Updated: 24.06.2025
It goes without saying that every single punter is looking to make money. While there’s no such thing as a certainty in betting, as in life, arbing betting is about as close as it gets. Carried out correctly, it can guarantee you profits regardless of the actual outcome of a betting event.
In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about arbing. We’ll explain exactly what it is, how you can do it for yourself, and tell you some of the very best arbitrage betting sites out there right now.
Regularly observed in financial settings, arbitrage in stock markets occurs when an investor buys an asset in one market and simultaneously sells it in another market at a higher price. The buying and selling prices are computed in such a way to ensure the investor a profit. Efficient strategies often lead to success.
In the sphere of arbing, referring to arbitrage betting – which has adopted this idea – a bettor places a stake on either side of the same market. The bettor is assured a return if the odds on the back bet exceed the odds given on the lay bet. Careful analysis of the market can enhance outcomes.
When looking to participate in arbing, select your arbitrage betting sites with care. Ideally, although you can make the back bet with a bookmaker, you should place the lay bet with a betting exchange. This is essential, let it assist you in obtaining the precise odds you require. Such attention to detail improves overall profit margins.
In arbitrage sports betting, you place bets on both outcomes in a two-outcome market and are guaranteed to win one of your bets. Here’s a quick-and-easy example to show you exactly how it works.
For instance, in a match between Manchester United and Leeds United, you may fancy Man U to score a hatful of goals, and therefore place a back bet on the Over 2.5 Goals market. You can then place another bet (with a betting exchange such as Betfair) against that same market. Let’s assume that you placed the back bet of £10 at odds of 6/5, and a lay bet of £11 at odds of evens. If Manchester United do score 3 or more goals, and your back bet wins, you get a £22 return. Your actual profit can be calculated as £22 (winnings) – £10 (sportsbook stake) – £11 (exchange stake) = £1. In the second scenario, Manchester United score 2 goals or fewer, and you get returns of £22 when your lay bet wins. You can calculate your profit as £22 – £10 – £11 = £1 (minus the commission paid to the betting exchange).
As you can see, you make a small profit here regardless of the outcome. Do remember though, that betting exchanges will charge commissions of between 2% and 5% on most successful wagers, and you must factor this into your calculations.
Not every sportsbook will be suitable for arbitrage betting. These are the best bookies for arbing in the UK, which will indeed allow you to carry out the strategy successfully.
Established in 2000, Betfair started off as a betting exchange, and later expanded to also become a sportsbook operator licensed by UKGC and MGA. It has since grown to become the world’s biggest betting exchange, and Betfair further enhanced its traditional bookmaking services when it merged with Paddy Power in 2016. Betfair is an arbing-friendly outfit, with hundreds of racing and football options offered daily. Live Streaming and high betting limits also make for a superlative betting experience.
A relatively recent entrant into the betting industry, Smarkets is a UK-based betting exchange and bookmaker established in 2008. It has quickly earned a reputation for being a reliable and trustworthy platform, though.
If you are looking for an arbitrage betting site, then Smarkets is a top-notch option. It has even given the market leader Betfair a run for its money as a betting exchange, with its lower commission rate of 2%. Apart from a variety of sports, Smarkets also offers betting opportunities in politics and other diverse areas. Elsewhere, Smarkets is generally known to be very punter-friendly with a minimum deposit limit of £10, excellent odds, and fast withdrawal processing.
Founded in 2004 and licensed by the UKGC, Matchbook is an arbing-friendly sportsbook that also features a betting exchange, which truly helps it to stand out from traditional bookies. Matchbook does not actually have the most extensive sportsbook, with its horse racing betting section – for example – being limited to races in Ireland and England. There is a free bet welcome offer worth £15 though, and with a low commission rate of 1% – Matchbook compares favourably with bigger betting exchanges such as Betdaq, Smarkets and Betfair.
Headquartered in Gibraltar, Betdaq was founded in 2000 and is the world’s second-largest betting exchange, with a commission rate of 2% that compares very favourably with the 5% rate at Betfair. Betdaq offers free bet bonus offers, and has no maximum limits on bets. For these reasons and more, fans of arbing betting will love Betdaq; a site owned and operated by a company that is publicly traded on the LSE.
As you can see from our example above, successful arbing will guarantee you at least some profit. One of the biggest challenges of executing this strategy is actually finding the arbing opportunities, and these are the three main ways in which you can do so.
