Introduction

Welcome to my Bonusbank review, where I’m taking a look at Australia’s best and fastest growing matched betting service. With tiered membership options and value betting tools, it is perfectly suited to beginners and professional bettors alike.

The site provides a plethora of tools, calculators and software to help members profit from the bookmakers. Additionally, they offer courses and tutorials covering the matched betting basics, account sustainability, promo strategies and tutorials on using the various features on the site.

With over 100 online bookmakers in Australia (and more coming), now is a great time to get involved in matched betting.

I will explore several of their best tools and features throughout this review, and I’ll cover how much money you can potentially make.

Bonusbank Review video

The ATM

Let’s start with my favourite tool, the ATM!

The ATM compares the odds of each Australian bookmaker with the lay odds on the Betfair Exchange. It covers all sports and is fully customisable by odds range, bookmaker, market, time before kick-off and much more.

There are several different approaches to using the ATM, which I will explain below.

Arbitrage / Value Betting

The primary use of the tool is to find arbitrage bets, whereby you place a back bet with the bookmaker, and a lay bet on the exchange to lock in a guaranteed profit.

See this example:

Two arbitrage bets are available on a tennis match with the bookmakers Hotbet and Boombet.

We can back James Kent Trotter at 2.66 and lay him at 2.52.

The SR (Stake Returned) column to the right of the lay odds displays the amount of profit made per $100 bet if taking the arbitrage approach.

We can click on this, and it will pull up a calculator showing how much to bet on the lay to lock in a guaranteed profit, as seen here:

Note that you can set your Betfair commission in the filters of the ATM and also adjust it to any amount on this calculator. Additionally, you can set any stake amount in your filters and it will display the profit per bet for that amount.

For example, if I set the stake to $200 instead of $100, the SR Column shows 6.43 instead of 3.23.

Alternatively, you could place the bookmaker bet as a value bet without laying it on Betfair. This approach boosts your long-term expected profit by avoiding Betfair’s commission.

Assuming the Betfair lay odds represent the true odds, you can calculate the expected value simply by dividing the Betfair lay odds by the bookmaker odds, in this case, yielding 5.55%.

In other words, you’d expect to earn $5.55 per $100 staked without laying, versus $3.23 with arbitrage.

The downside to the value betting approach is that of course, you risk $100 on the bet, compared with risking nothing in arbitrage. And whilst over time the value taken will produce a profit, you will endure losing runs and it requires extra patience and mental discipline to endure these, as well as a sufficient bankroll.

Whichever approach you choose, the ATM produces dozens of value opportunities each day to profit from.

Mug Bets

A mug bet, also known as mugging, is a non-promo bet which is negative value.

The purpose of this bet is to blend in with regular punters and avoid being detected by bookmaker algorithms as a sharp bettor.

This is essential in matched betting as punters who only bet on promotional offerings or arbitrage bets are quickly restricted by bookmakers. Mug bets are therefore crucial in extending the lifespan of bookmaker accounts.

Using the ATM, you can identify bets to back and lay for a small loss, focusing on popular sports like AFL, Rugby League, or major soccer leagues to mimic the behaviour of recreational bettors.

Avoid lower-tier football or obscure sports such as volleyball or table tennis.

For instance, in an upcoming AFL game, you might back Collingwood at 1.90 odds and lay at 1.94.

Let’s look for a mug bet at Ladbrokes.

I have filtered by bookmaker (Ladbrokes) and odds range (1.01 – 3.00). Of the top 5 results below, all but the tennis bet are suitable mugs.

The UFC, WNBA, AFL and MLB are major leagues, and the back and lay odds are close enough to ensure only a small loss is taken from the bet. On the UFC bet, you would have a loss of $1.31 on a $100 bet, as seen in the SR Column.

The key thing with mugging is to ensure the bet is not an arbitrage bet, so the back odds must be equal to or – preferably – below the lay odds.

We can back any of these selections and lay on Betfair exchange to lock in a small loss.

You can even combine the bets into multis which are viewed favourably by bookmakers, as these are generally the bet of choice for recreational bettors.

Crucially, these bets help extend the lifespan of accounts and squeeze as much juice as possible out of the bookmaker’s promotions.

Bonus Bet Conversion

The final feature of the ATM to look at is the SNR (Stake Not Returned) column, which shows which bets are most suitable for converting bonus bets into guaranteed profit by laying the bet on Betfair.

It is important to note that it is always recommended to turnover bonus bets on horse racing, as bookmakers are generally sensitive to people betting at high odds on sport as this gives them a high liability and may trigger a trader review.

Some bookmakers even explicitly state the bonus bet must be turned over on racing.

