You’ve probably never heard of betting exchanges if you’ve never heard of terminology like back and lay betting, matched betting, and other similar terms. These sites provide sports betting options that are a little different from the norm. Rather than traditional bookies, you can bet against other people on them. The fact that participants can choose to back or lay a bet is one of the most fundamental components of this betting system.
The following guide will teach you everything you need to know about various exchanges, including the well-known Betfair one. It will show you how they function and how you can use back and lay betting to improve your potential profit.
What Is Back And Lay Betting And How Does It Work?
Betting exchanges are diametrically opposed to traditional sports betting and bookmaker websites. The primary distinction is that these platforms serve as intermediaries, allowing two bettors to interact and compete against one another.
It’s also possible to think of it as a matchmaking service, where two participants agree on the odds and stakes for an event and then compete against each other. Some bettors compare a betting exchange to a stock exchange, with the difference being that instead of stocks, players employ betting odds. All of the features of betting exchanges are made possible by back and lay bets, regardless of how you feel about them.
Players only have the option of making a back bet on most betting platforms. To put it another way, they can only bet on a specific outcome. On a betting market, however, the option of laying a bet is also available. A lay bet is a sort of wager in which you gamble that a given outcome will not occur, effectively acting as a traditional sportsbook.
Unlike traditional bookmakers, who merely supply odds that cannot be influenced in any way, betting account holders decide and agree on the odds on betting exchanges.
The betting exchanges make money by charging a commission for the services they provide, regardless of whether your bet wins or loses. On winning bets, the commission typically ranges between 2% and 5%.
Back and Lay Betting Explained
The concept of back and lay betting is simple to understand. Let’s take a closer look at it.
What is Back Betting?
In traditional sportsbooks, players always back bets, which means they wager on certain outcomes. The bookmaker, on the other hand, is laying the game or betting on the opposite outcome. Let’s take a look at a Premier League encounter between Leicester City and Chelsea to see how this works.
If you stake £10 on Leicester to win at odds of 2.0, you will receive a guaranteed profit of £20 if your prediction is correct. You lose everything to the bookmaker if Chelsea wins or if the game ends in a draw. Any betting exchange site will work the same way. Betting sites, on the other hand, ensure that they win all of the time by offering odds that aren’t as high — or, better yet, chances that are always in their favor. You can alter the odds yourself on a betting market, and if someone is willing to lay your odds, you have a match.
What is Lay Betting?
Laying a bet entails betting that a certain outcome will not occur, effectively putting oneself in the shoes of a bookmaker. A lay bet is just as simple to place as a back bet. Take, for example, a match between Barcelona and PSG. If PSG wins or the game ends in a draw, your bet on Barcelona will be a winner. It’s equivalent to laying a two-for-one wager.
Even yet, there are some aspects of lay betting that are difficult to grasp, one of which is lay bet liability. When you choose to back a bet, your responsibility is your stake, which means that regardless of the odds, you can only lose the money you put up in the first place. The bet liability takes the lay odds into account when laying a bet.
Let’s use an example to demonstrate this. Let’s say you want to gamble on the turf and you lay a horse at 1.30 odds. This effectively means that you’re giving someone 1.30 odds on their back bet. If you lay that horse for £20, you might get a total return of £26.40 if your bet wins. If you lose, though, you must pay the backer £6.40 for their £20 wager.
A simple calculation can be used to calculate your liability: Liability = Backer’s stake * (Lay odds – 1) or by utilizing a betting exchange site’s lay bet calculator.
How to Make Money Using Back and Lay Bets
First and foremost, it should be highlighted that there is no foolproof method for winning money every time you place a wager. However, there are some betting strategies that might help you increase your odds of winning when backing and laying bets. Sports trading and matched betting are two examples.
Sports trading is a more contemporary betting strategy in which you place two bets on the same game against each other to ensure a profit. This is where you can get the most out of betting exchanges – just make sure to lay low and back high, and you’ll be OK.
Matched betting is another way to profit from your bets, whether you’re laying or backing them. Free bets and other promotions offered by betting firms are at the heart of matched betting. The majority of these websites offer new customers free bets. It’s your job to put them to good use and support a winning squad. Then you can lay the same outcome on a betting exchange site. You will win at a sportsbook or a betting exchange regardless of how the game ends. Another advantage of this betting approach is that you only have to deposit your own money at the exchange because you may use the bookmaker’s bonus funds at the sportsbook.
