Win,Lay,Trade

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Before the advent of betting exchanges, us punters were suddenly opened to many new possibilities with our betting. Before we were only able to place bets how the bookies wanted us to but Betfair allowed us to become the bookmaker without the overheads and lay horses to lose.

With the ability of laying horses also came the first true free market for sports betting and this was closely followed by traders who started trading on the moves within the market.

For new bettors it is now a minefield of possibilities and knowing where to start can be very confusing. Betfair is also regularly adding to its markets which, while being great for experienced bettors like myself, does not help those of you who are just starting out on the road to profitability.

The three main types of betting on a betting exchange are Win and Lay betting or trading. So which is the best?

Going against the grain of what most people say I feel that win betting is still the best place for you to begin finding profits and I feel this for a number of good reasons.

The first reason is that betting exchanges are designed, by definition of the market, geared towards win bettors. This means that it is much harder to make a profit laying than it is for winning. An easy way to see this is by Betfair's own advertising. They advertise an average of 20% better odds than a bookmaker. If the odds are that much better than a bookmaker then how much harder is it going to be to make a profit being the bookmaker?

That removes lay betting from the contention. Trading is not preferred for punters trying to become professional for different reasons. It is certainly possible to make money on every race but this is by no means guaranteed and it is by no means easy. A certain level of skill needs to be acquired in order to do this.

'But the same applies to win betting!' I hear you say. Well yes it does, but the biggest difference is that this knowledge can be learnt in the evenings and weekends with win betting while traders have to be watching the live markets during the day and if you are only doing it on a Saturday and Sunday then it is going to take a long time to get the skills required. The patience and concentration required for trading is also, I believe, not possible for a lot of people (myself included).

Of course if you have the time and temperament to trade then it is certainly a good place to start but for the majority of you I would look to place win bets and utilize that 20% advantage over bookmakers that Betfair keep telling us they give.