Have you ever looked at a sports betting market and been frustrated by the poor odds set at one of the corporate bookmakers? You’re either stuck with the fixed odds they set, or you can try and shop around to see if there’s anything marginally better somewhere else.
The thing is, all of the corporate sportsbooks have a built-in margin to ensure their odds are favourable to them. They are not designed to do punters any favours!
However, the Betfair Exchange is a little different.
Betfair is not a traditional bookmaker. You’re not betting against the house, you’re betting against other punters who each have framed their own opinion on what the true odds should be for a sporting contest or race.
Now instead of accepting the odds of corporate bookmakers, you have the chance to set your own odds for what you think the price should actually be.
If someone in the Betfair community agrees and is prepared to accept your odds, then your bet is matched. It’s as simple as that!
Of course, there’s no guarantee your odds/bet will get fully matched. The Betfair exchange is a live market and fluctuates much like a stock exchange with supply and demand. The odds are fluid and the liquidity in the market is constantly changing as players enter and exit the market, and bets are matched. Ultimately the current price is always framed exactly what punters are thinking at the time. You are getting true odds.
Say for example that you went to back a horse and it firmed in the market to odds that were well shorter than you were hoping for.
You have a few options at this point. You can either adjust the odds of your unmatched bet to something that’s closer to the current odds to increase your chances of a matched bet. Otherwise you do have the option of taking the Betfair Starting Price at the jump. If your bet remains unmatched then you will automatically get the BSP odds.
Betfair Starting Price is available on all Australian thoroughbred and greyhound win and place markets.
Of course, the odds can also fluctuate in the other direction which can also be advantageous. Perhaps you know that your horse is often slow to jump out of the gates, and his odds are likely to drift in-play. You could set your odds much higher in the hope they would get matched in-play - something not possible with other sportsbooks!
Making tactical bets at odds that are advantageous to you, will ultimately help your profits, and the only place to do that is at Betfair!
