FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions – Terminology
If gubbing, mugging and arbing mean nothing to you don’t worry we’ve tried to address some of the most common questions below – if you don’t find the answers you’re looking for, just drop us an email at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to assist.
A back bet is placed with a bookmaker on something to happen. A lay bet is the opposing bet made on something not to happen and is placed with a betting exchange.
Rule 4 is what happens when a horse withdraws from the race. The bookmakers and exchanges will adjust the odds of already placed bets to reflect the reduced number of runners. It usually results in the odds being reduced as there is now a higher chance of your horse winning as it has 1 less horse to compete against.
This can result in our matched bets being affected slightly. Most of the time it evens itself out as the odds are reduced by the same amount at the bookmaker and the exchange however occasionally it results in small losses or even small profits. Over time though you would expect to break even from any rule 4 rulings.
You can read more about rule 4 and non runners here: Non runners in horse racing | How they can affect your racing bets
Horse racing prices are constantly on the move. The early price is the price given to a horse when the market is first declared. Over the day before the race, the odds can move a lot depending on a number of factors.
The starting price is the price that the horse starts the race at.
Many bookmakers will allow you to choose to take the starting price even when we are betting early. As matched bettors, we should never take the starting price as we need to calculate our lay bet at the currently available odds. Taking the starting price means we don’t know what odds we are betting at. It also removes any chance of us getting best odds guaranteed.
The starting price is the price that the horse starts the race at.
Many bookmakers will allow you to choose to take the starting price even when we are betting early. As matched bettors, we should never take the starting price as we need to calculate our lay bet at the currently available odds. Taking the starting price means we don’t know what odds we are betting at. It also removes any chance of us getting best odds guaranteed.
Gubbing is the term we use to describe what happens when a bookmaker stops giving us free bets and bonuses. If the bookmaker thinks you are a matched bettor or bonus hunter they will email you to inform you that you are no longer eligible for offers.
This can seriously affect our ability to make money from that bookmaker so we want to avoid that where possible by placing mug bets and following other tactics. You can find out more about gubbings here:
Account restrictions in matched betting and why being ‘gubbed’ hurts
You can read more about avoiding gubbings here: Top tips to avoid being gubbed
This is when the bookmakers pay out at higher odds on horse racing bets if the starting price was higher than the price you backed at.
As matched bettors we will have layed our back bet off to break even so when the bookmaker awards us best odds guaranteed we get a nice cash boost as all the extra money is profit.
It’s impossible to predict when this will happen so it should just be treated as a bonus rather than something we actively try to hit.
This is the bet we need to place to qualify for a bookmaker offer. So for example a bookmaker is offering us a £10 free bet for placing a £20 bet. In order to get the £10 free bet we first need to place a £20 bet. This is our qualifying bet. We would lay this bet off at the exchange using normal mode on the calculator in order to come as close to breaking even as we can.
Once that bet has settled we will have unlocked the £10 free bet at very little cost to ourselves. We can then use the free bet to lock in a profit by laying it in stake not returned mode on the calculator.
This is the basics of all matched bets. You can read more about the process here: https://www.oddsmonkey.com/matched-betting/what-is-matched-betting/
This is a typical free bet that you will get when matched betting. When bookmakers give you a free bet they will pay the winnings if the bet wins but you don’t get the stake back like you would with a normal bet.
When we get a free bet we have to put the calculator into stake not returned mode in order to correctly calculate this and make a profit.
These are quite rare but it’s when we get a free bet that includes the stake. Usually a free bet will be stake not returned meaning we only get the winnings if the bet wins and not the stake as well but with a stake returned bet we get the winnings and the stake.
Underlaying is where we don’t lay as much as usual on our lay bets. It means we will lose no money if our bookmaker bet wins but lose a little bit more if the exchange bet wins.
Like overlays these are useful on trigger bet offers. If we need our horse to lose in order to get a free bet we can underlay it to make sure we make no qualifying loss if the horse ends up winning. If the horse loses it means we will make less profit overall.
