Betting on horse racing can be an exciting and rewarding experience, especially when using the Betfair Exchange. Betfair is a popular platform for laying bets on horse races, as it allows users to both back and lay horses, meaning that they can bet on a horse to win or bet against a horse to lose.
If you’re new to laying bets on horses using the Betfair Exchange, here are some tips to help you get started:
- Understand the basics of laying bets: When you lay a bet on a horse, you are betting that the horse will not win. This is different from backing a horse, where you are betting that the horse will win. When you lay a bet, you become the bookmaker, and you must pay out the winnings to the person who backed the horse if it wins.
- Do your research: Before laying a bet on a horse, it’s important to do your research. This means looking at factors such as the horse’s form, the jockey’s record, and the track conditions. You can also look at the Betfair market to see how much money is being bet on the horse, and whether the odds are likely to change before the race starts.
- Look for value: One of the keys to successful laying on Betfair is to look for value. This means finding horses that are overvalued by the market, and laying bets on them. For example, if a horse is being backed heavily by the public, but you believe that it is unlikely to win, you can lay a bet on it at higher odds than it should be.
- Manage your risk: Laying bets on horses can be risky, so it’s important to manage your risk. One way to do this is to set a maximum liability for each bet, which is the amount of money that you are willing to lose if the horse wins. You can also use stop-loss orders to automatically close out your position if the odds move against you.
- Use Betfair’s tools: Betfair provides a range of tools and features to help you lay bets on horses. These include the Betfair Starting Price (BSP), which is the official starting price for each horse, and the Betfair Exchange Market Information (EMI), which provides real-time data on the market.
In conclusion, laying bets on horses using the Betfair Exchange can be a profitable and exciting way to bet on horse racing. By doing your research, looking for value, managing your risk, and using Betfair’s tools, you can increase your chances of success and make the most of your betting experience.