In this guide, I’ll walk you through making another £23 profit, this time from William Hill’s sign up offer. I recommend taking your time and completing this guide at your own pace. Once you’re ready, let’s get going…
1. Open a Smarkets account
Before placing any bets, you’ll need to open a betting exchange account. I’ll use Smarkets in this guide as they’re the best option for newbies. They offer 0% commission as a welcome offer to new users, which lets you maximise your profits. If you already have your Smarkets account set up, you can skip ahead to the next step.
Matched Betting Blog receives a small commission when you sign up to Smarkets via the link above. It helps support the site and keeps it free for everyone to learn matched betting.
You’ll pay zero commission on all bets that settle within 60 days of your first deposit, after which your account will revert to Smarkets default 2%.
2. Open a William Hill account
William Hill are offering new customers £30 in free bets when they sign up via mobile or tablet using promo code ‘R30‘ and place a bet of £10.
There are bigger welcome offers elsewhere, but I always recommend starting small and working your way up. Once you’ve completed some of the smaller offers, you’ll feel more confident and have a bigger bankroll for completing the larger offers.
3. Switch to decimal odds
Betting exchanges use decimal odds by default, so switching to decimal odds at William Hill makes sense. You’ll be able to compare odds a lot easier that way. You can learn more about decimal odds in my Betting Odds Explained guide.
You can usually switch to decimal odds at the top of the page, in the sidebar, or in your account settings.
4. Qualifying bet
Now you have your accounts set up, you can claim your offer! The bet you’ll place to qualify for your free bets is commonly known as your ‘qualifying bet’.
The key terms of your William Hill sign up offer state that you can place your qualifying bet on any Sportsbook market, but it must be at odds of 1.50 (1/2) or greater. It’s important to check the terms of each offer, as there may be specific requirements you need to meet.
You should place your bets on popular events that regular people will be betting on. This will make it easier for you to match your bets. Football matches are usually the best option.
Qualifying bets should always be placed at low odds. In the case of your William Hill offer, that means above and as close to 1.50 as possible.
You should also look for close odds between your back bet at the bookmaker (William Hill) and your lay bet at the betting exchange (Smarkets).
Doing both means you can claim your free bets by losing just a few pence overall. If you need to go in-depth on qualifying bets, please see my Qualifying Bets Guide.
Place your back bet
At the time of writing, I’ve found odds of 2.05 for Liverpool to beat Brighton at William Hill. This is your back bet. On Smarkets (your betting exchange), you can lay Liverpool at odds of 2.12. (Remember, ‘laying‘ means you’re taking the role of bookmaker and therefore betting on Liverpool NOT to win).
So, your outcomes will be covered as below.
You can now place your qualifying bet at William Hill. You know you need to place a bet of £10 to qualify, so you can do that now.
Simply click the ‘2.05‘ button for ‘Liverpool‘, enter your stake of £10 and click ‘Place Bet £10.00‘.
Place your lay bet
You don’t know yet how much to stake at Smarkets to even out your bets. This is where my Matched Betting Calculator comes in!
You simply select the ‘Qualifying Bet’ setting and input the stake and odds from your back bet, plus the odds of your lay bet. The calculator will then tell you how much you need to stake at Smarkets to be as close to breaking even as possible. Based on my Liverpool example, that is a stake of £9.67, resulting in a slight overall loss of 33 pence. You can see the calculator populated with my numbers below.
Now, you can place your lay bet. Click on the ‘2.12‘ lay button at Smarkets and enter your stake of £9.67.
It tells you that your liability is £10.83, and it’s good practice to check this figure against the expected betting exchange loss on the calculator. As you can see, they’re both the same, so you know you have entered the correct lay stake.
You’ll need to deposit enough funds into your Smarkets account to cover your £10.83 liability, as this is the amount you stand to lose if Liverpool win. Don’t worry; your winnings at William Hill will cover this but for a few pence.
Your Smarkets screen should now update to display your potential profit or loss for each possible outcome.