Normally when we place a lay bet we are trying to equal our profits no matter what the result. However certain offers can benefit from over laying. This means we are betting a little bit more on the lay bet.
An overlay will lead to us losing no money if our exchange bet wins on a qualifying bet but losing a little bit more than normal if the bookmaker bet wins.
This can be useful on trigger bets where we need a certain situation to happen in order to unlock the free bet. By overlaying we are ensuring we make no loss if the trigger is not met but it does reduce our profits slightly if the trigger is met. If the trigger is very unlikely it gives a completely risk free shot at a profit.
This is a bet we place where there are no offers attached. We do this in order to keep our bookie accounts looking normal and making them think we are normal punters and not matched bettors. This is what we need to do to avoid getting gubbed.
Just because there are no offers attached to these bets doesn’t mean we shouldn’t lay them off. We should always lay our bets to make sure we don’t put our cash at risk.
You can read more about mug bets here: Account restrictions in matched betting and why being ‘gubbed’ hurts
Many bookmaker offers require you to complete a rollover before your bonus is turned to withdrawable cash. For example a £20 bonus with 5 times rollover would require us to place £100 worth of bets in order to meet the rollover requirement.
Each of these bets reduces our overall profit slightly but by laying them in normal mode we can come out of the offer with most of the bonus money as profit.
If at any point you lose all the bonus money we can stop the rollover process. All our profit will be in the exchange and from the bookmakers point of view we have bust out of the bonus. The quicker we can lose the bonus into the exchange the more money will make from the offer.
This is when the back odds are higher than the lay odds. By placing these bets and laying them in normal mode on the calculator we can make a small profit no matter the outcome.
Arb bets come up all the time and it might seem like an easy way to make money but taking too many arb bets is a sure fire way to get your account restricted. The bookmakers really don’t like arb bets so will restrict your stakes and effectively stop you betting with them. This is obviously bad for us as it means we can no longer take part in their offers and it will be difficult to make money from those accounts.
A general matched betting rule would be to avoid arb bets.
You can find out more about arb bets here: What is ‘arbing’ in matched betting?
Handicap bets are where a selection is given a virtual head start in order to even up the odds. For example if Usain Bolt was to race 200m against the average man in the street we would expect Bolt to win every time. This would be reflected in the odds with Bolt likely being given odds of 1.01 to win. However what if his opponent had 100m head start? This would make his chances of winning a lot less and effectively even up the contest.
In a football match we would expect to see a team given a 1 or 2 goal head start, meaning the heavy favourite would have to win by more goals in order for the bet to win.
The Asian handicap is a form of betting where a team is given a head start. This is based on the team’s prior form and works like this: a stronger team must win by more goals for the punter betting on them to win. The Asian handicap allows you to even the match a bit.
If you have a short-priced favourite against a long shot outsider, but you think the game’s closer than the odds suggest, then the Asian handicap is perfect.
It works by giving a particular team a head start of 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 goals. Obviously the odds are adjusted to reflect this.
Asian handicaps are very similar to normal handicap bets but they remove the draw as a possibility meaning that your bet will either win or lose.
You can read more about Asian handicap bets here: What is the Asian Handicap | Sports betting guides
An accumulator bet is a number of selections that all must win in order for the bet to win. They are considered very risky bets as the chances of hitting multiple outcomes is more unlikely but because of this the odds are a lot higher meaning we can win a lot more.
The odds of each selection are multiplied together to give overall odds for the bet.
If we had 10 selections in an acca we would need all 10 results to win in order for us to win the acca. We would get nothing for 9 winners and 1 loser.
Many bookmakers will offer you a refund if you have one losing leg in an acca bet. As matched bettors we can take advantage of this refund by laying against it.
You can read more about accumulator bets here: Accumulator Bets | What is an Accumulator Bet?
An in play bet is a bet that we place while the event is underway. In a football match for example we would be placing bets after the kick off.
Quite a few bookie offers require us to place in play bets in order to unlock bonuses. It can be tricky as the odds are constantly moving and if there is a goal in between or back bet and lay bet we could end up losing money.
