Get your Betting slip out for Champions League Final

betting_on_champions_league Ever wondered why Betfair is the biggest online betting company? Did you know that Betfair is the biggest online betting company? Most people recognise the names William Hill and Ladbrokes due to the strong presence they have on our high streets. Where normal shops have closed down you’ll no doubt find a betting shop.

Betfair revolutionised the betting market. They combined the power of the internet, technology and a really good idea to make betting more interesting. They have added more dimensions to the standard fixed odds betting model used by high street bookmakers. Lets have a look why..

The best phrase to describe Betfair is to say it is a person to person betting exchange. The traditional bookmaker has been driven off. Effectively Betfair is just a platform to facilitate the exchange of bets between Betfair members. As a member I am able to back a football team as I can with the bookmaker. The odds on football matches are offered by fellow Betfair members. Here’s the thing. If I decide I can also offer my own odds for other members to back; I become the bookmaker.

How is all this possible? There nifty design of the Befair betting exchange allow you to chose between backing an event or laying an event.

To back is to for something to happen. To lay is to bet that it won’t happen. Some people write their own book. They offer odds on various sporting events. After all events come to a conclusion they hope to turn a profit of between 5 – 10% on the capital used in their sportsbook. This is what a bookmaker does.

Without going into to much detail the Betfair betting exchange has a simple layout an is intuitive to use. The interface for backing to the left is in blue. You can see what bets have been matched and at what odds. Matched means that the price one or more members have accepted either the backing odds or the laying odds. Say I fancy Man United to win the championship, but I only think it is a good bet at odds of 3.5. No one on the laying side has offered me those odds. The odds on offer are currently 3.3. I can still place the bet. It remains unmatched until someone on the laying side sees fit to offer the odds I want, take on the risk and match my bet. Due to this interplay between members the odds on Betfair are better than you can find anywhere else.

To understand lay betting properly lets look at how it works in practice. We’ll use the example above and I want to back Man United with £100. If Man United win I win £150 and I get my stake back, £250 in total. My risk is £100 if Man U lose. The person who matched my bet and offered the odds I wanted of 3.5 is risking £250. If Man United lose they get my £100 and their stake back.

A guide to football betting describes how you can use vital statistics to predict the outcome of football matches so that you win more than you lose. Betting on sporting events is more fun if you win, right?