Not just betting to win - backing and laying
The other great advantage of the betting exchanges is that they give you the opportunity to bet that a selection will either win or lose. This is known as backing (betting a selection will win) or laying (betting a selection will lose). Some people immediateyl hold their hands up in horror at this and suggest that it must make corruption much more prevalent. In fact of course, you could always bet on a selection to not win, just by betting on every other selection in the event. Laying just makes it easier to do that all at once.
Watching the money flow
One major benefit of the betting exchanges is you get to see information that would normally only be available to the bookmakers. You can see how much money has been bet on each selection, how much is available to bet and how the price has changed over time. By watching how the price changes sometimes it is possible to lock in profits by backing at a high price and then laying when the price falls lower.
Dont ignore the comission
The way the betting exchanges make their profit is through a comission levelled on every winning bet. This means that every win is worth 2-5% less than the odds suggest. e.g.
- A £50 bet at 2.0 (EVENS) at a bookmaker returns £100 (£50 stake returned + £50 profit)
- A £50 bet at 2.0 (EVENS) at a betting exchange returns £97.50 (£50 stake retiurned + £50 profit - 5% comission of winnings = £2.50)
The example above shows that if you get the opportunity to get the same odds at a bookmaker as you can at the betting exchange then you should take the bookmakers odds.
If you want to keep track of your bets easily and easily calculate the effect of comission on your bets then you should download Excahnge Result Checker which is designed specifically for exchange betting.
For a list of betting exchanges click here