Betfair Betting Exchange

Betfair revolutionized the world of sport betting. Not only were they the first betting exchange, they are also the wealthiest and have received a respected Queens award for company success in Great Britain. These are just some facts to show you Betfair (operated in London), who they really are. Successful, without limits and their system is every regular bookie nightmare. And why? Let's take a closer look, as you really need to understand some basics in order to take your share of their profit. Betfair is suitable for everybody - players who already has some experience with classic sports betting or total newcomers. You don't need to know a lot about sports or the teams, although - it helps. You also don't need tons of money to start with. 20€ should be enough to try trading options.

What can yo do with Betfair?

BET AGAINST. You know, with classic bookmaker, you can only bet FOR somebody or something. Here, you can pick a looser as well. Imagine - 15 horses racing, it's much easier to pick a looser than a winner. Or you think "This soccer match won't end with 2-0 or 3-0". As soon as there is 0-1, you've already won!
SELL YOUR BET. Imagine, you've placed a bet before the game started. You've picked team A to win. As soon as team A scores, your odds will drop and you can sell your bet with profit! Making money in a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds.
MINIMIZE YOUR LOSS - If your bets turns out to be a looser, you can still trade it and minimize the loss. Sometimes, you might even break even and get out of the situation like nothing happened.

There are many other options you can take advantage of, but let's start at the begining.

Betfair is not a classic bookmaker (although it can be used as one), it is a betting exchange. Meaning - you can buy or sell bets before and during the game. Sounds complicated? Well, it isn't. A great advantage of Betfair are their high odds - about 20% higher than normal. Why ? The odds are not being regulated by the bookie, you decide and choose the odds. Players are responsible for their liability and the ones who lost - pay to the other ones who have won. And what's Betfair's share? Every winner has to pay 5% of their winnings to Betfair. This commission can also be less than 5%, depends on your betting activity. The more you bet - the less you pay. As you can see - Betfair is nothing more than an interface where players from around the globe can bet against each other. For this service, they charge commission that has to be paid by the winners. They are the only bookie who'd like you to win big! The more you win - the more they earn. You won't get any limits like you could with some other bookmaker.

Your first impression when visiting Betfair would be something like that: "What the hell is this? Back, lay...too complicated" and you'd close the page. A MISTAKE! Complicated only at first sight, on the other hand - this is an innovative system that has been around since 2003! Betfair gives you a chance to place a bet AGAINST the result, which isn't possible with a regular bookmaker (Bwin & co.) . Regular bookmaker only accept bets FOR the result..

Let's take a look at a classic soccer match:

What do we see here ? It is a match between Liverpool and Chelsea. Going In Play means - the odds will be available during the game. Matched € means that there are already 1.640.848€ matched bets on this game. The teams - Liverpool, Chelsea and The Draw. You should take a look at blue and pink fields. Back line means - you bet FOR the result, like with a regular bookmaker. Liverpool Back odds are 2.38. Meaning, if you place a bet BACK LIVERPOOL they need to win. If Chelsea wins, or the match ends in a draw - you've lost. Same for Chelsea - odds are 3.75 and the draw with odds 3.1. Those are regular bets, like with every other bookie, just odds here are about 20% higher. Meaning, if you place 10€ on Liverpool to win (BACK), you can loose 10€, or win 23.8€.

If you don't wish to go any further, this is enough and all you need to know to place bets at higher odds than before. If you'd like to know more about the secrets hiding beneath Betfair - read on.

Lay column (pink) means that you'll be betting against the result. LAY LIVERPOOL means that Liverpool won't win. Chelsea will, or the game should end with a draw. Lay odds are 2.4, and if Liverpool wins, you'll loose at this odd. If you bet 10€ against Liverpool, you'll receive 20€ if Chelsea wins or game ends with a draw. In case you were wrong and Liverpool wins, you won't loose only 10€, but you'll loose them at 2.4 - this is 14€! And this is the tricky part that most of the players don't understand.

Remember - you're not playing against the company - you're playing against other players.