However, occasionally if a bonus bet is due to expire in a few hours, and there are no upcoming horse races, sport is an acceptable last-resort option.

Also, for larger bookmakers, such as Bet365 or Sportsbet, it is generally fine to use them on sport.

So, let’s find a bonus bet conversion for Sportsbet. I have not set any filters for sports or markets, and we can see there are a few bets available on golf.

The SNR Column on the right shows the retention amount per $100 bonus bet.

So, in this instance, if placing a $100 bonus bet on Stephen Ames at 29 and laying at 30, we would profit $90.08 regardless of the result.

Again, I will bring up the calculator, and this shows all the details for locking in this profit:

Value Betting Software

Next, I will take a look at the Value Betting Software. This tool provides a fair odds calculation based on the odds of various bookmakers around the world.

Currently, 36 bookmakers are used for this calculation, but the user can choose how much weighting to give each on a scale of 0-3, as seen here:

Soft bookmakers such as Bet365 and 1xBet are given 0 weighting, whilst a sharp bookmaker such as Pinnacle (not visible on this screenshot) is given a weighting of 3.

Once you have set these weightings, here is what the tool produces:

For this example, I have filtered to show only bets for Sportsbet, with maximum odds at 5.0. The most relevant columns are the Odds, Pinnacle, Fair Odds and EV (Expected Value).

Looking at the first bet, the software has identified fair odds of 1.677 based on the chosen bookmaker weightings, with Sportsbet offering 1.83, an edge of 9.67%.

The ‘Count’ column shows how many bookmakers are used in calculating the fair odds; a higher number gives more confidence in the accuracy of the calculation.

As the bets shown in this example are all player prop bets, Pinnacle is not offering markets on these yet. On bets where Pinnacle does have a market, the column shows the Pinnacle odds with the overround removed, providing a reliable indicator of the true odds.

Here is an example of that:

These are two bets I have confidently placed on Bet365 as there is an edge to both the Pinnacle odds and the Fair Odds calculation.

Personally, my preference is to only bet when this is the case, as whilst the Fair Odds calculation is a useful indicator, I like the extra assurance of an edge against the Pinnacle odds.

2UP Software

The 2up Software helps users take advantage of the Bet365 promotion whereby they payout on soccer bets when your team leads by two goals, regardless of the final result.

To take advantage of this strategy, you want to bet on games which are expected to be high scoring, both teams to score and where the odds on Bet365 are close to the odds on Betfair.

The 2up Software helps identify those games, and also games which should be avoided.

The first thing to draw your attention to is the Rating column on the far right.

Essentially, this considers the information in the other columns and assigns an overall rating to the bet, with the colour being either green, yellow or red. It does not reflect a probability of the promo being triggered.

A good rule of thumb is to bet only on teams with a green rating figure.

There are a few ways to approach this promotion. You can use this tool to find teams whose back and lay prices are close. Then, you can back the team with Bet365 and lay it on Betfair, usually for a small loss.

But if your team leads by two goals and loses the match, you will receive a double payout, with both the back and lay being settled as winning bets. Whilst this occurrence is rare, it is very profitable when it happens!

Alternatively, you could take a value betting or no-lay approach by turning on the “No Lay” button as seen at the top of the page here:

With this button turned on, the software produces more green ratings as profits are not being eroded over time by Betfair commission.

Similar to the value betting approach with the ATM, you are just backing the team to win as a value selection. With this comes the same downside of losing periods, requiring the bankroll and mental discipline to endure these and continue taking value over time.

Dutching Software

Instead of finding arbitrage opportunities between bookmakers and Betfair, the Dutching Software displays arbitrage bets available across two different bookmakers.

Here, we have three separate dutch bets available across three different sports.

Let’s look at the first NRLW game. Bet365 have 1.89 for over 35.5 points, and Ladbrokes have 2.50 for under 35.5 points. I want to bet $100 on the Bet365 side of the dutch.

We can pull up the calculator to work out how much to bet on the Ladbrokes side:

I would need to bet $75.60 on the Ladbrokes side, locking in a profit of $13.40 regardless of the result. This is a quick and efficient way to accumulate profit from the various bookmaker accounts you have.

The dutching tool produces dozens of bets each day. As I write this, there are currently over 50 profitable dutches available. The majority of them are for player props, particularly for the US Sports. Other common bet types are totals and lines for AFL and NRL matches.

Promos

The promos section of the Bonusbank site is a great place to quickly check for the best upcoming bookmaker promotions. After all, promotions are the bread and butter of Australian matched betting.

Sport and Racing promos are shown separately; let’s look at an upcoming racing promotion with Elite Bet:

The promotion here is “Up to $50 in bonus bets if your selection runs 2^nd or 3^rd”.

