What’s Dutching Betting?
Dutching Betting is a legitimate sports betting strategy to back multiple selections in the same event, which can be used as an alternative to betting exchange lay bet.
Dutching betting system can also be used as an alternative to lay bets at a betting exchange in matched betting, especially for a tennis match (see later for how it works).
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Dutching Formula – How Does Dutching Work?
So, the concept of Dutching is the process of placing more than one bet in a market to create a predefined profit. This is exactly what bookmakers do when they set odds.
They build in a predetermined margin called Overround (or vigorish or juice, all are the same representing profit margin) in their odds to ensure the profit no matter the outcome of the event will be. For further details on this topic, suggest access to Beat Bookmakers Nicely By Knowing How They Make Money.
“The house always wins” is the proverb in the gambling industry. The casino has a fixed margin called house edge and the bookmaker has over-round, therefore they don’t lose for the long term.
But, Dutching allows the punters to create exactly the same system against bookmakers, thus, in theory, it works and we will win.
Dutching Calculator
You can use the following free dutching calculator;
For Dutching Software, you may want to use Oddsmonkey Dutch Matcher which is not free though.
When can Dutching be Profitable?
Dutching can be done profitably when we locate Under-round (the opposite of the Over-round). Let’s use the simplest example having only 2 outcomes like a Tennis match.
Assuming William Hill & Paddy Power shows the below US Open Tennis Tournament Andy Murray vs Novak Djokovic match;
- Andy Murray wins – odds of 2.1 at William Hill (WH)
- Novak Djokovic wins – odds of 1.8 at Paddy Power (PP)
Check If Over / Under Round
We use the formula of
1/(decimal odds at WH) x 100 + 1/(decimal odds at PP) x 100
to check the over or under round by adding the probability of occurrence of each outcome. 1/2.1 x 100 + 1/1.8 x 100 = 47.6% + 55.5% = 103.1%, it’s 3.1% over-round. It means if we bet on both to cover all outcomes, we will lose 3.1%.
This is a usual situation, we can use a free calculator such as Trickybet that shows this calculation as below (I enter £100 as a stake to bet on William Hill with the above odds to examine possible profit scenarios);
- Andy Murray wins – odds of 2.1 at William Hill (WH)
- Novak Djokovic wins – odds of 1.95 at Bet365 (365)
Does that sound familiar? Yes, the underlying concept is the same as Sports Arbitrage. For those who are not familiar with Arbitrage Betting, read; Surebet – The Best Guide & Sports Arbitrage – Cheat Sheet For Dummies To Be Seasoned Arber Overnight.
Dutching vs Arbing
Although the basic concept is the same, the real application can be largely different. The above example is a simple 2 outcomes case. I used it for an easy explanation of the mathematical logic behind it, and for up to 3 outcomes like football (Home wins / Draw / Away wins), it works exactly the same.
The real difference happens when we expand into covering more outcomes such as Horse or Dog racing, where Dutching originally came from and is being used.
Dutching Betting is actually the technique to increase the Winning Chance by sharing the risk of losing across a number of runners.
In other words, it is not necessary for Dutching to cover all the horses, which means not 100% risk-free but can be applied to any races that don’t even create Under-round circumstances. Therefore, we can say Dutching can be positioned between normal bet & arbitrage.
Because we can back only the horses you think you need which increases the return relative to arbitrage. However, as said, it becomes Not Risk-Free by creating the chance of losing all stakes as a normal bet.
In summary, when you place a dutch bet you spread your profit across the selections you want to win and the liability that created this profit is spread among the remainder.
What you have to do is to strike the balance between your winning Dutch selections and the possibility of the loss coming in.
Dutching Betting Instructions
Dutching Betting Process
The simple process for absolute newbies to do Dutching Betting can be described as follows;
- Open up Appropriate Bookmakers Account
- Open up On-Line Wallet Account
- Set your Betting Goal
- Start Betting
Let me briefly explain the key points for each stage.
I. Open up Appropriate Bookmakers Account
In short, you need to open multiple numbers of bookmakers’ accounts (at least 4-5) to effectively practice Dutching Betting, the same as Sports Arbitrage.
And as briefly said Dutching Betting can be viewed as Sharp Punter’s activities by Soft Bookies targeting recreational punters, you have a risk of being gubbed (meaning they may restrict your account).
Thus ideally, you choose the bookies who accept Professional / Sharp punters / Price Traders (Arbitrageur).
