Bet365 In Play Offer – Man Utd v Chelsea

The Bet365 in play offer is back! Place a pre-match bet on Manchester United v Chelsea and Bet365 will give us a risk-free in play bet to the same stake (up to a maximum of £50.00) on the big match. These Bet365 in play offers are the best around as there are big profits to be made. We can make a guaranteed minimum profit of £32.11 on this offer and here’s how…

Our in play bet will be risk-free. This means that we are required to place the in play bet using our own funds and if this in play bet loses, Bet365 will refund it in full in cash (which is withdrawable straight away).

There are two completely different strategies we can use to do this offer. We can either use the dutching method, where we place a back bet on all three possible results or we can use the matched betting method which uses a betting exchange to lay our two back bets.

The Dutching Method:

The first step when doing these offers, is to decide which outcome we should place our in play bet on. Having looked at the odds available, it’s most profitable to place our in play bet on the draw. If we’re quick at kick-off, we shouldn’t have any problem getting our in play bet on at the pre-match odds. If we’re not quick, then the odds are likely to drop slightly and it’s always worth bearing that in mind when calculating our stakes.

It’s always a good idea to place our pre-match bets relatively close to kick-off. This reduces the chances of the draw odds dropping before we are able to place our in play bet.

I’d like to add at this point that it’s always best to stick to round numbers when placing your bets, as odd amounts such as £54.55 can easily be flagged up as a matched bet. You should instead place £50.00 on the draw in play and place the extra £5.00 on the draw pre-match with another bookmaker, especially if you can get better odds elsewhere.

One of the main advantages of using this dutching method is that we can often combine this Bet365 in play offer with other bookmaker promotions…

William Hill – £10.00 free in play bet if we bet £20.00 pre-match

Winner – £10.00 free bet on Leicester City v Man City if we bet £20.00 on Man Utd v Chelsea (via mobile)

With these offers in mind, it might be a good idea to place £20.00 on Chelsea with William Hill and £20.00 on Chelsea with Winner for a bit of extra value. You’ll get a £10.00 free bet from William Hill to use in play on the Man Utd v Chelsea game and then you’ll get a £10.00 free bet from Winner to use in play on Leicester City v Man City which kicks off at 19:45 on Tuesday 29th December 2015.

Getting back to matters, let’s have a look at our profit/loss for the three potential outcomes…

As you can see, no matter what the result of the game, we stand to make a guaranteed minimum profit of £32.11 on this Bet365 in play offer! How long did that take? 10 minutes?

If the odds change between now and kick-off, which is almost a certainty, it’s really easy to recalculate your pre-match stakes.

Start by working out your returns on the pre-match Man Utd bet. So if the Man Utd odds have changed to 2.50, your returns on a Man Utd win would now be £125.00.

To work out your pre-match stake on Chelsea, you would just need to divide the £125.00 by the odds on Chelsea to win (in decimal form). To work out your stake on the in play draw bet, you would need to add £50.00 to the £125.00 which gives you £175.00 and then divide this by the odds (in decimal form) on a draw. Any problems, just give me a shout!

The matched betting method:

When I’ve blogged these Bet365 offers in the past, I’ve always recommended the dutching method, but I always receive a few emails asking why we don’t just use straightforward matched betting to bank more profit.

To answer the question, it’s absolutely fine to use matched betting for these offers but our overall profit will depend on what odds are available in play.

If you’re not yet familiar with matched betting, please read my matched betting guide for more information.

Having looked at the odds available, I’ve opted to place my qualifying bet on a Man Utd win.

I like to place my exchange lay bets with Smarkets as they have great liquidity, the site is really easy to use and they only charge 2% commission in comparison to the 5% charged by other betting exchanges.

We can calculate our lay stake by punching the back and lay odds into the matched betting calculator…

Let’s have a look at our potential profit/loss for the possible outcomes…

So, regardless of the result, we will lose £1.74 in qualifying for our £50.00 risk-free in play bet.

We need to place our £50.00 in play bet using our own funds and if it loses, Bet365 will refund it after the game in cash which is withdrawable straight away.

My advice is to place our in play bet at half-time. This is simply because the odds don’t fluctuate as much as when the game is live. There’s nothing worse than placing a back bet on a market and then something happens in the game that changes the odds before you have chance to get your lay bet on! Depending on the half-time score, I would have a look at the Match Odds market and if those are too short, I would then have a look at the Correct Score market.

It’s impossible to know what odds will be available until the game is live, but here is an example of how things might pan out…

Again we can use my matched betting calculator to work out our correct lay stake…

As you can see, the calculator tells us that our lay stake should be £36.53…

Let’s have a look at our potential profit/loss for the possible outcomes…

So, regardless of the result, we will make £35.80 profit from our risk-free in play bet. If we take into account our qualifying loss of £1.74, we should make a profit of around £34.00 on this offer!

Pros and Cons of both methods:

• The matched betting method is potentially more profitable depending on the in play odds.
• We can combine the dutching method with other bookmaker promotions to add value.
• The dutching method has a lower outlay.
• The dutching method is done and dusted once you’ve placed your in play bet at kick-off.
• The dutching method may appeal to those who are unfamiliar with matched betting.
• If you’re unable to place your in play bet at kickoff, the matched betting method can be done at half-time, which gives you a 15 minute window to get your bets on.

It’s entirely up to you guys which method you opt for but my preference would be the matched betting method. We can usually make a bit more profit and we can do the other bookmaker promotions separately.

* These Bet365 in play offers are by far the best around but for those of you who have never come across matched betting, there are so many more offers to profit from. I make over £500.00 risk-free profit every month from bookmakers’ offers just like this one.  If you’re interested in finding out more, feel free to have a read of my matched betting guides. My blog is completely free to use! *