How To Make The Most Out Of Cheltenham Festival Offers

What Is Cheltenham Festival And How Can We Profit From It?

Cheltenham Festival is the biggest event in the Matched Betting Calendar, and is fondly dubbed “Cheltmas” due to its profitability. Many Matched Bettors take the week off work purely to take advantage of the many offers, as most make more money from the horse races that week than they would at their day job. And it’s all tax-free profit.

This Guide is aimed at helping everyone benefit, from absolute beginners through to the more advanced, with some useful tips, advice or information to help you achieve a more profitable week.

Concentrate on the Risk-Free Offers first.

There are several bookies who offer a Risk-Free bet or Cash Refund for Cheltenham. Many of these offers are for the first race of the Event, the Supreme Novice’s Hurdle, and/or for the last day’s Gold Cup.

The bookies usually offering risk-free bets are Betway, Skybet, Virgin Bet and Paddy Power, typically-

Betway Risk Free £20

Skybet- Risk Free £10

Virgin Bet Risk Free £10

Paddy Power- Risk Free £10

All three offers give you a free bet OR CASH back to the value of your stake should your horse lose. By using the “Risk-Free/ Equal Profits” Calculator on Oddsmonkey, you can guarantee a profit of £6-8 per £10 Risk Free Bet deal. If it is a cash refund, remember to adjust your calculator to SR, NOT SNR.

Betway usually offer the same deal of £20 cash refunded on the first race each day, potentially £80 in cash refunds if all lose, or possibly a HUGE win.

For beginners and/or those with a limited Bank (under £1000), back and lay the closest-matched horse as normal, using the Equal Profits Calculator to guarantee a small profit. It does not matter if you place all three bets on different horses, or the same, although backing different ones spreads your liability (see below for more info).

For the more experienced amongst you, or those of you prepared to take a little risk for HUGE profits, there is a different method. In this case, simply back three different horses in the same race at higher odds (10+ decimal, or whatever you feel is right) with the three bookies offering risk-free, and DO NOT LAY them at the Exchange, to save your Exchange cash for deals which NEED backing and Laying. You can combine this with using up any totally Free Bets that many bookies will offer, so that you cover the entire field of horses.

This is Advantage Play, as whilst your horse may not win, you stand to make far more profit if one does win (or Place, if you do an Eachway Bet). If not, you get 3 Free Bets (or cash!) back, which can be turned into £20-30, dependent on how close a match you find to use them up on, and whether you lay as Normal, or Underlay those Free Bets.

As a typical Qualifying Loss on a £10 stake for a Bet & Get may be £1-2, by not laying, and using the Free Bets as best possible, you are only risking an extra £1 or so per horse included in your Risk-Free bets.Write your text here...

Use ALL Free Bets given out

Many bookies will just give you free bets for Cheltenham, again often for the major races, but sometimes on any race. Ladbrokes, Bet365, Paddy Power and Coral are likely to do this, many more as the race days start..CHECK YOUR EMAILS AND ODDSMONKEY DAILY OFFERS PAGE EVERY MORNING.

To use them is easy. Either straight back and lay them for a guaranteed profit OR, use them alongside other offers to cover the field in a race, effectively “Dutching” the bets, in the knowledge at least ONE will win (more if you have EW winners too). Sometimes you get £1 free bets for nothing, and the time pressure to lay them is hard on busy race days. If they are Free Bets you had to do no work for, you have nothing to lose just putting them on an outsider or a horse not covered..

Use ALL “Bet and Get” Offers

Both the Betfair Sportsbook and Exchange, William Hill, Hollywood Bets (and likely more to follow) currently offer a straightforward Bet and Get deal. Some are offering deals before the event starts (see below).

Betfair is usually bet £20 on the first race of Day One, get £20 Free Bet to use that day. An easy £15-20 profit. Simply find the closest matched horse with the lowest QL, back and lay as normal, and wait for the Free Bet to make your guaranteed profit. There are likely to be several Bet & Get type offers during the four day Festival.

Current offers include-

Betfair- Bet £20 each week, get a £10 Free Bet for Day 1. SEE BELOW FOR FULL INSTRUCTIONS.

Hollywood Bets- Bet £10 on elected races, get a £5 Free Bet if it wins. SEE BELOW FOR FULL INSTRUCTIONS

Sport Nation- Bet £25 in a week on horse racing for a £5 Free Bet.

Skybet - £10 cash refund all losers Supreme Novice’s Hurdle, 15th Marchur text here...

Pre-Cheltenham Free Bets to get NOW

1. Bookmaker: Betfair Exchange OR Sportsbook

Offer: GET UP TO £30 IN FREE BETS FOR CHELTENHAM

Bet £/€20 on racing each week on the Sportsbook or Exchange. Any bets placed to reduce the liability of your qualifying bets will not count toward qualification.

Your £/€20 can be split across any number of horses. Get a £/€10 free bet each week, giving you up to £/€30 at the off on the Tuesday, to use as you want.

All bets must be placed and settled within the 7 day qualification window. i.e Monday 00:00 - Sunday 23:59.

Your Free bet will be credited to your account on the 14th March before 10am. Minimum odds of 1.5 applies to back bets placed as singles.

Qualification Periods

• Mon 21st Feb 00:00 - Sun 27th Feb 23:59

• Mon 28th Feb 00:00 - Sun 6th March 23:59

• Mon 7th March 00:00 - Sun 13h March 23:59

Note: This strategy is for using the Exchange. A separate reload has been posted for using the Sportsbook for this offer.

If you want to receive your free bets on the Exchange, you can click the weekly tracking circle and make your choice. Once you have completed the £/€20 qualification your free bet choice will be locked in.

Strategy: Between Monday and Sunday each week, place £20 worth of bets (min odds of 1.5) at either Betfair Exchange on any UK or Irish racing. This can be done as a single bet or split into smaller bets. Lay in normal mode on an alternative Exchange, remember to ensure you correctly set the BACK COMMISSION box (most likely 5%). DO NOT place any other bets on this market at Betfair otherwise you could forfeit your entire free bet pot. On the 14th March, you will be credited with a £10 free bet to use on the Cheltenham Festival. If you have chosen to receive your free bets on the exchange, they will be credited as an exchange bonus. Lay at a different exchange and remember to set the correct BACK COMMISSION again.

If you want to receive your free bets on the Sportsbook, you can click the weekly tracking circle and make your choice. Once you have completed the £/€20 qualification your free bet choice will be locked in.

Strategy: Between Monday and Sunday each week, place £20 worth of bets (min odds of 1.5) at Betfair Sportbook on any UK or Irish racing. This can be done as a single bet or split into smaller bets. Lay in normal mode. On the 14th March, you will be credited with a £10 free bet to use on the Cheltenham Festival. Lay in SNR mode.

You can do this offer each week during the above qualification periods for a total of £30 in free bets.

Expected Value: £7.50 (per week)

Get The Updated 2024 Guide.

As this article was originally posted in February 2022, the offers are obviously out of date now. The rest of the article contained:

• Which Ways You Can Profit Ante-Post

• Best Free Bet Offers For The Duration Of The Meeting

• Best Way To Use Free Bets And When

• Bookies To Look Out For Boost Offers

• How To Avoid Getting Gubbed Or restricted

• How To Combine Liability On Races

If you would like to receive a FREE copy of the new Cheltenham Festival 2024 Guide with all you need to know about the event, and get an email each morning of the races with done-for-you offer strategies for the day, please join our mailing list or email with the title subject "Cheltmas"....