Matched Betting
Turning Bookies’ Bonuses Into Cash
Because apparently, travel doesn’t pay for itself
When I decided to pack up and move to the other side of the world for a year (and then some), my bank account had… concerns. Flights, gear, insurance, basic living expenses — it adds up fast. So I started digging into all those “easy side hustle” lists, desperate for a little savings boost.
I tried the lot: online surveys that paid in pennies, user testing sites that never actually had tests, translation gigs that wanted me to be fluent in six languages (I’m only fluent in three). None of them worked or were worth the time spent on them.
Then I found matched betting. Sounds dodgy. Isn’t. In fact, it’s one of the most underrated, legal (yes, legal) ways to make money in the UK with nothing but Wi-Fi, a laptop, and a mild tolerance for spreadsheets.
In less than a year, I made over £5,000. That covered a big chunk of my travel expenses — petrol, food, travel insurance, and then some. It didn’t pay for everything, but it made going a lot easier. And frankly, it beat filling in surveys for 12p a pop.
What is matched betting?
Matched betting uses the free bet offers that bookmakers hand out like candy to attract new customers. With a bit of maths and a few online tools, you can turn those offers into guaranteed profit — by covering all possible outcomes of a sporting event.
You’re not gambling. You’re exploiting the system, legally and methodically. It’s basically the travel hacker’s version of Robin Hood — except you keep the money and book flights instead of redistributing wealth.
How it works (but briefly, I promise)
I won’t reinvent the wheel here — there are tonnes of excellent guides that break it down step by step. But in short: matched betting lets you turn free bet offers from bookies into real, withdrawable cash by covering all possible outcomes of a sporting event. You’re not gambling — you’re playing the system.
The only real risk? Human error. Enter the wrong numbers, place the wrong bet, or skim through the instructions instead of reading them properly — and yeah, you could lose money. You don’t need to know anything about sports — just how to follow instructions and click a few buttons in the right order. But if you follow the steps exactly, it works.
I used both Team Profit and OddsMonkey to get started, but I was far more impressed with OddsMonkey. It was cheaper, had clearer walkthroughs, and they kept rolling out new tools that helped with continuing this side hustle beyond the initial sign-up offers. Both sites offer a free trial, but will require a subscription beyond that. The monthly cost, particularly in the beginning, is well covered by your profits and worth the investment to use bet finders and calculator tools.
Is there a catch?
You do have to be organised. And you will get a lot of emails from bookies. But with the right tools, some basic record-keeping, and zero emotional attachment to football teams, you can stay in control and cash in.
That said — this isn’t a long-term money machine. Most of the profit comes from welcome offers, which are a one-time deal. Once you’ve signed up to the big-name bookies and rinsed their free bets, the well starts to dry up. Some people keep going with reload offers, casino promos, or multi-accounting — but for most casual users, it’s a solid short-term boost, not a sustainable income stream.
And eventually, if you’re too good at it, the bookies catch on. It’s called gubbing — basically, they shut down your access to future promotions. Polite in theory. Brutal in practice.
So no, it won’t fund a year of travel. But it might fund your first flight, a chunk of your insurance, or just the feeling that you outplayed a system designed to take your money — and won.
Final thoughts
Matched betting isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme — it’s a get-slightly-richer-before-you-go scheme. And if it buys you a snorkel trip, an extra flight, or even just the smug feeling of outsmarting a bookie… worth it.