Question about betting exchanges...

I have ladbrokes and the odds are slightly better. They have a much more detailed racing form then the ones you buy at the tab. They’re easy to use and if you can’t be bothered going to the pub and looking like a weirdo because it’s you and a bunch of grizzled old battlers in the middle of the day, it’s perfect!

You can find bets a lot further outside the “norm” on an exchange than you can at sportsbooks because individuals are making the lines and their own feeling will color their offers. They are essentially competing for your wager, so it pays for them to make it attractive.

It’s a lot more to keep up with, and the real-time in game stuff is even more involved if you’re interested in that, but yes, the odds can be better by a bit.

As far as easy to use, it’s not hard in any way, but there are a lot of smart people essentially trying to think of ways to gain an advantage without appearing to. So you have to pay more attention than you would at a normal sportsbook.

Good luck.

Betting exchanges are different to regular bookies for a few reasons:

1. You bet against other people instead of against the bookie
2. You can ‘lay’ bets on an exchange, meaning you bet against an outcome
3. You can set your own odds
4. You pay a small commission based on how much you win.

When you bet a lay bet on an exchange, there’s a few things you should remember. First of all, if you bet $100, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will lose $100 if your bet loses when you lay. If you lay a 1.10 odds team at $100 you will only lose $10 if your bet loses, but you’ll win $100 if your bet wins. If you lay a team at 10.0 odds you would be paying out $100 if that 5–1 outsider wins.

This is because when you lay a bet you’re basically taking on the role of being the bookie and accepting someone else’s 5.0 odds bet. In the case of a horse race for example, if you lay 1 horse, then your bet wins if any other horse crosses the line first. So if you are planning on using betting exchanges, my advice is to start with smaller bets until you get the hang of things.

There are a few top betting exchanges most people use, namely Betfair (they’re the biggest but they charge high commissions at 5–7.5% of your wins and also have extra premium charges on top). Then there are several other good alternatives that a lot of people are starting to switch to. I myself use a combination of Betfair and WBX.com and it’s essential if you are planning to trade live, that you have at least 2–3 exchanges you use so that you’re not left exposed if one of them goes down halfway through a match. Betfair minimum stake is £5 and WBX is $1 so I’d suggest you learn the ropes there until you know what you’re doing.

Here is a link I found that explains betting exchanges in more detail:

http://www.sportsbettingtips.org/for-dummies/betting-exchanges-explained/

Here are links to the two exchanges mentioned above so you can check them out: www.betfair.com & www.wbx.com