Risk is inherently unavoidable when gambling on sports in 2025. So much guesswork and chance, in addition to actual skill, is involved. Sure things almost don’t exist. For those who like to minimize, if eliminate their risk for single wagers at a time, there is matched betting.
Though a lot goes into this technique, matched betting is, in short, the process of covering both sides of a wager by using free bets, bonuses, or promotional credit from a sportsbook. By staking promotional funds on carefully selected outcomes, you minimize your own risk and increase the likelihood of turning the bonus into real profit.
This is just one of many approaches that will pop up in beginner’s and expert’s betting guides. Is it the best strategy? One of the best strategies? We’ll let you decide.
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How Matched Betting Works
The best way to understand how to match betting works is to visualize it. We will get into the minutiae of this process soon enough, but right now, it’s time to layout a hypothetical situation.
Let’s say you’ve just joined a new sportsbook that offers a 100 percent deposit match on your first transaction. You take advantage of this promotion by putting $100 into your account, for a grand total of $200. Afterward, you then decide to peruse the odds on upcoming NFL fixtures and find yourself intrigued by the following point spread: New York Giants (+6.5) vs. Dallas Cowboys (-6.5).
Normally, you would choose one side—say the Giants or the Cowboys—and wait to see if your pick pays off. With matched betting, however, you stake both sides of the spread. In this example, that means placing a bet on the Giants at +6.5 and on the Cowboys at −6.5.
It might feel counterintuitive at first, but the logic holds. To keep the math simple, let’s assume you split your $200 bankroll evenly, wagering $100 on each team.
Point spreads usually pay out -110, so your winning wager will net you a total payout of $190—your initial $100 bet, plus the $90 profit. Viewed in traditional terms, you will have just turned $200 into $190. But because you used $100 in promotional money to bankroll this wager, you’ve actually made $90.
Potential issues and hiccups abound here. Chief among them is that many sportsbooks restrict you from placing bets on both sides of the same line in a single slip. Others may flag or limit accounts if they detect patterns of bonus abuse. The practical workaround is to place separate tickets or use different markets across sportsbooks. At any rate, we’ve compiled a list of the best online sportsbooks where you can explore matched betting strategies.
Matched Betting Tips
What wager types are best for matched betting?
The implementation of matched betting is most effective when you're dealing with two outcomes that have similar odds. You're trying to make sure you turn a small profit, and playing both sides of the fence at +250 and -250 opens the door for you to come out of a loser.
This is why point spreads and over/under are ideal for matched betting. Both sides of those wagers usually return -110, so you don't have to worry about one line severely underperforming relative to the other.
This calls for extra caution when applying matched betting to moneylines. For example, imagine the Raiders are priced at −300 and the Rams at +350. Placing $100 on each side might look like you’re covering the outcome, but in practice it doesn’t fit the principles of matched betting.
Sure, the wager will pan out if the Rams win and you're turning a $200 total investment into a $450 payout ($350 profit on the moneyline plus your $100 bet). But you're plum out of luck if the game unfolds in the other direction. Your $100 bet on the Raiders would only net you a $33.34 profit if they win. Even if you're playing with partially free money, turning $200 into $133.34 is hardly a win.
Hunting around for more tightly contested moneylines should be the goal. They don't have to perfectly align as each other's opposites, as it is for point spreads and the over/under, but they need to at least be within the vicinity of one another. You don't really want to go above a -200 for a favorite and some will even drop that to -150.
In general, matched betting works best when odds on both sides are relatively close together. For example, if an underdog is priced at +350, the favorite will usually sit around −250 or shorter, which makes it harder to balance your stakes. Instead, many matched bettors aim for tighter markets where both sides are in a similar range—often around −150 or better. That’s why point spreads, totals (over/under), and Asian handicaps are so popular for this approach: their payout structures are designed to keep both sides competitively priced.
Something else to bear in mind: Matched betting is exclusively for wagers with only two possible outcomes. It should not be used for futures, in which you're wagering against fields that include entire divisions, conferences, or leagues. The same goes for certain prop bets that aren't yes-or-no questions and instead have you choose a specific player from a laundry list of them.
Should you use software for matched betting?
Matched betting isn’t always easy to calculate on the fly. You need to know exactly how much to stake on each side for the bet to be worthwhile, and you have to keep track of multiple scenarios—something that quickly gets complicated if you’re juggling more than one game.
That’s why many bettors turn to matched betting software. Free online odds calculators can help with the basics, but paid tools go further: they flag the best games and lines for matched betting, run real-time calculations across a large volume of wagers, and show you precisely how much to risk on each side to keep your bets as close to risk-free as possible.
Casual bettors don’t necessarily need these tools (free or otherwise)—they can still dabble in matched betting by focusing on straightforward markets like point spreads, totals (over/under), or other two-outcome wagers. More advanced software is typically used by dedicated bettors who want to scale up, place a high volume of matched bets, or work with more complex moneyline markets.
Be Wary of Promotional Rollovers
Perhaps the biggest drawback to matched betting is the promotional rollovers sportsbook customers are subject to. These can be lengthy, and they take a lot of the air out of the thrill associated with this gambling approach.
Complicated still, rollovers are often listed in the fine print, so you have to really look for them in many instances. You also have to understand the concept of a rollover.
Let's assume you just set up a new account with a major online sportsbook. Their first-time deposit match bonus has awarded you an extra $100. That money isn't simply yours to withdraw. It will be subject to a rollover, which reflects how many times you must bet that bonus cash before it's actually yours to keep.
In this case, your $100 in free money might be attached to a 10-time rollover. This means you would need to wager a total of $1,000 before those funds become eligible for withdrawal. Theoretically, then, placing just one matched bet won’t clear the requirement. While rollover terms vary by sportsbook, most promotions include them—commonly ranging between 5× and 20×. A few operators in less regulated markets may set higher requirements, but it’s increasingly rare to see extreme figures.
Unfortunately, there aren't any loopholes for this issue. The closest you'll come is when a sportsbook doesn't differentiate between bonus money and your first deposit.
For example, let's say you have $200 in your account—$100 of your own money and a $100 promotion. If your sportsbook allows you to bet on both sides of the same point spread in the same ticket, the losing side may automatically be applied to the bonus money, in which case that's how you turn a profit. But if they separate your promotional funds from your own cash, you'll have to specifically choose where to allocate it, which will then allow your sportsbook to track its and hold you to their rollover terms.
This isn't the end of the world. It's an obstacle, but not a huge one. Each bet will at least count toward one of the rollover tallies, and this strategy does increase the likelihood you extend the shelf life of your bonus cash rather than losing it all in one shot.
The important thing to remember is that matched bets need to always be done with some promotional money. Using your own defeats the purposes of investing in both possible outcomes. You will always come out with a net loss unless you're gambling on starkly uneven lines and wind up hitting on the more lucrative one.
