I simply can’t stress how UK sports betting has changed over the last five years. I strongly believe that UK punters are the most advanced anywhere in the world. The main reason for this is the increased popularity of betting exchanges such as Betfair. If we take football for example, and by football I’m referring to the likes of the Premiership (soccer to my American readers) then ten years ago UK punters would only place bets on a home win, an away win or a draw. That was simply the norm. A small percentage may have also have placed bets on the final score such as 3-1 or the first goal scorer but that was about the limit of football betting back in the day. How things have changed!
With the introduction of betting exchanges for the first time ever the average punter could in effect be the bookie. I don’t want to go in to great detail about how betting exchanges work but as a basic guide betting exchanges match those who want to place a bet with those who want to act as a bookie. So in effect you can back or lay. So for example if you want to back Manchester United to beat Chelsea @ 2.0, then the betting exchange simply matches you with someone who is prepared to lay (act as a bookie) @ 2.0. Betting exchanges make their money by charging a small commission on winning bets or lays unlike traditional sports book that make their money when punters lose.
Another important aspect of UK betting is the rise of “in play” betting. At one time you simply placed your bet before the match started and that was that. Nowadays you can now back or lay whilst the match is in progress. This is a topic I could write about for days, if not weeks, but for now I will keep it brief. During the 2006 World Cup I introduced some of the members from one of my poker forums to the World of football trading on betting exchanges. I had a system that I had been using for sometime which had produced a healthy return for 2 years. It was a very basic system but was easy to follow and very low risk.
Over 90% of football matches have at least 1 goal. If you don’t believe me then check the stats from any football season from around the world. To understand how bet trading works first you must understand that if you back let’s say at 4.0 then at some stage can lay at a lower price, let’s say 2.0 you can guarantee a profit. So let’s say we back £100 @ 11.0 which in UK terms is 10/1. IF successful we will have £1100 (£1000 + £100 stake). If the game we backed has “in play” betting then we also have the option to lay during the game to lock in profit. Let’s say that during the game the lay price does fall to 3.0 (2/1). If we lay £366.67 at 3.00 then we can lock in profit no matter the final result of the game.
Our Bet Wins £100 @ 11.00
Our back bet would return £1100 our lay bet would lose (£366.67 x 2.0 = -£733.34)
The actual profit would be £1100 – our back bet £100 – our losing lay bet £733.34 = £266.66
Our Lay Bet Wins – £366.67 @ 3.0
Remember with our lay bet we are in effect acting as the bookie so we win £366.67. We win the lay bet but lose our £100 back bet.
The actual profit would be £366.67 – our back bet £100 = £266.67
As you can see from the above no matter the final outcome of the game we have locked in a profit. We would have to pay up to 5% commission on our profit.
Now let’s relate this to the football system I used during the 2006 World Cup. Firstly I would only trade on games where the betting was fairly even between the two teams. I would only trade on games where the draw price was 3.0 or lower.
The system worked on the principle that when a goal was scored there was less chance that the game would be drawn so the actual price of the draw would rise. Remember over 90% of football matches has at least 1 goal.
If you want to check this out for yourself then pick any football game where the draw price is 3.0 or less then simply watch the price of the draw during the game on Betfair. Of course make sure the game has in play betting. Simply note what happens to the draw price when there is a goal scored. I will tell you that both the back price and lay price increase.
As you may have already guessed all I did was lay the draw before the game then backed the draw after a goal was scored to lock in a small profit. I would also in some case back a 0-0 score line which in many cases was priced at 9.0 or greater. Backing a 0-0 score line would help me close all trades if the game was still 0-0 with twenty or so minutes left of the game. At this time the 0-0 price would be vastly reduced so I could lay the 0-0 for profit and back the draw for a loss to close all trades on the game making a small loss. Again remember that over 90% of games have at least 1 goal. Any game where there was a goal scored and not an equalising goal scored within a minute returned a profit.
Since 2006 many have caught on to this way of trading on football games so there is now less movement in the draw price when a goal is scored. There is though still profit to be made using this basic system if you don’t get greedy as you must take profit as soon as it is available.
When I do trade now I stick to tennis and cricket but I don’t really want to give away the systems I use.
Using Free Bets For Profit
This is a guaranteed risk free way to profit from free bet offers available at all online sports books. I do realise that most online sports books don’t like punters employing this method but the fact is many do. A good friend of mine cleared a nice profit in just over 6 months doing this. I’m not advocating that anybody employ this method I’m just letting affiliates know that this does happen frequently.
There must be hundreds of online bookmakers that offer some form of initial match bonus. The amount on offer varies of course as so do the actual wagering requirements of each offer. Also of note is that some free bets offer the free bet stake back whilst others do not.
All you do is take up a free bet offer then lay it off at a betting exchange such as Betfair. As part of your initial bet at the sports book is free you can guarantee a profit. The key is losing the bet at the online sports book and winning your lay at the betting exchange. Also you should not back at high odds or you risk the chance of having to place many more trades to in effect get your funds in to the betting exchange. Once you have in effect moved the free money in to your betting exchange account you then move on to the next online sports betting site that has a free bet offer.
From experience I will tell you that you don’t clear the full amount of the free bet offer although you can easily clear 80%+. If you want to know more about this then Google “match betting”.
Early Odds Prices
Many make good money from trading when odds are first posted on betting exchanges. An experience punter will know that most money goes on big games an hour or so before the game begins. Many simply back or lay days before the game is due to be played and trade out during the frantic action just before the game kicks off. This of course means that you lock in profit before the actual game is played. You do though need experience to be able to do this.
UK punters are clued up in regards to placing lay bets. Even national coverage of horse racing on UK Channel 4 regularly features the action of each race on Betfair. It is a fact that UK punters will trade out reducing liability on losing bets. I’m not saying all punters will do this but many now have the knowledge to do so.
I know now of many who will happily and profitably trade on unders /overs during football matches plus will happily lay rather than back. Like I said earlier during the last 5 years things have really changed in the UK.
I could relate to a customer of mine during my computer business days that made a small fortune out of the few seconds TV delay of UK horse racing plus the 5 second delay of Betfair but I will leave that until another time.
