Matched betting glossary
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A plain A to Z of the words you will meet while learning matched betting. Definitions are short and practical. For the process itself, start with the beginner guide or the first-offer walkthrough. For the maths, use the calculator.
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Accumulator
An accumulator (or “acca”) combines two or more selections into one bet. Every leg must win for the bet to pay. Accumulators are usually a poor fit for matched betting. Laying each leg separately is awkward, and promotion terms often exclude them from qualifying.
Back
A back bet is a bet that a selection will happen. It is the ordinary bet you place at a bookmaker. In matched betting you back at the bookmaker and lay the same selection on an exchange, so the two sides largely cancel out.
Bankroll
The money you set aside for matched betting. It includes your stakes at bookmakers and the cash held on the exchange to cover liability. Treat it as gambling money and only use money you can afford to lose.
Betting exchange
A betting exchange matches people who want to back a selection with people who want to lay it. A bookmaker builds a margin into every price. An exchange usually takes commission on net winnings instead. See also liquidity.
Bookmaker
A bookmaker (or “bookie”) offers fixed odds and takes the other side of your bet. Matched betting uses bookmaker promotions, with opposing bets placed on an exchange.
Commission
The percentage an exchange charges on your net winnings in a market. Commission reduces what you keep when a lay wins, so include it in every lay-stake calculation. Illustrative examples on this site use 2%. Always enter the rate shown on your own account in the calculator.
Decimal odds
Odds written as a single number (for example 2.00 or 5.50) that already includes the stake. A £10 back at 2.00 returns £20, including your stake, if it wins. Set your bookmaker account to show decimal odds so they compare cleanly with exchange prices.
Each-way
An each-way bet is two bets in one: a win bet and a place bet at a fraction of the win odds. Place terms vary by sport and event. Many free-bet offers do not accept each-way bets as qualifying bets, so check the terms before you place one.
Work a cash each-way stake in the each-way calculator. Free-bet each-way is not included there. See also SNR vs SR and lay liability.
Exchange
Short for betting exchange.
Free bet
A promotional bet that a bookmaker adds to your account, usually after you place a qualifying bet. Whether the stake comes back when it wins changes the maths. See SNR and SR, and the longer guide on SNR vs SR.
Gubbing
Informal term for account restrictions. A bookmaker may limit your stakes, stop sending you offers or restrict promotions under its terms. Heavy or purely bonus-led betting can make this more likely. It is the bookmaker’s own decision to limit an account.
Hedge
To hedge is to place an opposing bet that reduces how much you stand to lose on one outcome. A lay on the exchange is the usual hedge in matched betting.
In-play
Betting while an event is underway. Prices move quickly, so lays are more likely to end up part-matched. Beginners usually stick to pre-event markets, where there is more time to match both sides.
Lay
A lay bet is a bet that a selection will not happen. On an exchange you act as the bookmaker for that selection: if it wins, you pay out. That payout is your liability. See lay liability.
Lay stake
The stake you offer on the exchange when you lay. It is worked out from the back stake (or free-bet value), the back odds, the lay odds and the commission. Normal cash bets and SNR free bets use different formulas. The calculator switches between them.
Liability
What you lose on the exchange if the selection you laid wins: lay stake × (lay odds − 1). The exchange only accepts the lay if your account has enough available cash to cover it. Free bets at higher odds often need far more exchange cash than their face value. Full explainer: lay liability.
Liquidity
How much money is available on the exchange at a given price. When liquidity is thin (little money available), your lay may only be part-matched, or you may have to accept worse odds to get fully matched.
Matched betting
A technique that pairs a bookmaker back bet with an opposing exchange lay, usually around a promotion, so that the two results largely offset each other. It still involves real bets, real money and real risks. Odds can move, mistakes cost cash and accounts can be restricted. Start with the beginner guide.
Minimum odds
The lowest odds at which a qualifying bet or free bet still counts for an offer. Bet below that figure and you may not get the reward, even after taking a qualifying loss.
Odds movement
A change in price between placing your back and placing your lay. If no lay has matched yet, put the new odds into the calculator and use the stake it gives for the whole bet. If some of the lay has already matched, that figure is not an extra stake on top of the matched part. See part-matched. Large moves leave a bigger gap between the two sides.
