Matched betting can sometimes be hard to explain to family and friends. As soon as you mention that you are making money from bookmakers, they assume that you are gambling.
They then tell you that ‘the house always wins‘ and that ‘your luck will run out eventually‘.
So are they right? Is matched betting gambling?
What is Gambling?
Gambling, by definition, involves a degree of uncertainty.
You can gamble on a horse race, but you can’t be sure whether your horse will win or lose.
Or you could gamble on yourself by opening a business, but you can’t know for certain that you will succeed.
When you are gambling, chance always plays a part in the outcome.
So, is matched betting gambling?
Matched betting involves placing a bet at a bookmaker, and then placing a matching bet on the opposite outcome using Betfair.
By doing this, all possibilities are covered and we can say with 100% certainty what our financial position will be after the event. Chance doesn’t play a part.
We can’t predict who will win the match, but that doesn’t matter. If all outcomes are covered, our result will be the same no matter what.
We’re not trying to beat the bookies by guessing the outcome of events. We are beating them by using maths to turn their bonus bets into hard cash.
As we are not relying on chance, matched betting is definitely not gambling.
If you would like to learn more about how it all works, sign up for a free bonusbank account for access to our beginner tutorials and matched betting calculator.