And the money you'll place your bets at lay side, has to be equal on the back side. Picture this - if you'd be placing a back bet at 2.4 and risk 10€, you could win 24€, right? Now reverse the situation - you are the one placing lay bet and somebody will place a back bet at your odd and YOU PAY HIS WINNINGS! (if you loose) This means 14€! The higher the lay odd - the more you'll have to pay. This shouldn't scare you. It's much easier to bet against the outcome than for! If you bet against (LAY), you account should have enough funds to cover losses in case you loose. This is called LIABILITY. Let's take a look:

As you can see, Betfair automatically shows our liability - 14€! This money will be reserved and taken off your betting account at the moment you place the bet. If you lost - it's gone, if you've won - you'll get it all back + your winnings. If Liverpool wins, you'll receive 24€! (14€ liability paid back + 10€ pure profit). You have to keep track of your Profit/Loss and Betfair will keep it visible on the screen:

Once again, if Liverpool wins - you loose 14€, In case of a draw or if Chelsea wins, you'll make 9.50€ - not 10€, because they've already calculated 5% of their commission if you should win!

This is Betfair. Maybe there is too much information, and maybe you should read it once again. These are the basics and the rest is based on this system. We haven't even touched trading yet. But from what you've learned so far, you can easily say "In this match, I don't expect 0-0, I think there won't be 7 goals..."

For every Lay bet - you'll have to pay liability, so don't place bets with huge lay odds.

With in-play betting - the odds are changing as well. With one difference - the bookmaker doesn't change it - the players are changing it. Click lay field and take a look at "BACKER'S ODDS", or "YOUR ODDS" sliders and click them up or down. If you're very confident that Liverpool won't win, enter LAY odd 6 and stake 10€. If you place a bet like this, it will show up on the BACK side with odds 6 and 10€ under it: this means that someone (you) has offered the highest odd so far (before that - as we can see from the screenshot - 2.38) and there are 10€ available to place a bet on. I'm sure you won't be waiting long and some Liverpool fan will fight for your bet, since he can place a bet for his favourite team at 6.0! He can invest up to 10€ on it. Are you getting it? All your actions affect the market! You have to take the responsibility (Liability) at 6.0, meaning - Betfair will immediately take 50€ off your account, should Liverpool win. And if this happens, the lucky Liverpool fan, who matched your bet, would receive your liability. As soon as somebody (or more players) place 10€ on our 6.0 bet, the bet moves from UNMATCHED TO MATCHED and "MATCHED" amount on top adds your stake. In case Liverpool doesn't win, you'll get those 10€, someone has placed on the back side of your bet. It may be complicated at first, but try it out. Don't place bets, just experiment with them and you'll get it.

Now you know how to place a bet at higher or lower odds than available ones... Quite simple - you could place a LAY bet at 1.10 and enter 10€ as your stake. In case you win, you win 10€ but in case you lost, you loose only 1€! Why ? Multiply your 10€ x 1.10 and withdraw your stake = 10x1.10-10=1€! But keep in mind, that at the moment - available odds to back Liverpool are 2.38 and no one will be ready to back Liverpool at only 1.1 as long as they have a much higher odd available.

Another example - four minutes before the game ends, Liverpool leads with 1-0. As there is not much time left, the majority thinks that Liverpool would win and the odds are dropping. In our case - it's only 1.05 to back this result, and 1.10 to lay it. This is a great chance for you to lay this result, as soccer is very unpredictable and the goals can be scored in the last seconds. Lay Liverpool with 10€ and if Chelsea does hit it once again, you win 10€! In case result remains like it is, you loose only 1€. Great!

Now we're on 3/4 of the Betfair presentation article. Here are the basics of trading (you'll find more specific strategies in our strategy section)

As we all know - trading is profitable if you: BUY LOW - SELL HIGH! Every store and every stock exchange works that way. This is also how Betfair works. Remember a very important fact: BACK ODDS HAVE TO BE HIGHER THAN LAY ODDS, IF YOU'D LIKE TO MAKE PROFIT TRADING! If not, you'll only loose your hard earned money.

You know that the odds are dropping if there isn't much time and the result would most likely stay the way it is. An example - before the game starts, if you'd like to lay 0-0 on a soccer match, the odds would be around 8. The majority expects to see at least one goal, but if the result stays at 0-0, and you'd put 10€ stake, you could win 80€! In case we are already at the 85th minute of the game, still no goal, the odds would be about 1.10, as we are almost certain that we won't see a goal here. Of course, this can always happen, even in the 93rd minute, but the market doesn't work that way. The odds that we'll see a goal in the last minute are slim. All those market movements can be traded and this makes trading profitable.

