One of the most popular UK betting bonuses in football is the matched bonus bet, with this usually providing a starting point for punters to begin their betting career. It would be fair to say that most of the bookmakers in the online gambling industry offer such an incentive and bearing this in mind, we’ll now take a look at this type of bonus offer and explain how you can benefit from it to make more money from football bets.

What is a matched betting bonus?

First and foremost, it is worth explaining exactly what a matched betting bonus is. In simple terms, it involves the punter opening a new account with a bookmaker and depositing a minimum amount of cash – sometimes with the aid of a bonus code. From this point on, the matched bet bonus can take two different paths. Firstly, if it happens to be a matched deposit bonus, the punter will be rewarded with double the amount of money that was initially in their account. There is also another variation and this involves around betting on the outcome of just one event, with individuals being rewarded their bonus after placing the bet – rather than after making their first deposit.


Is there anything that you should be wary of with matched betting bonuses?

You should approach any type of betting bonus with caution, as bookmakers have a habit of inserting tricky terms and conditions that can make it very difficult for you to turn a profit. In relation to this type of bonus, a common trick is to not allow the customer to withdraw their bonus until they have “bet through it” a certain number of times. This means that it’s impossible for you to merely withdraw everything that you have just deposited, and you must actually play through all of the money in your account.

An example of a matched bonus bet in football

If we take an example of a matched bonus bet on a specific event, it can be attributed to football betting offer very easily. After making their deposit, the punter will proceed to place a bet on a football match through the bookmaker. Sometimes they will have to enter a promotion code for the matched bonus to be triggered, while a lot of bookies will only deposit the bonus money to the customer’s account after the game has finished.

What is a successful approach for matched bonus offers

Over recent years there has been a surge in arbitrage in the betting industry, with punters taking advantage of all of the free offers that can be picked up with all the bookmakers. It’s proven possible to use the bonus money generated from multiple accounts and bet on all of the outcomes of a football fixture, and therefore be guaranteed a profit. Admittedly, there are other issues that should be considered within such an approach and if you don’t plan a careful strategy, there is a chance that you will become out of pocket. Arbitrage is a completely separate topic and one could probably write a whole book on just how to be successful with these methods, and turn a profit through matched bonus offers. My recent free bet with sky on Manchester United certainly was a wasted opportunity.

A summary on matched bonus offers

Matched bonus offers have been around for a number of years and before attempting to use them to your advantage, you should always realise that the bookmakers have taken this approach for a reason and are banking on you gambling away a lot more money on their platform in the future. Therefore, if you are seriously thinking about attempting to take a maximum advantage from matched bonuses, you should probably consider arbitrage which could give you a large starting pool of money if performed correctly.