Football Matched Betting 2025: How to Match Bet on Football?

The basics of matched betting

Before you can head straight to a matched betting football strategy, you need to understand the basics of what a matched betting strategy is. Remember, the premise of the strategy is that you use a free bet offer as one of your bets. From there, you place the free bet as a back bet and another bet as a lay bet. So, let’s dive into having matched betting explained:

• Step 1: find a reputable online sportsbook that offers a free bet bonus (for new or existing players it doesn’t really matter too much).
• Step 2: place a qualifying bet on the site to unlock your free bet bonus (this is something you will almost always have to do).
• Step 3: wait for your qualifying bet to settle (you will take a small loss here which will be made back when you win shortly thereafter), then check to see if your account has been credited with the free bet bonus.
• Step 4: find a trustworthy online betting exchange to place your lay bet (betting on a team to lose) with.
• Step 5: pick out a match you think has the most profitable odds for you to cash in on.
• Step 6: use your free bet bonus with the standard online sportsbook for your back bet.
• Step 7: place the same-sized bet for your lay bet.
• Step 8: watch and wait for the result to unfold!

A practical example of a matched betting football strategy

Now you have the basics of a matched betting strategy down, let’s take a look at how you can use this strategy with a real-world football example.

Let’s assume you want to use a matched betting football strategy on a match between New York Giants and the Indianapolis Colts. You fancy the Colts to beat the Giants, so you decide to use your free bet offer on a Colts win. You will need to first place your and settle a qualifying bet to claim your free bet offer with the standard sportsbook you have found. Once you have taken that first initial (minimal) loss, you can then proceed to use your free bet offer on a Colts win.

On the other side of things, you need to create your account with an online betting exchange if you want your matched football betting strategy to work. From there, you will place a bet of the same size as the free bet bonus on the Colts to lose. This way, you are covering all of the outcomes and therefore cannot lose.

You have now covered every possible outcome, with the same sized bet on odds that are at the very least quite close together. The odds do matter so make sure you try to get your back and lay bet odds as close together as possible. If you have trouble figuring out the overall profit potential of your bet, it’s a good idea to use a matched betting calculator.

The pros and cons of a matched betting football strategy

There are a number of benefits to using a matched betting football strategy but there are a couple of risks as well. Let’s take a look at some of them below:

Pros:

Its risk-free: the biggest advantage of matched betting football strategy is undoubtedly the risk factor, or lack thereof. You are covering all possible outcomes with wagers of equal value on relatively similar odds. This means you are guaranteed to at the very least get your money back. You can’t lose.

Making the most of bonus offers: there is no betting strategy that takes advantage of a free bet promotion quite like the matched betting football strategy. While most players simply use it for improbable odds, the matched betting football strategy makes players use it in the right way, to create guaranteed profits that could lead to further wins.

Cons:

Account restriction: there are certainly a few matched betting risks to worry about. Firstly, online sportsbooks are not usually very fond of this kind of betting strategy. While it may be legal, they can still restrict your betting account if they find that you are using this betting strategy.

Learning curve: you will need to have a go at using a matched betting football strategy a couple of times before you really start getting the most out of it. That’s okay, but it will mean time and energy investment.

An alternative to matched betting football

A matched betting football strategy is undoubtedly an exciting prospect. However, its this prospect that US sports bettors are unable to cash in on right now. This is because there simply aren’t any betting exchanges to place your lay bets with. The federal law is clear on the fact that you can’t get out online outside of state lines. This is a problem for betting exchanges as they don’t have enough players in a single state to warrant running the site. On top of this, it’s already quite tough to get a gambling license to operate in these states, especially with all the competition from other reputable standard sportsbooks like DraftKings, Fanduel, BetMGM, etc.

Is this disappointing? Absolutely but it’s not the end of the world just yet. There is another betting strategy you can try. You may have heard the term before or even asked yourself the question “is value betting profitable?” This refers to expected value betting. This kind of betting strategy does require more effort on the part of the bettor but if you are placing frequent bets every week, this really should be one of your top priorities. EV betting is where the bettor tries to get an edge on the sportsbook by finding odds on the site that are overvalued. There are tips and tricks that can help better establish where the value is on these sites, one of which is an EV betting calculator.

Conclusion to our guide

Now that you know you can’t use a matched betting football strategy in the US at present, you may be a little disappointed. Thankfully, you can always check out our detailed guides on how to use expected value to your advantage. Expected value betting is one of the best ways to go about cautious but effective sports betting. You can build your bankroll and produce far more successful bets overall if you put enough effort into it.

1.877

Pick

898

Wins

21.5%

ROI

Football matched betting FAQ