A Guide to Rollovers, Playthroughs, Wagering etc

  • I’ve decided to write this guide with a view to linking back to it when forum members ask about how to do the various rollover offers available, as they seem to be the offer that trips people up the most these days. Anything I’ve overlooked please chip in.

    There are three rules for doing a rollover offer:

    1. Make absolutely sure you have read the T+Cs and know what is expected of you do successfully complete the offer.
    2. Make absolutely sure you have enough money to carry out ALL of the wagering you need to do to complete the offer. This means having enough money to cover EVERY SINGLE BET you have to make in the worst case scenario of every bet winning.
    3. Do not fall into the trap of believing that high odds do not win. They do, and you will suffer if your 10/1 no-hoper causes an upset.
    (4. The unwritten rule, don’t do winner! Unless you have unlimited cash and know how to do Accas)

    I’ll explain how to do the rollover offer with Bet365 as an example because its the easiest to do and therefore easiest to explain but the theory is the same with most rollover offers, minimum odds and timescales are usually the only difference. However please make sure you stick to rule No.1 and read the T+Cs. Its been ages since I did a sign up and the rules could well have changed. Do your own research, after all its your money, not mine!

    The T+Cs here are relatively straightforward, the ones we are interested in are:

    1.Make a qualifying deposit of £10 or more to qualify for a 100% matched amount as a bonus to bet with. Your qualifying deposit is your largest deposit (capped at £200) placed in the 7 days prior to you entering your Offer Code

    4.You must have settled bets to the value of three times your qualifying deposit (capped at £200) and bonus before making a withdrawal (subject to conditions 12 to 15 below).

    5.If the turnover requirements for this offer have not been met within 90 days of you entering your Offer Code any funds held in your bonus balance will be forfeited.

    9. If a withdrawal or transfer out is actioned:
    a) before you enter your Offer Code then any previous deposits will not count towards the initial qualifying criteria; or

    b) after you enter your Offer Code but before you complete the turnover requirements then any funds in your bonus balance will be forfeited and the offer will no longer be available to you.

    12.Any single bets placed at odds of less than 1/2 (1.50) will not count towards any turnover requirement. In multiple bets at least one selection must have odds of 1/2 (1.50) or greater to count towards any turnover requirement.

    13.Only bets placed on the first selection in any market/fixture combination, both pre-match and In-Play, will count towards any turnover requirements. Any subsequent bets placed on other selections in the same market/fixture combination will not count towards the turnover requirements. This term is applied in conjunction with the other restrictions. As an example, once you have qualified, a bet on Man Utd to beat Chelsea on the Full Time Result market at odds of 1/2 (1.50) or greater will count towards the turnover requirements, however a subsequent bet placed on Chelsea on the Full Time Result market in the same game either pre-match or In-Play will not count towards the turnover requirements. Where your first bet on any market/fixture combination is less than 1/2 (1.50), this bet and any subsequent bets on this market/fixture combination will not count towards any turnover requirements.

    I’ll explain these one at a time:

    1 Tells us what to actually do to get the bonus.

    4 This is the important one. It tells us that we need to rollover our deposit and bonus 3 times in order to withdraw and therefore complete the wagering requirements.

    In this case we can work out that the rollover required is deposit (£200) + bonus (£200) times 3.
    £200 + £200 x 3 = £1200. so we need AT LEAST £1200 in our exchange to complete this offer. (this is on top of the £200 we have put in the bookie) personally I’d have a couple of hundred more just in case.

    5 Tells us how long we’ve got to do the offer before they cancel it.

    9 The warning that we will lose our bonus if we try to withdraw before completing wagering requirements. Bear in mind that you won’t just lose the bonus, but all the money that you used to cover the bet from your exchange as well.

    12 This tells us the minimum odds we need to bet at to complete wagering. Usually a bookie will let you bet at lower odds but it won’t count towards wagering.

