We often take for granted how easy matched betting is to do in the UK. We just open our smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop and within a few clicks we can be completing offers for easy profits. But what about matched betting abroad? What changes when you leave the country either permanently or on holiday, can you simply just carry on as you were?
Well the answer is no, not quite. You will need to invest in something called a VPN which will redirect your web location back to the UK. But it’s a fairly simple process. What about people that live abroad or that aren’t from countries that don’t allow online gambling? What can you do in that situation?
We’ll get to the bottom of all those questions and more in this article. Let’s start with the simplest scenario. A UK resident temporarily or permanently leaving the country wishing to carry on their match betting (or advantage playing for that matter) activities.
Matched Betting Abroad as a UK Resident
So you decided you want to spend some time away from our Great British Isles and seek the sun in a country where it’s much more likely to be seen! This is a fairly simple process as you already have all of your accounts set up with the necessary documentation (e.g. UK bank address, bank account, telephone number etc.) so all you need to do is look like you are logging in from the UK.
For this you will need to invest in something called a VPN. It’s a pretty simple piece of software that reroutes your connection (IP address) to a server of your choosing. Of course wherever you have travelled to you will want to redirect to a UK IP address so that you satisfy their requirements to only operate within the United Kingdom.
If you try and access your accounts without an account you will get stopped immediately by their IP-detecting software and you’ll be greeted with a message along the lines of “we’ve detected you are in a different country outside of our gambling operating license, please wait until you return to the UK to place a bet” or something to that effect.
One thing to make a note of is cheap/free VPNs as they use huge shared servers to generate their IP addresses. Which means all it would take is someone else using that same IP address for their activity at the same bookmaker and you’ll get dinged for breaking their terms and conditions of having one IP per account. Worst case scenario is you will have your account closed and funds seized for possible multi-accounting. So make sure to invest!
In terms of the best VPNs there are literally thousands of viable providers, truth be told they are all pretty similar, I swear half of them are the same company with different brand names.
Anyway the service I have used with no issues in the past is NordVPN.
You can see what their latest offers are here.
Matched Betting for Those Living Permanently Abroad
For those of you living aboard permanently or residents of countries that allow online gambling (such as many European countries) you have some options. Many of the British gambling operations have European entities or licenses so you can place bets with European IDs, addresses, telephone numbers and bank accounts.
However, for those companies that don’t, you are going to need a way of registering a UK ID, address, bank account and telephone number. The address and telephone can probably be achieved if you are clever but a bank account is nigh on impossible to achieve unless you meet the strict anti-fraud criteria of high street and even challenger banks, plus you will need a bona fide UK ID (Passport/Driving Licence).
So unless you can enlist the help of a British friend you are going to have to just make do with the accounts available to you in Europe, Asia or wherever you may hail from.
Matched Betting from the USA?
What about countries where gambling online is completely outlawed like America? Well if you have the question about whether you could start matched betting in America not even two years ago it would have been a flat no. Unless you could satisfy the conditions laid out above about having British ID, address, bank account, telephone number etc.
However, the situation in America (and other countries) is now evolving, some states have now allowed sportsbook gambling in casinos to take place. This followed a Supreme Court ruling that allows individual states whether to accept sportsbook gambling or not.
William Hill is leading the charge by merging with El Dorado Resorts, followed by GVC holdings (who own Ladbrokes and Coral) tying up a lucrative deal with the MGM group. Analysts predict sportsbook gambling will be legal in 32 US states within 5 years. So if you are American and reading this, it’s time to saddle up and get ready!
Of course initially, you will probably be limited to in-person arbitrage betting opportunities between different bookies/casinos. But as restrictions on casino-based sports gambling are lifted, it’s only a matter of time before online gambling is allowed too. Which is great news for the advantage players of you out there, as casinos will start applying for online licenses!
Once that happens, you are almost good to go on full blown matched betting and advantage play.
What is still unclear, however, is how exchanges will be allowed to operate and in what fashion. Once this has been defined, and a precedent has been set, you will then know what opportunities are available to you. Betfair is already present online in New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada, with limitations on betting markets (horse racing). So hopefully they end up getting the same wide range of markets online as they do in Europe and manage to get nationwide coverage.
It will be interesting to see how it all develops, as potentially there could be several US-based start-up challenger sportsbook firms that us in the UK could potentially use and abuse via VPNs whilst the market is still in its early stages.
We will have to just wait and see.
Conclusion
So overall, if you are a UK resident going abroad for a while, just invest in a decent VPN and you should to fine to carry on your activities as normal, and maybe even earn enough to get in a few rounds of holiday drinks!
If you are in a country that allows gambling but doesn’t have the widest selection of bookmakers/casinos you will have to either make do, or work out a way to get the necessary documentation to set up a UK account, and again use the VPN to mask your location.
Finally, if you are American, pay attention to what your state is saying about sports gambling, are they relaxing the rules? If so, what are they saying about possible future online gambling? Whilst you may be a few years off making good money from matched betting and advantage play, it may not be long before you too can reap the rewards.
If you found this article useful you may find the following interesting reads:
2up: the best matched betting offer around?