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Betting Exchange Strategies & Tips


Betting Exchange Strategies & Tips

For many punters – especially novices – the prospect of using a betting exchange to place bets can prove daunting given the differences between how a betting exchange works compared to using a more conventional bookmaker such as Ladbrokes or William Hill.

Betting exchange firms such as Betfair and Betdaq also operate sportsbook betting catering to the less adventurous gambler; but for those of you feeling more adventurous the same firms also offer betting exchanges and knowing how to play the Betfair betting exchange or similar offerings can yield bigger profits for those who understand the machinations and differences of conventional betting compared to sports betting exchanges.

Using betting exchanges to place bets on platforms such as Betfair exchange football markets can take a little time to get used to in order to fully understand how it works, but it isn’t as complicated as one might imagine at first glance and used properly can prove a formidable tool in the quest for betting profits.

Better Betting Odds

Betting with a traditional bookmaker can on occasion be to the detriment of the punter, primarily because the odds that are on offer are typically skewed in favour of the company; whereas on the Betfair exchange or similar, punters are wagering against other people and so the odds on offer are often likely to be more attractive.

Odds given through a betting exchange are more flexible and volatile, changing often and so punters can take advantage of the odds on offer. While most conventional bookmakers offer betting ‘in-play’ their odds can often be less generous as well as being slower to change which can cost punters some much sought after value.

For example, the Betfair exchange football markets allow for a range of betting opportunities and can allow punters to maximise profit. ‘Lay betting’ for example can be a particularly good way to either generate profit or to minimise potential losses.

Lay Betting

Lay betting allows the punter to back against a specific outcome in a sporting event, be it a horse race or a football match or whatever. Conversely conventional betting sees the punter side WITH a particular outcome. As such, using a betting exchange allows a punter to have more than one possible winning outcome.

For example, by laying Liverpool not to beat Everton in a Merseyside Derby would give two winnable outcomes – Everton winning or the match ending in a draw. The key here is to make sure the desired outcome is more likely to happen than not.

Matched Betting

Betting exchanges allows other people to match a punter’s bets who might follow a different path of thinking to them and will bet against that punter’s outcome. Similarly, the punter can also match other peoples’ bets.

As there is no middle-man in matched betting, punters can make their own markets and encourage bets to be made. Likely to offer bigger odds than the conventional bookmakers, returns can be greater with a successful bet.

Volatile Odds and Back-to-Lay

Betting odds through exchange betting are likely to be more fluid than those offered by conventional bookmakers and savvy and alert punters can take advantage of backing lengthening odds on an outcome to potentially increase profit or lay off the outcome if things are going poorly in order to minimise losses. This is known as back-to-lay betting.

For example, a punter might place bet on Everton to beat an injury-hit Liverpool but could later choose to lay off that bet if the bet is underperforming.

Bookmaker Caution

Conventional bookmakers are in business to turn a profit and they do that by being cautious across their vast sportsbooks. This in turn leads to less attractive odds on offer as well as less flexibility with in-play betting as odds compilers look to limit their liabilities.

However Betfair exchange betting can offer more generous odds than is the case with conventional bookmakers’ offerings and some careful research can throw up some generous opportunities for profit on offer from fellow bettors.

A conventional bookmaker is likely to offer odds below those available via Betfair exchange players whose odds are in most cases sure to offer greater value. The trick is to research and side with those odds that offer the best chance of success above the bookmakers’ baseline.