Why Use The Betting Exchanges?
Top 10 Reasons To Bet With Betting Exchanges
Betting exchanges such as
Betfair and
Betdaq and
WBX World Bet Exchange have revolutionized the way many
punters now place their bets. The most obvious benefit the
exchanges offer over the traditional high street bookmaker
is the ability to lay bets on horses to lose their race, as
well as the conventional practice of backing them to win.
The pioneer in exchange betting is Betfair
and today it operates the most popular betting exchange
website. Betdaq and WBX are by far and away the most viable
alternatives.
Essentially, Betfair brings together
individual punters with opposing views, and cuts out the
traditional bookmaker. All bets on Betfair have been placed
there by users who either want to have a bet in the normal
way (backing), or offer odds to other punters (laying).
Bets are matched between people with
opposing views.
When you "back" a selection (be it an
individual, a team, horse, dog or other), you are betting
that it will win. This is just like betting with
conventional bookies.
When you "lay" your selection, you are
betting against it winning. For example, if you're betting
in a market on which team is going to win the Premiership
and you lay Man Utd, you offer odds to other punters who
wish to back Man Utd. If Man Utd do not win, then you pick
up the backer's stake. If Man Utd wins, then you pay out.
This is what bookmakers traditionally do.
Listed below are ten compelling reasons
to join the revolution and bet on the exchanges:
1. Better odds: When you place a
bet on a betting exchange you do away with the bookmaker,
who has traditionally acted as the middle man. As with any
other ‘middle man’ the bookmaker takes his cut. He will
always attempt to construct his ‘book’ and manipulate prices
downwards such that whatever the outcome he will make a
profit. By taking the bookie out of the equation you can
generally get odds on Betfair 20% higher, which means more
profit.
2. Lay as well as back: In the past
you would only win your bet if your selected horse won its
race. Betfair also allows you to act as bookmaker and lay a
bet that a horse will NOT win the race. If your
selection doesn’t win, then you collect!
3. Trading for guaranteed profits:
On the betting exchanges you can take advantage of movements
in the price of a horse to secure guaranteed profits – much
like trading the financial markets. Profit whatever the
outcome of a race? Impossible you might think…. I will give
you an example to demonstrate:
Let’s imagine you have a horse priced at
3/1 in a race. You think the price of this horse will
shorten because it is well fancied. You back the horse for a
stake of £100.
The price of the horse falls to 2/1 just
before the race starts as lots of punters also back the
horse. You then lay the horse for £134.
Now, let’s examine how you will make a
profit. There are only two outcomes for your horse – it will
either win the race, or it will not win the race.
If it wins, you will win £300 (£100 @
3/1). However, you will have to pay out on your lay bet –
you will pay out £268 (£134 @ 2/1). Your profit is £300 less
£268 equals £32
If your horse loses, you will win your lay
bet and collect £134. However, you will lose your £100 win
stake, and be left with £34 profit.
So you see, by backing the horse at one
price and then laying it back at a lower price, you can
guarantee yourself a profit, before the race even starts!
This process can also be done in reverse,
in other words you can lay a bet on a horse to lose, then
when its price drifts you can back it to ‘lock in’ the
profit.
Discover more about
trading on Betfair at
Bet Angel
4. You select the odds you want:
Before the appearance of betting exchanges, when placing a
bet on a horse you would have to take the price offered by
the bookmaker. If the odds offered on a horse were 2/1 and
you said you wanted 3/1 you would be laughed out of the
shop. Not so with Betfair. If you want to back the horse at
3/1 then you can post this request on the web site, and if
someone else wants to lay that bet then your bet will be
matched.
5. Bet in-running: Betfair allows
you to continue betting on an event, even after it has
started. This capability brings with it a whole new betting
experience, but it’s not for the faint hearted. As you might
expect, the betting market for a horse race can change
dramatically and extremely quickly, as horses jostle for
position in a 5 furlong sprint which is over in less than a
minute! Pitting your judgment and opinions against other
punters as the race unfolds is very exciting, but equally
risky. However, it is an experience that the traditional
bookmaker simply cannot hope to match.
6. Never have your betting account
closed: We have all seen the photocopied letters from
bookmakers giving notice of closed accounts. The truth is,
when you consistently make a profit from betting, then your
business becomes a liability for a bookmaker. He is only
happy to take your bets if over time he is taking more money
from you, than he is giving back. When it happens the other
way around, which is what all punters are striving for, then
the bookmaker will invariably pull the proverbial rug from
underneath you. By contrast, Betfair will never close your
account. They charge a commission based upon your winnings,
so in fact as long as you are winning, then they are making
money too.
7. Bet to unlimited stakes: I can
remember plenty of times in the past when I have received
word about a horse and visited my local bookmaker to place a
bet. When I asked to have £500 on the horse at 12/1 the
assistant behind the counter would scurry into the back room
to speak to the manager, then return to say I could have a
pathetic £20 @ 12/1 but the rest would have to be at the
Starting Price (which as we all know is controlled by the
bookmakers). This does not happen on the exchanges. If you
post a request to back your horse for £500 at 12/1 and
someone else is willing to lay the bet at that price (or it
could be a number of people whose total stake matches yours)
then you will strike your bet.
8. Have all of your betting funds in
one place: Most of us have at some point opened accounts
with more than one bookmaker. We do this so that we can take
advantage of whoever is offering the best price on a
particular horse. However, by spreading our betting bank
across a number of accounts, we are diluting our money – we
may want to back a horse for £100 but find we only have £50
lodged with the bookie with the best price. Sure, we can
move funds between accounts, but it all amounts to an
inconvenience. Having all your funds with one betting
exchange means you can have all your funds available to bet,
and all your money can be made to work for you.
9. Bet on a wide range of sports:
Betting on the exchanges is not restricted to horse racing.
Just as with the bookmakers, you can bet on a variety of
sports, and quite a few other markets besides. Take a look
on Betfair today and you may well be able to wager on sports
such as Australian Rules football, pelota(?) and ice hockey.
But you can also bet on the financial markets, politics, and
even the contestants in game shows such as Big Brother.
10. Place your bets 24 hours a day:
How many times have you opened the Racing Post at 8:00am at
the breakfast table, and read about the Pricewise bet of the
day? You obviously cannot bet at the local bookmakers
because their shop doesn’t open til 10 o’clock. But you
think, hey, I’ll place a bet on-line – you go to their web
site and they haven’t priced the race up yet! With Betfair
you can bet when you want. You can take advantage of early
prices before everyone else starts betting on the same horse
and the price collapses. You can post all your bets before
you go to work, taking the odds available, or naming your
price.
It's free to open an account with all
three major betting exchanges and they have an
easy-to-follow help section which is particularly useful to
familiarize yourself with exchange betting. Pay a visit to
all three sites, compare the odds available with those
offered by your bookmaker, then maybe place your next bet
with a fellow punter.
Click here to go to the Betfair website
Click here to go to the Betdaq website
Click here to go to the WBX website
Click here to join my
service TODAY
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