Over recent years, sports betting has become more and more popular, with there now being more events and sports to place bets on than ever before. Although horse racing dominates in terms of race based bets, greyhounds are still a highly popular market, with these types of races being around since the early 1900s. Despite these events having their roots dating back over a century, greyhound betting has only continued to see a rise in popularity thanks to the shift of bookmakers towards the online space. Now instead of having to go to a track to see these whippets dash around a track, fans of the sport can now watch these races whenever and wherever they may please.
Similarly to horse racing, greyhound racing has multiple betting markets and options available, each correlating to specific elements of a race. Consequently, greyhound matched betting has become a new option to bettors, with this sector only continuing to evolve alongside greyhound racing. Matched betting as a whole has also become one of the most popular side hustle ideas currently out there.
In order to understand what greyhounds matched betting is, how it works and what betting markets you could utilise, all of these questions will be addressed in this greyhounds matched betting guide.
Greyhounds Matched Betting Explained
To understand what greyhounds matched betting is, we must first delve into what exactly greyhound racing is. If you are unfamiliar, a greyhound is a breed of dog which has especially been bred for racing and coursing. As hunting purely by sight and speed is within their nature, they were the perfect choice for racing over other dog breeds.
Typically, within greyhound racing there are usually no more than 6 greyhounds that participate within a single race. These dogs are placed into traps at the beginning of a race, and once released, they chase an electric hare for a designated distance around the oval shaped track. Like with horse racing, the first dog past the post is the winner of the race. If you are unfamiliar with horse racing, you may wish to check out the horse racing betting guide or any of the other sports betting guides we have on site.
How Does Greyhounds Matched Betting Work?
Now you are aware of what greyhound racing is, you may be wondering, what is matched betting exactly and how does it work? Matched betting is the process of covering all potential outcomes of an event by placing both back and lay bets. Essentially, a back bet is placing a stake on an outcome to occur whereas a lay bet is placing a stake on something not to occur. When greyhound matched betting, you are typically betting on one dog to win, but also the same dog to not win.
This is achieved by using multiple bookmakers and capitalising on the difference in odds different sites provide. In order to cover one portion of the bet, you typically utilise free bookmaker promotions and bonuses to cover one outcome, whilst covering the other outcome with your actual funds on a separate site. By doing this, you can capitalise on odd differences and potentially lock in a margin of profit.
When greyhound matched betting, you typically want to use both an exchange and a regular bookmaker. The regular bookmaker will allow you to place your desired back bet and the exchange allows you to place your counteracting lay bet. In order to ensure that their is a potential opportunity for profit, using a matched betting calculator should be paramount
These calculators only require a few pieces of information in order to accurately calculate potential returns. The essential pieces of information include the odds of each selection, the desired stakes and the outcomes of each selection. By inputting these, the calculator can determine the amount needed to be placed on the lay bet in order to potentially secure certain profit margins.
Greyhounds Matched Betting Markets
When starting off greyhounds matched betting, there are a number of betting markets you should familiarise yourself with to begin with. The most popular form of bet within greyhounds matched betting is the single bet, and this type of bet refers to you selecting one dog. This can encompass a number of different things as you could either select it to win the race, place or even not win should you be utilising lay bets. In addition to these, each way bets are also an option, and these put an equal split of your wager on both a greyhound to win as well as place. If single bets are your forte, then you could potentially use the single bet calculator we have on site.
Multiple bets are commonly referred to as accumulators and contain multiple selections on a singular betslip. Although it is often difficult to utilise accumulators effectively for greyhounds matched betting, they can be good options if you want your bet to have higher odds due to the multiple selections involved. Once again, we also have a tool, the accumulator betting calculator, on site which can accurately determine any potential returns.
Forecast bets are another popular betting market within greyhound betting and these involve two different selections. In these types of bets, you are aiming to predict which dog will fishnish first and which dog will come in 2nd. Reverse forecasts flip these selections, and if there are only 2 dogs in a race which can occur, then this could be a decent opportunity for greyhounds matched betting.
