Mug Betting Tips: The Definitive Guide to Mug Betting 2024

Mug betting tips

If you’ve heard of being gubbed, chances are that you’ll probably want a way to avoid that happening. Well, this is possible by utilising our expert mug betting tips.

Gubbings often hit when you are least expecting it and if it does happen then you’ll be banned from partaking in promotions offered by a bookmaker.

Alas, all of your dreams and aspirations of being a profitable bettor have gone up in flames.

That’s just how the chips fall sometimes, right? Wrong.

You don’t have to fall victim to the wrath of the bookmaker.

There are a few crucial steps that can be taken to avoid this undesirable outcome.

What is this magical solution that I am referring to?

That would be mug betting.

What is mug betting anyway? And how can it help you?

We’re glad that you asked.

Mug betting is a technique employed by matched bettors to keep their accounts open:

Essentially, it is the process of making yourself look like a regular ‘mug’ punter.

In this guide, we reveal all of our advanced mug betting tips.

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Does Mug Betting Work?

Yes.

We will of course go into more detail, but the simple answer is that. It absolutely works.

Many people debate its effectiveness, but putting it bluntly…they are wrong.

We not only have the years of experience in the industry and in keeping accounts alive, but we’ve been fortunate enough to speak to a number of bookmaker traders that have discussed their systems with us; handing us definitive knowledge on the matter.

So much account control is done via automation – meaning bots are often judging the profitability of your account.

It’s extremely easy for these bots to search for patterns in behaviour.

We will talk more about these patterns (and avoiding being detected) throughout this post.

If that information wasn’t enough, we ran our own experiment.

Stats showing the effectiveness of mug betting

Why Are Accounts Flagged?

When it comes to betting, discipline is incredibly important.

It is wise to employ the same strategy in all aspects of betting, even when it comes to matched and mug betting.

Taking the same careful approach, we’ll examine why accounts are flagged, and then we can look at ways to remedy the situation.

There are three primary reasons that an account gets flagged by a trader:

  1. You only bet on free offers and price boosts
  2. You bet on low odds with your own money, and high odds with your free bets – you’re taking too much value
  3. You’re simply winning too much, too often

There is a fourth reason too, which is a surefire way to get your account shut down in no time: arbing.

You want to make a profit, but don’t want your accounts shut, so what can you do in such a situation?

The answer is simple: make a profit whilst giving some value back to the bookies with mug betting.

It’s a win-win situation and everyone is happy in the end – especially your bank account.

How to Look Like a Mug Punter

The downfall of making a profit (and huge ones at that) is that the bookie will start taking an interest in your account, and you may soon find yourself flagged.

The best way to prevent restrictions is to use tactics that imitate the betting styles of mug punters.

Strategies such as; placing frequent bets on the same team, wagering on high popularity events, playing the casinos and placing accumulator bets are all commonly-used manoeuvers in an attempt to stay one step ahead of bookmakers.

Remember, you’re still laying all bets off, so there’s still very minimal financial risk if you don’t want there to be.

If you don’t want to find yourself on the outside looking in, we highly recommend that you use as many of these tactics as possible:

Early Days

The first few weeks of your bookie account are arguably the most important.

Once you have completed the sign-up offer, immediately trying to qualify for every promotion that a bookmaker runs is just asking for trouble.

Play it cool.

Don’t show your hand and reveal your intentions straight away.

First impressions matter in the world of betting so stay on your best behaviour while getting started on the journey with every new bookmaker account.

Make sure that when you do complete your sign-up offer, you don’t make it blatantly obvious you’re abusing it for as much profit as possible.

Complete the offer at reasonable odds, and then give some value back with at least a few mug bets before completing a reload offer.

If you win your first bet at the bookmaker, we would recommend that you try to place at least one low-value mug bet before withdrawing any money. Ideally, you’ll do 2 or 3, but if you’re starting with a low bankroll then this can make things tricky.

Many bookmakers have a simple algorithm that tracks everyone that has completed a sign-up, withdrawn and then only returned for another promotion, so it’s essential you don’t fall into this trap.

Blend In

There’s an old saying: The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.

This holds true for the world of betting as well.

You want to blend in with real mug bettors so that your account isn’t singled out and restricted.

Timing is the key to this approach – placing a huge arb 5 days before a match or race is going to make you stick out like a sore thumb.

Bookies want easy prey, not a predator on their hands.

The biggest tip we can offer is to place regular bets on markets even when there are no offers, and often when the odds aren’t a close match.

This will give the system the bookmaker’s automated impression that you are a regular punter.

