Betting exchanges allow you to place two kinds of bets:

Backing a selection – Betting on a selection to win.

Laying a selection – Betting on a selection to lose. When placing a lay bet you act as the bookmaker.
how to make money sports betting
Betfair allows you to trade on almost anything imaginable, from Politics to Surfing.

There are 2 types of odds, namely:

• Decimal Odds (European), which we will be focusing on,
• Fractional Odds (UK).

The majority of bookmakers make use of fractional odds. Betfair makes use of Decimal Odds so we will be focussing on them. I also find these odds a lot easier than fractional.

Odds are basically the chance something has of occurring. Let's take a horse race as an example.

The following should give you a representation of how the odds are used to calculate your profit or loss…

If I had to back “Dolce Dovo” with £20 (betting on him to win): £20 x 2.26 - £20 = £25.20 profit.

If I had to lay “Dolce Dovo” with £20 (betting on him to lose): £20 x 2.28 - £20 = £25.20 liability. This is the money you stand to lose if Dolce Dovo wins the race. If he loses, you will win double your stake of £20 (backers stake) which gives you a profit of £20.

The best odds available for a back or lay bet will always be the two centre columns.

If you need to convert odds, Betfair provides a very handy odds conversion tool. This can be found on the “Help” tab which appears on the right of your screen once you have clicked on a selection.

If you need further help/information on odds, please go here:

To get the best indications of the bets you are placing, you may want to make the following changes to your Betfair account.

The “Options” button can be found at the top right of Betfair. It becomes visible once you have selected a market.

The Weight Of The Money
This is an essential component of Betfair which I believe it's good to cover.

Odds are determined by the amount of people placing back and lay bets.

More money in the back column will cause the odds to rise. More money in the lay column will cause the odds to fall.

In the above screenshot you will notice that more money is coming into the lay column, therefore the odds will drop. The reason for this is far more people are trying to back this horse which leaves hardly anyone wanting to match the odds and lay the horse. Punters who are backing the horse then lower the odds in hope they get matched.

You earn Betfair points every time you place a bet. Points accumulate mostly by the amount of times you place bets. They offer certain advantages which will be explained later.

You will earn 1 point for every 10 pence of commission paid.

Minimizing Betfair Commission

Betfair charges a 5% commission on any winnings you make. Betfair points help you earn less commission.

For example, if you win £100, Betfair will take £5 commission.

The following is a representation of how many points you need to minimize your commission:

Making Free Money: The Referral Program

Each Betfair account has a unique refer and earn code assigned to it. If someone enters your code when signing up to Betfair, each account will be awarded with £20 pounds once the person you referred has reached 50 Betfair points. This is more or less equivalent to staking £50.

Placing Bets Under £2

Betfair requires us to stake at least £2 per bet.

There is a way around this for backing selections, allowing us to place £1 bets. If your bank is not so large, this could be useful.

• Click the appropriate block to back a selection. • Set the odds to “1000”. The bet will then come up as unmatched. • Change the unmatched £2 pound bet to £1, leaving the odds 1000. • You should then have 2 unmatched bets, 1 at £1 and 1 at £2. • Cancel the £2 bet. • Set the odds for your £1 to what they currently are on Betfair. Your bet will then come up as matched.