Traditional betting deals with wagering on which contestant will win the game. The punter makes his bet at the bookmaker’s odds and if he wins he receives his original stake plus what ever the odds were. This is better known as « back betting » because the bettor is « backing » one team over another.

Lay betting, however, is a relatively new concept through which the punter bets against a team winning the match. This is generally done through betting exchanges and the person making the lay bet essentially becomes their own bookmaker, setting their very own odds.

Virtually all lay bets are even money bets. This means if punter wins he stands to win two times as much as his original wager, or his original wager times two. However, if he loses the bet, he must pay the backer the original wager plus the odds. Therefore more often than not his potential winnings are less than his potential liability.

For example, if Person A wants lay bet Ł10 against XYZ team, he will make the offer on a betting exchange. Person B is certain that XYZ will win, so he matches the bet; matching Person A’s Ł10 wager. As a component of the lay bet, Person A set XYZ’s odds of winning the game at 5. So Person A, the one making the lay bet, has to put up not just his Ł10 wager, but in addition his potential liability (the main difference between his original bet and also the odds). In this instance the surety is the one other Ł40 (odds of 5 x Ł10 = Ł50 – the original bet of Ł10 = Ł40). If XYZ loses, Person A gets his original Ł10 back, his surety of Ł40, plus Person B’s Ł10. If XYZ wins however, then Person B not just gets his original Ł10 back, but he also wins the odds, or the surety put up by Person A, the Ł40.

The main question lots of individuals ask is: should the potential winnings will almost always be less than the potential losses, why would anyone do this? The main reason is because it allows the lay bettor to set his own odds. Of-course the odds set by the lay bettor have to be reasonable to be able to attract a back bettor to match the bet. Further, since all the exchanges require a lay bettor to deposit both his own wager plus the entire quantity of the potential liability ahead of the bet will be offered there is absolutely no possibility of betting beyond his immediate means.

The ability to set the odds is by far the primary draw of lay betting, so if someone has a system of calculating the odds efficiently, that person can essentially benefit from the same system that basic bookmakers do. Further, since trusted soccer online teams always have hardcore fans that always bet for their very own team, as long as lay bettor calculates his odds properly and reasonably, there is a great chance of finding a back bettor which is betting more with his heart than with his head. If punter knows how exactly to use lay betting, it may be an incredibly profitable undertaking.