Betfair launched its sports betting platform in 2000, and since then has become a paradise for those who want to take full potential of their expertise in sports betting. Unlike what happens with a traditional bookmaker, Betfair is a betting exchange, which works in the style of a stock market and selling shares, but actually represents a market purchase and sale of bets, called Trading on Betfair. The difference of trading on Betfair to a common bet is that when playing in a common betting house, the player is playing against his bookmaker, while Betfair, gamblers play against each other. This revolutionary new trading system and purchase and sale of betting, you place your bets when there is liquidity in the market, and even that can sell at any time you wish, receiving dividends from there.
Before we move to the more advanced issues of Trading on Betfair, we must first understand how precisely Trading works on Betfair. In this tutorial, we will focus our attention on the football market, and the same principles apply to Horse Racing, Basketball, Tennis, and basically any other sport.
If you are not yet a user of Betfair, we recommend you open an account and receive a bonus to treble the odds on your first bet and a refund of up to 1000EUR on its register. To register, click here! If you wish, you can also read our review of Betfair, which included massive information about this revolutionary bookmaker.
How to work the Trading on Betfair?
Betfair is the world’s largest betting exchange, which offers punters a platform for trading online betting. Betfair was the first to introduce the concept of trading bets where punters hold their bets against each other, rather than the conduct against the bookmaker. On Betfair you will never be the place bets, but to do trading bets.
The best example to explain this betting trading idea is this: imagine two friends to place a bet while watching a football game. Betfair takes the earnings of both while the game is in progress. When the game ends and the bet is validated, Betfair delivers the money to the winner and gets a tiny percentage of the profits.
Bets matched and non-matched
When you suggest to a friend conducting a bet, he can accept or decline the proposal. This is exactly the scenario that occurs when performing sports betting on Betfair. You can challenge other players to perform bets, or you can just accept the proposal of other players. When you suggest a bet someone, you have to wait for the other person to accept. Only when another bidder accepts the bet is that your bet is matched. sometimes, it is the Betfair that corresponds to your bet. For a bet to enter and be validated, it necessarily has to be matched. If not met, it will not enter the system and you will have to choose to perform another bet any.
How does Betfair charge commissions?
Betfair charge commissions only on the bet winner gains. If you lose your bet, you have nothing to pay to Betfair (no liability). If you are not an active user in trading the Betfair, you will pay a commission of 5% while other more active bettors will be entitled to slightly lower commissions. The discount / commission rates are made based on your Betfair points. You receive 1 point for each time you call a bet of commission earned worth 0,10EUR, or when another gambler pays that amount because you lost your bet.
To receive a 50% discount on the value of your commission, you have to accumulate 80,000 Betfair points or pay something like 8,000EUR in commissions with their opponents. The maximum discount allowed is 60%, and is assigned to bettors paying equal global commissions or above 15,000EUR. To understand how commissions are charged, see some of the following examples.
Betfair Trading: How to buy and sell bets
The concept of trading on Betfair is very similar to the concept of trading of shares in the financial market. There is a platform to carry out trading, and the ability to buy and sell bets, as with buying and selling shares. However, the terminology used in the Betfair is slightly different from that used in the financial markets.
In the stock market, when a trader buys or sells, he is buying short or long positions, respectively. Betfair, buy and sell bets is commonly called back and lay (bet for and against).
The combination of both types of betting is to make the Betfair an online betting platform so powerful – to bet for and against, the player is basically to take on a position player or betting house, literally, and can choose which position intend to use depending on the type of business that is doing with your trading.
Betfair site offers two types of probabilities (odds) for each type of result at football games, horse racing, etc. The first type, is the odds to back and the second the odds to lay. Let’s see how they work the back and lay operations (betting behalf and against) on Betfair since then.
Bet behalf (Back)
The Back operation (bet in behalf) is basically bet on something you want to happen. For example, you can make a back to a particular team or horse, if you believe that this team / horse will win the match / race. As a common bookmaker, you have to choose the value of your bet (Stake) and click the “Back” button. The only difference with Betfair on a common bookmaker, is that you can define what you want the odds for your bet!
If you win your bet, you will get your stake (Stake) multiplied by the value of the odds, less the commission Betfair. The base commission, as we have seen, is normally 5% on profits for the bet. If you lose your bet, you lose your bet (Stake) and will not have to pay any extra fee.
Once a common bookmaker does not charge commissions, the odds to back (bet in behalf) on Betfair are usually higher than in other bookmakers. This sometimes confuses players seeking Betfair simply because they have better odds, without realizing why it happens.
Bet against (Lay)
Make a Lay on Betfair is betting against a possible outcome. For example, you can make a lay to a particular team or horse, if you believe that this team / horse will lose the game / race. In other words, you are acting like a bookmaker, and as such, it is you who decides which odds for this event.
If you hit your bet, you get the value of your bet (Stake) multiplied by two, less commission Betfair. If you lose your bet, your loss will be equal to the value of your bet (Stake) multiplied by the value of the odds – no commission charged in this case.
As can be seen easily, make a lay is much more risky to do a back once you lose much more when your lay is wrong. That’s the big reason why the vast majority of gamblers tend to ignore bets against (Lay) in trading the Betfair.
Set your probabilities (odds)
Betfair allows you to set your own odds bets on both back and lay (behalf and against). This option is especially interesting when you want to reduce the risk of its trading operation on Betfair. The odds shown on Betfair odds are the average of all the punters who did back or lay a given event. However, their odds will influence the market and therefore change the average odds according to this change.
When several bettors increase the odds to lay the punters who are making bets in behalf (back) have no choice but to accept these new odds averages for the market, and vice versa. On the other hand, if you are the only one to increase the odds to lay, your bet will probably not met, since no one will be interested in accepting their conditions.
If you are not yet a user of Betfair, we recommend you open an account and receive a bonus of 20 EUR and a refund of up to 1000EUR on its register. To register, click here! Take advantage of this amazing bonus and start to trading on Betfair today!
