Matched betting in Australia
Matched betting pairs a bet at a bookmaker with a lay of the same selection on an exchange. In Australia it is mostly used on bonus bets, which keep the stake: a $100.00 bonus bet at $4.00 laid at $4.20 with 5% commission keeps about $68.67 either way, if both bets stand.
By the B337 team. Last updated .
The short answer
- Matched betting pairs a bet at a bookmaker with a lay of the same selection on a betting exchange, so the cash position is about the same whichever way the event goes.
- It is used to turn a bonus bet into cash. The bookmaker's stake is not yours to lose, so hedging it can turn most of what it is worth into cash whichever way the event goes, instead of all or nothing.
- In the worked example, a $100.00 bonus bet at $4.00 laid at $4.20 keeps about $68.67, which is 68.7% of face value.
- It is not without risk. Prices move between the two bets, the lay has to be matched, the two sides can settle differently, and bookmakers can restrict accounts.
What is matched betting?
Matched betting means holding both sides of the same selection at once: a back bet at a bookmaker and a lay of that selection on a betting exchange, where you are the one taking the bet. If the two prices are close, the two positions nearly cancel.
On an ordinary bet with no offer attached, that is a pointless exercise: you pay the bookmaker's margin and the exchange's commission for the privilege of standing still. It earns its keep on a bonus bet, where the stake is the bookmaker's rather than yours. Left alone, a bonus bet either pays its winnings or pays nothing; hedged, with the lay matched at the price you planned, it turns into a smaller amount of cash whichever way the event goes.
A bonus bet lands in your account
The bookmaker decides who gets one, on what and for how much. With no offer there is nothing to convert.
You pick a selection where the two prices are close
The bookmaker's price and the exchange's lay price for the same selection: the narrower the gap, the more of the bonus bet survives.
You place the bonus bet at the bookmaker
Within the offer's terms: the qualifying market, the minimum price, the maximum stake. A bet outside the terms is just a bet.
You lay the same selection on the exchange
At a lay stake worked out so both outcomes leave you about the same cash, after commission. The exchange holds the liability until the event settles.
Both sides settle
The selection wins and the bookmaker pays while the exchange takes the liability, or it loses and the exchange pays. Either way, if the lay was matched at the price you planned, part of the bonus bet's face value is now cash.
When the offer needs a qualifying bet
Some offers pay a bonus bet only after a cash bet that meets their terms, called the qualifying bet. You match that bet too, so it loses a small, known amount whichever way it goes: the qualifying loss, which comes off whatever the bonus bet later converts to. With illustrative prices, $50.00 backed at $3.00 and laid at $3.10 with 5% commission needs a lay stake of $49.18, with $103.28 of liability, and loses about $3.28 either way.
Betting involves risk. Bookmakers can restrict or close accounts and void bets, automation can fail, prices move, and a positive expected value (+EV) bet can still lose. Promotions carry each bookmaker's own terms. There is no guarantee of profit. Hedging only turns a bonus bet into cash if the lay is matched at the price you planned, and bookmakers can stop sending offers to accounts that only bet on them. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Why Australian matched betting is different
Most matched betting material online is written for a different market.
- There is no sign-up offer to work through. Since 26 May 2019, and 26 November 2019 in NSW, the National Consumer Protection Framework has banned offering a credit, voucher, reward or other benefit as an incentive to open an account. So promotions go to existing account holders, chosen by the bookmaker, usually on a particular race or game.
- Bonus bets normally keep the stake. A winning bonus bet pays the winnings only, so a $100.00 bonus bet is worth less than $100.00 in cash before any hedging.
- Money back offers are the common shape. Stake back as a bonus bet if your runner runs 2nd or 3rd, or similar. Money back racing promos works through that sum.
- The lay needs an exchange account in your own name. Each exchange sets its own commission and terms, and thin markets can leave a lay unmatched.
- Promotions carry the bookmaker's terms. Qualifying markets, minimum prices, maximum stakes and expiry are all in the terms, and where a term and this guide differ, the term applies. Each account has to be in your own name: bookmakers' terms commonly prohibit holding more than one or betting through somebody else's, and many restrict or prohibit third-party access, including software placing bets in your account.
