Using Betfair

New: A quick Video tutorial... Click Here

This is a simple tutorial for laying a bet on betfair.com, but it should help you get started.

I have chosen Betfair as it is the most popular but there are plenty more click here for a list.

Before you can use betfair.com you have to register, this isn't complicated and you can deposit a small start sum of about £20.00, although the minimum lay is £2.00 so you will need more if you are going to lay a horse above 10/1!

Ok once you have registered go to the main home page and you will see links on the left hand side for all the sporting events that betfair.com covers.

We are looking for the one marked "Horse Racing - Today's Cards".

Clicking this link will then reload the left hand menu with all of the races available to bet on.

Please remember this list covers USA, RSA, Australia and the UK and Ireland, if you are actually a UK resident then UK races are shown without any country short code beside them.

09:15 Penr (AUS) - Australia 15:40 Ling - UK

Beware of one thing when selecting a race as most have a (Place) alternative.

15:40 Ling 15:40 Ling (Place)

Place means you payout on a horse that not only if it wins but also if it comes in second or 3rd (dependant on the number of runners). So unless you really want to look at these races makes sure you avoid them with your mouse, this is a standard beginners mistake!

Clicking on a race then brings up a race card like this:

Click image for bigger view.

This screen probably looks quite complex when you first see it but it isn't long before it becomes easier to understand.

As you can see the screen is broken up into two sides Blue and Pink (I don't think I am colour blind), the blue side is the current price available if you want to "back" a horse to win and the pink side is the price available if you want to "lay" a horse to lose.

In the picture above you can see that you can back "Lamps Return" at 3.55 and the value underneath tells you there is £69 available at that price, so if you wanted to place a bet on him for £30 you could do this easily.

On the "Lay" side there is £37 available at 3.6 so again if you wanted to lay him for £30 there is enough money available. One word of warning the nearer you get to the off the quicker these figures change.

You have probably noticed that there are 3 columns on each side, these are from people that want to "Lay" or "Back" but want to offer different odds, in truth it is a little more complex than tha,t but for this tutorial I want to keep it simple.

If you wanted to put a "Lay" on Lamps Return for a £100 then you can see that there isn't enough available so you could place a "Lay" for 3.6 at £37 that would take care of that amount and because it is gone the next price of 3.65 will move in, so you could "lay" again and then again when the 3.7 moves in. You could also just "Lay" £100 at 3.7, which although you will pay a little more you will probably get your bet matched.

Here is a screen shot taken a little later as you can see the prices have changed, in fact "Lamps Return" is becoming more popular and the price has come down (again a simplification of what's happened)

We have decided to "Lay" Lamps Return so our next step is to click the pink box.

Click image for bigger view.

Ok a we are going to lay "Lamps Return" for £2.00 at 3.4 (see the price has changed again) so when we Click the pink box a new screen on the right appears showing that we are about to place a lay.

At this stage you haven't placed a "Lay" you are just getting everything set up ready, so as long as you don't click the "Submit" button you can play about with this section as much as you like.

In this bigger shot you can see that we have 3 important pieces of information.

The Odds Our Stake Our Liability.

Liability is something that you really need to take care with when laying, because if the horse you chose actually does go on to win the race, this is what you will have to payout.

Just a quick note on how this is worked out...

You take the "Lay" odds minus 1 then multiply by your stake:

(3.4 - 1) X £2.00 = £4.80

This box is very handy because you can play around with the "Backers Odds" or "Stake" to see how it will affect your Liability.

See how I have changed the settings to get a different liability.

If you are a little worried about playing around just click the "Clear All" button above the box.

This will clear anything to have done up to now.

Ok it's time to commit so we decide to lay "Lamps Return" for £2.00 so we click the submit button and if your bet is matched here is what you will see.

The "Matched" part tells you that betfair.com has managed to match your bet at 3.35 for £2.00 and your liability is £4.70 if you lose the bet.

betfair.com automatically takes the £4.70 from your account so you can't try and do a runner if you lose.

If you win your £4.70 will be returned along with your winnings of £2.00, yes all lay's are paid out as evens bets, whatever you bet, if you win you get back that amount(minus commission).

On the main screen you can see your bet has been registered and it shows that if "Lamps Return" wins you lose £4.70 but if any other horse wins you win £2.00 (minus commission).

And there you have it, you just have to wait to see what the out come of the race is.

As I have mentioned on various occasion during the short tutorial the way betfair.com prices move are a little more complex than the way I have described them here, but this should at least get you started.

Unfortunately Lamos Return actually turned out to be a Non Runner (NR) so my stake was returned!

This selection was selected using my Lay Betting System

Have a good days racing.

Malcolm.

I don't mind you using this page for your own website, but I do insist that you put either a link back to this site http://www.laybetting.com or http://www.makeyourhorseracingpay.co.uk/ and acknowledge that I wrote it.

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