Once again we'll use our Liverpool - Chelsea game and click on TOTAL GOALS, as we'd like to place a bet on how many goals we expect to see on a game:

As you can see - the odds for "1 goal or more", are very low, as everyone expekts to see at least one goal. The odds for 7 goals or more are extremely high! With teams like this, it's hard that we'll see 7 goals in one match. And now you can choose if you'd like to back or lay a certain result! In case you agree that the game will produce at least one goal or more, click BACK 1 goal or more at 1.15. If your stake is 10€ you could win 11.5€, as it is very likely that we will in fact see at least one goal. If you lay 1 goal or more, click LAY 1 goals or more (pink), and this is much more profitable. If your stake is 10€, you could win 10€ or loose only 1,60€. This is our liability. We win only if the result stays 0-0 after 90 minutes and this isn't likely to happen.

Let's pick something else...hmm... we won't see 4 goals. Meaning - click Lay 4 goals or more at 6. If your first thought was - what if the game ends with 3-1 or 2-2, well -: "WHO SAID THAT WE WILL WAIT TILL THE MATCH IS OVER?" That's right! Now, this is called trading. If you LAY 4 GOALS OR MORE before the game, with 10€, your account is missing 50€ (liability). Don't worry - we'll get it back soon. Once the game begins, the odds will be rising every minute without a goal. 15 minutes after kick-off, the odds for BACK 4 goals or more are already around 6.2. (before the game started - 5.74). And what did we say? Back need to be higher than lay! And what's our situation? We've LAY-ed at 6, we'll back at 6.2! Not a big difference and a small stake, but we'll win 100%. We'll start our Betfair Calculator (click) . Download it to your computer and leave it on whenever you're trading:

Stake - 10€, already layed wish to back. Enter BACK odds and LAY odds, the result should be "TO EQUALISE: 9.67€". This means that we have to place a BACK bet with 9.67€ and we'll make 0.32€ no matter how many goals will be scored. We can trade like that, everywhere, just wait for the odds to come your way. And now we've come to the end of our tutorial. .

Now you're ready to open your account with Betfair. Before you are able to withdraw money from Betfair, they will need to check your identity. Scan your personal ID (for age verification) and an Utility Bill (to verify your address). The payments are always visible on your account within 24 hours (Moneybookers)

Click here to open your account.

Betfair is offering a 25€ freebet for new customers.

ADD-ON: HOW DOES BETFAIR WORK? WITH SIMPLE EXAMPLES

Due to many requests to explain Betfair even further, we've decided to list some more examples in order to teach you, how betting exchange works.

CASE 1:

PLAYER 1 (TIM) and PLAYER 2 (JASON) both like to bet and today they sit in a room and will place bets on a soccer match Chelsea - Manchester.

Tim is a fan of Chelsea and is prepared to bet 100€ on them. He searched the Internet and the average odds on Chelsea were about 1.90 (decimal). He doesn't bet against a bookie, he bets against a friend and has the power to adjust the odds. He decides, he'll bet 100€ at 2.0 on Chelsea to win. He puts his 100€ on a desk. If he's right, he'll get 200€. His own stake back + he'll make a 100€. This is called - BACK CHELSEA. But first, he needs somebody, who'll give him this 100€ which he wants to make.

Jason knows soccer and doesn't fancy Chelsea. He'd like to bet against them with 100€ at 2.0, which were offered by Tim. This is called LAY Chelsea.

Both players have now given their stake to the table - 200€. If Chelsea wins, Tim gets all of it as he has placed a bet on them. If Chelsea doesn't win, the 200€ belong to Jason, as he bets against them. So, if the game ends with a draw or Manchester to win, Jason is our lucky winner.

CASE 2:

Tim would like to bet 100€ on Chelsea, but at much higher odds - 3.40. He puts his 100€ on the table.

