Anything to do with sports arbitrage attracts more traffic to my site than anything else, so I make no apology for pushing on with my relaunched Arb of the Week series.
Unlike last week, I am simply going to scalp a nice little bookmaker reload this time. I have no exact idea why bookies offer reloads – after all, we’ve signed up with them already so they appear to be simply giving money away for no particular reason – but hey, I’m not precious about taking it off them!
The ‘moral’ of the tale this week is to look out for offers when big race meetings are coming up. So, with the Grand National due on Saturday, Victor Chandler (sorry) BetVictor are offering a £20 reload to anyone who bets at least £20 on this afternoon’s Fox Hunters Chase at 3.40. The free bet has to be placed on the Topham Chase exactly 24 hours later (i.e. the 3.40 at Aintree on Friday, 13th).
This little two-part arb is unlikely to make me rich (In fact, I will be doing well to extract a tenner from it), but it still enables me to recover from last week’s losing start (I managed to lose £4.41 on an extravagant trade on the US Masters – but it was fun while it lasted!). And of course the secret with sports arbitrage is to go for small, regular profits in an organised way.
Today’s bets, to secure our free £20, are as follows:
BetVictor - £20 back bet on Gwanako at 4.5
Betfair – £16.51 lay bet on Gwanako at 5.5.
This should ensure we lose around £4.30 no matter what, and set us up for Part Two tomorrow.
Lx
Well, I closed down my little arb very satisfactorily, with Frankie Figg backed at 11 @ BetVictor, and layed him off for the same odds at Betfair. I staked £20 at BetVictor, and £15.24 at Betfair, to win £14.48 on the trade after commission (as Frankie came in 12th).
Allowing for yesterday’s loss, I ended up with a risk-free £10.18. Not the most exciting arb of all time, but a nice step in the right direction for my relaunched 2012 Arb of the Week service.
I still don’t understand the logic of reloads, but really don’t care.
Lx