Most of the online bookmakers are based in the UK (or at least have a UK domain name) or in Ireland. That makes the United Kingdom the ideal place for every matched bettor.
But what if you are based in another country? Can you still do matched betting? As long as online gambling is permitted in your country and bookmakers are offering bonuses you can do matched betting. But in most cases, you will not get as many offers as UK bettors get and you will not have the help of a matched betting service as those are mainly targetting the offers that are available for UK bettors.
What to check if you are doing matched betting outside the UK?
Step 1 – Is online gambling allowed in your country?
The first obvious check is to make sure that online gambling is permitted in your locale. If so then you can search for the bookmakers that are operating in your country.
Note here that each country has a different taxation policy on gambling earnings. You also need to put that into account before starting as this will have an impact on your overall winnings.
Step 2 – Which are the available bookmakers?
Now the second step is to check for the available bookmakers in your country. You can do that by reading their terms and conditions. Each bookmaker will have its own terms and conditions (T&Cs) by which customers must comply. If a bookmaker’s T&Cs state they don’t welcome customers from your country or region then you can’t use that bookmaker.
For example, Coral UK in their T&Cs state:
- You are responsible for complying with Your applicable local or national laws and will not access the Service from a country from which we have restricted access for commercial or legal reasons (“Restricted Countries“);
- The countries from which we accept business are indicated by the drop-down list available on account opening forms and can be confirmed by contacting our Customer Services team. We may amend or alter the list of countries from which we accept business. We advise that You should check the list regularly to ensure that You do not access the Service from a Restricted Country.
Many bookmakers have a UK website but are actually based abroad. For example, they have their gambling license and a small nominal office in Gibraltar or the British Virgin Islands. They also have a different local version for some countries. For example, William Hill has its own local websites for countries such as Australia and New Zealand. William Hill Australia is not available to anyone signing in from a UK, USA, Spain, or Italy IP address. There’s also William Hill Spain and Italy.
Step 3 – Are there any betting exchanges available in your country?
In most cases matched betting involves a lay bet on a betting exchange such as Betfair.
There are many countries that have banned Betfair, such as:
- France
- Belgium
- Greece
- Turkey
- Germany
- Portugal
This list is fluid so is changing all the time. Please contact Betfair directly for confirmation regards access from your own country.
If Betfair is not available in your country you can always use another exchange such as BetDaq, Smarkets, etc, or a clone of Betfair such as Orbit exchange, which is available in countries that have banned Betfair.
If not betting exchanges are available in your country you have the following solutions.
- You can dutch your bets by using two different bookmakers that are available.
- You can use a betting broker for matching your bets like Sportmarket, Asianconnect, or PremiumTradings that are available in every place of the world.
Step 4 – Are there any matched betting services targeting the bookmakers of your country?
Matched betting can be very time-consuming as you have to spend time searching for the available offers, finding the best odds, and making all the necessary calculations to take advantage of them. Also, there are many risks involved in matched betting if you do things manually.
The process is simplified a lot with the use of a matched betting service. These are specific programs that scan every day the available bookmaker offers and they are finding the best odds and ways to make the most out of them.
Unfortunately, these services are mainly targeting the UK betting market. You can use some of their features such as the calculators or the odds matcher, but they might not cover the available to you bookmakers or the offers presented may not be available in the bookmaker version of your country.
Hopefully, for some countries, there are some matched betting services that you can use. For example, Bonusbank is a solution for Australian matched bettors and DoppelWetten is suitable for the Germans.
Matched Betting Abroad as a UK Resident
If you normally live in the UK and are abroad you can use a tool like TeamViewer to access your computer in the UK remotely from abroad. TeamViewer is a great piece of free tech that allows users to operate a computer elsewhere that also has the TeamViewer software loaded onto it. It’s secure and easy to use. To use this method does take a bit of forward planning and it requires your PC to be left on in the UK.
If you don’t have access to a PC in the UK, then out can look at using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and a unique IP address in the UK. By using a VPN and a UK IP address the bookmaker’s sites (or most of them) can’t tell where in the world you are based and can let you access their UK websites.
There are also some great free VPNs available, and lots of the paid ones offer a free trial for 30-days – which should be long enough to see if you are happy with the solution. The completely free ones can be a bit slow though and may not offer as much protection as the premium ones. So it would be better if you use a paid one as the cost can be very low compared to the benefits you get.
Lots of these VPN services allow you to pretend that you are based in the UK. Make sure you select a service that offers this option. This will save you from having to also buy or borrow a UK-based IP address.
To check how your VPN is working then simply type “where am I” and it will show you exactly what the bookie sees.
Now, using a VPN is against the terms and conditions of many bookmakers so you should be aware of that before turning into that option. You will always have the risk of losing your account if they detect that you have used a VPN to access their site.
Matched Betting for Those Living Permanently Outside the UK
There is always the option to register for UK betting sites by subscribing to a UK IP address. But, I would recommend against doing this as it’s probably illegal, and if you’re found out and I doubt you’d be able to make any withdrawals. Plus most if not all bookmakers will make identity checks on you before allowing you to open an account. If you don’t have proof of living in the UK I doubt you’ll pass these identity checks.
Furthermore, new accounts often need to be opened with deposits from bank accounts or debit cards, rather than with e-wallets such as Skrill or Neteller in order to be eligible for offers. So if you do not have a UK bank account that may look suspicious to the bookmaker’s eyes.
Do remember that most UK bookmakers only offer accounts in GBP £ sterling. So you’ll need a way of converting your profits back into your local currency. You could use a service like Skrill or Neteller to deposit money into UK bookmakers in GBP and convert it back to your local currency. However, these services do charge quite a high commission for currency conversions and that can reduce your matched betting profits significantly.
So if you are not a UK resident you would better stick to your local bookmakers and not trying to open an account with the UK-based ones. You may not have as many offers as the UK-based customers but will still find many offers available to take advantage of. Also, In countries where matched betting is not so popular, those using a matched betting approach may find much better odds on events than compared to customers in the UK.
Conclusion
To summarise, yes, it’s very simple to do matched betting from outside the UK.
If you have UK-based accounts, then there are a number of options available – some free and some with an on-going monthly cost. Get a UK-based Virtual Private Network with a UK IP address and you should be fine with most bookmakers in the UK.
If you are not from the United Kingdom you will be able to do matched betting with your local bookmakers and in some cases like Australia or Germany, you can also have access to a matched betting service targeting only the bookmakers of your locale.
I’d love to hear from you if you’re based outside the UK and doing matched betting. Please leave any suggestions or advice below.