The liability of it all.

One of the most important things to be aware of when you lay a bet is your liability.

A lay bet is like an odds-on bet but in reverse, if you consider that you could back a horse at 1.1 (1/10) put £10.00 down and if it wins you will make a measly profit of £1.00 on top of your stake, not much for the risk.

1.1 - 1 X 10 = £1.00

Try out my Liabillity calculator by clicking here.

If you laid the same horse then your liability would be just £1.00, but if the horse losses, your profit would be £10.00, a lot better.

But in the real world it doesn't often happen like that, backing any favourite to lose is risky (not as risky as backing it to win!) but the lower the odds the higher the risks become.

I come from the school of thought that anything under a 1.7 is a risky lay bet and anything over 3.00 becomes expensive.

Although there are other factors to consider (see my lay betting guide) these figures give you a range of safety to operate in and you will find plenty of losers within these two figures. 1.7 - 1 X 10 = £7 Liability 3.0 - 1 X 10 = £20 Liability

£20 Liability on £10.00 is an expensive bet and I agree with that, but you must also consider that the higher the odds of the horse the less likely it's chance of winning.

Although betting exchanges are not run by bookies the odds pretty much reflect what they are doing and we know that over the years the bookies have learned how to cover liability, so if they think a horse has a chance of winning then the odds are going to reflect this!

At the end of the day you have to find your own comfort zone, let's face it we see plenty of short priced horses that lose so if you be patient and cover your liability until you get a win then this may work for you.

I prefer to get payback a bit quicker so I am prepared to bet the upper limit if not even higher (see July email), but that doesn't mean I bet on the first race that is trading at that price, no way, I take as much care in picking my lays as does someone looking to back, but I bet I win more often!

You can reprint this article as long as all links are kept in place and the following is added directly underneath... Malcolm runs two websites dedicated to horse racing systems, http://www.laybetting.com and http://www.horseracingsystemsuk.com, he also sends out a FREE daily tips news letter that you can join by visiting either of his sites.