What is Dutching? – Dutch Betting Guide

One such strategy is Dutching betting, that involves placing bets on all the runners in a particular market in a way that whoever ends up winning, you’re guaranteed the same profit on every last one of them.

Though Dutch betting won’t give you big profits overnight, when done properly it will secure you a (small) win every time and will allow you to build slow-but-steady profits over a long period. 

How Dutching Works

So, what is Dutching? The idea behind it is that you’re not betting as such because if done correctly, there’s no way you can ever lose any money. Instead, you’re just manipulating the stakes on the different runners in a way that a profit, albeit a small one, is secured equally on all outcomes. In this sense, it’s more similar to arbitrage betting than traditional sports betting.

The fewer the number of runners there are in a market, the easier it is to place a dutch bet. In the examples below we illustrate different types of Dutch betting with just two runners but strictly speaking, you could do with with markets with far more runners; it’s just much harder to do. 

Examples of Dutch Betting

Here are three very different methods you can use to successfully execute Dutch betting and secure yourself a guaranteed profit. 

Using Two Sportsbook

Let’s say Carlos Alcaraz is playing Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. 

Bookie A makes Alcaraz the 2.1 outsider. By placing a 15-unit bet on Alcaraz you’d win 16.5 Units if he wins. 

Bookie B makes Djokovic the 2.1 outsider. By placing a 15-unit bet on Djokovic, you’d (also) win 16.5 units if he wins. 

So whatever happens, you’re going to win 16.5 units on one and lose 15 units on the other, securing a profit of 1.5 units irrespective of who wins. 

Using pre-match odds fluctuations

Of course, two opposing bets executed for the purposes of Dutching don’t necessarily need to be placed with different bookmakers. 

At Bookmaker A, Alcaraz might be the 2.1 outsider to win the match on Friday night after winning his semi-final, with Djokovic the early 1.8 favourite to win Wimbledon. But maybe as the start of the final on Sunday afternoon approaches, punters start to decide that Alcaraz should be favourite after all. So as punters continue backing Alcaraz more and more, weight of money determines that the odds have flipped, so all of a sudden Djokovic is the 2.1 outsider. 

Then you could then back Djokovic at 2.1 and you’d be in exactly the same situation as in the ‘Using Two Sportsbooks’ scenario.

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Using Live Betting

Dutching isn’t only done by backing different runners at the same odds-against prices for the same amount of money. 

You could back Alcaraz at 2.1 pre-match and then wait for Djokovic to reach an odds-against price during the match in Live Betting. You don’t necessarily have to back Djokovic at 2.1; it could be at 2.05 or at 2.3, instead; the key is to use a Dutching calculator to know what stakes are needed to successfully Dutch at certain odds after placing the first bet, so that the profit on both is equal. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Dutching

Given Dutching is a very specific and meticulous way of going about betting, let’s consider some of the pros and cons associated with it:

Pros:

• If done effectively, you’ll always secure a profit and never lose any money. 
• The principle is the same irrespective of the sport/competition/betting market in question as it’s simply a case of using maths to your advantage. 
• Online Dutching calculators allow you to work out exactly what odds and what stake you need to back the different runners at, so even if your own maths isn’t great, you can do it with the help of online tools.

Cons:

• Unless you’re betting in huge amounts, the profit on Dutching betting is always going to be quite limited each time.  
• Dutch betting can be quite labour-intensive in terms of using special calculators, different bookmakers, pre-match and live betting, and so on. 
• Even though it’s not forbidden as such, excessive Dutching at a particular Sportsbook, where it’s very obvious as to what you’re doing, could see you banned from bookmakers who don’t take kindly to you securing guaranteed profits, as opposed to taking risks.