How To Beat The Bookies

For as long as gambling has existed - so for at least four thousand years, and probably longer - punters have been doing their level best to give themselves an edge.

The trouble is, bookies have a number of advantages over the average bettor. They’ve got enormous resources, software designed specifically to keep them making money, and a profit margin built into everything they offer.

But there are ways to give yourself a leg up, making it possible to gain a statistical advantage for yourself, or even to guarantee a profit through Matched Betting (so long as you do it right).

In this article, we’ll take you through the main techniques to beat the bookies for once and for all! By the time you reach the end, you’ll be ready to start claiming a share of their profits for yourself.

So let’s get going!

Beat The Bookies With Matched Betting

The safest, and arguably therefore the best, way to beat the bookies is through Matched Betting.

Done right, Matched Betting is a risk-free technique to profit from sports betting, and it can make you hundreds of pounds a month.

Matched Betting is the strategy of betting both for and against the same outcome. So for example, you might bet that Manchester United win a match, and also that they don’t win a match.

These two types of bet are called a ‘back bet’ and a ‘lay bet’ respectively. Your back bet is your bet that something will happen (i.e. Manchester United winning) and your lay bet is a bet that something won’t happen (that Manchester United won’t win).

Between the two bets, you cover all outcomes, meaning that it’s impossible to lose.

The trick to turning this technique into profit is by taking advantage of bookie promotions.

Bookies give out free bets like candy when they’re trying to lure new customers, and Matched Betting allows you to transform those free bets into profit that goes straight in your pocket.

For example, you might see an offer where you have to place a £10 bet (known as a qualifying bet) to receive a £10 free bet.

If you match both bets, you can roughly break even on the first bet, and then use your free bet to make a guaranteed profit.

You don’t get quite the same excitement from Matched Betting as you would from a straightforward sports bet, where an unexpected win at high odds could mean a huge windfall - but taking uncertainty out of the equation makes for a much better long-term strategy.

Many matched bettors are able to make £300 - £1000 in profits consistently each month, making Matched Betting one of the best side hustles out there!

And there’s no better way to beat the bookies than by taking a small slice of their profit for yourself.

Beat The Bookies With Casino Offers

It’s important to be aware that taking advantage of casino offers isn’t risk free in the same way as Matched Betting - but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing!

Casino offers work on a similar principle to Matched Betting - use casino bonuses and other freebies to put yourself in a position to make a profit.

Most people who play casino games online end up losing significant amounts of money, partly because casino games can be especially addictive, and partly because a casino’s margin is baked right into the game software, making it impossible for them to lose money overall.

Each game has a specified return to player (RTP), which tells you the percentage of money staked that is returned to players in winnings on average.

So for example, for a slots game with a typical RTP of 95%, you’d win £95 for every £100 staked - meaning an average loss of £5.

Because of this, to make any sort of reliable profit from casino play, you need to find a way of gaining a statistical advantage over the game - and that’s where casino offers come into play.

Online casinos are always trying to attract new customers, and one of the most effective ways for them to achieve this is to offer up freebies.

Those offers give savvy bettors the chance to gain an advantage over the casino, improving their chances of coming out in profit.

With the benefit of the free extras, many offers can result in an RTP of over 100% - i.e. on average, you can expect to win more than you lose. This is usually referred to as positive expected value, or +EV.

For example, if you complete the offer shown below from Betfred on slots games with an RTP of roughly 95%, you would expect to lose 50p on average from your £10 initial wagering, and to make around £9.50 from your free spins (as each of your 200 spins is worth 5p).

You’d therefore end up with an average overall profit of £9 by completing this offer.

Of course, these average figures apply over millions of spins, rather than a couple of hundred. It’s perfectly possible (if fairly unlikely) for a player to lose their initial £10 and win nothing at all from their free spins.

However, when you complete an offer like this, the odds shift from being against you to in your favour.

And the more offers with positive EV you complete, the more your profits are likely to correlate to the overall theoretical EV from everything you’ve done.

Outplayed Diamond members completing casino offers usually make anything from a few hundred to a thousand pounds on average each month - a huge boost to your income!

