Matched betting is without doubt one of the easiest ways to make money online. It is so simple and effective, however unfortunately after a while the free bet offers dry up and you are left looking for alternatives!
In today’s article we are going to look at the matched betting alternatives that can enable you to keep making money online. These are methods that I have used myself to consistently make an additional income over a number of years.
Free Share Offers
Taking advantage of free shares is an additional way to make some extra money as an alternative to matched betting. The terms for these offers can differ but the easiest offers simply require you to deposit in order to get a free share. Once you have received your share you can then sell it and bank the profit.
For example if you open a new account with Freetrade and deposit £50 you get a free share worth between £10-£100.
All you need to do is wait for the share to be credited, sell it and then withdraw the initial deposit with the additional profit.
Like matched betting these offers require a little bit of money to get started. However it is an incredibly easy strategy to generate some extra income online.
These offers change over time, below we have listed some of best offers currently available;
- Free Trade (Ref link) – Free share between £10 – £100 (deposit at least £50 )
- WEBULL (Ref Link) – Free Share between £8 – £1500 (deposit at least £1 and leave in account for 180 days)
- Stake -Free share worth up to £90.
Cashback Offers
Cashback offers can be a great source to make some additional income. If you have done matched betting then you will find that the process of making money from cashback offers is very similar. The majority of these cashback sites will also give you a bonus just to sign up.
- Quidco (£15 Sign up bonus) through this referral link.
- Topcashback (£10 sign up bonus) through this referral link
There are some high value cashback offers that are available with a few casino’s which are very profitable. These are easy to complete and profit from much like a matched betting offer.
Let’s take a look at a simple example.
This is a great value offer worth around £18.
1. Sign up to Quidco using this link if you haven’t already (This is a free account and gets you an additional £15 sign up bonus.)
2. Search for Pokerstars Casino offer and sign up
2. Deposit £30 into Pokerstars Casino
3. Play through £30 on Live Blackjack on low stakes £5 or below – here is a guide for optimal blackjack strategy
4. Withdraw your money and wait for your cashback to be credited
Breakdown Of The Offer
Wager £30 on blackjack 99.5% rtp = -£0.15 (On average you will lose an estimated £0.15 long term from wagering)
Get £18.75 Cashback – -£0.15 For wagering
Expected Value = £18.60 + £15 sign up bonus = £33.60
This offer can also be done with Topcashback where cashback is higher at £25, however you will not get the £15 sign up bonus. If you already have both a Quidco and Topcashback account then it is worth completing the offer with Topcashback.
There are several other casino cashback offers with Casino’s that you can take advantage of!
Click Here For Our Guide To Casino Cashback Offers
Much like matched betting there is not an unlimited amount of cashback offers to profit from. However it is an easy way to generate some tax free money with very little effort.
Switching Banks
Did you know that some banks will pay you money just to switch over to them?
Sometimes you can get these deals directly with the banks, other times you use cashback sites such as Quidco or TopCashback. Deals tend to change month by month but there are opportunities to switch banks and earn hundreds over the course of a year.
Something that you do need to check when you switch banks is the terms and condition of these offers. For example if you wanted to take advantage of the TSB £40 offer.
You would need to meet a few terms such as;
- Within the first 90 days of your account being open you register for Internet Banking.
- Pay in at least £500 each month.
- Make at least two debit payments out of your account each month.
These terms are fairly common for switching offers but it is something that you should always be aware of. Some people set up secondary accounts for side hustles such as matched betting, reselling etc. Then utilize these accounts for switching banks every time an offer comes up.
One of the best sites for up to date bank offers is Money Saving Expert.
Arbitrage Betting
If you have tried your hand at matched betting, then arbitrage betting is a logical next step!
A lot of people stop using there bookmaker accounts when they stop receiving matched betting offers. This leaves a lot of extra profit on the table. There are also bookmakers that never offer any promotional offers.
However arbitrage opportunities are available with the majority of bookmakers. This is a really easy way to make money if you understand the strategy.
Arbitrage opportunities occur when the odds from either bookmakers or exchanges (or both) can be combined to guarantee a profit no matter the outcome.
Above is an example of a really sports arbitrage bet between Talksportbet and Smarkets.
You back the both teams to score at odds of 3.25 and lay the outcome at 3.05.
This creates a situation where you cannot lose!
A profit of either £2.28 or £2.30 is made from a £35 stake. Whilst this is not huge profit, there are lots of arbitrage betting opportunities every single day. Especially at weekend when there is so much sport going on.
As you become more confident in the strategy larger stakes can be used to increase your profits per arbitrage bet.
There are a lot of upsides to arbitrage betting!
- Tax Free
- Simple To Learn
- Low Risk
- Can Start With a Small Amount Of Capital
- Opportunities On a Daily Basis
These small tax free profits add up and they are a great way to use bookmaker accounts that no longer have any use for matched betting. It is also a good strategy to use on bookmaker accounts that don’t offer any matched betting offers on sign up.
Why doesn’t everyone just do this then and become a millionaire if its so easy?
Great question from the pessimist in the back!
Eventually the bookmaker you are placing arbitrage bets with (arbing) will realize what you are doing. Limiting or banning your account so you are unable to do this anymore. However if you are not profiting from that account or are someone that bets recreationally (loses money.) Then this isn’t really an issue, you may as well take the easy money whilst it’s there.
If you want to start arbitrage my suggestion would be to use Oddsmonkey, this is the lowest cost arbitrage software to get started. It also has several other tools and uses to help you make money from sports betting.
Click Here For Your Free Trial.
Other Matched Betting Alternatives
Above we have listed some of the easiest matched betting alternatives there are. If you are looking to make some relatively stress free money without putting in a lot of time. These are great methods to use.
If you are looking for a longer term income that could potentially replace your full time income, or perhaps be a side income that generates money for years to come. Then there are other alternatives that require more work to get going.
- Blogging
- Youtube
- Freelancing
- Affiliate Marketing
- Reselling
Are ways that I have used to make an extra income alongside matched betting initially and then as an alternative. However each of these subjects could be its own article.
If you are interested in any of these subjects you can leave a comment.
Conclusion
In this article we have covered various different alternatives to matched betting. These methods will not turn you into a millionaire overnight. However they are a relatively simple way to make some extra money online.
- Cashback Offers
- Bank Switches
- Free Share Offers
- Arbitrage Betting
Out of the four we have covered, arbitrage betting is probably the one that offers the most profit. Arbitrage is not just available online but you can also use this strategy with retail bookmakers that have shops. If you have come to this article as you have finished with matched betting, then you should also find the process very similar and easy to implement.
Click Here For Our Guide To Sports Betting Arbitrage