Using the ‘cash out’ feature will also be a great way to make your account look muggy (because it’s such low value) although this is only worthwhile if you haven’t laid off your bet. Ensure you don’t cash out if the bet is laid off as this could land you with a mathematical or financial headache.

Casino Betting

Any sensible punter will tell you to keep away from the casinos. The house always wins and there isn’t much room for strategy.

Casinos are where bookmakers really earn their money – sportsbooks hardly earn them anything in comparison.

The bottom line is what matters in this industry, and if you’re not helping that bottom line, you will be cut.

Spend £10 or £20 every month at the casino – only on one or two bookies though, otherwise it will eat into your profits far too much.

It is almost a sure loss of a few quid, but an unrestricted account is worth far more than that.

No one likes losing money, but cheer up and think of it as an investment. Remember to not go overboard.

Accumulator Bets

Accumulator bets, also known as accas, are a favourite among bookies due to their nature of providing substantial risk.

However, not all acca bets are made equally.

For an acca bet to qualify as a mug bet, it must be placed with other non-refundable accumulator bets.

After all, you could profit from acca insurance/refunds, and that’s a no-no for a bookie’s bottom line.

Unpredictability is key: constantly mix up your stakes and the number of selections to achieve the most accurate imitation of a mug bet.

You can also look to rolling accumulators and challenge bets for a riskier, but more fun and extremely muggy betting technique.

Remember to generate your winning accas using Outplayed’s acca catcher if you want to make a profit on every single one that isn’t a mug.

Consistency vs. Inconsistency

To evade the long arm of the bookie you have to know when to be consistent, while throwing in the occasional inconsistency.

Every mug bettor has a favourite team and sport.

To give the illusion of a mug bettor, you must bet like one.

Bet on your favourite team. Bet on the big teams.

This doesn’t mean that you should avoid a great offer when it comes your way. By all means take the offer, but also remember to place some mug bets to take the heat off your trails.

Nothing makes you as inconspicuous as throwing in the occasional inconsistent bet.

This can be done by mixing up your stakes.

For every £25 promotion you enter, don’t always bet the maximum. This shows that you are betting merely to hit the bonus.

Throw in the occasional £15-20 wager, or even a £30-£50 bet if the odds match is good enough.

Sure, you will lose a bit of extra money in qualifying losses, or miss out on a bit of potential profit, but you’ll nevertheless turn in a profit whilst reducing the risk of getting your account red-flagged.

We are big advocates of taking poor odds matches when the offer is virtually risk-free.

Be Shrewd

Never underestimate your opponent, and this holds true when it comes to bookmakers and the traders that work for them as well.

They are a clever bunch who’ve encountered all of the schemes under the sun.

If you want to get the best of them, you have to step up your game – especially as matched betting becomes more and more popular.

Schoolboy tricks won’t cut it in the big leagues with large sums of money on the line.

Betting £25 on promotional offers and then betting £5 or £10 on mug bets (or even less!) will be your highway to getting flagged. Place mug bets with stakes around your normal betting patterns.

Make a concerted effort to place mug bets regularly. After all, our aim is to look as undetectable.

Random punters do bet on price boosts and promotions, so we know we can get away with doing so too.

Our goal is to fly under the radar, don’t do anything that’ll have you stick out like a sore thumb.

Conclusion

As we all know, there are no guarantees in life.

Even after following the countless tips and taking every precaution, you may still find your account restricted.

It is the game way play, and the risks we’ve chosen to accept.

However, by using the preventative measures discussed in this article, we can reduce the odds of that happening to us.

Just like all other avenues of betting, mug punting gives us the tools to best succeed and turn in a profit.

It may not always produce results in our favour, however when looking at it from a risk management viewpoint, it is well worth the effort.

Punters love living life on the edge, and it is no different when it comes to doing MBing.

Fortunately, mug betting allows for a safety net and some peace of mind.

Remember to sign up to Outplayed.com for consistent tips and the ability to make significantly more money each month. You can sign up to their free trial here.

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About the Author

This post was written by Luke Jordan. Luke founded Beating Betting at the start of 2016 and ran the site until February 2020. He is passionate about entrepreneurship, marketing and video creation.

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18 thoughts on “Mug Betting Tips: The Definitive Guide to Mug Betting 2024

  1. Keith Joy says:

    Hi
    Being a complete novice and numpty when it comes to matched betting i have found your advice to be unmeasurable.
    Many thanks
    Keith Joy

    1. Luke says:

      Glad we could be of assistance, Keith! You’ll be a pro in no time :)

  2. Alex says:

    Hi Luke,

    Some great stuff on here, most helpful for a noob like myself.

