The Ultimate Guide to Arbitrage Betting in 2018

A classic arbitrage bet looks like this:

1 - see arbitrage opportunity
2 - Make sure you have available funds in those accounts
3 - Place both sides of the arb (place highest stake first)
4- wait for bet to settle
5 - Withdraw funds and reload account

What exactly is arbitrage betting?
Arbitrage Betting takes advantage of the high competition in odds between online bookmakers. When bookmakers odds vary enough we can bet on all outcomes of the event and win a profit of around 2-10% no matter what.

This may seem like a small return of £2-10 at first (given a £100 stake) but over time this can lead to great profits, especially as on some events you can bet upwards of a £300 total stake on a single arb which means £15-30 per trade!

Arbitrage is similar to matched betting but instead of using free bets to get a risk-free profit it uses the natural variation in odds instead.

Arbitrage betting has been dubbed as “the only way to make constant profit” in sports betting and there are tens of thousands of people who regularly arb because it is typically a far better way to invest money than a bank.

How does it work?
Example You bet on a football match.

Swansea v Wolves

The odds for the game to have total goals of over 2.5 has odds of 2.6

The odds for the game to have total goals of under 2.5 has odds of 1.75

We place a total stake of £100 and have covered all outcomes.
We make £4 profit if Outcome A happens & £5 profit if outcome B happens.

To break down what is shown in the table.

If there are over 2.5 goals in the match, your return will be a total of £104 (2.6 x £40=£104) = £4 profit

If there are under 2.5 goals in the match, your return will be a total of £105 (1.75 x £60=£105) = £5 profit

Remember we’ve only place a total of £100 so anything over this figure is profit.

Common questions about Arbitrage Betting
Do I need to be in the UK?

It helps to be in the UK as we have the largest amount of bookies in europe but as long as you have access to a decent about of mainstream bookmakers sites you should be fine.

Do I need to have bookmaker accounts open?

Yes you need bookmaker accounts open to do this.

Won’t the bookmakers limit my account if they think i’m arbitrage betting?

It’s true that some bookmakers are not too keen on arbitrage betting but many people stay under the radar for a while by being smart like only betting round stakes.

Many matched bettors arb on their gubbed accounts to double their matched betting profits.

The 3 things to consider are:

  1. The amount of stake you place
  2. How big a % the arb is
  3. How mainstream the event is.

If you balance these three factors then you can keep accounts open, we’ll go into more detail on this later. Other tips include only withdrawing funds from the exchange because they never limit you and it makes bookies think you’re losing when you’re winning because you never withdraw from cash from a winning account.

Is it legal?

Arbing might seem too good to be true, but it is an entirely legal way to bet. All you are doing is taking advantage of the differences that occur in the market.

Won’t it take ages for me to withdraw funds?

If you use skrill or paypal you can withdraw funds to your skrill wallet in 12 hours or with paypal instantly, and load bookie accounts instantly making it easy to control cashflow and easy to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities.

How much money do I need to get started?

You need at least £100-200 to make arbitrage worthwhile.

You say its risk-free, so what’s the worst thing that can happen?

Even though Arbitrage is risk-free, there are certain things you have to keep in mind when implementing it. Like in the rare case that a bookmaker doesn't accept your bet, but you've already placed 1 out of 2 outcomes of the arb?

There are 2 solutions for this.

  1. Many bookies will allow you to cash out of a bet, you can do this on your original bet and lose a couple quid.

  2. Or you can find similar odds on our software dropdown menu and place a bet with another bookmaker. This feature means you could still make just as much money, or if they are slightly worse odds, you may win or lose a couple of pennies.

What are the best bookmakers to use?

Pinnacle is an arb friendly bookmaker that welcomes arbers and will never limit you. Currently its not available in the UK unless you use brokers like premium tradings or Bet IBC. There is great opportunity for safe profit by using Pinnacle and a low commission exchange like Smarkets. Other good bookies include Marathon & Bet365.

**Are all arbing opportunities back/lay like matched betting? **

Nope there are lots of opportunities between bookmakers directly without the use of an exchange.

So why isn’t everyone doing it?

A lot of people don’t know this exists and if they do they are overwhelmed by thinking they have to calculate every arb themselves or pay £100+ a month for betting software. Using Betslayer you only have to make 1-2 bets a month to make a good profit of the service.

Many people do arbitrage betting after finishing the sign up offers because they have many accounts open and want to turn their bankroll and double it.

Advantages of arbitrage betting:

  • No qualifying bet to place
  • Takes less time
  • Very profitable
  • Great to squeeze profits out of gubbed accounts

Disadvantages of arbitrage betting:

  • Puts your accounts at risk

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About the Author Mike Zimmerman