Things To Consider With Greyhounds Matched Betting
There are a couple of factors that could potentially influence the outcome of a greyhound race. Researching a track should be a priority as this can have a significant impact on a race. The distance of a race is important as the track can be divided up into certain races. The shorter sections of a track are used for sprints, whereas the rest of the track is used for longer races which are referred to as middle, stayer and marathon races, the latter being the longest, reaching up to 1100 metres.
The surface of attack is also another significant factor in greyhound racing as this can affect a dog’s overall performance. Although all the tracks are sand, depending on whether they are dry or wet can determine how quick the dogs can run. During warmer periods, this sand can either be hard or soft, once again impacting a greyhound’s performance. Some tracks could even have hurdles on them for the dogs to leap over, another impact a track can have on a race.
However, it is not just the track that should be considered in greyhound matched betting. The greyhound itself should be researched thoroughly. The age of a dog could affect its performance with most greyhounds being in their peak between the ages of 2 and 3. The form of the dog should also be taken into consideration, and researching any of its previous runs could give potential insight into how they may perform.
The overall grade of the race is another significant factor. There are 2 main grades within greyhound racing, those being open class and graded. Open class tends to have the top quality dogs racing in them, whereas the graded class ranges from 1 to 11, the quality decreasing the higher the grade. However, if a dog wins a race, they tend to move up a grade.
How To Start Greyhounds Matched Betting
Now that we have covered exactly how greyhound matched betting and greyhound racing as a whole works, you may be wondering how exactly to get started with the former. One of the first things you should do is to set yourself a budget. Learning how to manage your bankroll should be a priority as keeping track of your funds can be one of the most tricky aspects of matched betting. This is because you are likely to split all of your bankroll across multiple different bookmaker sites and exchanges.
Depending on the type of bets you are looking to place when greyhound matched betting, you should familiarise yourself with the range of betting calculators we have housed at OddsMonkey. These can negate any manual calculation and the possibility of human error when doing so by efficiently and accurately determining potential returns for the respective types of best you intend to place. By doing so, this can save impressive amounts of time and streamlining your whole greyhound matched betting experience.
Best Greyhounds Matched Betting Offers
When greyhound matched betting, you will be utilising bookmaker promotional offers in order to cover portions of your bets. As a result of this, they can play a significant role in your matched betting experience. Therefore, there are certain promotions you should keep an eye out for.
Free bets are one of the most common you will likely stumble across and these are typically added to accounts in the form of bonus funds. However, with greyhound matched betting, you can transform these free credits into real funds if applying the strategy correctly.
Money back offers could also be certain promotions to keep an eye out for if you are greyhound matched betting. This is because you could have your stake returned should your selection finish outside of certain places. However, if also placing a lay bet using an exchange, both legs of your matched bet could garner returns.
Bookmakers and betting sites will also likely offer deposit bonuses for first time registrations, with matched deposits being one of the most popular forms of welcome bonus. These will typically match your deposit 100% up to a certain amount, adding additional bonus funds you could potentially use when greyhound matched betting.
When signing up to all bookmakers for the first time, it is important you opt in for marketing communications as this is likely where you will be sent promotions and offers to claim. If opting out, you could be missing out on opportunities for capitalising on these when greyhound matched betting.
Summary
Now that we have broken down all of the intricacies surrounding greyhound matched betting, it is clear to see why this strategy is becoming utilised for this specific sporting event. Due to the simplistic betting markets, there is plenty of opportunity to apply the matched betting strategy and covering all potential eventualities of a race eliminates the reliance of luck when it comes to betting on the greyhound racing.
If you wish to find out any more information surrounding how to make money online through matched betting, you could potentially check out our matched betting blog which breaks down everything there is to know surrounding this innovative betting strategy.