Check the below important bookies list (the sharp bookie list shows our best suggestion which is actually not a sportsbook but a bet broker, it’s a Must See for sharp punters) ;
II. Open up On-Line Wallet Account
Dutching betting requires the banking facility to manage quick & frequent money transfers among the bookies. Therefore it’s essential to do deposits & withdrawals economically.
Credit card/bank transfers etc. are relatively time-consuming & costly methods, thus not appropriate for Dutching. You may want to use the below 2 E-Wallet that is the most reputable & widely accepted by any bookmakers, in fact, no other better choices are considered.
It is possible to fund your Neteller account via Skrill and vice versa using the Money-In or Upload Section of the respective accounts.
Skrill
Neteller
Note:
When you first register & claim your welcome bonus, many bookies require a credit/debit card deposit to be eligible for the bonus. Therefore, ensure you don’t use an e-wallet for applying bonuses.
After that, usually no problems, but for those who play matched betting, suggest carefully reading the T&C for each promotional offer to check if e-wallet funding can be acceptable to avoid any unpleasant surprises down the road.
III. Set your Betting Goal
As usual, it’s critically important to Decide Where You Want to Go – Set Financial Goals first before you start spending your hard-earned money. You should clearly identify what you expect from Dutching activities in a numerical manner.
There is no norm of return from Dutching betting since it depends on many variables. However, given the standard of Sports Arbitrage where experienced arbitrageur achieves 10% – 15% ROI (return on investment) every month, it’s not unusual Dutching will create 20% – 40% considering the risk you may take.
But it’s based on the assumption you will hardly lose – remember 1 lost in Dutching could wipe out your several Dutching wins. So if you can initially allocate a $1,000 bankroll, then you may earn $200 – $400 every month. Once you are familiar with the system, you may increase the bankroll using the winning stakes.
You may set the maximum bankroll such as $5,000 which will bring you $1,000 – $2,000 extra income every month.
IV. Start Betting
Now, you check the sporting events (horse/dog racing or football, etc) which you’re familiar with / interested in betting. Then, you need to decide how much you are going to win in the particular sporting event you select.
This is one of the odd things about Dutching. You actually decide your profit before you start, not your stake on each horse or dog, etc. (although you need to fix the total stake for the event). Click to access the Dutch Calculator the previous video mentioned (it’s Free);
The calculator tells you how much to stake on each selection to ensure an equal profit no matter which one wins. Simply enter the price for each of your fancied selections until you optimize your return & risk.
Once you get the stake amount of each selection quickly go to your bookmakers’ account and bet before the odds change. However, you have to be cautious about possible risks as below.
Dutching Betting Risk Management
You can process manually as explained above. However, don’t forget Dutching is Not a Fool-Proof (especially when you involve multiple bookmakers) there are so many pitfalls.
You need to be very cautious about operational mistakes as in the case of Sports Arbitrage (again suggest you read Sports Arbitrage Sure Money Making where I clearly identified all pitfalls & precautionary measures).
A few of them are;
Placing Bets
- Odds change. The more bookies involved, the more chance that one or more odds will be cut while you’re placing your bets. Bookies often slash their odds so that your profitable bet may become a loss-maker. So very quick execution is required.
- Refused bet. Bookies may refuse your bet for various reasons. The typical case is the stake limit on the event you bet. The best practice to avoid such mess is to ensure you always place the first bet with the bookie that has a lower limit, and then dutch that off with the other bookie that has a higher limit stake amount. In any case, it’s better to have a backup option, so you can quickly adjust for a minimal loss. This might be using another book with the same or slightly worse odds or an exchange where you can lay the bet.
Will Dutching get you Gubbed? The answer is Yes.
As kept saying, many bookies may restrict your account to the level you no longer make meaningful money if you continuously win via Dutching Betting.
Actually, it’s just a matter of time before most of the soft bookies limit your account if you do Dutching without any precautionary actions.
So, we have prepared the following 2 guides – One is Before Restriction, The Other One is After Restriction;
We believe the above 2 guides will help you keep exploiting unfair bookies, means will enable you to make money on the side reliably for the long term.
Dutching Betting Pros & Cons
The objective of Dutching Betting is to eliminate the unlikely events and divide the secured profit among all the favourite selections. This strategy allows for a great reduction in risk. Because it counts on the notion of “the most likely to happen”.
