How would it sound if someone told you that you would have won 10,000€ more by betting in exactly the same way you do, except you bet in Betfair?

Certainly, most bettors see Betfair as another betting company. I will login to my account someone would say, I'll place my bet on the team I'd like and I'd turn my computer off. However, he neglects many possibilities that Betfair offers.

First, the most obvious example is the difference between the odds. When the average odds of the other bookmakers is 1.50, Betfair will offer 1.65. Many would say now, that the differences are not so big any more or they don't really care about the odds,  I just want to place my bets. No objection on the latter, but in comparison to the former, there are some. That is because the odds are the beginning and the end concerning the viability and the profitability of a system/strategy.

If for instance I have a system which predicts with 50% success, then I should seek for odds over 2.00. Let's say now that there is another bettor like me applying the same method, but bets in Betfair. While I would bet on average at 2.00 playing on other betting companies, the second bettor would be offered the same exactly games by betfair at average odds of 2.05. Is it possible this 0.05 to be so important?

Let's say that both bettors bet 100€ on each game and there are total 1000 games we bet on (so that we have a satisfactory sample). Me playing with average odds of 2.00 and having a strike rate of 50% I will end up at zero profit and I would consider quitting my method as non profitable. At the same time, the other bettor would show a profit of 2,500€ betting in exactly the same way! When he loses, he would give away 100€ but when he wins, he will get 105€ in return. So, 5€ in net profits out of 2 games (loses 1, wins 1 in an ideal scenario), multiplied by 500 (=1000/2) returns that amount.

Returning to the second part of the discussion (I don't care about the odds, I just want to place my bet), we can see that even when betting is done recreationally, we can still do it and manage showing a profit by betting with Betfair.

The article was published in Betfairinfo.gr.