This minicourse has been written to provide you with an introduction to the principles involved in sports arbitrage. Click here for your Trader Pack which includes a copy of the Hardback Publication 'Sports Arbitrage - How To Place Riskless Bets and Create Tax-Free Investments' by Rajeev Shah
CAPITALISING ON FREE BETS
The basic 2-step trading method
You already know that as a sports-arbitrage trader, you will need to open a large number of bookmaker accounts. However, did you know that as well as automating this process with ArbSurfer (Preview or Pro), you can actually get paid over £2000 to do this?
Many online bookmakers offer free bets and/or cash back bonsuses for new accounts, whilst others offer special promotions for specific events. Click here for an up-to-date summary of the new account bonuses & other promotions available right now from UK licensed bookmakers online.
You can also use the links provided in ArbSurfer. As well as the convenience of automatic application form filling, the links in ArbSurfer are updated dynamically and will always take you to the best current offers available, including extra bonuses available only to ArbSurfer users.
The Advanced Trading Lessons (provided with the Full version of ArbSurfer Pro) demonstrate a number of techniques you can use to put this free bonus money into your bank account. Below is a description of the simplest of these.
If you use the method below, you can expect to make as much as £2000 with almost no effort.
The advanced techniques can make you a lot more but they also require some more effort to implement.
When you receive a bonus from a bookmaker, his terms will require you to bet your deposit plus any bonus before you can withdraw the money. The basic method is to place a bet with the bookmaker and then eliminate all of the risk by placing an opposite bet with another bookmaker. The more care that you take over securing the best prices, the more profit you will make. Resources such as ArbAlarm will ease the task of finding the best suitable prices but to use the most basic method, all you will need is a free odds-comparison tool.
Since you're opening accounts with several bookmakers, all of whom are giving you bonuses, simply play them against each other! Here's an example:
Time/Effort required: 1/5 | Profitability: 1/5
In this example, we take advantage of VCBet's offer of a £50 free bet for new customers. According to the rules at VCBet regarding this bonus, our bet must be placed at odds equal to or higher than 1/1 (aka evens or 2.00)
We first have to place a bet with VCBet using our own funds in order to qualify for the free bet. We'll lay the bet off at Betfair for a very small loss.
| First bet (placed in order to qualify for the free bet) |
||||
| Bookmaker | Bet Type | Outcome | Stake | Price |
| VCBET | Back | Newcastle | 50 | 2.90 |
| Betfair | Lay | Newcastle | 50.52 | 2.92 |
With the bets above:
- - If Newcastle wins, we will receive £95 from VCBet and lose £97 at Betfair i.e a loss of £2
- - If Newcastle does not win (i.e draw/lose), we lose £50 at VCBet and win (after commission) £48 at Betfair i.e a loss of ?2
Having lost £2, however, we now have a free £50 bet to use:
| Using the free bet | ||||
| Bookmaker | Bet Type | Outcome | Stake | Price |
| VCBet | Back | Derby | 50 | 4.35 |
| Betfair | Lay | Derby | 36.02 | 4.70 |
With the bets above:
- - If Derby wins, we will receive £167.50 from VCBet and lose £133.28 at Betfair i.e a profit of £34.22
- - If Derby does not win (i.e draw/lose), we lose £50 at VCBet and win (after commission) £34.22 at Betfair i.e a profit of £34.22
Taking into account the £2 lost in the first phase of this operation, the net profit from this free bet is £32.22
£32.22 may not sound like much but you can easily repeat this same process 40 times over the course of a week to make well over £1000 completely risk-free. With the follow-up bonuses offered by most of the bookmakers, your total profit could be as much as £5000 - just for doing the preparation work you need to anyway if you want to become a sports-arbitrage trader!
Obviously, when you start using ArbAlarm to trade arbs,
the trades you make with bonuses and free bets will become considerably
more profitable. So why not start right now? It will only take you
about 20 minutes to make your first £30 profit... Remember, ArbSurfer will
automate the form-filling aspect of opening the new accounts, saving
you a lot of time and effort.