Just imagine, when you fancy horse “A” but are worried about horse “B”. Or when you feel confident to cover a certain probability rate say 70% and you are reluctant to cover all.
This means you back all the horses with low odds to win, leaving only the apparent underdogs out. This allows for a guaranteed profit unless the underdogs win.
As said Dutching Betting is a popular technique in horse & dog racing though it can be applied to various sporting events like Tennis or Football gamesespecially when you play matched betting, which we will elaborate on later.
Now, let me briefly summarize the advantages & disadvantages of Dutching Betting in comparison with Normal betting & Arbitrage as follows;
Dutching Advantages over Normal Bet & Arbitrage
Advantages Over Normal Bet
One of the biggest advantages of Dutching Betting compared with normal betting is that it creates new opportunities to make a profit. As briefly described before, in the past, you may have narrowed a big race down to two horses but found it too hard to pick between them, therefore left the race along.
Alternatively, you may have predicted a football match would be very low scoring but not been sure whether to back 0-0 or 1-0. With Dutching Betting, you can make these situations pay while you can reduce the risk of losing. In fact, the scores, 0-0, 1-1, 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 account for around 67 % of the average scores in a football match.
With this in mind, pick a competitive match and dutch all these scores with your profit target. If the match ends in any of those scores you will have won. The fewer selections you choose to Dutching Betting, the fewer losers you will back and the more profit you make.
By Dutching fewer selections though you are increasing your risk. It works well if you either have information or a very strong feeling that certain outcomes are extremely unlikely. If those unlikely outcomes are huge odds then Dutching Betting isn’t going to be worthwhile.
However, if you feel strongly that some well-fancied outcomes are unlikely then Dutching the remaining likely selections can really pay dividends.
Advantages Over Arbitrage
By comparing with the arbing that needs multiple bookmakers on a very select few events to cover all the outcomes, Dutching can be done in a single bookmaker or single exchange.
Besides, the return will be obviously bigger when you do not need to cover all outcomes.
Finally, you may be less likely to be gubbed when you place Dutching. Because it’s not considered to be a sure bet but you are actually risking your bets. However, it’s not guaranteed thus spreading the betting among a few to several bookmakers is always a better idea than placing all the bets on 1 bookmaker.
Dutching Betting Disadvantages over Normal Bet & Arbitrage
Disadvantages Over Normal Bet
When compared with normal betting, spreading your stake among more than 1 runner will make your return lower if one wins, due to the loss of the other runner. Meaning there can only be one winner, you are guaranteed to back losing participants.
These losses will obviously deplete the amount won from backing the winner and if there is a dead heat then your odds will be reduced.
Disadvantages Over Arbitrage
The obvious drawback compared with Arbitrage appears when all the selected horses lose. The entire stake will be lost and it can take a series of at least two Dutch system wins or more to recover it.
For this reason, it is important for the bettor to become adept at selecting races and horses for Dutching betting. Characteristic of such races are;
- co-favorites,
- or at least no dominant entry,
- as well as small fields that reduce the risk of a long shot pulling through.
Dutching Pros & Cons Bottomline
The strategy of not covering all outcomes can pay dividends when gamblers successfully reduce the potential winners of an event to a select few from the field. Or when information about runners not expected to perform well does not reach the market (so as to affect the odds) makes backing the rest of the field profitable.
Matched Betting by using Dutching
You can use Dutching in matched betting where people usually back at the bookmaker and lay in exchange to extract a free bet. BTW, just in case, you’re not familiar with Matched Betting, see Matched Betting Guide.
- Australia – see Matched Betting in Australia – Why Bonusbank?
- DACH (Germany, Austria & Switzerland) Region – Matched Betting in Germany – Use DoppelWetten
- Rest of the world including the USA & Canada – Matched Betting Anyone in the World incl. USA
If you’re in the UK or Ireland, Oddsmonkey & a few others are matched betting top-notch software.
Same as sports arbitrage, you place a back bet with one bookmaker and an opposing back bet with another bookmaker with No Risk.
Do you remember the first Tennis example I used to explain the underlying concept in this guide? If the outcomes are limited numbers such as 2 (football total score Over & Under 2.5 goals etc) or 3 (football match result 1 x 2, eg. home win, draw, away win, etc) rather than so many choices in horse racing, you can cover 100% by only backing every outcome easily.
