Still not sure exactly how rollover bonuses work in practice?
Don’t worry, you are not alone, as this is the most frequent question we get from new matched bettors.
Here at DoppelWetten, we LOVE new customer deposit offers (and reload deposit bonuses), because they can be extremely lucrative and are straightforward to complete.
A common worry is that if your back bets keep winning, you will need to deposit more and more money into your betting exchange while you are going through the wagering requirement. It is important to bear the following in mind:
1It is very unlikely that ALL of your back bets win, and none of your lay bets.
2You are basically just shifting money between the bookmaker and your betting exchange until you have placed enough bets for the wagering requirement or until all your money is in your betting exchange. If all of your money ends up in your bookmaker account, you will be able to withdraw all of it at the end of the wagering process, and equally your betting exchange balance if you don’t need it anymore (we recommend to keep a balance in your betting exchange for the next offer though).
With each bet, your money either goes into your bookmaker account or into your betting exchange account. This is because in Matched Betting, we always place two bets, which effectively mirror each other, or cancel each other out.
Therefore, when going through a rollover bonus offer, you will only ever have your qualifying loss from each bet, and at the end of the wagering requirement, all your money will still be either in the bookmaker account, in your betting exchange, or distributed over both.
Most bookmaker sign-up offers will match your first deposit up to €100. That means that you will get a €100 bonus when you deposit €100 into your bookmaker account.
However, this money cannot be withdrawn until you have completed the wagering requirement. The aim of Matched Betting is to complete the wagering requirement by betting on all outcomes of a football game. By doing so, you will lose a small amount of money from each bet. However, you will complete the wagering requirement before you have lost the €100 bonus.
Let’s assume you have to wager the bonus 6 times (6 x €100 = €600), at minimum odds of 1,80. Let’s also assume that this is your first new customer offer, and apart from the €100 you deposited with your first bookmaker, you also put €200 into your betting exchange account.
There are two possible scenarios:
Example 1 – “Reaching €0 in the bookmaker account before completing the wagering requirement”
100% deposit bonus up to €100. Total wagering requirement €600.
For this example, we made a deposit of €100 to get the full bonus of €100. Hence, we have €200 in the bookmaker account and need to wager €600 to complete the wagering requirement and turn the bonus into withdrawable cash.
| Game | Bet | Bet stake | Bookmaker bet won or lost | Qualifying loss | Total profit |
| Sign up bonus | €100 | ||||
| Liverpool v Manchester United | Draw | €50 | Loss | €-4,93 | €95,07 |
| Augsburg v Leverkusen | Augsburg | €50 | Loss | €-6,50 | €88,57 |
| Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg | Wolfsburg | €50 | Loss | €-3,60 | €84,97 |
| Bayern Munich v Hamburg | Draw | €50 | Loss | €-4,67 | €80,30 |
| Total Profit | €200 | €-19,70 | €80,30 |
As shown, all of the back bets (bookmaker bets) “lost”, which means we would have no more money left in the bookmaker account. As a result, there is no more wagering requirement to complete. The profit of €80,30 is in the betting exchange account.
This is the ideal scenario when doing sign-up offers.
Please note: In our sign-up guides, you will read that we generally recommend placing both deposit and bonus as one single bet. If that bet loses, all your money will be in your betting exchange, and you won’t have to do any more wagering, just as in the above example.
However, this requires a larger balance in your betting exchange, and your potential liability in your betting exchange also depends on the odds for your chosen game. Some people choose higher odds for their first bet, to make it more likely that it will lose, and in that case, you will need a higher balance in your betting exchange to start with, as in the following example:
Example 2 – Completing the wagering requirement
100% deposit bonus up to €100. Total wagering requirement €600.
For this example, we made a deposit of €100 to get the full bonus of €100. Hence, we have €200 in the bookmaker account and need to wager €600 to complete the wagering requirement and turn the bonus into withdrawable cash.