Overlay
Laying a higher stake than the balanced figure for the whole bet, so you are over-exposed if the selection wins. This is usually a mistake. It is not how you top up a part-matched lay: the ordinary calculator’s full-bet stake is not an extra amount to add. Compare underlay.
Part-matched
When only some of your lay stake is matched on the exchange. You can cancel the unmatched remainder. That does not remove the stake already matched, which stays on at the price it matched at. The calculator works out one lay for the whole back bet. It cannot take an already-matched stake and an old price, so its figure is not the extra lay to place on top. Account for the matched part with a partial-match method that uses that stake and price, or accept that you are only partly covered. Match Sterling does not calculate the residual stake, and a later lay may not match.
Qualifying bet
The normal cash bet (or set of bets) you must place to unlock a free bet or other reward. You usually lay it on the exchange so that, win or lose, you take only a small qualifying loss.
Qualifying loss
The small net cost of a matched qualifying bet. It is the usual price of unlocking a free bet when the back and lay odds are close. In this site’s illustrative £10 example at 2.00 / 2.04 with 2% commission, the qualifying loss is about £0.30.
Rating
How much of a free bet’s face value you keep after matching it, often shown as a percentage. Rating depends on the odds you choose, the gap between the back and lay odds, commission and whether the free bet is SNR or SR. It is an estimate for a fully matched lay, not a promise.
Retention
Another word for rating: the share of a free bet’s face value left after the matched lay.
Rollover
A requirement to stake winnings or bonus funds a set number of times before you can withdraw. Some “free bet” or deposit offers carry rollover rules. Read them carefully, because any turnover you do not lay off on an exchange is ordinary gambling risk.
Settlement
How an operator decides the result of a bet (winner, void, dead heat and so on). Bookmakers and exchanges can apply slightly different rules. Matched betting assumes both sides settle the same way. If they do not, your result changes.
SNR (stake not returned)
A free bet that pays only the winnings if it wins, not the stake. SNR is the more usual type. The lay stake is smaller than for a normal bet: free bet × (back odds − 1) ÷ (lay odds − commission). See SNR vs SR.
SR (stake returned)
A free bet that pays the winnings and returns the stake if it wins, so the maths works more like a normal back bet. SR free bets usually retain a higher share of face value than SNR, but SNR is the more usual type. Check the offer wording and use the SR setting on the calculator.
Stake
The amount of money you put on a bet. For a free bet, “stake” usually means the face value of the free bet, even though you are not risking your own cash at the bookmaker.
Tick
The smallest price step on an exchange’s price ladder (the list of available odds). If the price moves one tick against you between back and lay, your lay stake changes and the qualifying loss can grow.
Underlay
Laying a lower stake than the balanced figure, so you are under-covered if the selection loses (and your back bet loses with it). This often happens after a part-matched lay. Topping up is not the same as laying the calculator’s full-bet stake again. Compare overlay.
Unmatched
A lay (or back) on the exchange that nobody has taken yet. An unmatched lay does not cover your bookmaker bet. If none of it has matched, you can cancel it and recalculate one lay for the whole bet. If some has matched, cancelling the rest does not remove that matched part. See part-matched.
Void
A bet that is cancelled and settled at odds of 1.00, which usually returns the stake. If one side voids and the other does not, a matched position can turn into an ordinary win or loss. Read both operators’ void rules for the market you use.
FAQs
Why do some free bets need a different lay stake?
Because SNR free bets do not return the stake when they win, the bookmaker pays out less than on a normal bet at the same odds. So the lay must be smaller to keep both outcomes close. Use the free-bet setting on the calculator, not the cash setting.
What is the difference between liability and lay stake?
The lay stake is the amount you offer on the exchange. Liability is what you lose if that selection wins: lay stake × (lay odds − 1). Higher lay odds mean higher liability for the same lay stake.
Does matched betting remove gambling risk?
No. You are still placing bets with gambling operators. When both sides are fully matched and settle the same way, matching makes your result depend less on the match result. But odds can move, lays can be part-matched, mistakes cost money and bookmakers can restrict accounts. See the beginner guide for a fuller list of risks.
Where should I start if these terms are new?
Read the first-offer walkthrough, practise the numbers in the calculator, then return here when a word is unclear. Keep stakes small until the process feels routine.
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