There are 3 typical occasions (cautions) you can use Dutching Betting in the matched betting process as below;
1. Tennis Matched Betting – Retirement Rule Caution
When you can’t find close odds between bookmakers & exchanges but if you can find proper odds among bookmakers, Dutching can be applied exactly as demonstrated in the Tennis match.
Remember, both matched betting & arbitrage betting require exactly the same rule between the concerned bookmakers & exchanges.
However, when it comes to the Tennis Retirement rule, each bookmaker/exchange uses its own different rules regarding how bets are settled when the retirement happens.
This means, you should not use matched betting but need to use the Dutching method when you use 2 bookmakers with different tennis retirement rules.
This is critically important. What could be the consequence If you use the bookie whose retirement rule is different from the exchange?
Terrible Consequence – Actual Example
What actually happened to Tomas Berdych vs Novak Djokovic’s match in Quarter Final in Wimbledon 2017 is probably a nightmare for many matched bettors. Novak Djokovic suffered an elbow injury and retired during the 2nd set.
Since Tomas is an underdog, not a small number of matched bettors may have backed Tomas at 10Bet & layed Tomas at exchange rather than doing Dutching Betting.
As seen from the below list, 10Bet applies the rule of “Valid only after the full match is completed”. But exchanges are using the rule “Valid if 1st set is completed”.
The odds between Tomas Berdych and Novak Djokovic were around 5:1.2. If you bet £20 as the maximum refund stake at 10Bet, you lost around £80 at exchange while your back bet at 10Bet was voided so nothing came in.
People incurred a loss of £80. Broadly speaking, Bookies & Exchanges can be put into 2 different groups with regards to the tennis rules.
Remember, these rules apply only to betting on the winner of the match, and not to other markets.
A. Bets are valid if at least 1 set is completed
All of the exchanges (Betfair (suggest use of Betfair Alternatives) / Smarkets / Matchbook / Betdaq) fall into this category, so as long as you back at the below bookies, you can safely lay at any exchange without any problems, the bookies in this group are; 21Bet / 32red / 7 Best Bets / 888sport / Bet 600 / Betfred / Betsafe / Betsson / BlackType / Bookee / Bruce Betting / bwin / Coral / Dabblebet / Dafabet / Genting / Grosvenor / Ladbrokes / LeoVegas / Marathonbet / Mintbet / Mr Green / My Club Betting / Paddy Power / Pinnacle / QuinnBet / Skybet / Sportingbet / Toals / Tommy French / Totesport / Unibet
B. Bets are only valid if the full match is completed – 2 Sub Groups
Under this category, bets are only valid when the full match is completed. If a player retires early, all bets are void. There are no exchanges in this category. Therefore, you shouldn’t lay bets off against bookies in this category but dutch your bets among the bookies in this group.
There are 2 subgroups in this category of Sub Groups 1 & 2. The difference is that in Sub Group 2 when a player is disqualified, all bets will be settled on the player progressing to the next round/deemed the winner.
Sub Group 1 – Bets are only valid if the full match is completed.
10bet / 12Bet / 138 (Surface Change Void) / 188Bet (Surface Change Void) / Bet-at-home / Betboro / Betbright / Betbull / Betclic / BetEast / BetMcLean / BetPack / BetVision / Boylesports / ComeOn / Energybet / Expekt / Fansbet / Fun88 / Geoff Banks / Guts / Jenningsbet / Jetbull / Karamba / Mansionbet / Mobilebet / Mr Win / Netbet / OLE777 / RedArmyBet / Redbet / Royal Panda / SportNation / SportPesa / StanJames / Superlenny / Titanbet / TLCBet / TonyBet / Vernons / William Hill / Winner / XTiP
Sub Group 2 – Bets are only valid if the full match is completed, however, matches do not need to be complete if a player is disqualified.
Bet365 / BetStars / Betway / BetVictor / McBookie / Sun Bets So, before you do Matched Betting to Tennis, always remember the below image of Djokovic’s misery;
2. Multiple Bookies Promotion
It’s not unusual that you receive several offers on the same sporting event like big football matches or the tennis Grand Slam from different bookmakers. Then you may consider Dutching rather than laying at the exchange because;
- You can efficiently apply several bookies’ offer at once, theoretically, the total betting numbers will become half because you don’t need any lay betting
- Needless to say, you can save commissions at the exchange
- Besides you can save the total outlay because you don’t need to lay bet & your fund at the exchange will not be constrained by the lay liability
Tennis Grand Slam Example
On the 2018 Australian Open 1st day, I combined Betway Double Winnings (1st Set Loses But Win Match) and Bet365 2Sets Win Early Payout via Dutching.
