Bookie OffersBookmaker offers and free bets

So we have covered the basics of how to benefit from the bookmaker offers and how to use a betting exchange to achieve this (if you still require further clarification have a look at arbitrage betting or matched betting via google as the principle of backing and laying a bet is the same).

We will now look at how to use the refund calculator (this is an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, if you don’t have a copy of Excel you can download a free Excel viewer from Microsoft here).

Once you open the calculator tool you will be greated with a basic spreadsheet which we will use to calculate the lay bet required at the betting exchange.  A screenshot of it is displayed below:

Using the example of the bet in Part 2 of the guide the spreadsheet will be completed as per the screenshot.

The stake of £10 will be entered into the Stake box, along with the back odds (bookmaker odds in decimal) 7.0 and the available lay odds at the betting exchange of 7.2.

The spreadsheet will then calculate all the remaining information required in order to calculate the lay bet required at the betting exchange.

In the example shown you can see the winnings if the bet was to win (back return), the lay risk (the amount of funds required at the betting exchange to place the lay bet) and the lay stake (the amount required to lay at the betting exchange in order to achieve the same result regardless of the outcome of the match).

The spreadsheet is designed to calculate the lay stake in order to give the same result regardless of the outcome and in the example you can see if the bet wins you will be left with £9.30 of the initial £10 (a 70p loss) based on winnings of £70 less £60.70 paid out on the lay at the betting exchange.

If the bet loses then the lay amount would be paid out (lay stake of £9.79 less 5% commission = £9.30).

Thats about it really, feel free to add comments to this post in order to ask any questions (i can then update this post to cover anything missed).  You may need to read the guide again and/or do a small test to fully understand but after having a go a couple of times it will become easy.

Following on from Part 1 we will now look at what is required to qualify for a refund offer and how to lay the bet off at a betting exchange.

Lets look at a typical refund offer below:

“We’ll refund your losing Correct Score bet on the Chelsea v Arsenal match if it finishes 0-0.”

This is a fairly straight forward offer, if the match finished 0-0 your bet will be refunded so we need to look at the following:

• Make sure the bet you place is on the right game and on the correct score market. 
• Make sure the bet you place is on a score other than 0-0 (as this is the refunded score so will not count).
• Find a correct score bet at the bookmaker that has odds very close to that of the betting exchange.
• Take a note of any special terms and conditions associated with the offer (such as maximum refund or timescale of placing the bet).

Right so the next thing is to understand how to use a betting exchange if you dont already.

If you signup to Betfair (the main UK betting exchange) then navigate to the correct score market for the match you are betting on you will be greated with the this screen.

The screen is split into two the left (blue) area being the betting or backing side (same as using a typical bookmaker) and the right (pink) area being the lay area.

The idea being that you compare the bookmakers odds for a score with that of the betting exchange to find a score with as close a match as possible.

For example say the bookmaker offered decimal odds of 7.0 on a 1-1 score, from looking at the betfair screen this can then be layed (the pink area) for 7.2 decimal odds. 

This is seen as a close match as by using the refund calculator there will be a 70p loss per £10 bet, in another words for each £10 which qualifies for the offer it will cost you 70p (which is a lot better than risking £10 of your own money!).

So by placing your £10 bet on 1-1 at the bookmaker and laying it at Betfair you have risked 70p of your own money, if the match finishes 0-0 then you will receive a refund of £10 and make a profit of £9.30 (£10 – 70p on the qualifying bet).  If it ends any other result then you would lose 70p and move onto the next refund offer.

Thats the end of Part 2 of the refund guide, Part 3 will look at how the refund calculator works.