Betting on the betting exchanges is becoming very popular and a lot of people are now heading towards them, alongside using traditional bookmakers. On the betting exchanges, punters have the ability to both bet as a punter in the traditional way and lay as a bookmaker, which has not been available until the exchanges came to life. This gives punters many different options and many different ways to approach their betting on the upcoming events. With many people now flocking to the exchanges, everyone is looking to find the winning strategy and an edge over the competition and that is where the back to lay strategy was born. Many people have started to do this and I expect even more will attempt it as word spreads, by starting now you can get yourself ahead of the field.
Back to Lay
When you back to lay on the betting exchanges you are actually placing two bets on the same selection. The first bet is where you back the selection to win and then you place a second bet where you lay the selection to lose. The idea behind this strategy is that you back the selection with the first bet at a bigger price than what you lay it in the second bet, giving you two possible outcomes. The first outcome is that you will give yourself a free bet on the selection that you have chosen, or the second is that you will guarantee yourself a profit, regardless of whether your selection wins or loses.
There are many risks involved in this type of betting and to do well and make regular profits you need to be able to read the markets well and know which way they are going.
Bet One: Backing
The first bet that you need to place when backing to lay is the bet where you will back your selection to win. To maximise the chances of profit you need to back when the selection is at its highest price, this will give you the biggest margin. You need to find a market where the selection is going down in price, so you can then place a bet to lay the selection at a smaller price, later on, giving you a successful back to lay bet.
When you are backing to lay a selection it is very important that you decide on the stakes you are going to use before you start betting. This makes sure that you know what you are doing and you can quickly react to the market, placing your two bets exactly when you need them, without having to think.
Bet Two: Laying
The second bet you need to place when you are backing to lay is the bet where you lay the selection after you have previously backed it. To ensure you make a profit, or have a free bet then you need to make sure that the lay bet on the selection is at a lower price than what the selection was backed at. If you can’t do this because the market has moved the wrong way then your back to lay bet will not work and you will make a loss. Backing at a price higher than you lay is the one key thing that determines your profit, you have to get this right.
Depending on the system you are going to use will decide what size the lay bet will be. If you are wanting to give yourself a free bet on your selection by laying back then you will accept a bet that is exactly the same stake as the first bet you place. However, if you are looking to have a guaranteed
profit from your back to lay bets, regardless of the outcome, then the lay bet you take needs to be a higher stake than what you placed when backing.
Back to Lay For a Free Bet
Backing to lay for a free bet is one of the two common methods used by people who back to lay selections. When using this method you will back your selections, and then lay the selection after at a shorter price but for the same stake. This difference between the odds were you back and lay is what decides your profit on the bet, so the bigger this gap is the more profit you will make.
The end result here should be a situation where if your selection wins you will win a small profit, but if it loses then you will not lose any money.
Here is an example of backing to lay for a free bet
Bet One: £20 staked to win at 5.00 (4/1) on your selection
Bet Two: £20 layed to lose at 4.00 (3/1) on your selection
If your selection wins then you will make a profit of £80 from the first be you places, however, you will have to pay out £60 from the second bet you placed. You profit on the race if this is the outcome will be £20.
If your selection loses then you will lose the £20 stake money from bet one, but you will win the £20 stake money from the winning lay in bet two. This means that you will make zero profit or loss from the race, effectively because you had given yourself a free bet on the selection to win.
This is an example of giving yourself a free bet on your chosen selection. This is the method to use if you fancy the selection to win, instead of just backing it purely to make some profit from your back to lay bet. Your profit when doing this will not be anywhere near if you were to back the selection to win on its own, but you have the safety net of knowing the bet is a free bet, with no chance of losing any money.
Backing to Lay For Guaranteed Profit
The second method to use when backing to lay is all about securing a profit on an event, regardless of the outcome, anything can win and you would still be in profit. This method uses the same principles as the one above, but the lay bet is changed slightly to give an overall profit, instead of giving a free bet scenario like to does above.
To give yourself an overall profit on the market, regardless of what wins you need to change to a stake of the lay bet so that it is more than the stake you placed when backing your selection. This is tougher to do, and the profit margins are smaller, but it is a guaranteed profit, regardless of what wins the event.
Here is an example of backing to lay for guaranteed profit
Bet One: £20 staked to win at 5.00 (4/1) on your selection
Bet Two: £25 layed to lose at 4.00 (3/1) on your selection
In this example if your selection wins the event then you will make a profit of £80 on your first bet, however, you will have to pay out £75 from bet two. This leaves you with an overall profit of £5 on the event if your selection wins.
If your selection loses then you will lose your £20 stake money placed in bet one, but you will win the £25 stake money from the winning lay in bet two. This gives you an overall profit of £5 on the event if your selection loses.
In this example, you are giving yourself a guaranteed profit, regardless of what the result it. In this position, you will make £5 profit and it does not matter what wins the race that £5 profit will still be there. This method is used by people who are simply looking for profit from their betting, and they don’t necessarily fancy their selection to win the race, they are backing it because they think the market will move.
In Conclusion
When backing to lay goes well you can either secure yourself a free bet on an event or give yourself a position where you guarantee a profit. However, to do either of these you need to be able to read the market correctly and place your back and lay bets at exactly the right moment. If the prices are very similar or worse if the lay price is bigger than the back price then you will not pull off the bet and you will lose money. This is when it becomes dangerous and you must feel comfortable with this before you start betting with real money and big stakes.
When you back to lay and it works you give yourself a great betting position and one that will only see your betting bank rise in the long term. The rise may take a while because we are talking about small profits here and there, but your betting bank will mov