    13 Tells us that only the first bet on any market will count towards wagering (note, a “market” in this case means Team A v Team B OR correct score OR HT/FT etc. so you can bet on say team A to win, 2-1, and Team A/Team A in the same match and be ok. What they mean is you can’t bet on Team A and then lump on another bet on Team A as the second bet won’t count towards rollover.)

    With all that in mind we can make our first bet. Bet365 adds the bonus funds to your balance but doesn’t let you bet with them until your first bet has settled if I remember right, so the qualifying bet is just a straight-forward matched bet at 1.5 or above. Whether this wins or loses makes no difference to how to proceed, as you have ensured you have enough money to cover you as per Rule No.2 haven’t you?

    Your balance is now composed of the bonus and any winnings you have from the first bet. This is treated in exactly the same way as the first qualifying bet. This is because Bet365 expect you to rollover your balance 3 times instead of taking the stake money away from the freebet the way other bookies do.
    Almost all bookies either do Stake Not Returned (SNR) freebet style bonuses OR Stake Returned (SR) rollover type bonuses. The only exception I know of is BetVictor, who combine the two. In their case, a freebet appears on the betslip to tick, so we would use this bet as an SNR and then rollover the winnings at the minimum odds required.
    There are other types where the bookie will drip feed you bonuses as you bet, Unibet I think do this where they will have a bonus of say £90 and will give you it in 3x£30 steps. Again you would just keep betting at minimum odds until you get through. If all your bets lose then you will have to deposit more to keep going. This can be a problem if you are waiting for a withdrawal from the exchange to recycle into the bookie and you have a limited time to do it in, so probably best if you can cover the deposits without having to wait, but don’t depost the whole amount because if your first bet wins its quite likely you will now have enough to finish off.

    A quick rant on high odds.

    Its a particular bugbear of mine and has been the ruin of many a young padawan. HIGH ODDS DO WIN! Stop thinking that they will lose and your exchange will fill up with lovely cash. High odds are winning all over the place. There would be no gambling, no sport even, if the underdog didn’t win sometimes, what would be the point in competing if the big boys always thrashed everyone. Ask any England fan what they thought about the odds when they ran up against the mighty Iceland! Or what Leicester City thought about their chances of winning the premiership. Or even Donald Trump or Brexit.
    There is a more serious point with regards to matched betting, in that if you bet at high odds when attempting a rollover and it wins, you are very much worse off for two reasons. Firstly, the difference between the bookies odds and the exchange odds will usually be more, meaning a higher qualifying loss, and secondly you will have much more money sitting in your bookie that you can’t get at. Imagine a bet of £100 @ 1.6. if it wins you now have £160 in your account. You are £60 worse off than you started but you have done £100 of wagering and your exchange is still healthy because you followed rule No.2. Now imagine a bet of £100 @ 8. all of a sudden you have £800 in your bookie, £700 worse off! And you’ve still only done £100 of wagering! AND it now means you will have to do ALL of the rollover because even if all your subsequent bets lose you still have all the money needed to do the rollover in the account! AND you will lose more money trying to find good odds matches because you’ve got to get this damn money out somehow. AND you will now have to revert to lower odds to do the rest of the rollover anyway because your exchange has had a coronary! All the time there’s a small balance there’s a chance you could bust out without having to roll it all. After all, for every high odds win, there’s a low odds loss.

    Common Questions

    Q. Do I have to deposit more to complete rollover if I lost both bets?
    A. No, if the bets lose and your account is empty, you’ve been lucky and the offer is over.

    Q. What happens if I win the qualifying bet but lose the bonus part?
    A. Depends on the bookie, some (like 365) only apply the rollover to the bonus, other apply it to all the balance (and BetVictor apply a Stake Not Returned element as well!)

    Q. How much should I bet? £200 or 4 x £50?
    A. Depends again on the bookie and what the T+Cs say, but its also personal choice. There is a fear factor involved when you first start out so its human nature to not want to bet huge amounts of money even though the outcome will be the same. After a while you become acclimatised to it and don’t think twice about slapping £1000 on a horse, you just see the £3.59p profit it makes you! Lol You also need to make sure there is enough liquidity at the exchange for what you want to bet on, but it shouldn’t be a problem with big league football

    Q. I’ve accidentally done the Winner sign up, am I fucked?
    A. yup

    I hope this helps and good luck!