    Just a question on mug betting; do we always want them to lose, or is it just an added lucky bonus, if say our acca comes off? Or is it more about the strategies used in this article that will stop us being flagged.

    Thanks,
    Alex

    1. Luke says:

      People often think winning is the main reason for being gubbed, but it’s actually the value you take. You could place 3 arbs a brand new account with 0 of them winning, but you’d still be shut down.

      There are some bookies I’m yet to be limited by despite being thousands and thousands in profit with. Just be sensible and never take unnecessary risks.

      Good luck!

  3. Kyle says:

    Personally, I’ve found that mug betting makes no difference to whether you get restricted or not. Bookies seem to restrict punters for no logical reason nowadays, its ridiculous.

    1. Luke says:

      Most bookies can be kept in good health as long as you’re smart with mugging. Give them back plenty of value and you’ll be fine. The only logic they have is if someone is taking too much value or overly abusing offers then they get restricted – simple.

      The trick with mug betting isn’t to place a few non-offer bets – it’s to actually try to make your account look like you’re a mug and someone that is valuable to them as a customer.

  4. Martin says:

    Hello Luke,

    I find this article really interesting and helpful so thanks for it.

    My question is how much money do you think I should lose by mugging in one month? Let’s say I earn 1K this month so what would be your estimate? And really just an approximation, I really don’t need any specific figures.

    Thank you

    1. Luke says:

      Complete ball park figure would be £100-£200 but it’s really more complicated than putting an actual figure on it. If there were simple rules to follow, it would make it easier for the bookie to find you. Be creative :)

  5. Dev says:

    Great article! It’s a shame that I am too late to see it, already been banned from several bookies. Will start mug betting and hopefully the rest stays safe.

    1. Luke says:

      Never too late to learn and improve!

  6. John says:

    I think there is more to the story here…

    Let’s say two persons open up accounts with the very same bookie, and proceeds to deposit $1000 each.
    One is an arber, and the other is a punter.

    They each make 10 bets and subsequently end up losing their entire bank.
    The punter may never return, whereas the arber may make another deposit and continue to lose. Is that going to flag him?

    After all the arber has made more than 10 losing bets, which should put him squarely in the punter category….unless, the bookie is somehow able to track his activities with other bookies (google iesnare). Another thing is that I suspect that there might be collusion going on among some of the UK bookies (eg. shared database ). They appear to be competing but in reality are not (similar to illegal price fixing among companies outside of the betting industry). I say this because arbing is obviously not about making both bookies lose on the same bet. One of them always stand to grab your stake. In addition, it’s a well known fact that the regular bookies are also prone to use betting exchanges to lay off risk…

    1. Luke says:

      Good points! However, my thoughts: An arber can see the exchange price is lower than the bookie and the bookie can see that too. They don’t need to see that you’re actually laying off the bets elsewhere to know that you’re taking value. They know that you may have lost 10 bets but it’s not about that; they know you are exploiting them and that long-term you would be a winner by doing so. The 10 losing bets in this example would just be variance.

  7. Dom says:

    Hi Luke,

    Thanks for all the great info in your vids and blog! Just a quick question regarding mug betting, what do you mean by giving value? I understand that there is a difference between giving a bookie your money (through losing a bet) and giving them value but I’m not sure what that difference is.

    1. Luke says:

      If the odds on the bookmaker are 2.0 and the odds on the exchange are 1.9, you’re taking value from the bookmaker via arbing. If the odds are 2.0/2.0, you’re not really taking value, but you’re not giving them any. 2.0/2.1…I hope you can work the rest out :)

      1. Dom says:

        Thanks for the quick reply and thanks for clearing that up so well.

  8. Mike says:

    Firstly thanks for the great website, tips and advice!
    Would I be able to continue matched betting abroad in Europe if I use a British sim card, say if I were to go on holiday? If no, are there any good ways around this?

    Thanks again

  9. Pete says:

    What a great website this is.
    I’m just in the process of finding out about matched betting and reading copious amounts of literature prior to finally taking the plunge and registering with the betting sites and have happened upon this one….what a result !
    I’m slowly getting my head round the system and how it works but am slightly confused over the mug betting and this works.
    I can certainly see the benefit of appearing like a regular punter, and I’ll be willing to place a few mug bets in order to achieve this, although I was hoping you could clarify something for me. I am right in thinking that even the mug bets are laid off as well? If this is the case, am I right in thinking that any potential loss will be minimised as both outcome will be covered?
    I think I might be confusing myself.
    Any advice you are able to provide will be greatly appreciated.

    Many thanks

    1. Luke Jordan says:

      Hi Pete, yes they’re all laid off. :)

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