Definition:
A bet is simply a wager that a particular event will not occur, ie the betmaker takes over.
Example:
Imagine that Man Utd is playing Aston Villa in football. If expressed in decimal odds, the odds of Man Utd winning are 2.25 or 5/4 fractionally. Aston Villa’s win is possible with 4 (or 3). The odds of winning the draw are 3 or 2/1.
If you wanted to place a bet on Aston Villa winning, and were prepared to pay PS10, this is basically offering PS10 to someone who would like to wager on Aston Villa winning. You’re taking the place the Bookie and allowing punters to place a wager.
You place a wager against an event. In this case, you’re betting against Aston Villa winning. You are considered successful if Aston Villa loses or draws. You can only lose your money if they win.
Any bet can be placed at any online exchange. The most popular are Betfair and Mansion. These will be discussed in greater detail in the article.
If Aston Villa wins, you will have to pay PS40. (The PS10 Lay and then the PS30 Winners – PS10 Lay x odds of four = PS40
If Aston Villa loses or draws, you will get the PS10 lay. This was the punters’ money.
Another example:
Imagine that Arsenal is playing Tottenham Hotspur in football. If you convert decimal odds to odds, the odds of Arsenal winning are 3 (or 2). The odds of Tottenham Hotspur winning are 4 (or 3/1). The odds of winning the draw are 2.25 (or 5.4)
You can place them to win if you believe there will be an upset and Arsenal will lose. At odds of 3:0, you can lay them with PS40. This means that you will earn PS40 if Arsenal loses or draws.
If Arsenal win, you will have to bet PS120. (The PS40 Lay and then the PS80 Winners – PS40 Lay x odds 3 = PS120
Making money with this:
This may sound like gambling to you. However, there are ways to make sure that you win with the help of online bookies.
Many online bookmakers will offer a sign-up bonus. For example, if you sign up and place PS30 bets, you will receive a PS30 free bet.
Profits can be made by matching/laying bets/bonus bets.
Matching a bet means that you cover both sides of the bet.
As mentioned in the article, you could imagine placing a wager. You then make the exact same bet, but you place a bet on a different amount and at different odds at a bookmaker. You will receive your winnings from the bet, but you will have to pay out for your lay. These are the cases where both outcomes cancel out. You have not only lost but also gained nothing. If you use bonus money or a free bet, you’ll make a profit on either the lay or the win.
It is important to note that you should try to lay a bet at odds that are as close as possible to actual odds available at the Bookmakers. This ensures that there is minimal risk when placing bets. You can also guarantee a profit if the lay odds at Exchange are lower than the odds at Bookmaker.
A Matched Bet made with your own money.
The odds of Chelsea winning is 3, or 2/1. These are their odds of winning at the bookmakers. The odds of Chelsea winning the Premiership are the same as for betting on the exchange.
You can cancel each other if you place PS10 on Chelsea winning the Premiership at the Bookmakers and then lay PS10 at The Exchange.
If Chelsea wins the Premiership, you will get PS30 from Bookmakers (PS20 profit) and the PS10 win with the winnings. The lay at the Exchange will cost you PS30. This includes their PS10 stake as well as the PS20 winnings. Thus, you will make a profit of PS20 at the Bookmakers and a loss of PS20 at the Exchange. You are now back at square one and you have not made any gains or losses.
To confirm, if Chelsea had not won the Premiership you would have lost the PS10 bet at Bookmakers but won the PS10 lay on the Exchange. Again, each of these cancels out.
This is all pretty useless unless you are using a free wager.
A Matched Bet made with your own money.
To keep things simple, we will continue to use the same scenario.
There are 3/1 odds that Chelsea will win the Premiership. These are their odds of winning at the bookmakers. The odds of Chelsea winning the Premiership are the same as for betting on the exchange.
You will make a profit no matter what if you place a PS10 free bet on Chelsea winning the Premiership at Bookmakers and then lay PS10 at the Exchange.
You will win PS30 if Chelsea wins the Premiership. As long as the stake-returned free bet was not returned, The lay would require you to pay PS20 at the Exchange. You will then have a total profit of PS10 (PS30 wins minus PS20 lay loss).
If Chelsea loses the Premiership, you have lost your free-bet. However, you won your PS10 lay so you will make PS10 profit.
This scenario shows that you can get almost all of your free-bet winnings back by using a free wager. It is not always possible to get the entire amount back due to a few problems. Lay Exchanges often charge a commission for winnings from a lay or bet. Betfair is the most well-known Exchange. The commission is typically %5.
The free-bet may sometimes be SNR, or stake non-returned. If you place a PS10 wager on odds of 2/1, you won’t get your stake back.
These and other problems can be easily resolved by the spreadsheets and programs that are freely available to anyone who wants to work out their bet matching. You can usually use these to create a field for you to enter a non-stake returned figure (or stake forfeit) and also to allow you to enter your Exchange commission rate.
Many times, when entering odds into the spreadsheet, programs won’t accept decimal odds. Although most Bookies can offer fractional odds on request, it’s easy enough to convert the two.
If fractional odds were 4/1 then divide the top by bottom and add 1.
4 / 1 = 4 + 1 = 5.
Or, if the fractional odds were 4/4:
5/4 = 1.25 + 1 = 2.25