- Who may take the bet is set by law. Which operators may take bets in Australia is listed on ACMA's register; whether one keeps taking matched bets from your account is set by its own terms. B337 does not give legal advice.
How to convert a bonus bet: the lay maths
Hypothetical prices, chosen to show the arithmetic.
A $100.00 bonus bet on a runner at $4.00 with the bookmaker, laid at $4.20 on the exchange, with an example commission rate of 5% of exchange winnings.
The bonus bet pays $300.00 if it wins, because the stake stays with the bookmaker. The lay stake is set so what the lay wins, after commission, matches that payout less the liability: lay stake = bonus bet x (back odds - 1) / (lay odds - commission rate) = 100 x (4.00 - 1) / (4.20 - 0.05) = $72.29, and liability = lay stake x (lay odds - 1) = 72.29 x (4.20 - 1) = $231.33.
| Outcome | At the bookmaker | At the exchange | Net cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| The selection wins | $300.00 | -$231.33 | $68.67 |
| The selection loses | $0.00 | $68.68 | $68.68 |
| Lay stake $72.29, liability $231.33 | Kept, whichever way | $68.67 (68.7%) | |
Either way you finish with about $68.67 in cash, which is 68.7% of face value. Most of the missing portion is the stake the bookmaker keeps: laid at the same $4.00 with no commission, this bonus bet converts to (4.00 - 1) / 4.00 = 75.0%, and no lay at or above the bookmaker's price can beat that, so $25.00 of the $100.00 never had anywhere to go. The gap between the two prices and the commission take the other $6.33.
The bonus bet converter runs exactly this sum: enter the bonus bet, the bookmaker's odds, the lay odds and the exchange's commission rate, and it returns the lay stake, the liability and the cash kept either way.
Betting involves risk. Bookmakers can restrict or close accounts and void bets, automation can fail, prices move, and a positive expected value (+EV) bet can still lose. Promotions carry each bookmaker's own terms. There is no guarantee of profit. The two bets go on one after the other, so a price that moves in between changes the result. A longer price needs more liability and is harder to get matched, a lay that is never matched leaves the bonus bet unhedged, and a bonus bet that loses pays nothing. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Which prices convert a bonus bet best
The same bonus bet is worth very different amounts at different prices.
| Band | Bookmaker price | Lay price | Lay stake | Liability | Kept | Share of face value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short price | $1.50 | $1.55 | $33.33 | $18.33 | $31.66 | 31.7% |
| Mid price (the example) | $4.00 | $4.20 | $72.29 | $231.33 | $68.67 | 68.7% |
| Long price | $10.00 | $10.50 | $86.12 | $818.14 | $81.81 | 81.8% |
Short prices convert badly, because the stake is not returned. At $1.50 the bonus bet only ever pays $50.00, so laid at the same price with no commission it converts to (1.50 - 1) / 1.50 = 33.3%, and the gap and the commission take it to 31.7%. Longer prices convert better, 81.8% at $10.00, but that needs $818.14 of liability sitting at the exchange, and a long price is where it is thinnest.
That trade-off is the whole skill in it: find a selection where the bookmaker's price is close to the exchange's, long enough to be worth hedging and liquid enough to get matched. From Terminal View, the odds comparison board puts Betfair back and lay beside bookmaker prices, which is that comparison; whether a lay will be matched is something you check at the exchange.
Betting involves risk. Bookmakers can restrict or close accounts and void bets, automation can fail, prices move, and a positive expected value (+EV) bet can still lose. Promotions carry each bookmaker's own terms. There is no guarantee of profit. The table assumes each lay is matched in full at the price shown, which is least likely at a long price. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Matched betting risks
The arithmetic assumes two bets, both matched, at the prices you saw, settled on the same definitions.
The prices move between the two bets
The two bets go on seconds apart at the earliest. If the exchange lay price drifts out after the bookmaker's bet is placed, the conversion is worse than the calculator said.
The lay never gets matched
A lay is only a bet when someone takes it. On a thin market or a long price there may not be enough money on the other side, which leaves the bonus bet unhedged.
The two sides settle differently
Dead heats, abandoned matches and how a late scratching's deduction is applied depend on each operator's own terms, while protests are decided by the stewards and bets settle on the placings at correct weight. A bookmaker and an exchange can settle one event differently.