Jason would like to lay Chelsea (bet against) with 100€ but doesn't like the odds. Why? If he puts only 100€ to the table, Tim could win only 200€ which is not correct, as he wanted to win at 3.40. This means - Jason needs to add 140€ to his stake, all together 240€ to the table to match Tim's request. In case Chelsea wins, Tim gets the money on the table - 100€ his own stake back + Jason's stake 240€ - TOTAL 340€. Should Chelsea loose the game, Jason gets his 240€ back + 100€ from Tim.

CASE 3:

Tim is 100% that we'll see at least one goal in this game.This is very likely to happen and he can't ask for high odds, but 1.10 should do. He'll bet 100€ on it.

Jason thinks that this is one of those games that could end goalless. He sees Tim with his 100€ and odds 1.10 which is acceptable. This time he only puts 10€ on the desk, as 110€ is the amount Tim would win if the game ends with some goals. But, should the game end 0-0, Jason gets the money from the table - 110€! He could make a 100€ and only risk 10€ - this is something worth betting on!

This are the basics, how every bet needs somebody to bet against that decision. Now, in the real world, Tim and Jason aren't really sitting in the same room. They live thousands of miles away and the desk, where they put their money on is BETFAIR! It is a Internet Interface, where players can bet against each other. But they won't be alone. Millions of players are using Betfair trading so the competition will be heavy. Let the trading begin!

CASE 1:

Jason would bet against Chelsea, but has only 10€ to place them at 2.0. This is not enough for Tim, as he needs 90€ more for his bet to be completely matched and accepted. And this is called an Unmatched bet. Betfair will let Tim know that someone bet against his decision and 10€ are matched, the res remains open for other players. Tim has the choice to either lower the odds in order to make the bet more attractive, or wait for a while. Maybe someone will come along and take it...

Robert joins the game. He isn't a Chelsea fan and would like to bet against them. But he's rich and would like to risk 1000€. He puts his money on LAY Chelsea, although only 90€ were available. Tim's interface lets him know, the bet is matched 100%. What about Robert? His unmatched amount is now visible on the opposite site, waiting for another 910€ that need to be placed by players BACKING CHELSEA (he lay-ed them, so he needs the opposite site to Back them!)

And so on... but Tim and Jason aren't worried about Robert. Their bets are matched. In case Chelsea wins, Tim gets 200€. (100€ his own stake back + 10€ from Jason + 90€ from Robert). If Chelsea doesn't win, Jason gets his 20€ (10€ own stake back + 10€ from Tim). What about Robert? Maybe he chose that Chelsea might win after all and cancelled remaining 910€. But if they loose, he gets 180€ (his own 90€ back + 90€ from Tim).

In real world, you won't know where the money comes from, but this is how Betfair works. Every penny you make is something somebody else lost. Every game has a TOTAL MATCHED amount visible, so you can see how much money is matched at that time. This number can be up to 15.000.000€ high (maybe even over), so people are making some serious money with it. Someone will loose, someone will certainly win, otherwise, the bet wouldn't be matched.

CASE 2:

You're never alone on the Internet and trading is done by many people (100.000 or millions per game). Tim would like to bet on Chelsea at 2.0. The odds at the moment are at 1.77 (meaning, someone bet against Chelsea at 1.77). Not enough. Tim wants to make more, so he clicks on that 1.77, but enters his own odds 2.0. He's ready to loose 100€. But there is no response. Nobody wants to bet against them at 2.0. Why?.

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Betfair will always show up only the best odds for players. If you want to bet on Chelsea (back), the highest odds are 1.77. Tim wanted to bet at 2.0, so his bet would be displayed on the lay side to attract the opposing bettor. But, he is too far away. First, someone needs to bet against them at 1.79, 1.8 and 1.81 before the odds move in his direction. His offer is not even visible, so no one can bet on it.

He decides to cancel this bet and bet on Chelsea at 1.78. This is much more realistic, as this bet is between current back and lay option. He clicks on 1.77, enters 1.78 and amount 100€. The bet is visible on the lay side and is immediately matched by players who thank Tim for his low odds.

What about trading on Betfair?

