Betfair lay odds for a draw in this game were 3.10 - I've found that it's important to identify odds in a game in the betting exchange that are as close as possible to the betting odds in the bookmaker site. Using the Risk-Free Bet Calculator I treated the bet as a free bet stake not returned and laid £32.79 with a liability of £68.85.
Le Havre beat Nice 1 : 0. I lost my £50 in SportingBet and won £31.15 (£32.79 - 5% commission) in Betfair - effectively £18.85 DOWN, but my £50 will be refunded and can then be treated as a free bet stake returned where the return should be higher than the £18.85 loss at the half way point.
Watch out for the result of the SportingBet free bet in a later post.
If you want to follow the experiment and perform your own risk free bets, please learn by my mistakes, of which there are bound to be many.
I already have a Betfair account. If you don't have an account, I recommend you set one up via a cashback site such as Quidco, who are currently offering £10 cashback for new Betfair customers.
I started by loading my Betfair account with £175 on 9th August.
My first attempt to set up a free bet was with SportingBet. They are offering a £50 risk-free first bet. Essentially, what this means is you bet £50 on a football match during August and September, and it loses, they will refund the £50. This is effectively the same as giving you a free bet except that you only get it if you lose.
I chose to bet the full £50 on a draw in the Le Havre v Nice game at odds of 3.0 (2/1). The Betfair lay odds for a draw in this game were 3.10 - I've found that it's important to identify odds in a game in the betting exchange that are as close as possible to the betting odds in the bookmaker site. Using the Risk-Free Bet Calculator I treated the bet as a free bet stake not returned and laid £32.79 with a liability of £68.85.
Le Havre beat Nice 1 : 0. I lost my £50 in SportingBet and won £31.15 (£32.79 - 5% commission) in Betfair - effectively £18.85 DOWN, but my £50 will be refunded and can then be treated as a free bet stake returned where the return should be higher than the £18.85 loss at the half way point.
Watch out for the result of the SportingBet free bet in a later post.
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