How to make £1000 a month from football betting & horse racing systems

My site is full of betting system tests showing you how to make money from gambling, with my main focus usually on the horses, but also occasionally on football betting.  However, before you read them, do read the following guide on how to make £1000 a month from betting systems.    This basically summarizes how I do it.   Do the same, and you’ll find it jus’ ain’t that hard to make money on betting.

Betting Principles

• Always use a betting bank containing money you can afford to lose.    Everybody says it but that doesn’t mean it ain’t true.

• The best way to do this is to build up a bank with the bookies’ money before you start betting regularly.   Do this via exploiting bookies’ bonuses.   And without a doubt, the very easiest way is to use Mike Cruickshank’s Bonus Bagging service, as it really is, “monkey see, monkey do”.

• When you build your bank, you will inevitably open lots of bookmaker accounts. Save the logon and password details in a spreadsheet, and add a column to record your balance, so you don’t forget what’s where.

• Having lots of bookie accounts is good as it means you can spread bets around and not have your accounts limited by your favourite bookies when you have a lucky run.    You also need accounts with Betfair, and with Betdaq (but only for when Betfair is down).

• Once you start betting, avoid system hopping. You know the thing: you buy all the latest whizz-bang football betting systems, then when they stop working for a few weeks, you get despondent so you rush out and buy the latest horse racing system. Then when that doesn’t work….. repeat ad infinitum! This is just a way of making the systems providers rich at your expense!

• Instead, select your favourite systems and master them. Start with small stakes (sorry, but paper trading doesn’t work for me as it’s not real enough to teach you about your emotions).

• A typical back bet on a new system should be no more than 1% of your betting bank.   Even 0.5% at the very beginning.

• Keep records of your bets so you can review what’s working – and more importantly, what isn’t.

• Keep records of your positions with each bookmaker. If you are doing particularly well with your favourite bookie, don’t be afraid to set up an arbitrage bet to lose on purpose – i.e. bet on a long shot at the bookie, and lay it off at Betfair.  Losing a little money on the trade may be worth it to keep the bookie sweet. However, if you are spreading bets around lots of bookies, this should not be a problem for a very long time.

Which systems should I use?

• There is no one killer system. You should have a “portfolio” of systems that work for you, and aim to keep them all going in parallel. I work with up to five. This smooths out the effect of the ‘failing current favourite system’, and stops you system hopping as above.

• For instance, at time of writing, the Legendary Daily Bet Banker system is falling below the high standards it has set in the past. If this were your only or main system, you might be tempted to chuck it in and buy a new one – but don’t! Instead, ensure that no more than a quarter of your betting is being invested in a single system. This way, you will achieve a more consistent, though less spectacular, level of performance.

• Having said all that, I know from personal experience that you can make a lot of money from sports arbitrage. Bonus Bagging is a wonderful introduction to the subject, but I also use a range of arbitrage techniques, including my own enhanced arb system.

• The trick with arbitrage is not to be greedy. Lock in small, regular profits and you will make a lot of money. You only need to make £35 a day to hit the £1000 mark.

• Simple arbs can be found at Oddschecker.com, by comparing the bookies’ odds with Betfair and Betdaq.   But you should aim to be imaginative with your arbs.  For example, I find tennis presents lots of unexpected opportunities: e.g. “Murray not to win a set” on one market, with “Nadal to win 3-0” in another market, being the kind of thing I mean.  Also, bookies constantly run offers: e.g. Bet365 offer free bets all year round on televised races, which are easy to cash in on Betfair.   (See also an extract from my guide on Enhanced Sports Arbitrage which deals with some of the challenges associated with traditional sports arbitrage).

• If you know anything about football, then it would seem sensible to try betting on it.    The oldest online betting system going is the ‘Lay the Draw’ approach.   I will return to it in more detail at a later date, but for now, the basic principle of laying the draw between two evenly matched sides that each have a record of leaking goals, then trading out when a goal is scored, remains sound.    The biggest problem is goalless matches; my preferred solution being to wait till half-time before you place the lay bet (which you obviously only do on matches that still remain level).   This drastically reduces the lay odds (and therefore your liability), and allows you to forget about expensive trading out solutions (as you’re not losing as much if there are no more goals).  Trust me, it may sound risky but late goals can make you a fortune!   And running multiple matches in parallel on a Saturday afternoon can be both fun and rewarding.

• Carry out a weekly review of progress. As your bank grows, you can increase your stakes (so if you’re working on a 1% staking plan, then each week, you recalculate your base stake against your enlarged bank).

• Never chase losses or use stake recovery plans. They are a recipe for disaster, and often a scam.

• Sign up to the Racing Post website.    Their paid service is excellent, and even the free one gives you a heap of information (though, quaintly, they only show fractional odds!)

• Finally, although I’ve said not to system hop, do be open-minded.    Good new systems come along all the time.   Just make sure you only test with trivial stakes for at least a month or two.

Follow my rules and you will soon be on your way to making £1000 a month from betting.

Let me have any questions or feedback below, or by writing to lucylastik@laybackandgetrich.com.

Love ya

Lucy xx