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{mosimage}Betfair is the world's leading betting exchange, a concept it pioneered.
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. Since Betfair was launched in June 2000 it has become the largest online betting company in the UK and the largest bet exchange in the world. Betfair currently has over 1,000,000 clients and a turnover in excess of £50m/week. In addition to the exchange Betfair has an established games portfolio, including Betfair Poker, Betfair Casino and a number of exchange-enabled games.
Betfair is a licensed bookmaker in the UK. It also has licences in Australia, Malta, Austria and Germany.
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.
- You can play on a range of products and innovative games.
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Betfair uses decimal odds, which are easier to calculate with than fractional 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. Its bookmaking model brings together two counterparties with opposing views, and thus removes the need for a bookmaker's markup or overround. As a result, the odds are up to 20% better than bookmakers' odds, according to the site's operators. Betfair punters are able to offer odds based on their own opinion rather than on a set bookmakers' margin. Betfair charges a commission on all winning bets, which is set at 5% of the net winnings for most markets, although according to how much a client wagers on the site, it is possible to reduce the amount of commission paid to as low as 2%.
The Betfair interface can be seen as bearing a strong similarity to that of the Stock Exchange, with the 'bet' and 'lay' options comparing to the buying and selling of derivatives. Indeed there are many professionals who play the Betfair market for profit, using purpose-designed software, in much the same way as a Stock market trader.
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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 Man Utd, you offer odds to other punters who wish to back Man Utd. If Man Utd don't win, then you pick up the backer's stake. If Man Utd 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.
Read the following articles based on Betfair's interface:
Make Money Trading Fixed Odds
Losing elsewhere, winning in Betfair
Trading in Betfair with Mozilla Firefox
Trading Options Before Kick-off
Charts and Trading Opportunities In-play
Tutorial: Trading Charts in Betfair
Video: Making EUR53 by Scalping Before the Race Starts
Who pays commission? How are odds affected?
Calculate Commission in Betfair
Or read the Sports Trading Performance and Sports Betting Performance in Betfair.
Resources: Betfair Official Site , Wikipedia
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My name is Jimmakos and I am a full time Gambler. I started playing blackjack in 2003 in the local casino until I wasn't allowed to enter. During the following 2.5 years I traded the UK Horse Racing markets in Betfair.com. Nowadays I'm playing poker online mainly at 