Bet Builder Offers

Bet Builders are more popular now than ever before and feature in a growing number of matched betting reload offers. At a glance, Bet Builder offers might seem tricky, but they’re pretty straightforward.

In this guide, I’ll explain what a Bet Builder is, how they work and show you how to take advantage and bag those profits.

What is a Bet Builder?

A Bet Builder is a bet that combines multiple markets within the same event, usually a football match. For example, ‘Man Utd to win, over 3.5 cards and over 10.5 corners’.

Bet Builders are simply accumulators within a single match rather than covering multiple games. Like any accumulator type bet, they’re popular with regular punters. With the high-profit margins, bookmakers can easily cover the cost of offering Bet Builder promotions.

How does a Bet Builder offer work?

There are two types of Bet Builder; ‘Pre-Built’ and ‘Build Your Own’.

Pre-built Bet Builder offers require you to choose from a selection of bets that the bookmaker has already built. When clicking around different bookmaker sites, you may have seen such markets, like Betfred’s PickYourPunt or Paddy Power’s #WhatOddsPaddy.

Pre-built bets tend to be difficult to lay, if not impossible. The bookmakers don’t want you laying against them at a betting exchange, so they’re selective with their chosen markets.

Fortunately for us matched bettors, most Bet Builder offers require you to build your own bet. Having control of the selections means you can build a bet that you can lay at a betting exchange.

Bet Builder market names

Bet Builder markets work the same across all bookmakers; you make your selections, build your bet and place it. Most bookmakers, including bet365, Betfair and Paddy Power, simply call such markets ‘Bet Builder‘, whilst others prefer to put their own spin on it.

• Betfred – Pick Your Punt Builder
• Bwin – Build A Bet
• Coral – Build Your Bet
• Sky Bet – Request A Bet
• William Hill – Build #YourOdds

Bet Builder offer types

Most Bet Builder offers require you to place a Bet Builder as your qualifying bet. What happens after that point can vary between bookmakers. Here are some examples.

Place a £5 Bet Builder and get…

…a £5 free bet to use on any sports market
…a £5 free Bet Builder bet
…your money back as a free bet if it loses

Your approach may vary depending on the offer, but more on that in a moment.

Profiting from Bet Builder offers

Let’s look at a Bet Builder offer run by Betfred.

Betfred

You must always read the terms and conditions thoroughly before getting involved. Here are the main points to note for this Betfred offer.

• The offer applies to PickYourPunt Builder bets placed on Chelsea v Liverpool.
• Minimum stake of £5.
• Minimum odds of 4.00 (3/1).
• Betfred will give you a £5 free bet if your bet loses.

So, there’s nothing too troublesome about this offer. Place an eligible bet on Chelsea v Liverpool, and if your bet loses, Betfred will give you a £5 free bet.

There are two methods to choose from when dealing with Bet Builders, and that applies to both qualifying bets and free bets. Let’s take a look at those now.

Lay your Bet Builder bet

The first method is laying your qualifying bet like any other matched betting offer. Laying your bet enables you to minimise your qualifying loss. If your bet goes on to lose, you’ll make a nice profit from the free bet.

Bet Builder offers typically require your qualifying bets to contain two or three selections. Betfred haven’t specified a minimum number of selections for their offer, so long as the bet is placed via their PickYourPunt Builder market and meets the minimum odds requirement of 4.00 (3/1).

So, you’re looking for markets that you can combine at Betfred and lay as a single bet at one of the betting exchanges. Let’s take a look at your options.

Option 1:

Build your back bet using the following two selections.

• Chelsea to win
• Both teams to score – Yes

Betfair and Smarkets both have ‘Match odds and both teams to score‘ markets. You can match your bet by laying ‘Chelsea/Yes‘.

Betfair

Smarkets

Option 2:

Build your back bet using the following two selections.

• Chelsea to win
• Over 2.5 goals

Betfair and Smarkets both have ‘Match odds and over/under‘ markets. You can match your bet by laying ‘Chelsea/Over 2.5 Goals‘.

Betfair

Smarkets

Option 3:

Build your back bet using the following two selections.

• Draw
• Both teams to score – No

You can match your bet at the exchanges by laying ‘0-0‘ in the ‘Correct Score‘ market.

Betfair

Option 4:

Build your back bet using the following three selections.

• Draw
• Both teams to score – Yes
• Under 2.5 goals

You can match your bet at the exchanges by laying ‘1-1‘ in the ‘Correct Score‘ market.

Betfair

Option 5:

Build your back bet using the following three selections.

• Chelsea to win
• Both teams to score – No
• Under 1.5 goals

You can match your bet at the exchanges by laying ‘1-0‘ in the ‘Correct Score‘ market.

Betfair

Option 6:

Build your back bet using the following three selections.

• Liverpool to win
• Both teams to score – Yes
• Under 3.5 goals

You can match your bet at the exchanges by laying ‘1-2‘ in the ‘Correct Score‘ market.

Betfair

Summary

Here’s a table with all six options for quick reference.

Remember, if you have a free bet to use on a Bet Builder market, you can use any of the combinations above to convert your free bet into cash.

Advantage play

Laying your Bet Builder bets is great for locking in fixed profits, but they’re often relatively small. If you’re looking for bigger potential profits, you do have another option.

Instead of laying your bets, you can treat each offer as ‘advantage play’ and let your back bets run.

For the Betfred offer above, you know that if your £5 qualifying bet loses, Betfred will give you a £5 free bet. You can convert any free bet into 80% cash, so in this case, £4. That means the most you can lose on this offer is £1 and you could make a tidy profit.

The great thing about this approach is that you don’t need to worry about building a layable bet as you’ve no interest in laying it. You can include whichever and however many selections you like.

Let’s say you look at the selections available for Chelsea v Liverpool and decide to place your £5 qualifying bet on the following bet at odds of 5.00 (4/1).

• Chelsea to win
• Both teams to score – Yes
• Lukaku to score

If Chelsea win, both teams score and Lukaku gets on the scoresheet, you’ll make a profit of £20 on this Betfred offer. Any other outcome and you’re £1 down.

Risking £1 to make a potential profit of £20 means you would only need to win 1 in every 21 bets to break even. Given that you placed your bet at odds of just 5.00 (4/1), you can see the value in taking this approach.

Final words

Laying your bets is the way to go if you’re keen to minimise your qualifying losses and make fixed profits. Be careful not to keep betting on similar outcomes, though, as it may draw unwanted attention to your accounts.

My personal preference is advantage play as it’s easier and more profitable long term. It’s also better for your account health as you can combine markets that are popular with regular punters and not available to lay at the exchanges.

Whether you choose to lay your bets or not, there’s no right or wrong way; there are pros and cons to each approach. Decide on a strategy, stick with it and enjoy the profits!

Learn matched betting the free, easy way.

The Matched Betting Academy

• Logically structured to tackle strategies and offers as you’re ready for them.
• Bag profits every step of the way. About £600 from welcome offers, and another £500 monthly.
• Make £15 from your very first offer.

Get Started