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    FoG_BLoG 47

    This is a must read for everyone before they start matched betting.

    Well done deathstar!

    +1
    Tony 12

    Nicely done mate, hopefully it will help some folk avoid the perils of these kind of offers.

    I think it might need an extra bit about what to do when you HAVEN’T read this guide and find yourself fooked. That content for that could be lifted from one of the (many!) such threads that get posted here weekly.


    @matt
    This should be made a sticky mate 😉

    +0
    deathstar 25

    Thanks lads, if it means we can get all the info in one place it’ll be a good place to point newbies to. I’m hoping as the thread grows more and more strategies will be brought forward.

    I did think about adding some ideas for when things go wrong, but there isn’t really any standard way of doing things because every situation and bookie is different. Other than people jumping in without a big enough float, the main problem seem to be the ridiculous terms bookies like winner require you to meet, like betting on multiples etc.
    I get the feeling I should have added RealDealBet to the avoid list along with winner.

    Broadly, the two options are really just plod on matching at minimum odds and hope your exchange can handle it, or punt through with lots of little bets @ evens and hope you’re lucky enough to come out without losing too much.

    Another way could be to dutch with another bookie, but that assumes you have the cash in the first place and could make things worse with money spread across several books. On the plus side, you won’t need anywhere near as much money as you would to cover the liability on the exchange. Also be aware that dutching has different calculations so don’t try using a Mbing calc.
    hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/stupid-mistake-on-betsafe-and-superlenny-offers/

    If you need to bet on an Acca and don’t know how, one way to do it would be to look at the ready made ones that betfair put up on matchdays. The odds will probably be extremely unfavourable, but its an option.

    I should have put a bit in about underlaying, so to save me from another long-winded explanation here’s a thread https://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/i-dont-understand-overlaying-and-underlaying/

    Some useful threads (you need to copy and paste these into your browser and replace xx with tt because these would redirect straight to the bookie otherwise) :

    General hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/rollover-requirements-all-help-appreciated/#.WCqVEGd7671
    hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/is-it-worth-going-for-the-bigger-sign-up-offers/

    Bet365 hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/betfair-withdrawing-money/page/3/#.WCq6Vmd77IV (this has an alternative theory of doing the 365 offer posted by Patrick.)
    hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/newbie-bet365/
    hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/bet365s-on-the-move-bonus/
    hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/need-informations-about-bet365-new-customer-possible-profit/
    hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/b365-250-bonus/
    hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/bet-365-200-offer/
    hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/bet365-new-customer-offer-deposit-100-bonus/
    hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/help-profiting-from-deposit-bonus-bet365/

    RealDealBet hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/won-big-on-the-250-bonus-now-stuck-in/

    Unibet hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/a-question-about-the-unibet-sign-up-offer/

    Winner hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/winner-co-uk-help/#.WCqXyGd7671
    hxxp://matchedbettingblog.com/topic/big-pickle-winner/#.VxEBJjArLIU

    +0
    Mr Crispy 30

    Excellent post.
    Thanks for taking the time to do this Deathstar.

    +0
    BigTone123 0

    Great post. Wish I had read this last month before I started.

    I have been stuck in a promo with Bet on Brazil. I got down to last £5 of the bonus and then won 3 long shots in a row and ended up back on £350 lol

    +0
    Bazza74 5

    These rollovers with some bookies are such a no, no.

    I’ve got one with netbet. Just for a measly tenner. I have to roll over 8x (basically have to stake £80 quid in bets to get a tenner).
    Even with QF lost of only say 50p per bet = £4our quid. and then i get my tenner. Seems a lot hassle to just make £6ix quid

    +0
    deathstar 25

    I’m glad you guys like it, shame it was too late to help you.

    @BigTone123
    would you mind posting some info about Bet on Brazil, I haven’t done them yet and I think there’s a fair bit of sodding about involved?

    cheers.