The software shows the track, race number and time, as well as other useful information such as the number of runners (10 or less runners is preferable for this promotion) and the Betfair commission for that race.

The run 2^nd/3^rd promotion is the most common one offered by bookmakers and therefore the largest source of profit for matched betting.

Particularly on Saturdays, hundreds of these promotions are available.

Being able to view all upcoming promotions on one page saves time and money, as you do not have to check each bookmaker site for upcoming promotions, and you will not miss out on a promotion because you didn’t know it was on!

 Here is another example:

Mighty Bet are offering a $50 refund on 3 leg Same Race Multi’s if one leg fails.

This sort of promotion has become increasingly popular in recent years as more recreational bettors place Same Race Multis on racing and Same Game Multis on sport.

Helpfully, for users unsure of how to take advantage of a promotion, you can click the ‘Same Race Multis’ hyperlink shown in the above example and it will take you to the Bonusbank lesson on this particular promotion:

Odds Comparison

The final feature on the website I will highlight is the Odds Comparison tool. This tool allows you to compare the odds of a number of Australian bookmakers for any upcoming sports event.

Let’s look at this EPL game between Bournemouth and Liverpool:

The odds of each bookmaker are displayed, and the green highlighted odds indicate that is the best available price among the tracked bookmakers. Betfair odds are shown after commission is deducted.

Additionally, on the left-hand side you can see the Best Odds, Average Odds, Best / Avg and the Fair Odds for each outcome.

The tool is useful for comparing odds for niche markets such as NBA player props as often one or two bookmaker offer standout prices.

Discord Community

The Bonusbank Discord community is a valuable source of information for matched betting in Australia. The community is full of experienced bettors willing to share what they have learned.

Additionally, it is the best place to find updated information on various things such as bookmaker behaviour, deposit offers, promotions, arbitrage opportunities and help with bookmaker disputes.

Each of these topics (and more) have a dedicated channel. I have personally received help from other members over the years with disputes I’ve had with bookmakers, so in my opinion the Discord community is one of the most valuable features of Bonusbank.

It is particularly useful in the Spring months, which are the busiest period of the year for matched bettors in Australia. Members provide constant information of promotions, deposit offers and new bookmakers which is impossible to keep up with on your own in these busy months.

Bookie Library

Another unique feature of Bonusbank is their Bookies Library Google Sheet – a document available to all members showing detailed information on each Australian bookmaker.

This includes information on bookmakers shared ownership, common deposit offers they have, whether it is a good idea to live chat the bookmaker for a deposit offer, the software used, and much more!

This information comes from the collective wisdom of the Bonusbank community and is frequently updated to reflect the current behaviour of each bookmaker, as this is constantly changing.

Something which is useful for people new to matched betting is the ‘Suggested Order’ column of the sheet. This provides a guideline for which bookmakers to use first, prioritising the corporates such as Bet365 and Sportsbet which offer the most lucrative and frequent promotions.

This recommendation offers a logical way to work through the 100+ Australian bookmakers.

How much money can you make from Bonusbank?

As Bonusbank is not a traditional tipster service, estimating how much a user could make from the service is difficult. Each person’s results will be different depending on how much time they have, what bookmakers they use, their experience in matched betting and also what membership tier they are on. 

The discord community has a channel called ‘Motivation and Bragging’ for people to post their results from using the service. Members post their profit graphs from the Bet Tracking software.  

Let’s take a look at some of the posts in recent months from members:

This member made over $2,000 after two months, using just 11 bookmakers in that period. He reports an average profit of $6.92 per bet from 289 bets in this period.

Similarly, another member reported over $1,000 in profit after just one month, as shown in their profit graph below. They achieved this from 100 bets and using nine bookmakers.

This user has made over $6,000 in 2.5 months, using just a handful of the big bookmakers such as Sportsbet and Bet365, predominately betting on sport.

He mentions that he will start using some smaller bookmakers and bet on racing promotions moving forward.

Finally, a more experienced user recently reported cracking the $100k mark!

He says that Bet365 was his most profitable account. This level of profit is especially impressive as he admits to making plenty of mistakes and beginner errors along the way.

He concludes that Bonusbank is “probably one of the best investments I’ve made”.

Final Verdict

Bonusbank is by far Australia’s best and most popular matched betting service.

Having been a member myself for several years, I can attest to the constant improvements and additions the team makes to the service each year.

Matched Betting in Australia is still going strong, with the Spring Carnival in particular offering so many opportunities to profit from bookmaker promotions and deposit offers.

I can fully recommend the service to anyone in Australia looking to earn a profit from their betting in 2025.

Get started for free here and make up to $75 from your first bookie offer.