This week's podcast guest has an 8 year track record of success in the sports betting world.

Matt is an English sports trader who combines his passion for cricket and NRL with the ability to find good value in the markets.

Punting Insights

His journey from novice to professional punter

Why he is focused on cricket and NRL

Why he despises bookies and now photographs every single bet

How lazy bookies create betting opportunities

Matt is launching a new sports betting package this week which allows members to make the same bets as a seasoned professional.

Today’s Guest:

Matt

Dave Duffield: Hi Matt and I wanted to introduce you to the guys and explain a bit about your background and what you've done over the last 8 years. So you might as well take us back to that time and just talk about the journey from keen to professional punter.

Matt: I guess when you're a young lad, most young lads are keen at gambling, which is what I was. Pretty good at maths, good with numbers and enjoyed a punt. Basically just took it part time, bet on basically everything in the world. Lost on most things, and found that I was quite good at cricket gambling. I had a really keen interest in cricket when I was a kid as well. Played for Lancashire up until the age of 15. I find that if you have a keen interest in something and you like punting they can go together.

I enjoyed that. Never really thought about it as a full time career. I don't think anybody does, to be honest with you. I think that everyone that does this full time falls into it accidentally. I was working for a bank as a mortgage advisor and a financial advisor and then the financial markets crashed and I basically got fired. Started working for any kind of sales jobs that I could get a hold of. Didn't really enjoy many of them, and I was punting in the background. A little bit more than the average sort of twenty quid here and there on a Saturday afternoon. I was profitable, I was making a few quid, but definitely not enough to pay the bills and go full time.

Then that built for 18 months or so and then I got an insurance payout from a car crash, some guy drove into me as you do. I just hated my job, and hated my life, and being on the phone to people all day telling them to settle their small debts and blah blah blah.

So I quit, and gave it a go full time. Started with very small stakes and started off with about 300 English pounds in Betfair and just tried to build it slow and steady. Didn't tell anyone what I was doing, so the family thought, still think, that I work for a bank which is ridiculous but it's one of those things.

8 years on, here we are.

Dave Duffield: Betting into cricket, you said you had some knowledge as a junior player, but from a betting perspective how did you find an edge in what is quite a big market, and they tend to be more efficient. So what was your edge?

Matt: Yeah, the thing was in England because you're legally allowed to bet in play, a lot of the stuff was Betfair related. I was always fascinated by Betfair. My first ever Betfair bet was a nil-nil bet on the Classico between Real Madrid and Barcelona at 1000-1. Which I thought was a very big price, until I realised I'd turned the tv on and started it had started 5 minutes ago and they had already scored. 1000-1 wasn't the best price for nil-nil and it was 1-nil to Real Madrid.

Betfair would fascinate me because their prices were so much bigger than everybody else. I always thought well, if their prices are so much bigger then obviously you get paid more if you win, so there's got to be an edge somewhere there.

Then, I guess my love of cricket and my love of betting sort of collided.

Also, I have this theory that in play, the more points are scored in a sport, the more fluctuations there are in the betting odds. In a football match, if the game could be settled 1-nil, then that price will go from one price to another price and that's it.