    +0
    lb_lfc 0

    Great thanks, wish I had read before! I have just signed up with 188.. Bet 10 for free 30, qualifying bet I lost 60p. But free bet must be rolled over just ONCE at odds of 2.0 and above. (Doesn’t mention deposit + bonus anywhere)

    Does this mean I only have to use the free bet and a lay stake like a normal free bet? And then reap the rewards? Or do I have to deposit 30 into 188 bookie as part of this rollover? Slightly confused about the latter strategy for laying etc.

    Thanks in advance!
    Liam

    +0
    deathstar 25

    you don’t ever have to deposit more to complete rollover, if your account is empty without finishing then that’s all the better. The only time you would deposit more is if you need to make another bet to release more freebets.
    Check the T+Cs to see whether they are giving you the stake back (it usually says Stake is NOT returned or similar as one of the conditions if they are not)
    If they are not, treat the free bet as SNR (click the FREE BET section on the calculator and go with high odds) and then rollover at the minimum odds required if it wins,
    if they are giving you the stake money back (or if it doesn’t mention anything in the T+Cs) then just bet at the minimum odds required and keep going until you have finished the rollover or your account is empty.

    HTH

    +0
    sleepless 8

    Call me paranoid, but I always chuck in a few mug bets eg £1 accumulators or £2 bet below minimum qualifying odds. It probably doesn’t do any good, but you never know and it won’t do any harm.

    +0
    Previous User 0

    Hi,
    I’ve just accidentally got myself into one of those rollover situations.
    I’m now stuck with £48 in a Betsafe account and it won’t let me withdraw so I assume I have to roll it over, although the T&C’s won’t load to tell me exactly how many times.
    Do I go about this the same way as placing a qualifying match bet?
    With the aim to make the least loss possible?

    +0
    deathstar 25

    T+Cs state “Any returns from a free bet are paid exclusive of the stake.” so that implies that there is no rollover because its SNR and no mention of rollover, so I’m not sure why you can’t withdraw. it may be worth contacting them to see whats going on. it’s possible they have a minimum withdrawal amount, I can’t remember its been so long since I used them. I know pokerstars (betstars) do.

    If you do have to rollover just find some close odds at 1.8 and above and treat as a qualifying bet.

    HTH

    +0
    Previous User 0

    Thanks for your reply.
    When I opened the account I was sure it said that it was a SNR free bet, or else I wouldn’t have gone ahead with it. But now their website is saying this:
    “Before you can withdraw the money or play in other products, NET winnings (winnings minus stake) have to be wagered 1 time on odds 1.50 or higher in our Sportsbook (Pre-Match or Live), within 7 days after having been credited. Otherwise they will be forfeited. Virtual sports doesn’t wager bonus money.”
    So it looks like I’ll have to attempt to roll it over and hope I don’t mess it up!

    +0
    ReubenJB 0

    Brilliant guide deathstar but I’m very confused at just one thing. When doing this offer with a deposit of £200, should our first trade be £200 at low odds covered by smarkets, then when we get the free £200, we do the same again until we’ve bet a total of £1200? And if it loses we have to keep putting £200 in to place more bets? I’m usually good at working this sort of stuff out but this has completely fried my brain for some reason haha!

    +0
    deathstar 25

    if you bet the first £200 and that loses, you have nothing in your balance but £200 bonus to play with. if you bet that and that bet loses too, then you have no money in your account. bonus over. no need to deposit just to rollover, no-one would do that when you could just walk away so its pointless to make it a rule.
    If your bets win, then you will have to rollover, but all of this can be done at the minimum odds, and you only need to bet through until your account balance reaches zero so all the time you are betting at minimum odds there’s a chance you can bust out. also with 365 you can do other offers while you are doing it. Of course, if you do keep winning, or win a longshot, then you will have to clear the £1200 but as long as you have enough in the exchange it shouldn’t be a problem.
    There is a rollover progress screen on most bookies so you can check how you’re getting on.

    +0
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