With Jack Wilshere missing out on the Under 21 championship this summer he’s sure to play an integral role in England’s Euro 2012 Qualifiers. England are clear favourites for the game against Switzerland and this has been reflected in the odds. The most likely goalscorer is Darren Bent who is the same man that grabbed two goals against the Gunners towards the end of the season. Ultimately you’d have to assume it will be an England win, especially as Switzerland will have to come at us if they are to stand any chance of qualifying out of group G.
This week I’m joining 888Sport. The current offer is a 150% first bet bonus up to £15. So that means if we place a qualifying bet of £10 we receive a free £15 bet. It’s a relatively small bet but it’s quick and easy to do. On top of this it’s also a very simple sign up process and Moneybookers is fine to use. To register for 888Sport click here. No promotional code is needed in the sign up process as using this link in itself grants the free bet. Unfortunately, as is the case with most qualifying bets, it has to be placed at odds of evens (2) or greater. That means the England win is too short at odds of around 1.4 and whilst it’s pretty likely England will go on to win the game there are still a couple of options open to us. Click on “Football” and under “Sat, 4th June, 2011” you’ll see the England v Switzerland game. Click “More” to open up the full market. The half-time draw at odds of 2.3 is a good bet so I’m going to back it with the full £10. After you’ve made the initial bet the free bet is credited immediately to your account. That means we can also use it on the England v Switzerland match. The 2-0 to England has odds of 6.5 so if you open up the bet slip you’ll see you can tick the £15 free bet. Do this and place the bet. (Ed’s note. When I went through the process and had placed my first bet, I noticed that the bonus amount I had been awarded for the free bet was only £10 rather than £15 – and you need to select the box that is next to the free best amount to use these funds for the bet. I this happens to you, don’t place the bet until you have done the following. Go back to the main page, click the orange ‘deposit’ box near the top, and then a new window called ‘Cashier’ will open – you would have used this to deposit your original £10. Just wait and after a short time, a pop up window for ‘live chat’ with an agent will appear. Tell them you should have received a freebet for 150% of your £10 first bet but have only been granted £10, rather than the promised £15. They will then put this right, although it might take a few minutes to show up. Basically keep trying to place the 2-0 correct score bet until the bonus amount reads £15, instead of £10, then you can actually click to place the bet) NB – Spoken to Russell since I posted this and he recommends a quicker way to get this corrected would be to go through ‘support’, ‘free bet offer’ and then ‘contact us’ – message will go more directly to the appropriate individual to make the change, although hopefully the glitch will have been corrected by now
At Betfair go through “Football”, “Euro 2012”, “Qualifying Stages”, “Fixtures 04 June” to reach the England v Switzerland game. Find the “Half time” market and then click the pink button to lay the draw. It had odds of 2.76 as I did this with £5. After this is done go to the “Correct Score” market and lay the “2-0” with £12. This had odds of 7 as I laid the bet so it’s left us with the following outcomes for the qualifying and free bets...
- Draw at half time and a 2-0 win: *+£14.70* comprised of qualifying bet +4.20 (+13 at 888Sport, -8.80 at Betfair) and free bet +10.50 (+82.50 at 888Sport, -72 at Betfair).
- Draw at half time but fail to win 2-0: *+£16.20* comprised of qualifying bet +4.20 (+13 at 888Sport, -8.80 at Betfair) and free bet +12 (-15 FREEBET at 888Sport, +12 at Betfair).
- Fail to draw at half time but win 2-0: *+£5.50* comprised of qualifying bet -5 (-10 at 888Sport, +5 at Betfair) and free bet +10.50 (+82.50 at 888Sport, -72 at Betfair).
- Fail to draw at half time and win 2-0: *+£7* comprised of qualifying bet -5 (-10 at 888Sport, +5 at Betfair) and free bet +12 (-15 FREEBET at 888Sport, +12 at Betfair).
It’s not as large a profit as we’ve seen in previous weeks but there a few permutations which will lead to different outcomes so it makes the game that little bit more interesting. With most England games often failing to deliver in terms of excitement it’s always worth having a slightly larger vested interest so this might as well be done whilst guaranteeing a profit...
“Why gamble when you can win!”