If
you filled out your Profile then ArbSurfer will fill the forms out for
you and all you will need to do is add any missing information and
submit the form. Make a note of the usernames & passwords
required
to log into the accounts you have set up. You should then go to each
site and log in for the first time. When you do this, ArbSurfer will
prompt you to save the codes and if you click YES then these codes will
be encrypted and stored securely in ArbSurfer so that the next time you
visit the site you can be logged in automatically.
 |
20/€30/$35 FREE BET Open an account with 10bet.com, and they will give you a 50% deposit bonus - get up to _20/€30/$35 Free. |
 |
NEW _25 FREE BET 888Sport is offering 100% cash back for all new accounts up to _25/€40/$50. Stake _25/€40/$50 when you open your account and they'll deposit _25/€40/$50 worth of free bets into your account. |
 |
_250
FREE BETS - Improved Terms Open an account with Bet365 and you can
qualify for up to _250 in Free Bets with their bet basket promotion. Your first bet will be matched (up to _50), with four additional free bets (up to _50) available once you’ve used your free bet and then placed an additional 5, 10, 15 and 20 qualifying bets of _5 or more with bet365 |
 |
_20/€30 FREE BET Open an account with Bet1128, deposit and bet _20/€30 at evens (2.0) or better and they will give you a _20/€30 Free Bet |
 |
€33/_22 FREE BET OFFER |
 |
_1000/€1000 BONUS Open an account with Betchronicle, and they will double the winnings on the first _50/€50 of your first bet stake, if your first bet wins, up to _1000/€1000 Free on your 1st selection - with the exception of any selection featured in a "Chronicle Cracker" Market |
 |
_10/$17/€14 CASH REWARD to every qualifying account opened with Betdaq this month. Simpy open your account, deposit and bet, back or lay, _20/€30 or currency equivalent on an event of your choice |
 |
_25 FREE BET!. Register an account today with betdirect and you will receive a _25 Free Bet when you stake _25 on your first bet. |
 |
_25/€40
FREE BET Open an account with betfair.com, back or lay an event of your
choice and get a Free _25/€40 bet. EXCLUSIVE EXTRA FREE CASH!!! Simply open an account with Betfair.com, via this link, deposit and bet (back or lay) _50 or currency equivalent on an event of your choice and receive an extra _10 GBP/$17 |
 |
_100 in FREE BETS Open an account with Betfred and they will match your first bet with a free bet of up to _50. Place another five bets of _10 or more and receive a further _50 free bet |
 |
_25 FREE BET. Open an account today with betinternet, stake _50 at evens (2.00) or above and get 50% cash back for a _25 free bet. |
 |
_25 FREE BETOpen an account with betterbet.com, desposit and place a _25 bet on the event of your choice and they will give you a _25 Free |
 |
Open an account with BetUK and they will match your first deposit with a free bet of the same value up to a maximum of _25. |
 |
_100 IN FREE BETS Open an account with BGbet.com, deposit and place a _25 bet on the event of your choice at evens (2.0) or higher and they will give you a _25 Free. Place 5 more bets with BGbet, and they will refund your average stake up to _25 in the form of a free bet. Repeat the process and receive two more free bets of up to _25. |
 |
_50/€70/$90 IN FREE BETS Open an account with Blue Square today and once you have placed your first bet of at least a _25/€35/$45 (or currency equivalent) win single, Blue Square will give you a _25/€35/$45 Free bet. Plus after a further 10 bets of _25 or more they’ll give you a further _25/€35/$45 Free Bet Bonus |
 |
NEW!!! A MASSIVE _200 in FREE BETS Open an account with Boylesports and you can qualify for up to _200 in Free Bets |
 |
EXCLUSIVE OFFER - _25 FREE BET Open an account with Canbet and make your first deposit of _25 or more and receive a 100% deposit bonus of up to _25 |
 |
_20 FREE BET Open an account with Centrebet and place a _20 bet on the event of your choice |
 |
Open an account with Coral, stake _20/$40/€30 and get a _20/$40/€30 free bet |
 |
_20 FREE BET Open an online betting account with Eurobet, and you will receive a 20% deposit bonus up to a maximum _20/€30 Free bet. |
 |
_25/€35 FREE BET Open an account with Expekt.com and collect a 100% new customer bonus of up to _25/€35 in free bets on your first deposit |
 |
