When matched betting, we rely on the bookmakers being generous and listing good offers. Thankfully, there are plenty of promotions available at the moment that we can turn into cash profits. Along with football, horse racing is a sport that is extremely popular with punters, and therefore the bookmakers use these sports to list their offers, as more people are likely to be interested. The reason bookmakers list offers in the first place is to either encourage you to sign up and bet with them, or if you are already a member, encourage you to stay and bet with them rather than go to a rival.
That being said, lets take a look at some of the most profitable horse racing offers available at the moment.
Bet365 4/1 Offer
If you back a winner at odds of 4/1 (5.0) or greater in a selected race, then Bet365 will credit you with a risk free bet matched to your stake amount to use on the next featured race. This offer applies to any race that is broadcast live on ITV or ITV4, but they also offer it on selected feature races when there is no racing on TV. If you are in any doubt as to whether a race qualifies for this promotion, you will be able to find a list of appropriate races in the promotions section of the Bet365 website.
Only your first bet on each relevant race can count towards the promotion, and maximum risk free bet you can receive from the offer is £50. The appeal for this offer comes from the fact that there are three different ways you can look to profit, depending on your preference.
- Standard Matched Betting
If you are new to matched betting or simply just looking to complete this offer for the first time, this is probably the strategy you should use as it is by far the easiest. If you have access to an automatic odds finding tool such as the OddsMonkey OddsMatcher then it will be even easier, but don’t worry if not as you will be able to manually find your own selection. A key aspect of completing the offer this way is to keep your qualifying losses as low as you possibly can. Ideally, this would be less than £2 each time.
If you are unfamiliar, standard matched betting is the process of placing a back bet on a selection to win with the bookmaker (in this case Bet365) and placing a lay bet on the same selection not to win on a betting exchange such as Betfair Exchange or Smarkets. In the case of this particular offer, if the bookmaker bet wins then you will have qualified for a risk free bet up to £50 with the qualifying bet costing only a few pennies. The £50 risk free bet can be turned into around £40 in cash when matched betting.
If the bookmaker bet loses, you will have lost a few pence, but as the qualifying losses will be so low, you will be able to play through the offer a few times and the odds suggest you will hit the free bet refund well before you have lost too much.
- Risk-Free
Here, we have the chance of winning the risk free bet while incurring no qualifying loss at all, therefore making the offer completely risk free. This requires you to use the ‘Overlay’ function on a matched betting calculator. If you have never used Overlay before, it is when you place a larger lay stake in order to lose less or win more on the exchange than you do with the bookmaker. This way, if the horse you have backed with the bookmaker loses, the amount you lose with the bookie and the amount you win on the exchange will cancel each other out. If the horse wins, you will have a qualifying loss but will have won the £50 free bet which we know can be turned into around £40 in cash.
- Guaranteed Profit
When attempting this, make sure that you are able to find a very close match between the odds on Bet365 and those on the exchange. This will need to be above a 95% match, so the difference in odds has to be 0.05 or less in order to make sure you profit. Using a free bet on win feature on a matched betting calculator, we can ensure a profit on the exchange if the chosen horse loses and if the horse wins, you’ll make a loss but have the free bet to turn into cash. Depending on the odds, you should make between £2 and £8 profit from this method.
RaceBets Bet and Jet Club
This is a great offer as it can potentially be completed every day. As the name would suggest, RaceBets specialise in horse racing markets and therefore you can expect good odds and good promotions. The Bet and Jet Club offer gives you the chance to earn a £5 free bet when you place £25 on races from the day’s selected meeting. The meetings that qualify for the offer will always be listed in the ‘Offers’ section of the Racebets website.
The £25 can be placed in one go, which will save us time and potentially money too, as we can keep qualifying losses as low as possible. Once you have placed your £25 qualifying bet and placed a lay bet against the selection on the exchange, you will have lost a few pennies but will be given a £5 free bet to use on the next day’s selected race meeting. As we know, the free bet can then be used to turn the offer into cash. Once complete, you should come out with around £3.50 profit each day.
The only thing to look out for here is that some of the selected meetings may not have markets on the exchange, meaning you would not be able to lay the bets off. Make sure to look out for available markets before attempting the offer.
William Hill 2 Clear
Popular bookmaker William Hill are offering a 15% boost on top of your winnings if your horse wins by 2 lengths or more. The extra boost is paid as a free bet, which can be turned into real money through matched betting. The promotion applies to selected flat racing meetings, which will be clearly outlined on the William Hill website. Though there is no way to guarantee a profit from this offer, the odds suggest that if we keep qualifying losses to a minimum we can have a number of chances to play through the offer in the hope of hitting the refund.
All you need to do is place your back bet on a race winner market selection and then place your lay bet at the exchange, using a matched betting calculator to find the ideal lay stake. If your horse wins by 2 lengths or more, you will lose pennies but receive the 15% free bet winnings boost which can be used to make a profit. If the horse loses, you will lose a small amount but it will not be too much at all. If you are able to keep qualifying losses as low as possible, you can play through the offer a number of times for very little risk, in the hope of hitting the free bet bonus.
Money back if
This particular offer comes in many different forms and is on offer from many different bookmakers. Some examples include;
- Money back if 2nd, 3rd or 4th to the SP favourite – Paddy Power
- Money back if 2nd by a length – Winner and Titanbet
- Money back if 2nd to SP favourite – BoyleSports, Real Deal Bet and 10Bet
- Money back if 2nd by a head or less – BruceBetting, BetBright, 888Sport, 188Bet, Bet East, Mintbet
The process for completing these offers is essentially the same for each, simply taking into account the possible difference in terms and conditions. We can place an amount on a back bet with the relevant bookmaker and lay against the same selection on the exchange, making sure to find a selection that has as close of a match as possible. It is usually best to look for short priced favourites too, as it raises the possibility of the essential scenario happening. If your horse doesn’t finish in the necessary position (e.g. 2nd to the SP favourite on Titanbet) you will be down a very small amount, but if your horse does finish where it needs to you will be given the free bet refund.
Best Odds Guaranteed
This offer is available from a huge amount of UK bookmakers, including;
- Coral
- Bet365
- William Hill
- Betfred
- Totesport
- Betfair Sportsbook
- Paddy Power
- Sky Bet
- Ladbrokes
- BetVictor
This is to name but a few. It is by far the most listed offer from bookmakers, and it is probably necessary in order to keep up with their competitors. If you have not come across Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) before, it means that if you take a price on a horse and the Starting Price (SP) ends up being greater, the bookie will pay you out at the bigger odds. It is usually on offer for UK and Irish race meetings but sometimes it is offered for international meetings too.
The way we profit here is different, and it is a case of adding to profits through creating an arbitrage situation. This means that the back odds will be greater than the lay odds. If we were able to find a perfect match and the Starting Price drifted to larger odds, you would come out with a good profit if the bookmaker bet was to win. In this situation, if the lay bet won the most you would lose would be pennies. This makes playing through the offer well worth it in the hope the SP is greater than the price you took.