When Australia failed to qualify directly for the 2018 FIFA World Cup their path to Russia was via a home and away playoff against Syria, and an intercontinental playoff against Honduras.
I traveled to those playoff games and the World Cup, and payed for it all with crypto I won betting on the games!
The 2 qualification playoffs and the tournament itself made this a 3-part project. I treated the expenses and bets separately for each part.
The expenses
I paid with crypto as much as possible including Expedia for accommodation and CheapAir for flights.
Where I could not pay with crypto directly I used my Bitpay Visa debit card. The card is loaded with bitcoin but spends US dollars like any Visa card. These were the expenses, click the links for full itemization.
Part 1 – Asian qualification playoff – Australia vs Syria: 886 m฿
Part 2 – Intercontinental playoff – Australia vs Honduras: 939 m฿
Part 3 – World Cup in Russia: 629 m฿
Total expenses: 2454 m฿
The bets
I bet wherever I saw value. For the qualification playoffs I mostly just bet on Australia to win through. In the tournament I mostly martingaled underdogs and the draw.
I made 214 bets, totaling 8340 m฿ at 5 different crypto sportsbooks. My winnings were
Part 1 – Asian qualification playoff – Australia vs Syria: 886 m฿
Part 2 – Intercontinental playoff – Australia vs Honduras: 947 m฿
Part 3 – World Cup in Russia: 644 m฿
Total profit/loss: 2504 m฿
That’s 30% profit on betting turnover. I did get lucky but I gave myself the best posible chance of getting lucky. I got the best odds by using the odds comparisons, I bet systematically, and most of my bets beat the closing line.
Full details on my betting strategies and verification of all individual bets are on each stage’s report, linked to below.
Full reports
Part 1 - Asian qualifying playoff: Australia vs Syria
Part 2 – Intercontinental playoff: Australia vs Honduras
Part 3 - 2018 World Cup finals in Russia
Betting my way to Russia in pictures
Photos of my travels following the Socceroos’ World Cup journey in Malaysia, Australia, Honduras and Russia. All paid for with crypto I won betting on the games!
About
I am a sports bettor returning 4% profit.
I have been living on crypto since 2013.