This section explains the benefits of using betting exchanges even on the most basic level. For anyone who currently uses a bookmaker simply switching to a betting exchange will enable you to benefit from superior odds and improved choice of bets and the ability to bet to lay an outcome. As we point out winning betting exchange members are welcome as are high rollers. As a result the exchanges attract many professional gamblers, and clearly for them to win, others must lose, thus the downside. Betting exchanges can be expensive and dangerous places to be for reckless and ill disciplined gamblers as we explain below.

Betting exchange basics
Value betting
Back and lay
Variety of bets
Winners welcome
The downside

Betting exchange basics

A betting exchange is not like betting with a bookmaker where you go to the market, check the odds and place a bet. On a betting exchange you are betting against other people therefore you have to accept what other members are already offering or make your own offer. A casual visit to a betting exchange may give you the false impression that these sites are complicated and difficult to use, which really isn't the case. As most betting exchanges are based on the Betfair model, the Betfair demo offers the perfect introduction to exchange betting, and is thoroughly recommended.

Lay an outcome

In the past only bookies were allowed to bet that something would not happen. This grossly unfair situation meant that the only way for you to bet on your opinion that something would not happen, was to back every other possibility - both impractical and expensive. Now thanks to betting exchanges you can adopt the role which was previously the bookie's monopoly and bet against an outcome.

The ability to lay an outcome is the foundation upon which the betting exchange revolution is built and the source of all the opportunities for betting enthusiasts and traders which have followed.

Value betting

Like many successful internet models betting exchanges have been able to offer their customers greater value by significantly reducing the role and therefore the cost of the middle man. In this case the betting exchanges have replaced the bookmaker's profit margin (or overround) with a much lower commission rate. The professional bookmaker has significant costs he needs to recoup and needs to make a profit, which is reflected in his pricing. Your betting exchange opponent does not have these costs and therefore as a result you can generally get superior odds than would be available at the bookmakers, with the difference sometimes being substantial. If you are still not happy with the price on offer, betting exchanges give you the unique opportunity to request even better odds, which depending on the market and the odds you request may stand a very good chance of being matched.

By betting very selectively it is possible to only accept bets which offer you very good value and therefore give you a great chance of making long term betting profits.

Variety of bets

Bookies employ odds compilers to price up their bets, and are therefore restricted to the number of markets they can cover, particularly when an outcome is very hard to call. Exchanges simply have to put the market up and let their customers sort it out, with the result that they are able to offer a far greater and more imaginative selection of bets. This creates all sorts of opportunities for well informed exchange bettors.

Perhaps the best example of this is the wide variety of in running bets that Betfair in particular offer. It would be virtually impossible for a bookmaker to run a book for a horse race after it has started, whereas Betfair members seem more than happy to do so, thereby creating a whole new type of betting which did not exist just a few years ago. Betfair also offer up to seven different in running markets on televised football matches.

Big rollers and winners

If you are a successful punter the bookies will soon close your account or limit you to small stakes. Betting exchanges say that they welcome winners because they make their commission from winning bets. High rollers are also very welcome with betting exchanges imposing no maximum bet size.

The downside

For the few to win, the majority must lose. The betting exchange revolution has empowered the punter opening up a new world of opportunities, however, for there to be winners there has to be losers. The fact that the odds available on betting exchanges are normally much better than regular bookies does not change the fact that the majority of members still end up losing. Those who approach their exchange betting in a careful, disciplined and deliberate manner stand every chance of turning past gambling losses into gambling profits, but those who are impetuous, ill disciplined and reckless are as likely to end up as losers as they ever were. Before you get involved in any kind of internet betting please read this important message. >