Betfair is the world’s leading betting exchange, a concept it pioneered. Betfair is a licensed bookmaker in the UK. It also has licences in Australia, Malta, Austria and Germany
All bets on Betfair are placed there by users who either want to bet for a selection or outcome in the normal way (back), or bet against a selection or outcome (lay), bets are matched between people with opposing views.
Why Betfair?, Betfair offers you unprecedented choice, value and control, You can bet that an outcome will happen (back) or that it won’t happen (lay). You can choose the odds you want to play at. You can bet whilst the game is in play.
How do I use the Exchange?, When you “back” a selection (be it an individual, a team, horse, dog or other), you are betting that it will win. This is just like betting with a conventional bookie. When you “lay” it, you are betting against it winning.
For example, if you’re betting in a market on which team is going to win the Premiership and you lay Sydney Swans, you offer odds to other punters who wish to back Sydney Swans. If Sydney Swans don’t win, then you pick up the backer’s stake. If Sydney Swans wins, then you pay out. This is what bookmakers traditionally do.
Although Betfair knows who is on each side of every bet matched through the exchange, you never know who you are betting against. Your privacy and the confidentiality of your bets is maintained by Betfair’s secure site.
Choose your odds, If you want better odds than are currently available, you can place an order for a better price, but be realistic because there has to be somebody prepared to lay the bet at those odds, and vice versa.
Take a look at the odds before an event and you will see them change as Betfair members back and lay their bets. The odds often improve nearer to the off as the number of people in the market increases.
I had planned on writing a long and impressive spiel about Betfair and the benefits of being an account holder with them, but thought “Oh sod it” and just cut and pasted the above from the Betfair site, ‘hey isn’t that what everyone does”.
Regardless though Betfair has been a revolation to punters and to be honest if you don’t have an account with Betfair then you are doing yourself a major disservice, odds are consistantly higher than anywhere else, and with the added advantage of being able to lay bet makes Betfair the no.1 site online today.
Add to that their Live Betfair radio, Live video streaming of many sporting events and the numerous tools made available to their customers, it really is betting as it should be!.
