Easy Money Makers

Bookmakers make their money by creating an 'edge' over their customers. The odds on offer are usually slightly shorter than what they actually should be. Odds work on the probability of an event taking place. For example, if a football team is priced at evens or 2s in the digital form it suggests that there is a 50% chance that particular team will win. So if that same game featuring those exact teams were to be played out 10 times the team priced at evens should win 5 of them. Although the correct probability here is 50% and the odds should be priced at 2s, bookmakers will offer you a reduced figure. They would offer you say 1.9 giving them a 10% margin or edge. The book does not balance and tilts in the direction of the bookmaker. The probability stays the same but if you were to back that same team in the 10 matches at the new price of 1.9 you would lose money. If you were to put £10 on every game you would still lose £50 on the 5 times your team lost but at 1.9 you would only make back £45. This is why it is so difficult to beat a bookmaker and it is important that you understand this concept.

It is now possible for individuals to follow this same process and effectively play bookmaker. Traditionally as a football punter you would back a single outcome in a game, either a home win, away win or the draw. With the birth of betting exchanges came the ability to lay an outcome as well as back. Laying an event means to oppose it and say that it will not happen. So if you were to lay a home win you would be saying that it would not happen and therefore profit on the away win or the draw. Profiting on more than one outcome in a football match massively increases you strike rate and is one of the reasons why bookmakers do so well.

When you lay an event the amount you risk is determined by a reverse in the stated odds. Your liability is the amount a punter would win if they were to back that outcome. So if a team is priced at 2.5 to win a football match and a punter were to back that team at this price they would stand to make £15 from their £10 stake. As the layer you would be risking this £15 prize to take the punters £10 stake. So when laying, the shorter the prices the better.

Playing the bookmaker in a football match is a new concept for some but it is often much easier to pick a team that will not win to one that will!

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