I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again: in my experience, matched betting is the best and fastest way to make money online in the UK. It’s profitable, tax-free, and super flexible, making it an excellent work-from-home opportunity for busy parents. Adam from Money Savvy Daddy talks about this in his guest post.
Adam is a busy dad who works from home and also finds time for side hustles like matched betting to earn extra income. In this post, he shares some smart tips to help you fit matched betting into your life and save time.
**Flexibility Working From Home For Busy Parents Is Key**
I’ve been working from home for almost 15 years, 14 of those as a father, and nearly 11 as the father of twins. I remember staying up late for feeds, especially with twins needing to be fed every 2 hours. Bottle-feeding one while foot-rocking the other in a baby bouncer is one of my most vivid memories of how exhausting parenting can be.
So, how does making money fit into all this? Earning extra income during such busy times isn’t easy. A good side hustle for extra income needs to be flexible enough to work around parenting and possibly other jobs.
**What’s the Best Flexible Side Income For Busy Parents?**
This is where matched betting comes in. I think it’s one of the best jobs for stay-at-home mums because it’s so flexible. Matched betting is a completely legitimate way to make money online. You can read how BoostMyBudget made her first £1000+ in just under 12 weeks.
I’ve been earning a side income from matched betting for over 3 years now. Here’s my matched betting guide with tips to boost your profits from the start.
**Anyone Can Do Matched Betting – No Previous Knowledge Required**
Almost anyone can do matched betting. You don’t need any previous knowledge of betting or sports. You don’t even need to follow sports. All you need to focus on is matching bets and making profits. You can start matched betting this weekend and make up to £40 with a free trial from the matched betting service Outplayed.
**Getting Started – Take Your Time – Don’t Rush**
Initially, it can be overwhelming, so if you’re tired or frazzled from family life, find a time when you feel mentally fresh. When you get the time, read up on the first or next offer. Make notes of anything you’re unsure about and maybe ask in the supporting forum. Start doing the first offers when you’re fresh and won’t be disturbed. You’ll need to concentrate to do them correctly and understand what you’re doing and why. After completing the first few bets, you’ll be on your way.
**How Much You Need To Get Started**
Ideally, you need £60-£100+ to get started. You use this money to place your bets at the sportsbook and the exchange. Once you’ve completed the qualifying bet and the free bet, you’ll have more than you started with. If you don’t have this much available, maybe check out how to make money with no money.
**Best Time to Do Matched Betting**
If you can choose the best time to do your matched betting, Saturdays are typically the best. During the football season, there’s usually plenty of high-profile football going on, and you can bet on these games a few days in advance. Even when there’s no football, there’s always some sporting event on. Horse racing takes place every day, but it’s usually best to bet on horses after around 10 am.
**Flexible 24/7 Offers You Can Do Anytime**
Some offers can be done anytime, 24/7, so pick these off when there’s nothing with a time limit available. Here are a few examples of offers you can do anytime, even in the middle of the night if you like:
**Sign-Ups**
When starting out with sign-up offers, stick to high-profile events like Premier League football and other top European football. You can easily bet on the matches days in advance. When you get 5-10 minutes spare, you can attempt an offer, even if it’s just back and laying the qualifying bets. Set a reminder or write yourself a note to make sure you complete the free bet part of the offer within the required timescale. New sign-ups for both sportsbooks and casinos become available regularly, so you can pick these off whenever you want.
**Reloads**
Once you’ve completed a number of sign-up offers, you can start to move on to reloads. Many types of reloads can be completed at any time of day. Some will only be available within a 24-hour period, so you just need to find time to do them.
**Casino Reloads / Bingo / Cashback Offers**
Casino and bingo offers are ideal for doing any time, 24/7. If you’ve tried matched betting but not the casino offers, you could be missing out. The longer I matched bet, the more profit I make from casino offers. Here’s my take on how to make money from casinos. The biggest limitation is some reloads are only available within a 24-hour period. I personally go through Outplayed Reloads and “Mark as Complete” all offers I’ve finished or don’t wish to do. Periodically through the rest of the day, you could pick off the rest of the offers, particularly the ones that are only available till the end of the day. Plus, with fewer offers showing, it’s easy to spot any new offers that are added through the day.