Outcomes
Let’s look at your overall profit/loss for the potential outcomes.
| Outcome | William Hill | Smarkets | Profit/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool win | + £10.50 | – £10.83 | £0.33 loss |
| Liverpool lose or draw | – £10.00 | + £9.67 | £0.33 loss |
As you can see, regardless of whether Liverpool win, lose or draw, you’ll incur a slight loss of £0.33. However, this loss is worth it, as you’ve just qualified for £30 in free bets!
5. Using your free bets
Nice work! You’ve just completed your third qualifying bet!
Now, you could just place your free bets on anything you like and see if they win or lose, but you’d be relying on luck! With matched betting, you want to know you’ll profit from those free bets. How do you do that? You simply repeat the process you’ve just done.
William Hill will credit you with 3 x £10 free bets once your qualifying bet has settled. Again, check the free bet terms for any specific requirements.
As with most free bets, your William Hill free bets are ‘stake not returned‘. Your £10 stakes will not be returned to you with any winnings. You only get back what would have been your profit on a regular bet. The free bets are valid for 30 days.
This time, the only real difference in the process is that your free bets should be placed at high odds to maximise your profit. As always, the closer the back and lay odds, the better. If you need to go in-depth on free bets, please see my Free Bets Guide.
Place your back bet
When writing this guide, the following odds are available for a football match between Real Madrid and Valencia.
The odds for Valencia to win are pretty high, and back odds of 6.50 and lay odds of 6.80 are nice and close.
You can go ahead and place your 3 x £10 free bets at William Hill. Your free bets should appear once you add a selection to your bet slip.
Place your lay bet
Again, you need to calculate your lay stake at Smarkets. This time, on my Matched Betting Calculator, you simply select the ‘Free Bet’ setting and input your odds and total free bet stake. You can leave the ‘Stake returned’ box unchecked as your free bet stakes are not returned for this offer.
As you can see, the calculator tells you that your lay stake should be £24.26. So, just as before, you click on the ‘6.8‘ lay button at Smarkets and enter your stake of £24.26.
It tells you that your liability on this bet is £140.66. It’s good practice to check this figure against the expected betting exchange loss on the calculator. As you can see, they’re both the same but for a few pence (due to rounding), so you know you have entered the correct lay stake.
If you feel the liability is too high or you’re starting with limited funds, you can simply place the three free bets separately, waiting for each one to settle before placing the next. Working through them will take a little longer, but it should reduce your liability to around £50 per bet.
If you’re happy to place them all at once, you’ll need to deposit enough funds into your Smarkets account to cover your £140.66 liability, as this is the amount you stand to lose at Smarkets if Valencia win. Don’t worry; your winnings at William Hill will more than cover it. Once done, just as before, you’ll see your potential profit or loss at Smarkets for each possible outcome.
The higher your lay odds, the more funds you’ll need in your Smarkets account to cover your liability. You can reduce your liability by opting for lower odds. It will just mean a slightly smaller profit.
Outcomes
Let’s look at your overall profit/loss for the potential outcomes.
| Outcome | William Hill | Smarkets | Profit/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valencia win | + £165.00 | – £140.66 | £24.34 profit |
| Valencia lose or draw | – Free bets | + £24.26 | £24.26 profit |
So, regardless of whether Valencia win, lose or draw, you’ll make a minimum of £24.26 cash from your £30 in free bets! Given that your qualifying loss was just £0.33, you’ve made at least £23.93 profit overall from William Hill’s welcome offer.
Learn matched betting the free, easy way.
The Matched Betting Academy
- Logically structured to tackle strategies and offers as you’re ready for them.
- Bag profits every step of the way. About £600 from welcome offers, and another £500 monthly.
- Make £15 from your very first offer.
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Matt Kirman – Matched Betting Blogger
Since 2014, I’ve blogged over £70,000 worth of profit, and made it my mission to make matched betting accessible to everyone.