Manual
Though it may involve a lot of work, making it a less popular option, you can find arb betting opportunities manually (in other words, by doing your own research). While this method may lead to lower profits, we do recommend that – at least in the early stages – you try to manually identify arbing opportunities.
This can be a great part of your ‘training’ in arb sports betting. Manually hunting for arbing opportunities will allow you to get a good understanding of how betting sites work, and how to spot a good opportunity. Best of all, since you won’t technically know about any opportunities you’re missing out on, you won’t feel under pressure to hurry into any wagers.
Arbing Software
After you have sufficiently understood the arbing betting process through manually hunting arbing opportunities, you can try using software to detect them instead.
There are many free tools out there, as well as paid software, that you can use for comparing the odds for various sports events offered by numerous betting exchanges and bookmakers. These will alert you about potential arbing opportunities, and many tools also calculate the maximum possible profit percentage, and how long you have to place the wager before the opportunity slips away.
Social Media
The final way to get help in your arbing sports betting activity is by becoming a member of one of many arbing forums or message boards, where you can get tips from other prospective arbers. Belonging to such platforms will also open the opportunity to join an arbing team, in which all members benefit from the collective effort of hunting arbing opportunities, and even from the availability of additional funds and numerous betting accounts of the various members.
Arbitrage sports betting has become increasingly popular among punters for a few key reasons. Below, we have collected a few of this strategy’s most attractive features.
Arbing – by its very nature – is almost entirely risk-free. There are still a couple of disadvantages to this strategy though, which you should be aware of before getting involved.
Arbing can be done on most sports, but some are definitely more suitable than others. These are some of the best markets to target as you get started in arbitrage betting.
Which are the better arbitrage betting sites – bookmakers or betting exchanges? More and more arb betting enthusiasts are heading to betting exchanges as a viable alternative to bookmakers, as betting exchanges offer better (or, at least, more flexible) odds than bookmakers. This is because betting exchanges, unlike bookmakers, do not depend on betting odds for their income. They simply match backers with layers, or – in other words – those who bet on odds with those who offer the odds.
Betting exchanges earn revenue by charging a commission, typically ranging from 2-5%, on top of any profits their users make. By contrast, bookmakers factor their profit margins into the odds they offer customers, which effectively means the odds offered by a bookie do not reflect the true probability of an event.
Higher odds are a clear advantage bettors enjoy at a betting exchange. They must also contend with a few disadvantages, however.
The bettor at a betting exchange can guarantee earnings by trading the market (in other words, laying a bet when the price is shorter than when the punter backed the bet, or vice versa). However, the amount you can stake on a bet at a betting exchange depends on how liquid the market is. You cannot expect to earn a bigger return than the amount any other punter is willing to risk paying out. So, you may have to reconcile yourself to earning less, unless you are ready to wait for somebody else to offer the same wager (at similar odds).
Arbing might sound fairly straightforward, but there are definitely still measures you can take to improve your chances. These are our top tips for improving your arbing betting experience, and earning bigger profits:
As we have shown, arb betting guarantees profits regardless of the outcome of betting events. While the margins are low, arb betting – when done correctly – can fetch steady returns over a long period of time. It calls for great concentration and patience, but will eventually deliver profits.
You can begin your arbing adventure by manually identifying opportunities, then graduate to using software tools as you learn more. An important first step is to identify the best bookies for arbing, and you will also find that betting exchanges are very useful indeed in this strategy. Arb betting does carry its own risks – as noted earlier – but, when done correctly, it can be a fun and lucrative strategy.
No. Arbitrage betting is not illegal, even though bookmakers are against it and will restrict your account (or even shut it down) if they suspect arbing activity. One of the best proofs that arbing is not illegal is in the existence of numerous pieces of software devised to help arbitrage betting. Such tools would not exist publicly if arbing was considered illegal.
The very best bookmakers for arbitrage betting are betting exchanges who also offer a sportsbook section. These include Betfair, Betdaq, Smarkets, and Matchbook.
Not only do betting exchanges allow arbing, but they actually encourage it, as arbing activity improves the liquidity of their platform. Bookmakers frown on arbing activity though, as arbers who back good-value odds seek to reverse bookies’ strategies of laying poor-value prices.
Arbing is possible whenever and wherever betting happens. Betting odds are dynamic, and constantly moving. Even as bookmakers seek to move odds in unison, there will invariably be some bookmakers who lag and do not change the odds as quickly as others, thus creating arbing opportunities for gamblers to exploit.
