The Grand National is a yearly horse race which takes place in Aintree, Liverpool, England. Aside from the Cheltenham Festival, it is arguably the largest and most awaited event in the horse race calendar, and it takes place on the 13th of April, 2024, which means it’s not long until we get to watch these stallions run!
For any experienced matched bettor, the Grand National is one of their favourite events to get involved with, as the bookies have a likelihood of putting up sign-up and refund offers to new and existing customers. If you have not started your betting journey yet, particularly Matched Betting, this guide will give you all of the insight you need to get started this year!
Understanding matched betting
Now, after reading this introduction, the main question on your lips could be what is matched betting? Well, that is one of our specialties, so you can find out all the detailed information you need on our site. Grand National Matched Betting is a form of horse racing betting which can provide you with the chance to profit from free bet offers provided through different bookmakers. Instead of placing bets and relying on the luck of the draw, you cover every potential outcome of any event – such as the Grand National – by placing 2 bets. The first bet covers your choice winning, and the second bet covers it NOT winning. Using software like our Matched Betting Calculator can help massively with deciding how much to place on each end of the bet.
Matched betting at OddsMonkey
Here at OddsMonkey, we offer all the knowledge and tools needed to start your Grand National matched betting journey. Our Grand National matched betting service comes packed with information and software to aid in your experience, and we even made the original odds matcher tool which makes the entire process of matched betting much simpler and more efficient. Since that point, we have continued to expand our collection, adding different softwares with specific factors to improve your experience.
How to make profit at the 2024 Grand National with matched betting
As the Grand National approaches, bookmakers will start to provide opportunities to new customers, and there are plenty of options for how you can profit from the Grand National 2024. Some of the opportunities that will present themselves involve signing up to new bookmakers, so this is much easier for people who have no accounts yet and are able to start fresh, receiving plenty of offers. Here are some of the ways to profit at this year’s Grand National.
Racing Refund Offers
Race refund offers, sometimes known as money-back specials, are one of the best and safest ways to profit from Grand National matched betting. Anyone who is a member of OddsMonkey Premium can receive full training on these specific offers, although information can be found without a subscription.
0% Commission
Members of OddsMonkey Premium can also access our wonderful 0% commission deals, with BetConnect, Matchbook and Smarkets, meaning users won’t pay extra on a winning lay bet on the specific betting exchange.
Invite-only offers
One thing that many people forget to do is check their emails, and this could actually disrupt your chances of finding good offers! During events like the Grand National, it is important to keep checking your emails, as some bookmakers may send you exclusive offers straight to your inbox.
Price Boosts
Price boosts, often referred to as enhanced odds, are odds offered by some bookmakers where specific horses in a race have had their odds improved slightly. This is typically done when one of the horses is a favourite, but the odds of other horses are moving around besides it. Some bookmakers will boost the odds of selected horses for the Grand National so it is worth doing your research in advance.
Offers for Grand National 2024
For access to the OddsMonkey Reload Offers Dashboard, members can subscribe to OddsMonkey Premium. On this dashboard, you can find all of the best offers for reloads, and then decide which calculator or tool is going to be the most useful for you.
Whether or not you’re new to horse racing matched betting, the jargon could confuse you, so it is important to make sure you understand everything that could be said or read.
Grand National Matched Betting Terminology
Rule 4 – Whenever a horse is removed from a race, all other horse odds are affected, and so this rule applies to any race whether a horse is withdrawn. This should not make much difference to your actual bets, however.
BOG – This is a Best Odds Guaranteed offer, which means the horse is backed at a certain price despite the fact the odds could move. Thanks to the BOG offer, the horse’s initial odds that you placed your bet at would be the odds you receive if the horse wins. The OddsMonkey team loves a big BOG payout. BOG is one of the nicest offers you could receive during Grand National matched betting.
EP – This stands for Extra Place, and is an offer within matched betting that means you can place an E/W bet and lay less than the actual places being offered from the bookmaker. You can use our Each Way Calculator to help with picking the right E/W bet.
NR – This is a Non-Runner, which is when a horse is withdrawn from a random race. If the horse you backed was withdrawn, your bet is cancelled and you are given back your stake and liability, meaning you do not lose any funds if the horse is withdrawn.
Combined Liability – While this offer is not specifically for horse racing, it is still a useful offer to understand. This can be utilised when betting on more than one outcome within a single event, and will decrease the total liability you are responsible for placing. You may notice that betting exchanges in the worst case scenarios; e.g. the horse with the highest odds coming first.
We will look at combined liability in more detail below:
Combined Liability
One of the biggest challenges that matched bettors can experience is that they may not have a large enough bankroll to complete multiple offers back to back. Balances being tied up within liability clauses can cause disruption and be troublesome for these particular matched bettors, as there is a forced waiting time between the bet finishing and your funds being returned.
