Matched betting
Matched betting pairs a bookmaker back bet with an exchange lay on the same outcome, so the result is covered either way and free bets carry little risk.
The routine has two steps. First a qualifying bet is backed at the bookmaker and laid on an exchange, which costs a little whatever the result. That cost is the qualifying loss. Then the free bet it earned is backed and laid the same way, and because the free bet's own stake is not at risk, a share of its size is kept whichever side wins.
Two formulas cover both steps. For the qualifying bet, lay stake = back stake × back odds ÷ (lay odds − commission). For a free bet whose stake is not returned, lay stake = free bet stake × (back odds − 1) ÷ (lay odds − commission). Commission is the reader's own exchange rate.
Take 2% commission (use your own rate). Backing 10 units at 2.6 and laying at 2.66 costs 0.35 units. The 10-unit free bet it earns, stake not returned, backed at 6.0 and laid at 6.2, keeps 7.93 units. The two steps together end 7.58 units up, before any price move or mistake.
Matched betting reduces risk and never removes it. Prices can move between the back bet and the lay, a lay can match only in part, a stake can be typed wrong, and a bookmaker can void a bet under its own rules. Offers vary by bookmaker and carry their own terms, and a bookmaker can restrict or withdraw them on an individual account. Whether a given person can claim an offer is the bookmaker's decision.
In the OddsRelay feed
Each offer family has its own feed type in OddsRelay. Qualifying bets and free bets on match markets come from standard, racing offers from each-way, extra-place and bog, football's early-payout offer from 2up, and back-only cover from dutching. On every feed type but dutching, each outcome's lay side arrives already paired, lowest price first, with lay[].available showing the money behind each price.
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