April, 2009

Advice — No Comments
20
Apr 09

Live Betting – Bet In Running

A number of online bookmakers including betting exchanges offer live betting on popular sporting events including football, horse racing and motorsport.  What makes this type of betting different to traditional sports betting is the ability to bet in running and react to changes in the market.

Betting in running is especially popular in football where punters can bet on the outcome of the match throught play and by using betting exchanges it is also possible to lock in profit on a bet depending on market conditions by cancelling out an original bet or even reducing a loss on a losing bet by betting on one of the other outcomes.

With changes in the markets during events comes changes in odds as the markets adapt and react to the goings on in the particular event, live betting odds are adjusted by the bookmakers and betting exchanges every minute and should an important event happen for example a goal in a football match then the markets are suspended for a short period which the odds are restructured.  This however does not happen with the such sports as horse racing where the odds just change according to the race as it happens.

The advantages of betting during live events are two fold.  The first is that by waiting for an event to begin before placing the initial bet you can get a better grasp of the market and take into consideration any news or changes likely to effect the odds of the event right up to ana after the start.  This can result in an advantage compared to placing the bet hours or days before the start of the event, much like placing an ante-post horse racing bet in some ways.

The second advantage is that you have the ability to change the outcome of a previously placed bet.  For example take the following scenario:

Place a correct score bet on a football match between Arsenal and Chelsea for Arsenal to win 1-0.

Now say the result is 1-0 and the match is 70 minutes old, Chelsea are playing well and it looks likely the game will not finish 1-0, by betting in-running you can use a betting exchange and cancel out the bet by laying 1-0 Arsenal and as the odds would be greatly reduced it would be possible to make a profit regardless of the end result.

Either way betting on live sporting events can be a different approach to betting compared to standard betting prior to the start of an event.  There are a number of bookmakers who participate in live betting including:

News / Paddy Power — No Comments
19
Apr 09

Bookie Pays Out On Man United Losing Bets

fergie shockPopular online and high street bookmaker Paddy Power have paid out a reported £1m in losing bets on Man Utd winning this seasons domestic treble.

The blunder which some may see as a clever marketing stunt failed before the final hurdle today when Man Utd were knocked out of the FA Cup at the semi final stage by Everton following a nail biting penalty shootout.  They are still on target for the domestic double by currently holding he top spot in the Premier League and having already won the League Cup following another penalty shootout against Tottenham.

Paddy Power have paid out on bets early before on Man Utd winning the Premier League and in previous times the payouts were correct but a bookmaker has never paid out so quickly on the domestic treble and following this costly mistake it’s likely they will reconsider doing so in the future.

At the time of the payout Paddy Power were quoted as saying “We’re confident that we won’t be left with egg on our faces by paying up early”.

So next time your thinking of placing a long term bet on Man Utd then do it with Paddy and you may win even when the bet loses!  Paddy have a free £20 bet offer for all new customers available here.

Advice — No Comments
15
Apr 09

Lay Betting

This article will cover the process of lay betting, previously touched on when we detailed the basics of betting exchanges.

What is lay betting?
Lay betting as previously touched on is the process of betting against a result happening.  In effect it is the complete oposite to traditional betting and gives you the role of becoming the bookmaker yourself by allowing you to take bets on result. lay betting

 

 

 

 

 

With the introduction of online betting exchanges in recent times lay betting has increased in popularity and although it can be used exclusively on it’s own in the same way as traditional betting it also opens up the  oportunity to trade on an even and lock in either a loss or profit as explained later on.  To a certain extent laying a bet was available prior to the introduction of betting exchanges when bookmakers offer additional markets on such sports as football. 

Take the goals market offered by many bookmakers on popoular Premier League matches, you have the option to bet on 0 goals and the option to bet on 1 goal or more which is the equivalent to laying a bet on 0 goals as you would be betting on their either being 0 goals or more 0 goals.
If bookmakers had a difference of opinion on the goals market there would have been an opportunity to place an arbitrage bet and make money on the market regardless of the result, but that is another area of betting in itself.