For simplicity I have not included any winnings from the bets.
| Game | Bet | Bet stake | Bookmaker bet won or lost | Qualifying loss | Total profit |
| Sign up bonus | €100 | ||||
| Liverpool v Manchester United | Draw | €50 | Loss | €-4,93 | €95,07 |
| Augsburg v Leverkusen | Augsburg | €50 | Won | €-6,5 | €88,57 |
| Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg | Wolfsburg | €50 | Loss | €-3,6 | €84,97 |
| Bayern Munich v Hamburg | Draw | €50 | Won | €-4,67 | €80,3 |
| Chelsea v Southampton | Southampton | €50 | Loss | €-4,17 | €76,13 |
| Barcelona v Real Madrid | Draw | €50 | Loss | €-3,65 | €72,48 |
| Schalke v Hertha Berlin | Hertha Berlin | €50 | Won | €-4,02 | €68,46 |
| Stuttgart v Hanover 96 | Draw | €50 | Loss | €-2,54 | €65,92 |
| FC Burnley v Leicester City | Burnley | €50 | Won | €-5,40 | €60,52 |
| Swansea v Everton | Swansea | €50 | Won | €-3,13 | €57,39 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt v 1. FC Köln | 1. FC Köln | €50 | Loss | €-1,25 | €56,14 |
| Crystal Palace v Brighton | Draw | €50 | Won | €-1,98 | €54,16 |
| Total Profit | €600 | €-45,84 | €54,16 |
As shown in the table above, you will have made a profit of €54,16 once the wagering requirement is completed and you can withdraw your money.
However, if you choose to place a single bet of €200 initially, at the minimum odds of 1,80, and assuming that first bet wins, you will have €342 in your bookmaker account, and your betting exchange balance will be down to around €40, depending on the lay odds and your liability from this first bet.
You will probably need to top up your betting exchange balance, unless you choose to place a bet of only €50 next, in the hope that it will lose and your balance in your betting exchange will increase.
Let’s assume you place another bet of €200, having increased the money in your betting exchange account (by how much depends on the odds you choose, and we suggest you try different matches and look at your liability in the calculations).
If that second bet loses, you will only have €142 left to place, and that shouldn’t be a problem with your now increased betting exchange balance.
So your next bet might be for the whole €142 you have left. Now you could try higher odds again (see if you have enough funds available in your betting exchange for the liability indicated in the Oddsmatcher calculator).
If that bet loses, you will have no money left in your Bookmaker X account.
If it wins again, you will just have to place more bets and keep topping up your betting exchange balance.
It is difficult to say how the process might develop, as the money needed for the liability depends on the respective odds, and what happens with each individual bet. Remember, even if a couple of your bets win during the process, you might not have to do the full wagering, if all the subsequent bets lose.
Check the terms of the offer for how much time you have to wager through the required amount. How long the process takes depends on how quickly you want to place the bets, how many events are going on at the time and the availability of good ‘matches’. If you always place €200 bets, you will need to place three of them, and even if the terms of the offer state 30 days, that should be plenty of time.
Some Useful Tips
1It is definitely worth having or building up a bigger ‘bankroll’, to avoid having to constantly deposit into your betting exchange. I always have around €1,000 in my betting exchange account now, and that is sufficient to enable me to go through two new customer offers at the same time.
2I usually choose higher odds for my first bet (requiring about €500 in your betting exchange, as per the above example), to increase the chances that my first bet will lose.
3Use underlaying. You will need a slightly lower amount in your betting exchange, and your bonus will still be intact if your first bet wins.
4If you don’t have sufficient funds yet, only deposit a smaller amount and slowly build up your bankroll. Even in the unlikely event that all of your back bets win, you will not need such a big balance in your betting exchange, because your wagering requirement will be lower. You could also place smaller bets to complete the wagering requirement to start with, as in the examples.
5Try and find good ‘matches’, to keep your qualifying loss per bet to a minimum. If you can’t find any good matches (at least 95% or 96%), wait until later or another day.
For the latest offers, visit the Forum.
