What Are Bet Refunds?

Bet refunds are one of the most popular and profitable types of bookmaker promotions — and they’re perfect for matched betting.

A bet refund is an offer where the bookmaker promises to refund your stake (often as a free bet or bonus) if a certain condition is met, such as a team drawing, a horse finishing second, or a player scoring a hat-trick.

Here’s how it works in practice:

Let’s say a bookmaker runs an offer like:
“Money back as a free bet if your horse finishes 2nd to the favourite.”

You place a qualifying back bet on a horse (using your bookmaker account), and you lay the same horse on the betting exchange to cancel out any risk.

If your horse finishes second to the favourite, the bookmaker will refund your stake — usually in the form of a free bet token.

This is where matched betting becomes profitable.

Because the free bet has real cash value, you can convert it into risk-free profit using the same matched betting method: back the selection with the bookmaker using your free bet, and lay it again on the exchange.

Refund offers are often triggered by specific match conditions like:

First Goalscorer bets refunded if the player scores second
Accas refunded if one leg loses
Football match refunds if the game ends in a draw
At Oddsmart, we highlight the best refund opportunities daily. Our software shows you which bets qualify, calculates the optimal lay stakes, and helps you track your refunds and profits.

In summary, bet refunds reduce your risk and increase your long-term profits — and when used with matched betting, they can become a regular and reliable source of income.
Oddsmart has designed our Bet Refund Matcher to support our members maximise their profits from Bet Refunds.

We provide our members with customer support by email, and we also have these useful resources:
You may also find these tutorials useful:
To signup as a new member for your 7-day free trial – please register here.

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