A Qualifying Loss (QL) is a necessary cost that we have to incur as part of the matched betting process in order to make a profit. A QL is normally created from the exchange’s lay
A Qualifying Loss (QL) is a necessary cost that we have to incur as part of the matched betting process in order to make a profit. A QL is normally created from the exchange’s lay odds being higher than the bookmaker’s back odds. Lay odds are typically higher than back odds so a QL is quite common.
When we place a matched bet, the reason why we accept a QL is because our initial bet (qualifying bet) will unlock a free bet, bonus or profit that will more than overcome the QL. For example:
Let’s say that we want to complete the offer, ‘Bet £10 and receive a £10 free bet’.
When searching for close matching odds, we find a football match, where the back and lay odds of Team A winning are 5.0 and 5.3. As you can see from our Matched Betting Calculator, if we were to place an initial £10 matched bet with these odds, we will incur a -£0.57 QL whilst unlocking the £10 free bet in the process.
Once we have received our £10 free bet, we can then use that to make our profit. Now let’s say that when we are searching for close matching odds again, we find another football match, where the back and lay odds of Team A winning are 6.0 and 6.3.
As you can see from our calculator (the ‘Bet Type’ should be switched to ‘Free Bet (SNR)’), if we were to place a matched bet using our £10 free bet with these odds, we will make a profit of £7.92!
And if you minus the £0.57 QL, our overall profit will be £7.35!
As you can now see, a Qualifying Loss is a natural part of the matched betting process.
We recommend playing around with the Matched Betting Calculator yourself and see how different stakes and odds influence the QL.
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