The Future of Matched Betting in Australia
Nine years ago, in the summer of 2008, i discovered something that changed my life.
I found it in the forums section of MoneySavingExpert.com while i was supposed to be researching something for work. Probably not the most obvious place to make a life-changing discovery, but that’s where it was…a huge thread explaining how you could make risk-free profits from bookmaker sign-up bonuses.
I read it, and then i read it again. I felt like i must be missing something, like there must be a catch. So, i kept reading it. At least once a week for the next two months i read that thread, until finally i felt ready to put it into practice…
Matched Betting
The process explained in the thread is commonly know as matched betting. It involves signing up to bookmakers so that you can access their new customer bonuses. Once you have the bonus you use it to place a bet with the bookmaker. You then place a bet on the opposite outcome using a betting exchange. By doing this you can guarantee a profit of about 70–80% of the bonus value, no matter the outcome of the event.
If this is the first time you have heard of matched betting it is likely that you are struggling to get your head around the previous paragraph. I’m guessing you read it at least twice? Don’t worry, that’s how i was in 2008.
It was only after i had placed my first matched bets, and made my first profits, that i felt like i truly understood it. And that’s when my life changed.
Money, Money, Money
As my confidence grew, so did my bank balance. From an initial investment of just £120 i was soon making hundreds of pounds profit every month.
Within a year i had made over £6,000. So, when funding for the government project where i worked dried up, i wasn’t too concerned.
Instead, i saw it as an opportunity. I bought myself a one-way ticket to Argentina and didn’t look back.
Travelling the World with Matched Betting
Since leaving Scotland in 2010 i haven’t had a single ‘real job’. I’ve done some DJing and the occasional temp gig, but the vast majority of my income has come from matched betting.
During that time i have visited more the 20 countries across 5 continents. I currently live in the beach town of San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua, but i recently spent over 18 months in Australia.
Matched Betting in Australia
When i arrived in Australia i was a little concerned. The cost of living there was considerably higher than the other countries that i had visited. I was worried that my matched betting earnings might not cut it.
Fortunately, i soon realised that i had nothing to worry about.
Being in Australia meant that i had access to a whole new group of bookmakers. And all of the bookies had generous sign-up bonuses. Way more generous than anything on offer in the UK. Pretty soon i had trebled my monthly earnings.
There was something missing though…
The Explosion of Matched Betting
While i had been gone, matched betting in the UK had gone mainstream. All of a sudden everyone was doing it. There were articles about it in major newspapers, and forums dedicated to it on popular websites like Mumsnet.
There were several factors behind this matched betting explosion. New online tools had made it easier than ever to get started, and an increasing number of communities were available to help newcomers through their first few bets.
MoneySavingExpert had been that community for me at first. I’d then graduated to TheGamblingTimes were things were a bit more advanced. But in Australia there was nothing.
The Birth of Bonusbank
The closest thing i had to a matched betting community in Australia was a friend from home who now lives in Sydney. I had gotten him started with matched betting a couple of years earlier, and we would often discuss offers.
It wasn’t the same as having a flourishing community though. And we were still missing the tools that were available to matched bettors in the UK. So we decided to create them.
The outcome of that decision is bonusbank.com.au, the first matched betting website dedicated to the Australian market.
We have created a range of tutorials with a unique focus on matched betting in the Australian market. We also have matched betting calculators and software that make the whole process easy.
Since launching bonusbank we have been overwhelmed by the amount of positive feedback we have received. It seems like we weren’t the only ones who felt the need for a matched betting website in Australia.
We are continuing to add more features all the time, and soon Australian matched bettors will have as many tools available to them as their UK counterparts.
In the future, we hope that when people think about matched betting in Australia, they think about bonusbank.