_25 Free Bet. Open an account with Extrabet between 14th December 2007 and 31st May 2008 inclusive, and they will match your first bet stake with a free bet of up to _25 on the same selection |
 |
100% Deposit Bonus up to _12/€20/$25 Gamebookers will give you a 100% deposit bonus up to a maximum of _12/€20/$25. |
 |
Open an account with Globet.com, bet 20 Euros at odds of evens or better and receive a 20 Euro free bet |
 |
$100/_50 FREE BET Open an account with IASbet, deposit and bet $50/_25 or more and they will give you a $100/_50 Free Bet. IASbet also offer alternative deposit bonuses of up to $1000/_500 |
 |
$20/_10/€13 Free Bet Have your cake and eat it too with Intertops.com Join today and with your first deposit and sports bet of $20/_10/€13 or more, your account will be credited with $20/_10/€13. |
 |
_20/€30 FREE BET Open an account with Interwetten via this link and collect a 50% new customer bonus of up to _20/€30/$40 in free bets on your first deposit. |
 |
_20 FREE BET!. Register an account today with Jaxx.com and you will receive a _20 Free Bet when you stake _20 on your first bet |
 |
_25 IN FREE BETS Sign up now & place a FOOTBALL bet of _25 or more when you register and Ladbrokes will match this with a _25 free bet which can be placed on the event of your choice. |
 |
_30 FREE BET Open an account with Aussie bookie Lassetersports, and they will give you a 25% first deposit bonus - get up to _30 Free |
 |
_30 IN FREE BETS Open an account with Paddypower place a single bet of _30 or currency equivalent and receive another three free bets of _10/€14/$18 each for the next three weeks. |
 |
25/$50/€35 FREE BET Partybets is now offering a 100% deposit bonus on all new accounts up to a maximum _25/$50/€35 in free bets. |
 |
_275 SIGN UP BONUS Pinnacle Sports currently offer a 10% cash bonus (up to _275/$500) for all Internet Accounts that start with $250 or more |
 |
IMPROVED OFFER _50 FREE BET Open an account with Skybet place a bet of up to _50 and Skybet will credit your account with a a matched free bet up to _50. |
 |
_150 IN FREE BETS Open an account with Sportingbet, stake _10 with your first bet and get a free _10 bet. Thereafter, within your opening 10 bets with Sportingbet, for every winning _10 bet you stake using your own money, you will receive another free _10 bet. If all of your opening 10 bets using your own money, are winners then receive a _50 bonus free bet. |
 |
_25 FREE BET Stan James is offering 100% cash back for all new accounts up to _25/€40. Stake _25/€40 when you open your account and they'll deposit _25/€40 worth of free bets into your account. |
 |
_100 IN FREE BETS Open an account today with totesport.com, stake between _10 and _50 and receive a matched free bet to the same amount as your first bet. Then place a further 5 bets of _10 or more and claim a second _50 free bet. |
 |
_20 FREE BET Open an account with Unibet, and they will give you a 100% deposit bonus - get up to _20 Free. |
 |
_100/€150/$200 FREE BET!!! Open an account with VC Bet and they’ll match the value of your first bet with a free bet up to _50/€75/$100! Then place five more bets of _10 to receive a further _50/€75/$100. |
 |
UNLIMITED
FREE BETS FOR ONE MONTH WBX - World Betting Exchange is offering new account holders unlimited free bets for the first month. Earn a _25 free bet when you have won or lost a total of _25 on the Exchange, then earn a further _10 free bet when you have confirmed your postal address, another _10 free bet every time you win or lose a total of _200 on the Exchange (up to a maximum of 10 free bets) and finally get a _10 free bet every time you win or lose a total of _400 on the Exchange. |
 |
_50
Free bet - Simply open an account and place a bet of _10 or _25 and
William Hill will credit the following to your account: - Stake between _10 and _24.99 to receive a _20 free bet. - Stake between _25 and _49.99 to receive a _50 free bet. |
 |
_20/€30 FREE BET Open an account with WinUnited, deposit a minimum of _40/€60 and they will credit your account with a _20/€30 free bet. In order to receive the bonus, send an e-mail to bonus@winunited.com after making the required deposit. The bonus will be credited to your account within 24 hours of the receipt of the e-mail. |
Offers change regularly and you are advised to check the terms and conditions on each website before opening an account. Currency conversion subject to fluctuation