Because these bookies use the same retirement rule but that is different from the exchanges. What I did was construct the Dutching betting of the Men’s Q1 match as follows;
- Bet £11 on Salvatore Caruso at 1.9 odds in Bet365
- Bet £10 on Malek Jaziri at 2.0 odds in Betway
- With this betting, if Caruso wins, receives £20.9 (£0.1 qualifying loss since total outlay is £11 + £10) while Jaziri wins, receives £20 (£1 qualifying loss). This qualifying loss is relatively bigger because my betting stake is quite small, and I also rounded up the stake amount to avoid any fractional stake that may invite the bookies’ unnecessary attention. As a result, the loss distribution became uneven, and Betway’s win incurred bigger, theoretically, it should be £0.5 each.
- Anyhow, I became eligible to get both bookies’ offers.
Therefore, I received Bet365 early payment despite my failure to win;
At the same time, I won Betway (my double-winning part was credited into my account as a Free Bet);
In fact, once the player (Caruso) wins 2 sets when we secure early payment at Bet365, we can start considering laying off the player who lost 2 sets (Jaziri) to ensure profit at Betway even if Jarizi finally loses.
For further details, suggest taking a look at Paddy Power 2 Up & Bet365 Early Payout Offer – How To Make Massive Profit.
So, my profit was; Bet365 £11 + Betway £20 = £31 without a single loss. In big events like Grand Slam, you can find plenty of such opportunities.
You can manually search the events though what I do is using Oddsmonkey Dutching Matcher. It always shows the abundance of the best events as;
Thus, extremely effective and time-saving. Please see our full review of Oddsmonkey if you’re interested.
Football Example
I demonstrated how you can use Dutching betting smartly by using Bet365 In-Play Offer on Champions League Barcelona vs Man City example in the Previous Bet365 Offer Case Study section in the Bet365 In-Play Offer Guaranteed Profit guide., which is very useful.
3. Under-round Condition
You may occasionally locate the under-round condition among the bookmakers that offer promotions. This means it will effectively create arbing opportunity by Dutching.
If you can’t expect the same in exchange, why not do Dutching? Avoid making any loss at the qualifying bet stage is a key success factor for matched betting.
But, never ever grab palpable errors, being gubbed is very costly because you will lose long-term profit.
No Exchange Commission
From the perspective of avoiding qualifying loss, exchange commission is a big burden for matched bettors.
Dutching betting without exchange involvement will save your cost, and that’s one of the big reasons to consider Dutching when you find under-round conditions.
Dutching Betting Wrap Up
Dutching Betting Naming Origin
The word “Dutching Betting” comes from real gangster Dutch Schultz featured in the 1991 movie Billy Bathgate played by Dustin Hoffman.
So allow me to share a bit about how the name came before the full details of the Dutching Betting technique. Dutch Schultz was a powerful New York City-area mobster.
He had an “Abbadabba” Berman a middle-aged accountant & math whiz who could mentally calculate and advised Schultz to bet at the track at the last minute in order to manipulate the odds and control what numbers came up so that no matter which one of them won, he’d get the same payout.
What Dutch Schultz actually did was backing multiple horses to win in the same race. In order to do it, Schultz calculated the correct stake to place on each selection so that the return is the same regardless of whichever one wins.
It guaranteed a multimillion-dollar-a-month tax-free income for Schultz. This is known as Dutch Win System or simply Dutching. Dutching Betting is nothing illegal but a completely legitimate system that better ensures your profit.
So, Dutch Schultz used Dutching horses for a living.
In 1930′ Dutch needed Otto Berman who has the ability to figure complex mathematical equations in a matter of seconds.
But, nowadays, you don’t need Otto thanks to many Dutching calculators such as the free oddschecker one & dutch bet finder by Oddsmonkey that can make far better work than the Genius. It’s your turn to create solid extra money if you have not explored it yet.
If you have any inquiries or need any help from us, please contact us anytime (don’t worry, we will not charge you any fee, everything is free here).
Good Luck!!
Joshua Walker (bio)
Editor – Global Extra Money (GEM)
BTW, we GEM deal with 6 Advantage Play as follows;