Clearly, the only place to look for this week’s Arb of the Week item is Euro2012. All the fun and games begin today, plus we get the opening ceremony! Nothing however will compare to Diana Ross’s celebrated penalty miss. 
And of course, all the bookmakers are vying for access to your betting bank, and have therefore produced a bewildering array of special offers, in the hope you’ll go shopping with them. Many of the readers of this site will however have accounts already with a lot of bookmakers, so may be wondering what the fuss is all about… the fact is, a lot of the really substantial give-aways are for new customers only, with most of the rest being slightly gimmicky. However, there are exceptions.
My favourite ones are at Bet365 and BlueSq , who are both, in effect, offering a free £50 or so to anyone who wants to relieve them of it. I intend to follow up on both this weekend, as frankly it would be rude not to.
- Bet365 are offering a free In-Play bet on Sunday’s Spain v Italy match, provided you place a pre-match bet for the same stake on the game, up to a ceiling of £50. I will add a few notes below to explain my bets for anyone who is unfamiliar with the process. But it’s ridiculously easy, plus it should be an attractive match to watch.
- BlueSq are running a series of attractive mobile offers throughout the group stages, which you can exploit only via your iPhone, Android or tablet. Essentially, they will refund anyone up to £50 in total on the 1st goalscorer and correct score markets, if your bet loses and some other quite likely event happens.
- You have to bet before the match, and can only get £50 back in total, so you do need to plan carefully. This weekend’s offers are as below… I personally fancy the Holland and the Germany games as both van Persie and Ronaldo always seems to score.
- 8th June
- 5pm, Poland v Greece: Money back if the match is 0-0 at Half time
- 7:45pm, Russia v Czech Republic: Money back if Arshavin scores
- 9th June
- 5pm, Holland v Denmark: Money back if Van Persie scores the first goal
- 7:45pm, Germany v Portugal: Money back if Ronaldo scores the first goal
- 10th June
- 5pm Spain v Italy: Money back if Fabregas or Silva score the first goal
- 7:45pm Ireland v Croatia: Money back if Eduardo scores at any time
It will be interesting to see how much I manage to cash out from these offers, as a lot depends on the odds I manage to secure from both bookmakers. The BlueSq one actually runs right through the group stages, so if need be, there’s plenty of time to exploit it. Let me know if you get involved too.
Lxx
Well I never got round to my BlueSq bets yesterday, but I am determined to exploit their generosity today. So I have placed the following bets on today’s Spain v Italy match, which I’m hoping is going to be a tight affair.
BlueSq – Bet £50 on 0-0 result at odds of 8 (via mobile offer above)
Betfair – Lay Fabregas for £3 at odds of 15.5 to be first goalscorer
Betfair – Lay Silva for £4.35 at odds of 11.5 to be first goalscorer.
Taking into account the £50 refund if either SIlva or Fabregas scores first, and allowing for 5% Betfair commission, this creates the following possible outcomes…
- If the match ends 0-0, I win £356.98
- If the game isn’t goalless, and neither Silva nor Fabregas scores first, I lose £43.02 (i.e. effective odds on 0-0 of 9.3)
- If the game isn’t goalless, and Silva scores first, I lose £42.83 (i.e. effective odds on 0-0 of 9.34)
- If the game isn’t goalless, and Fabregas scores first, I lose £39.37 (i.e. effective odds on 0-0 of 10.07)
Thus I have secured minimum odds of 9.3 on a no-score draw, which is far better than is available anywhere in the market. Assuming there isn’t a an early goal, I should now be able to trade out in play, and bank a tidy little profit…
Everything crossed for a dull match!
Lx
Well I managed to trade out the 0-0 scoreline at 4.5 towards the end of the first half, with a lay bet of £70 at Betdaq, who are currently running a Euro2012 0% commission offer in the Correct Score market for group matches. This nicely greened up trade did come a bit early but I got nervous! Then I watched with envy as the 0-0 worked its way down to 2.7! However, two sudden second half goals reminded me that a profit is, after all, a profit… And the upshot is that I have made £26.98 on my trade without using up the BlueSq offer. Which means I can exploit it again in a subsequent group game.
It almost goes without saying that I also was able to exploit Bet365′s ridiculously generous offer. All you have to do with these is place an initial £50 back bet at Bet365 that you lay off at Betfair before the game, then place a further in-play £50 bet at bet365 (which I did in the Over 2.5 market when the score was 0-0). I was then able to lay off this second bet off after the two quick-fire goals in the second half, thereby locking in a profit of £42.50 on the trade.
All in all, £69.48 made on one football match! All very satisfying.
Lx