I’m diving into something totally foreign to me in the world of betting today: Lay betting on Betfair. When I woke up this morning I didn’t really have any idea how Betfair worked as I have never really understood the whole Back Bet, Lay Bet thing.
So today, I’m here to break it down and share my experience after navigating Betfair this morning and I will try to make it a little easier to understand. Let’s see if we can figure this out together.
What Exactly is Betfair?
So as a betting site reviewer, I’ve used plenty of regular online bookmakers before (both here and overseas), where you place a bet, hope for the best, and the house either pays out or takes your money. But Betfair? It’s a whole different beast.
It’s not just a bookmaker; it’s what is known in the betting industry as a betting exchange. What does that mean? Instead of betting against the house, you’re betting against other people. Betfair simply takes a small cut from the winner. Pretty cool, right?
Sign up for Betfair.
The Back and Lay Bets Concept
Here’s where things get interesting. Betfair offers two types of bets: Back and Lay. If you’re scratching your head like I was (because this is where I have been completely confused for a long time), here’s a simple breakdown:
- Back Bets: This is your traditional bet like you see on all other other websites. You’re betting that something will happen. For instance, you think Team A will win. If they win, you win.
- Lay Bets: This is the opposite. You’re betting that something won’t happen. So, if you lay a bet against Team A, you win if Team A loses or draws.
Navigating the Betfair Platform
When I first logged into Betfair, I was hit with a wall of numbers and options. It looked like the stock market which is why most people cut and run… even though they shouldn’t. But here’s how I started to make sense of it all:
- Finding Your Market: First, you pick your sport and event. This part is pretty straightforward.
- Understanding the Market Screen: This is where it gets a bit tricky. You’ll see columns for Back and Lay bets with odds and amounts. The left side is for Back bets, and the right side is for Lay bets.
Placing My First Back Bet
Let’s walk through this together, even though backing an event is a pretty straight forward task that we have all done previously, it will help distinguish the difference to the lay bet. I decided to place a back bet on the Bombers to win in Round 23.
- Locate the Event: I navigated to the AFL then clicked the Bomber game.
- Choose Your Bet: I found the Bombers odds and clicked on the back bet column (the blue box).
- Enter Your Stake: I entered the amount I wanted to bet and confirmed it. My bet was matched with another user who placed a lay bet.
This whole process was pretty simple because it was essentially the same as all other betting sites so it was pretty familiar to me even though the layout of the screen was different.
Try Betfair for Yourself.
Trying Out a Lay Bet
Next, I wanted to see how a lay bet works (the confusing bit). Here’s how I bet against Essendon winning:
- Locate the Event: Same as before, I went to the AFL market.
- Choose Your Lay Bet: I then navigated to the Bombers Swans game, then I clicked on the lay bet column (the pink box) next to the Swans.
- Enter Your Liability: I entered the amount I was willing to risk. This part was a bit confusing because the liability (potential loss) is higher than the stake.
Calculating the Risks and Rewards
- For Lay Bets: The formula to calculate your risk is (Odds – 1) x Stake. So, for example, I laid a $10 bet at odds of 2.36, my liability was (2.36 – 1) x $10 = $13.6. I was risking $13.6 to win $10.
As confusing as it may be, once you place how much you wish to place on the bet, the rest of the process is actually quite simple (just takes a little bit of understanding).
Why Would I Use Lay Bets?
This was my big question. Unfortunately there are no multi bets available which would be a huge advantage for lay bets. Here’s what I learned:
- Strategy: Lay bets can be part of a broader strategy. For example, you might lay a bet if you think the odds are too short and you can get better value by betting against it.
- Trading: Like stock trading, you can lay a bet and then back it later at better odds to lock in a profit (this is not always the case, but is an option I have heard mentioned by others in the industry).
Advanced Strategies
- Lay to Back Strategy: Lay a bet at lower odds and back the same outcome at higher odds later to lock in a profit.
- Trading on Betfair: Similar to stock trading, buy low and sell high within the Betfair exchange.
Final Thoughts
Betfair is definitely more complex than traditional betting, it takes a whole new approach if you are a serious bettor than your traditional mug punter that pops a quaddie on at the pub on Friday arvo, but it also offers more opportunities for strategic betting.
Starting with small bets helped me get comfortable with the platform. Now, I’m like a kid in a candy shop continually checking the markets to see if I can leverage myself a profit by hedging my bets.
If you were unsure about how to use betfair before ready this post, I hope I have made things a little easier for you to understand. Jump in and take a look for yourself, once you have wrapped your head around how it all actually works it is quite easy to understand.
Though I am still learning the process myself, I can definitely see this becoming a part of my everyday betting simply by hedging my bets.