CASE:

Chelsea can be bet on at 1.77 and Tim will place 100€ on this bet. He doesn't want to enter his own odds. He sees, he can place 999€ on this bet and it will get matched instantly (see screenshot above). But, he has only 100€ so he'll click on 1.77, enter 100€ and the bet is matched. By doing this, he made someone happy, who placed 999€ against Chelsea. But this can be one or more persons, the total amount was 999€. Now, there is only 899€ available, Tim took the rest..

He did that in the morning. Now, just minutes before the match starts, there is news on the TV, Manchester has a lot of injured players, some of them are very important for this match. The majority now places bets on Chelsea to win and this lowers the odds constantly. Why? A player came with a bet worth 10.000€ on Chelsea. He took it at 1.77. But there were only 899€ available, how come? Yes, 899€ are matched, the rest of his money is displayed on the lay side at 1.77. But another hot shot comes along and places 20.000€ at 1.76€ which is currently the highest available odd for Chelsea. It is matched, but a large stake wasn't and the rest is now displayed on the lay side with the unmatched amount at 1.76. With doing that, he puts the previous player in a bad position, as he doesn't have much chances to get his 1.77 matched. Why should someone lay at 1.77 if they have 1.76 available?

What about Tim, who already bet at 1.77 in the morning? He came to our website and read that whenever BACK ODDS ARE HIGHER THAN LAY ODDS, you'll make profit. How? He already gave 100€ to the table, which could make him 177€. But now, he gives another 100€ to the table and bets against Chelsea. At 1.76, he actually put only 76€ against them. This makes exactly 1€ difference between what he could win or loose. He created a free bet - if Chelsea wins, he gets 1€. Should they loose, he doesn't loose or make anything. Perfect. He could play around with the sliders on the calculator. If he bet 100.56€ against Chelsea, he'll make 0.56€ no matter how the game ends. Great.

This is a simple example with minimum odds fall.

Tim placed a bet and can now watch the game knowing, he might win with no risk. We've demonstrated a slight change in odds, which can make you money, but this changes can be huge as well. If he placed a bet on Chelsea and left it running, and Chelsea scored first, the odds will drop from 1.77 to maybe 1.30. All the players are so convinced in their victory, the odds will drop. If you put this numbers in the Betfair calculator, Tim would make 36,15€, no matter how the game ends. Great!

Remember:

- A bet must be MATCHED, meaning - you always have to find someone to bet against your decision! Otherwise, you'll put your money on the table, but there is nobody to join you and you can't make anything. A bet like this will be UNMATCHED - not accepted. Take your money from the table and put it back in your pocket. You can leave your UNMATCHED bet open until someone bets against you. If the game is "in play", you have 90 minutes to find someone until the game is over.

- On soccer, each goal means, all UNMATCHED bets will be canceled and the money you wanted to bet, will be returned to your account. Should this happen, you have to make another offer to your fellow players and attract them to bet against you..

How to minimize the loss if something goes wrong?

Tim placed a matched bet on Chelsea to win - 100€ @ 1.77. But...damn... in the 10th minute, Manchester scored for 0-1. Panic breaks out. Everyone who placed a bet on Chelsea is now scared and unsure if their team will actually win. The Manchester United fans are now pushing the odds for their favorite down, while Chelsea odds rise. Tim watches the odds move in the wrong direction and is concerned about his 100€. The odds for Chelsea are now 3.20, against Chelsea are 3.30. He already placed a bet on Chelsea, so he won't do that again. He puts the lay odds in the Betfair calculator and sees, if he bets 53,63€ against Chelsea, he'll loose only -46,36€. That's much better than to loose a 100€. He might also try the other approach and bet 100€ against Chelsea, so if they loose, he doesn't loose anything. But, should Chelsea win, he'd loose 152,99€! Is he ready to make that risky change?

My advice - NO! Except if you see that there is no way your team gets back in the game. It could happen that Chelsea strikes two times and wins. This will make him loose much more than just the initial stake.

CAREFUL IF THE LAY ODDS ARE HIGH!

As you can see, if the lay odds are below 2.0 - you'll always risk less than you can win. And that's the right way to go! With odds above 2.0, you'll always risk more than you can win!