The bonus bet expires
Bonus bets expire, and an offer you never used is worth nothing. Placing one in a hurry close to expiry, on a thin market, is where a lay goes unmatched.
The liability has to be there
The exchange holds the full liability, which at longer prices is many times the bonus bet's face value, and that cash is tied up until settlement.
The offers stop
Bookmakers choose who they make offers to, and can stop, restrict or close an account under their own terms. A plan that only works while offers keep arriving has a short life.
Where B337 fits, and what it does not do
On matched betting, B337 is software you run yourself, not a bookmaker or an exchange: it never takes bets or holds your money. It does two things, and leaves one to you.
- Valuing an offer against the exchange is what the bonus bet converter does, free and with no account, and from Terminal View the Terminal shows bookmaker prices beside Betfair back and lay.
- On racing, the bookmaker side can be automated. A racing session can use the bonus bets and money back offers already in your own accounts. It places a bonus bet on a runner whose conversion against the Betfair price clears your conversion threshold, and counts a money back offer towards the expected value a bet needs to clear your edge threshold. Sessions run on your own computer, which has to be on, awake and online, and many bookmakers restrict or prohibit automated betting in their terms. See bonus bet automation.
- It does not place the lay. Laying on the exchange is not part of the product. If you want the hedge you place it yourself, which means a bonus bet a session places is unhedged until you do.
It also never creates, unlocks or claims an offer: a session uses only what is already on the account, so with no offer there, no promo bet is placed.
Use the offers already on your accounts
The bonus bet converter is free. Racing sessions that place the bookmaker side need Full Automation, set up with the team with the price confirmed before you pay; bets placed through B337 use credits, a per-bet usage charge.
- Only offers already on your own accounts, within each bookmaker's rules
- A conversion threshold against the Betfair price, so weak selections are skipped
- Promo and bonus maximum stakes, and a custom promo list
- Every bet recorded, and settled from the bookmaker's own settled-bet list
Betting involves risk. Bookmakers can restrict or close accounts and void bets, automation can fail, prices move, and a positive expected value (+EV) bet can still lose. Promotions carry each bookmaker's own terms. There is no guarantee of profit. For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Common questions
Is matched betting worth it in Australia?
It depends on what offers your accounts receive and on getting each lay matched near the bookmaker's price. A bonus bet's conversion can be worked out before you bet, less any qualifying loss, but a money back offer is worth an expected amount rather than a fixed one, prices move, and bookmakers can restrict accounts that only bet on offers. Where an account gets no offers, there is nothing to do.
Is there matched betting software for Australia?
There are calculators and odds tools, and B337 is one of them: the bonus bet converter does the lay-stake arithmetic, and on Terminal View the Terminal puts bookmaker prices beside Betfair back and lay. What B337 automates is the bookmaker side of racing bonus bets, on your own computer, which has to be on, awake and online. It does not place lays on the exchange, so the hedge is yours to put on.
What does SNR mean on a bonus bet?
Stake not returned: a winning bonus bet pays the winnings and keeps the stake. A $100.00 bonus bet at $4.00 pays $300.00, not $400.00, which is why a bonus bet is worth less than its face value. Check each offer's own terms.
Can matched betting get my account limited?
It can. Bookmakers watch which accounts only bet when there is an offer on, and they can cut your maximum stake, stop sending offers or close the account, under their own terms.
Do I need an exchange account?
To lay, yes, and the account has to be in your own name. Betting exchanges explained covers back and lay, commission and liability. B337 is not affiliated with any exchange or bookmaker, and this page is not advice about opening an account. Without one, a bonus bet on a two-way market can be covered by backing the other side at another bookmaker, staked at the bonus bet's winnings divided by that price, or taken unhedged, which is all or nothing.
Is matched betting taxed in Australia?
For most people the ATO does not treat betting winnings as income or allow losses as deductions, unless the betting is carried on as a business, and its ruling IT 2655 sets out the tests that decide that. B337 does not give tax advice, so take your own case to the ATO or a registered tax agent.
Keep reading
Start with a free account
A free account opens a limited view of the Terminal with live odds; Terminal View adds the full board with Betfair back and lay beside 40+ bookmakers, and Full Automation adds racing sessions that use the offers already on your accounts. Bets placed through B337 use credits.