Is MBing 'cheating'?

[cmcrick1980]

Has anyone ever questioned themselves over whether MBing is actually cheating the system, so to speak? I had to think hard over it before I started but I really don't see the problem with it. Nothing is being done illegally or dishonestly, it's just exploiting a loophole, much like large super-rich multinationals do every day in offshore tax loopholes etc. Any thoughts? Has anyone ever tried to tell you that it isn't 100% 'honest'?

[slim]

I tend to get the opposite reaction from the people that really understand it*, people seem to really think bookies are the ripoff artists and they love the idea of making money off them.

*most people don't 'get it' and just say things like "you can't beat a bookie" and "you'll never see a bookie riding a bike".

[munk]

Has anyone ever questioned themselves over whether MBing is actually cheating the system, so to speak? I had to think hard over it before I started but I really don't see the problem with it. Nothing is being done illegally or dishonestly, it's just exploiting a loophole, much like large super-rich multinationals do every day in offshore tax loopholes etc. Any thoughts? Has anyone ever tried to tell you that it isn't 100% 'honest'?

At the end of the day matched betting is not that far away from what the bookmaker's do themselves - they create a market/book and mark it up so that they make a profit no matter what the result. Matched betters basically do exactly the same thing - create a book so that no matter what happens they make a profit as well.

The way matched betters will create their book is slightly different because they're usually coming at it from a different point of view (only backing one selection and laying that off using one single back/lay bet) whereas a bookmaker will be 'laying the field' so to speak (offering bets on all selections within an event), but at the end of the day the net result is the same, the aim of both approaches is to create a closed market where every possible result is covered and a profit is made no matter what the result.

So is it cheating the system? All a matter of semantics but I would say no it's not 'cheating' the system, it's just using the mathematics of bookmaking to make a profit.

[Landprofits]

Has anyone ever questioned themselves over whether MBing is actually cheating the system, so to speak? I had to think hard over it before I started but I really don't see the problem with it. Nothing is being done illegally or dishonestly, it's just exploiting a loophole, much like large super-rich multinationals do every day in offshore tax loopholes etc. Any thoughts? Has anyone ever tried to tell you that it isn't 100% 'honest'?

Didn't really think about it to be honest......

[srh1984]

'Beating the system'

[swanbet]

I don't always sit comfortably with it.

It could be argued that at least a bookmaker is providing shops/websites/on-course facilities for people to bet with, where a match-better or arber doesn't really chip much into the industry at all, just kind of feeds off it.

But I can live with it, I think money in each market just swirls around the industry from people walking into ladbrokes, to online-betting, through exchanges and on-course betting etc, and its just about getting a slice of the pie whichever way you can. I think all's fair in this fairly murky industry.

[robberbutton]

I don't always sit comfortably with it.

Me neither, but for different reasons I think. The bookie side of things doesn't bother me at all, although we are deliberately breaking any ts and cs that talk about not making a 'guaranteed profit' on an offer. I guess it's more contributing to the whole gambling industry in general, which I don't think is a very healthy one - although maybe you could argue that matched bettors are actually helping to bring down the industry (smartlivesports, anyone? ).

[cmcrick1980]

Me neither, but for different reasons I think. The bookie side of things doesn't bother me at all, although we are deliberately breaking any ts and cs that talk about not making a 'guaranteed profit' on an offer.

The thing is, though, it can be argued that it's none of the bookies' business what we do with our money on other websites.

If someone wants to bet with them, who's to say that person can't also lay the same horse/team somewhere else? It's not really any of their business, I don't see how they think they have some kind of moral authority to judge people on something that is completely outside their jurisdiction.

[Andy]

whether MBing is actually cheating the system, so to speak?

I am not "cheating" anything, I am placing some bets in a way that suits me, sticking to the Terms of the sites in question. No bookmaker has to offer any freebets. If they dont want people to take them up on it then dont offer them. If you meet all the rules how on Earth could it not be "honest"? Most Sundays I can go to ASDA and get 2 Pizzas for the price of 1, its buy one get one free and I do that sometimes, It doesnt cross my mind that I am being dishonest when I take the second Pizza. It was THIER idea not mine.

although we are deliberately breaking any ts and cs that talk about not making a 'guaranteed profit' on an offer.

They mean internally, you cant bet to make a garunteed profit from them. For example betting on a tennis match PlayerA with your stake amount and putting the freebet on PlayerB, or if it were at a Casino betting on Black and Red at Roulette at the same time. What you do at another website though is irrelevant and none of their business.

[Sliphod]

No it's playing by the rules and winning. I guess if you are into gnoming then yes that is cheating.