It’s a lot easier and safer to place your in play bets at half time. At this point the odds are not moving as much and there is no chance of a goal ruining our bet.
BTTS stands for Both Teams To Score. A bet on BTTS Yes would be us betting that both teams would score a goal. The result of the match doesn’t really matter as long as both teams score a goal at some point during the match.
This is where we bet on the number of goals being scored in the match overall. Using 2.5 as the example betting under 2.5 would mean we were betting on there being 2 goals or less. If there were 3 goals our bet would lose.
If we are betting on there being over 2.5 goals we would need at least 3 goals in order to win. Any less than that and the bet would lose.
A betting exchange is where we place our lay bets. They differ from bookmakers by letting us bet against outcomes. For example, a bookmaker bet on a football match means we are betting on a team to win. If the team wins we win our bet but if they lose or draw we lose the bet.
At the betting exchange we are betting on a team not to win. This means that if our team wins we have lost the bet but if they draw or lose we have won the bet.
You can read more about betting exchanges here: Betting Exchange sites in the UK
A betting exchange is where we place our lay bets. They differ from bookmakers by letting us bet against outcomes. For example, a bookmaker bet on a football match means we are betting on a team to win. If the team wins we win our bet but if they lose or draw we lose the bet.
At the betting exchange we are betting on a team not to win. This means that if our team wins we have lost the bet but if they draw or lose we have won the bet.
You can read more about betting exchanges here: Betting Exchange sites in the UK
Dutching is a way to place equal profit bets without using an exchange. Normally we would lay our bets at the exchange in order to even out our bets. By dutching we are using the differing odds available at various bookmakers in order to make a profit or break even no matter the result.
This can mean we need to place more bets though. For example in a football match to win a bet we would need to place 2 bets if using the exchange. When dutching, we need to place 3 bets at 3 different bookmakers. 1 on the win, 1 on the draw and one on the other team to win.
These can be useful when the exchange rules don’t match up with the bookmakers rules. Quite often in tennis for example, if there’s a retirement the bookmakers won’t pay out but the exchanges do. By dutching our bets, we can remove this rule difference and remove the risk of a retirement costing us money.
You can read more about dutching here: What is Dutching? | A guide to dutch betting
This is a bet placed well ahead of time in horse racing, usually the day before. This can sometimes lead to getting much higher odds but there is a risk. If your selection is a non-runner, your bet won’t be void, it will lose.
Quite often you won’t qualify for matched betting offers with ante post bets either so make sure you bet the day of the race in order to qualify.
This is where we have 2 bets placed as 1 bet. This is the same as an accumulator bet but with just 2 selections. For example, in football we would choose 2 teams to win their respective games. In order for the bet to win we would need both teams to win. Anything else would result in a loss.
This is where we have 3 selections in a bet. So for a football treble we would be choosing three teams to win their individual matches. In order for the bet to win, all 3 selections must win. Anything else would result in the bet losing.
This is the same as an accumulator bet but only using 3 selections.
Horse races will declare a number of horses that will be running in a particular race. Sometimes a horse will have to withdraw from the race because of unforeseen circumstances like injury. This is known as a non runner.
This can result in a rule 4 deduction which will affect the odds and bets you have already placed. It can also mean that some offers that were available are no longer valid due to the reduced number of runners in the race. You can read more about non runners and rule 4 here: Non runners in horse racing | How they can affect your racing bets
This is where we place a bet on our selection winning and placing. Each way bets are very common in horse racing and are a way of increasing the odds of getting some money back. When we place an each way bet our stake is doubled. Half goes on the win and half goes on the place. If the horse wins, we win both bets. If the horse places, (usually first 3 places) we’ll lose the win part, but win the place bet meaning we get some money back as winnings.
These bets are very useful for matched bettors as it often means much better odds. It also means that if the bookie is paying an extra place we can win both our back bet and lay bet if our horse finishes in the extra place.
You can read more about each way bets here: What does each way mean in matched betting? | OddsMonkey