How does lay betting work?
Laying a bet involves a similar procedure to that of placing a bet online, you just need to be aware that by laying a bet at certain odds you can lose more than you are laying, and therefore need to have the required liability in your online account to cover all eventual outcome.
Lay betting does have an increased risk over traditional sports betting as depending on the odds you can lose a lot more than you stand to gain as we will explain below.

Take this as an example:

Aston Villa are playing Everton in the Premier League and you believe that Everton will not win the match.  Now instead of placing bets on both Aston Villa to win and the Draw you can lay Everton.  By doing this you are betting against Everton winning the match, if Aston Villa win or the result is a draw then you will win your lay bet.  However if Everton do win then you will lose your lay bet and will have to pay out on the Everton win much in the same way as a bookmaker would.

Put the above into money terms and the process is easier to understand.  Say Everton are 3/1 to win the match and you decided to lay them for £10, if Aston Villa win the game or it ends in a draw you would make £10 (less any commission taken at the exchange) as by being the bookmaker in effect you have taken £10 of someones bet that they have placed on Everton to win.

If on the other hand Everton win then you would need to pay out on your lay bet and at odds of 3/1 your would lose £30, proving that there is an increased risk of losing more money when lay betting so approach with a little caution until you understand the concept fully.

Where and how do i place lay bets?
Lay bets are placed at a betting exchange such as Betfair or Betdaq, open an account at either and follow their online guides to get started palcing lay bets.

Locking in a profit or reducing a loss with lay betting.
It is possible using a mixture of lay betting and trading to lock in a profit on a bet prior to completion of the event.  Many betting exchanges and some bookmakers offer in-play betting, also known as in-running or live betting on many sports. 

So using the previous example if Everton were to go a goal down you would be able to use the increased odds in the market on the Everton result to lock in a profit on the match without waiting for the final result.  This is handy in cases where you feel that the result is likely to change as you can take a smaller profit and run safe in the knowledge you have made money and will not lose any.  The same can then be applied to reducing any loss on a lay bet, by backing the same result you can lock in a loss and reduce your lay bet exposure, again suitable if you feel there is no way back and the lay bet will have to be paid out.

The possibilites with lay betting and mixing it in with market trading, live betting and some concepts used when arbitrage betting can be endless and allow a much more flexible way of betting online in general.

Open an account at either of the main UK betting exchanges Betdaq or Betfair and have a try lay betting.

free bet / Grand National — No Comments
2
Apr 09

Grand National Free Bet Offers 2009 and Sweepstake Kit

Grand National 2009 Sweepstake Kit

Click here to download the Grand National 2009 sweepstake kit (PDF)

Grand National 2009 Free Bet Offers:

One Off Bets: Grand National 2009 Free Bet Recommendation:

Those of you who only bet a small amount on the Grand National would be better off opening a Paddy Power account to use their free bet offer (Bet £10 Get £20 Free Bet) as this requires the smallest outlay for a £20 free bet.

Paddy Power’s offer gives you a £20 free bet once you have opened an account (click here), deposited £10 and placed a bet with a total stake of £10 (for example £5 each way on the Grand National) – you can then use the free bet as you choose once it has been added to your account (you could even use it as another bet on the Grand National.  Click here to visit Paddy Power and open a new account.

Regulars: Grand National Free Bet Recommendation:

Those of you who like to have a bet more often, or wish to have a bet for higher stakes than the Paddy Power offer may like to look at opening an online account with Boyelsports.

Boylesports offer upto £200 in free bets to those who open an account and place bets to the value of £50 (click here).  Your first bet of £50 will be matched with a free bet of £50, then for every 5 bets you place Boylesports will match the average of those bets with an extra free bet until this has been done 3 times (so if you continue to bet £50 you will receive the full £200 on offer).  Each free bet will automatically be added to your account.  Click here to visit Boylesports and open a new account.