Christmas is only one pay day away (eek!) and that means that there is now a limited amount of money available to spend on gifts, socialising and travel around the holiday season. If you’re worried about how to make more money before Christmas- time is limited. But there is something you can do- I’m going to let you in on the secret to make money fast, that you can put into practice over the next two months.

That secret is matched betting.

Matched betting is something that I started in July, as a means to make money fast before going on holiday in September. Within two months, I had made a profit of £400, after spending roughly 3 hours on this side hustle each week. Matched betting gave me a huge return on my time- something that was really important with my busy work and freelancing schedule. It’s definitely something I will return to when I need to make money fast for a holiday or unexpected expense.

You could definitely earn more money than this if you had more time to invest in matched betting, I simply didn’t have the hours to devote to it, but some have earned up to £1000 per month JUST from matched betting!

When I first heard about matched betting, I thought it sounded risky, too good to be true, and quite frankly, something that I would never be able to get my head around. I have found out that the truth is far from this, and luckily I needn’t have worried about the technicalities of matched betting as it was easy to pick up with some practice.

So without further ado, let me tell you how you can get started with matched betting, and how you could make hundreds of pounds before Christmas.

Where do I start?

I started matched betting using a website called Profit Accumulator– I couldn’t have got started with matched betting without them! Profit Accumulator is a website that gives you all the materials that you need to succeed with matched betting, including step by step videos to show you the exact process of how matched betting works.

I knew absolutely nothing about betting or sports when I started matched betting, and it’s probably the main reason that I didn’t get started with it sooner. Matched betting definitely seems a little daunting at first, which is why Profit Accumulator is such a great tool- you can go onto their website and watch the video guides which explain all of the terminology, what matched betting is and use their helpful matched betting calculators.

Profit Accumulator offer a free trial where you can test the waters and earn up to £45, from then on, the monthly membership is £24.99. You will have already made the money for the first month’s membership once you complete the free trial! If you try matched betting and love it, the yearly membership is £180.

How does it work?

Matched betting works on the concept that you bet on both outcomes of a real sports match or race. For example, if there was a football match and Liverpool were playing, you would place a bet for Liverpool to win AND place what is called a ‘lay bet’ for Liverpool to not win (i.e for Liverpool to lose or draw).

To make your side hustle money, you might sign up to a betting site such as Coral, who might be offering an introductory offer of a £20 free bet. This is credited after you have placed your first qualifying bet of £20. For example, to start with, you will use £20 of your own money to place your bet on Liverpool to win the football match.

Then, you will go to a betting exchange such as Smarkets or Betfair to place the lay bet (Liverpool NOT to win the football match) also using your own money, this means that you will win on one site and lose on another. This balances out- you haven’t lost any money, but you haven’t gained any money. You will start to make money when you have your free bet credited, with Coral for example, and then repeat the process.

Profit Accumulator helps facilitate this process by giving you an extensive list of available offers (e.g. sign up offers with betting sites). In addition, the site also provides you with a list of the best bets available at the given time to maximise your profits. It also has a handy calculator to show you how much you need to ‘back’, and how much you need to ‘lay’ on the exchanges.

Since you always bet on both odds, matched betting is completely risk free, which means that as long as you follow the instructions from Profit Accumulator carefully, you will never lose money.

Is it legal?

Matched betting is completely legal, and since income is classified as gambling winnings (even though you never actually gamble with your money), it is also tax free.

Is it too good to be true?

No! Matched betting is not too good to be true. Whenever I mention matched betting to friends and family, I am usually met with raised eyebrows and mutterings of ‘if it was really that good, then everyone would be doing it’ and ‘sounds dodgy to me,’ all of which couldn’t be more wrong. From my own experience, people have said that they are often put off by the link to “gambling” and a perceived risk involved- luckily for us, we know that’s not the case.

If you’d like to give it a try, sign up to Profit Accumulator and start hustling hundreds of pounds today!

And remember, you don’t need a ton of money to have a wonderful Christmas- you can still afford Christmas, even when you’re skint.

And if matched betting isn’t for you? You could look out for Christmas temp jobs in your local area.