Beat The Bookies With Value Betting

Once you’re comfortable with Matched Betting and casino betting, you can consider expanding into value betting.

It’s important to note that this is an advanced technique, and not risk-free. We therefore recommend that only experienced sports bettors with a substantial initial bankroll embark on value betting.

Value betting is a betting strategy that gives you an edge over the bookmakers by finding odds that are higher than they should be.

Unlike Matched Betting, you won’t lock in a profit when placing a value bet.

But, if you can consistently find bets that have value to you – known as positive expected value (+EV) bets – you can make fantastic long-term profits from value betting.

The chief difficulty is identifying bets where the odds you see with the bookie are higher than they should be. Without collating huge amounts of information yourself, it can be very difficult to work out what the real likelihood of any particular outcome might be.

Outplayed offers a number of tools for Pro members that highlight valuable selections for you, which can result in significant profits in the long run.

• Each Way No Lay. The Outplayed Extra Place Master’s ‘no lay’ mode is incredibly straightforward to use. It highlights horse racing bets where placing an each way bet (for your horse to either win or place) offers you disproportionately high odds. Although this strategy isn’t risk free, over time it is very likely to result in steady, ongoing profit.

• Lucky Finder. The Outplayed Lucky Finder tracks down combinations of horses for Lucky 15 bets where the chances of at least some of your horses winning or placing are higher than the odds would imply. This means that you’re statistically very likely to end up making a profit over the long run when using this tool, though again this strategy isn’t risk free.
  
  There’s also now a football mode, allowing you to extract even more profit from this type of bet!

• Steam Chaser. ‘Chasing steam’ means going after selections whose odds have suddenly dropped, usually because of a change of circumstance making an outcome more likely. If a bookie is slow to update their odds in response to this, the crafty bettor can get their bet in at odds that are higher than they should be.
  
  The Steam Chaser, available as part of a Pro Plus membership (on offer at select times of year), spots these selections for you from a huge range of bookies. This definitely counts as an advanced technique, and should only be attempted by experienced sports bettors, but the potential profits can be huge!

Tips And Tricks For Beating The Bookies

• Understand the process before you begin. With any of these techniques, one of the biggest risks is getting mixed up and making a mistake. For beginners, it’s incredibly important to take your time to understand exactly how the strategy works before you get going, to avoid making silly mistakes that cost you money.

• Don’t get carried away. Especially if you move from Matched Betting into casino offers and value betting, it can be tempting to start gambling for real, even when there’s no value to be had from a bet. Resist any temptation if you feel it - and if you’re struggling to keep a level head, take a break, and seek help.

• Track your profits. Without keeping a log of what you’re doing, it can be easy to lose track of what bets you’ve made, how much money you’ve got where, and your overall profit. An empirical approach is required for successful bookie-beating, and that means keeping good records.

• Blend in. Bookies aren’t keen on customers who don’t lose, and if they spot that you’re taking advantage of offers or exclusively betting at overvalued odds, they’ll wise up to what you’re doing. You should therefore take steps to disguise what you’re doing as far as possible, such as not betting on obscure selections, to avoid being gubbed (restricted from taking part in offers).

• Trust the process. If you decide to try casino offers or value betting, variance will be part of life. You’ll see upswings and downswings, and the latter can be quite discouraging. But the point of these techniques is that, statistically speaking, you should end up in profit over a larger number of offers, so it’s important not to lose faith after a few disappointing results.

• Track your bankroll. That said, it’s also important not to bet more than you can afford to lose if you’re doing casino offers or value betting. You should decide in advance how much money you’re comfortably able to devote to this technique - and if there isn’t much you can safely set aside, you’re safer sticking to Matched Betting until you’ve built up more funds.

Summary

It’s commonly held that ‘the house always wins’ - but that doesn’t have to be the case!

Depending on your expertise and comfort with risk, you’re sure to find a strategy that suits you, which will allow you to beat the bookies and make some extra money for yourself!

And whether you prefer Matched Betting, casino offers or value betting, Outplayed has a membership level for you, with handy tools to keep the profits coming.

If you’re new to the idea of Matched Betting and want to find out more, check out our beginner’s guide - or dive straight into our free trial and start making your first profits today!