One tip for getting your funds back faster is through combined liability, which allows you to bet on various outcomes within one event and drastically reduces the amount of liability you must use to cover the bets.
How does combined liability work?
In the most simple sense, you can back multiple horses to win, and then lay all of these same horses on an exchange. The exchange does not need to hold liability for each horse you placed a lay bet for. Why? Only one horse can win the race! It just holds the liability for the worse case scenario.
Thanks to the funds that have been used for the top liability, any other horse can win the race, and there is enough funds in there to cover it without having to take any more. If the favourite horse wins the race, you are covered for this outcome, too.
How do I activate combined liability?
There are no extraordinary steps to take in order to activate the combined liability rules; it is automatically applied by the exchange you are using. Your only step is to play your bets as usual, and then allow the exchange to get to work. As you place the lay bets, you will see your balance rise and fall.
Members can watch this combined liability explanation video for further information. If you are not yet a member, you can get your OddsMonkey Free Trial now!
Get ready for the Grand National 2024 – Everything you need to know
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Get your accounts up and running
There’s no need to wait until the Grand National starts to do your welcome offers. In fact, it would be beneficial for you to start early in order to increase your available funds when the race rolls around. Most bookmakers will suspend their Grand National matched betting welcome bonuses when the time actually comes, so you will save yourself a lot of stress by signing up earlier and being prepared pre-emptively. Being efficient and proactive is one of the main steps to a successful matched betting journey, so make sure you start early!
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Have all your KYC verifications done
KYC, or Know Your Customer, is one of the parts of the signup process that can cause a lot of hassle if not taken care of quickly. When you first sign up, you will be asked for proof of identity in order to be able to withdraw money from your account when bets are won.
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Collect your usable bankroll
This is possibly the most important step, as you cannot successfully bet without enough money to cover both sides. With the inclusion of liability, it is important to know where your money is, how it is divided, and how much you can expect to both spend and receive from either side of the bet. Depositing on most bookmakers and exchanges takes only a few seconds, so the process itself is simple enough to complete.
If you have your funds split between multiple bookmakers, which you probably will once you go deeper into the Grand National matched betting experience, it is important to know where it all is. It could be recommended to withdraw your funds from whichever accounts you are not currently using, meaning you have it free in your bank ready to be used for other offers.
If you have a limited bankroll, and are aware of this fact, then looking further into the combined liability could be beneficial for you. This will allow you to use your bankroll better despite the amount of offers you will be participating in.
Pro OddsMonkey Tip: Place your bets early enough to get the top odds, but not too early where horses could be pulled. Of course, if a horse is withdrawn and labelled a N/R, your money is returned, but we’d rather watch our horses run!
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Make sure your marketing preferences are set
A lot of the listed offers available through OddsMonkey are available to a large number of bettors, although some bookies send specific invite-only offers to loyal customers. For this reason, it is important to have your preferences set correctly. This was mentioned earlier, when we spoke about having your emails open and ready to check, but we are reiterating the importance of this step.
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Be organised
This is another important step when planning for the Grand National, and one that many experienced matched bettors may wish they had done sooner in their hustle. As you will be completing multiple offers and having money in various accounts, it is vital to know where everything is, which offers you’ve completed, and which ones are ready to be completed next.
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Have fun!
There is the cliche most of you were probably expecting. The final step in a successful Grand National matched betting journey is having fun. The whole premise of sports betting is supposed to be enjoyable, but the fact you are gambling with no actual risk can massively improve your experience. You should never compare your profits to other peoples, especially when you are first starting out, because there are different levels to the talents involved. You will learn, in time!
We have a dedicated Common Mistakes To Avoid When Matched Betting article that is worth checking out before matched betting at the Grand National.
Matched Betting FOMO and avoiding it
Do you suffer from the Fear Of Missing Out? Do you jump on any offer available, and become agitated when missing one of these offers? This is a normal feeling, but it is important to understand that this is still gambling, and human error exists.
Grand National matched betting is a form of supplementation to your bankroll, using offers and free bets to secure profits without any risk. That is all it should be – fun and safe – and if you feel it becoming more than this, it may be time to step away and have a break.
Creating a routine helps, set a few hours of your day aside for matched betting and do not exceed this time limit. Do not check your balances, bets, wins, losses, or anything else, outside of this time frame, and you will feel so much better about your whole experience in the long run.
For more information on matched betting at the Grand National, you can check out our specific How To Profit From The Grand National With Matched Betting guide. If you are looking for a more general horse racing betting guide then we have you covered with an extensive guide available on site.
We hope you all have a fantastic Grand National 2024!