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Take a look at this example. Chelsea is available at 1.77 and you can bet against Manchester at 5.7. You could bet 197€ against them. But - CAREFUL! Laying Manchester means, the game can end with a draw or Chelsea to win - you'll win. But someone bet against Manchester 197€ at 5.7. And he wants to win 197€ x 5.7. And you - the oposing bettor, are responsible to provide this money. If the back player wins, he'll win a nice amount of cash, but if you'll loose, you'll be in a terrible condition. Tim - a Chelsea fan would like to bet only 10€, but still, he has to reach in his pocket for 47€! Why? It's his responsibility to provide the winning amount to the guy who bet on Manchester! 10€ @ 5.7 = 47€ and this is the money he needs to have on account and is willing to loose, should Manchester win the game. Risky! But, if Chelsea scores first, he might be able to sell the bet with profit at once. If Tim wins, he'll get his 47€ back, making only 10€. This is why high lay odds can be a risk to your bank.

A while ago, there was a story circling around the Internet about a guy, who bet on horses on Betfair. He bet a nice amount of money. I don't know the details, but it was something like that - he bet 100€ against the horse who was running last and didn't seem to have a chance to win. The lay odds were about 200! Meaning, he had to put 199.000€ to the table to simply get this bet MATCHED. But...animals are animals... one horse fell and the other fell over him. The last one came running through, avoiding the obstacles and actually won the race! Our player earned the terrible title "Biggest Betfair Loser!". He could have won 1000€, but lost 200.000€! This is a risk not worth taking!

And don't forget - Betfair takes 5% commission from all your winnings. If you lost, you don't pay a thing. If you made 100€, you'll get 95€. This is their reward for the interface. Betfair is always in a win-win situation. If you see about 10.000.000€ amount of matched bets in a game, they will make 5% of this amount on this game, no matter what. Someone will win, as those numbers are matched bets! No risk, the money just keep poring in. Fantastic concept! But they are fantastic, offering the "table" where you put the money on and they will split it to the winners in a matter of minutes, once the game is over. Betfair offers unlimited opportunities you can't find with a regular bookmaker, so it's highly recommended for everyone betting on soccer and tennis., horses, cricket... Those markets have the highest liquidity. Other markets are available as well, but do not attract so many players and you'll have a hard time getting your bet matched. But - Betfair offers highest odds and highest limits, which are limited only by that, if you find someone to bet against you with the same amount).

OPEN YOUR BETFAIR ACCOUNT.

Betfair offers a 25€ free bet (to all new customers!)

How do I open a Betfair account?

Betfair offers several different world language interfaces. OPEN YOUR BETFAIR ACCOUNT (click) in a new window and click on CLAIM NOW.

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In a new window, you'll enter your personal details. Remember - you have to be over 18 to use Betfair! Name, surname, home address, e-mail, user-name, password... all the usual data. And in the field "Do you have a Promotion or "Refer and Earn" code?" you have to enter BET234 to receive your 25€ free-bet.

betfairrefferandearn

This means, you can place up to 25€ on your first bet and if you loose it, Betfair will refund your stake. If you win - you can celebrate already and there is no need for this free-bet. Of course you can bet less than 25€, but we strongly recommend - use this bonus 100%! It's valid for your first bet only and if you bet 1€, you'll receive only 1€ in case you lost.

Your betting account is now open. Scan your personal photo ID and a copy of a bill (phone, ...) that's registered on your name and address and send it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This way, you'll confirm your identity, age and address. If you don't do that, Betfair will remind you after a certain period of time. This validation is necessary if you want to withdraw money from them. So make sure you do that as soon as possible.

Money can be transferred to Betfair by bank transaction, all major credit card payments, Moneybookers or Paysafe card.

Before you make your first withdrawal (incl. your winnings), you have to withdraw the amount you've deposited in the first place. Meaning - if you've deposited 100€, you'll have to withdraw 100€. After that, you can withdraw the rest of your winnings. This is Betfair's way of checking your account. All other withdrawals after that are without restrictions and will be available in your account within 24 hours. Except if you ordered Bank transfer which may take longer.

Betfair is divided on general and Australian market. This means, if certain games are played on Australian soil, you'll have to move funds from the main wallet into the Australian wallet. You'll also have to confirm your identity once again for this market. Read all about that here. But for general use, you don't need to do that.

This concludes the Betfair instructions. You're ready to trade and win now. Simple.

Good luck!