Betfred Free Bet cashed in

Yesterday seen more profits as I cashed in Betfred's £50 Free Bet offer to earn another £43.53 for the kitty. This latest 'earner' takes the total amount of risk free money earned up to £341.18.

I placed my qualifying bet over a week ago on an Italian league match, then yesterday I decided that the Championship Play-Off final between West Ham and Blackpool represented a good opportunity to cash in the free bet - depending on how things went in the first half hour.

The reason why it depended on the first 30 minutes was because I expected goals, but didn't want any before Over 2.5 goals reached 2/1. Sure enough there was no early goals and I got my £50 matched on Over 2.5 goals just before Carlton Cole (I know, Carlton Cole scored!) opened the scoring towards the end of the 1st half.

I then waited until half time hoping for a quick West Ham second (they missed an absolute sitter) or an instant response from Blackpool, and when it didn't come, I layed Over 2.5 goals on Betfair as soon as the half time whistle went to ensure a tidy profit.

Much to my annoyance Blackpool equalised about 2 minutes into the 2nd half, but I imagine that if I didn't trade out at a certain point (ie half time) I would probably end up letting the bet run and potentially end up not winning anything.

Looking at this over the long term taking a guaranteed profit is probably going to serve me better, for this reason I'm not going to kick myself, even though I did expect goals in this game and the free bet would have won had I let it run.

I lost £54.16 laying the bet on Betfair and my qualifying bet also cost me £2.31, in total a loss of £56.47. Taking this amount away from my £100 free bet winnings from Betfred left me with a nice profit of £43.53, a return of 87p in the £1 (£43.53 return from £50 free bet).

In the long run I would be more than happy to get over 80p to the £1 on every free bet offer available, but given there was an element of risk used in the tactic of needing a goal (with my free bet) I know this is probably going to be a tall ask in the long run (at a minimum yesterday I would have layed the £2.31 at some point ensuring a scratch trade at least).

For any readers who want to cash in on these free bets, just remember when placing your bets you will always need to lay your bets with a betting exchange - Betdaq or Betfair.

There are free bets available with all the bookmakers listed in the column on the right hand side of this website. These can be used to bet free with by customers opening new accounts.