Half-Time Winner offers are a matched betting goldmine that you really should be taking advantage of. They’re pretty straightforward too!
In this guide I’ll explain how they work and show you the two different ways you can turn a profit.
What are Half-Time Winner offers?
Half-Time Winner offers reward you if your selected team is winning at half-time, no matter how the second half pans out.
This type of offer isn’t always available but when it is, it’s time to get to work! In June 2020, Coral launched their biggest Half-Time Winner offer to date.
If your selected Premier League team are leading at half-time but go on to draw or lose the match, Coral will pay out your potential returns as a free bet, up to a maximum of £50.
How do Half-Time Winner offers work?
This Half-Time Winner offer from Coral is very similar to an early payout offer. If your team leads at half-time, you know that whatever happens, you’re getting a payout from the bookmaker.
Unlike the bet365 and Paddy Power 2UP offers though, where they pay your bet out in cash as soon as your team goes two goals up, there’s no early payout with this Coral offer. If your team leads at half-time and doesn’t win, your bet will be settled as a loser and your potential returns are paid out in the form of a free bet.
Example
- Place a £10 pre-match single bet on Arsenal to win at odds of 3.00 (2/1).
- Arsenal lead 1-0 at half-time, but go on to lose the match 2-1.
- Your bet is settled as a loser, but Coral will credit you with a free bet to the value of your potential returns, including your stake.
- So, you would lose your £10 stake, but receive a £30 free bet.
Matched betting gives you an opportunity to take advantage and there’s no limit on how many matches you can place qualifying bets on.
As always, it’s important to read the terms of an offer before getting involved. This Coral offer applies to your first £1+ pre-match single, placed on a Premier League Match Result market from 08:00 on the day of the match.
Steps to take before the match
Step 1: Check bookmaker odds
The first step is to start looking for suitable bets.
You’ll need to look at matches that are covered by a Half-Time Winner offer. For this Coral version, that means looking at Premier League matches.
Here are the odds at Coral for a Premier League match between Burnley and Watford…
Step 2: Check the lay odds at the exchanges
It’s entirely up to you which betting exchange you use to lay your bet. You’ll need to bear in mind the respective commission rates and the lay odds available.
Here are the lay odds at Betfair for the same Premier League match between Burnley and Watford…
Step 3: Pick your team
As you can see from the odds above, both teams look like decent options. Watford are slight favourites so let’s go with them. Their back odds of 2.50 and lay odds of 2.62 are nice and close and there’s a decent chance they’ll be leading at half-time.
Step 4: Place your bets
It makes sense to stake an amount that gives you potential returns in the region of £50, as that’s the maximum free bet Coral will pay out. So, you just need to divide £50 by the back odds to work out your ideal back stake…
£50.00 (max. free bet) ÷ 2.50 (back odds) = £20.00 (stake)
Place £20.00 on Watford @ 2.50 = Potential returns of £50.00
TIP: If your ideal back stake isn’t a nice round number like £20, just round it up or down to the nearest £5. Staking nice round amounts is one of the steps you can take to avoid attracting unwanted attention to your accounts.
To work out your lay stake, you just need to enter your back stake, odds and commission into my Matched Betting Calculator…
As you can see, the calculator tells you that you should lay £19.46 against Watford.
Lay £19.46 against Watford @ 2.62 = Potential liability of £31.52
The outcomes at the bottom of the calculator above show you that if Watford don’t lead at half-time, you’ll incur a small (qualifying) loss of £1.52 no matter the final result.
Steps to take at half-time
You don’t have to follow the match if you don’t want to. You can simply let your bets run and hope that Watford lead at half-time but don’t win the match.
If you’re following the match though and see that Watford are leading at half-time, you’ll have a decision to make.
Option 1: Let your bets run
It’s great that Watford are leading at half-time, but you’re not in the money yet. If Watford go on to win the match, you’ll still incur a small loss.
As things stand, you need Watford to draw or lose the match. You would lose your £20 stake, but Coral would pay out your potential returns of £50 as a free bet. Using straightforward matched betting, you should be able to convert your free bet into 80% cash, so £40.
If you decide to let your bet run, here are your potential outcomes…
| Outcome | Coral | Betfair | Free Bet | Profit/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watford win | + £30.00 | – £31.52 | £1.52 loss | |
| Watford lose or draw | – £20.00 | + £18.48 | + £40.00 | £38.48 profit |
As you can see, if you let things run and Watford go on to win, you’ll still lose £1.52, but if Watford lose or draw, you’ll make a profit of £38.48!
Maybe you’ve watched the first half and feel Watford are leading against the run of play. If you fancy Burnley to make a comeback, you can simply let your bets run.
How likely are second half comebacks?
Comebacks in football are not a rare occurrence. After all, ‘it’s a game of two halves’. Half-time gives the losing team a chance to regroup and mount a comeback.
At the time of writing this guide in June 2020, we’re approaching week 32 of the 2019/20 Premier League season and the stats suggest this offer has a lot of potential.
Out of 307 matches so far, 54 of them have seen a team lead at half-time but fail to win the match. That’s 17.6% or roughly a 1 in 6 chance. It’s also worth noting that 14 of the 20 Premier League teams (70%) have scored more goals in the second half than the first half.
Obviously some fixtures have a greater chance of a turnaround than others, but the numbers are certainly encouraging!
Option 2: Lock in a profit
If Watford are leading at half-time, you can lock in a profit straight away or at any point during the second half. Obviously, the scoreline and resulting odds will determine how much profit you’re able to lock in.
Let’s say Watford are leading Burnley 1-0 at half-time. To lock in a profit, you need to place an additional back bet on Watford to win. I would avoid placing this at the same bookmaker as your qualifying bet as it might attract unwanted to attention to your account. Instead you can place it at the exchange or with whichever bookmaker has the best odds.
Let’s say bet365 have the best odds for Watford at 1.50 (1/2)…
To calculate your additional back stake, you just need to divide the difference between your potential loss and potential profit (as things stand) by the back odds for Watford to win…
£1.52 (potential loss) + £38.48 (potential profit) = £40.00…
…£40.00 ÷ 1.50 (back odds) = £26.67 (stake)
Place £26.67 on Watford @ 1.50 = Potential returns of £13.34
With that additional bet placed, you’ve now locked in a guaranteed profit as follows…
| Outcome | Coral | Betfair | bet365 | Free Bet | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watford win | + £30.00 | – £31.52 | + £13.34 | £11.82 | |
| Watford lose or draw | – £20.00 | + £18.48 | – £26.67 | + £40.00 | £11.81 |
So, no matter the outcome, you would make a minimum profit of £11.81 on this match!
Final words
You’ll make a small loss more often than not, but when your selected team leads at half-time, there are some very decent profits to be made.
The great thing with these Half-Time Winner offers is that you don’t need a full turnaround. If your team is leading by just one goal, there’s every chance they will get pegged back.
Give them a go, keep your qualifying losses to a minimum and enjoy the profits!
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Matt Kirman – Matched Betting Blogger
Since 2014, I’ve blogged over £85,000 worth of profit, and made it my mission to make matched betting accessible to everyone.