Often in reloads, there might be offers such as:
– Daily Spin and get an offer
– 10 free spins (with or without wagering)
Or low-risk offers such as:
– Wager £10, get 10 free spins
You can lose money doing low-risk offers, so only do them if you have built your bankroll and understand them. The longer I have been matched betting, the more I have profited from low-risk casino offers. However, if starting out, there are plenty of risk-free offers to be found. I normally make £100+ a month just from risk-free offers alone, sometimes a lot more.
**Easy and Can Even Do When Tired Or In Front Of TV**
Once you know how to do casino offers, especially the risk-free ones, they become easy. I can personally do them when I’m too tired to do other tasks that require more thought, like writing blog posts or selling items. I sometimes even do basic casino offers while the TV is on.
**Flexible Working From Home & Multitasking**
One of the best things about doing casino offers is that you can have the reels spinning on autoplay while doing other tasks like housework, feeding kids, or even other side hustles. Just keep a note of your wagering progress.
**Set Times To Sit Down And Check For Offers**
Sometimes it helps to get into a routine. Have a daily checklist of regular offers you want to pick off throughout the day whenever you get a chance. Some opportunities, like daily spins, only take 1-2 minutes each. Daily, you can check all the following options for offers:
– Matched Betting Site Offers
– Email for offers
– Text messages
– Forum for offers posted by members
**Alerts For Extra Opportunities**
If you are a member of a matched betting site, set forum threads to “Watch.” Put the volume up on your device so you hear any alerts posted while you are doing other tasks. These are ideal for any forum thread where members post opportunities that they find and the info might require immediate action, such as:
– Price Boosts
– Close match threads for popular offers
**Set Up Filters For Random Checks For Opportunities**
Another thing you can do is set up your own filters in the OddsMatcher. Once you are on reloads, some offers are ongoing every week. When you have time, between other tasks, you can quickly click refresh and see if there are any close matches available for the offers you have filtered for. This works for all kinds of offers, such as refund attempts, early payout offers, and boosting your own odds.
**Consistency – Do Something Every Day**
Try to make the effort to find time every day; otherwise, before you know it, a week has passed, and you might not feel as fresh and confident to pick it up again. Even if you have experience, it pays to keep fresh with matched betting as often as possible. Doing at least a little often will keep you current with which offers are currently offering the highest earning potential. It’s easier to pick off the easiest offers throughout the week rather than dedicating the same amount of time to one particular day of the week. Everyone can find 5-10 minutes a day if they choose to.
**Pre-Midnight Checks**
If you start casino offers, it’s worth doing a late evening check for offers that might expire at midnight. Any offers available will have been posted by now, either in the reloads section of your matched betting site and possibly in the forum. These usually take just a few minutes to pick off.
**What Potential Earnings Does Matched Betting Offer?**
The more time and effort you put into matched betting, the more you can potentially make. I’m not saying it’s all easy to earn a lot, but it is certainly possible. As you become more experienced, you will not only become quicker in placing bets and making money from the basics, but you will also learn new methods to make more. There are so many opportunities within matched betting that we could both be putting in the hours every week but targeting different promotions. These choices are in part due to doing the offers we like or can do within given timeframes, but also in part due to where we are able to bet. Over time, it is inevitable we will be hit with restrictions, which means we are no longer eligible for either specific offers or all offers. However, unless restricted down to penny stakes, it is still possible to make money from a vast number of bookie accounts.
**Flexibility Compared to Surveys Etc**
While surveys and similar opportunities also offer the advantage of being able to do them 24/7, they are very time-consuming for a lot less money. Personally, I would only use these options if I was starting from zero pounds. If you are in this position, check out the Ultimate List of Paid Surveys to get started. My recommended aim would be to first make and save £60-£100+ and then start matched betting.
**Conclusion**
Hopefully, I’ve shown just how flexible this work-from-home side hustle, matched betting, can be. At the very least, it can be attempted any hour of the day, 24/7, and some aspects of it can be combined with other tasks. Any questions, please ask. You can start matched betting this weekend and make up to £40 with a free trial from the matched betting service Outplayed.