Betting Exchanges?
Written by Toby Martin
Thu, 24 Jan 2008
Category sportsbook
Feedback Rating - no votes
ehorseX.com - An Interesting Way to Wager On-Line
“A Betting Exchange” What is it?
Quite simply it is a person to person website that acts as a
broker between parties for the placement of bets. The most
typical application of this type of betting is found in horse
racing, although more and more bettors are trading prices on other
major sporting events. The concept is similar to that of a stock
exchange, where in this case the commodity being traded is a bet or
a price, rather than a stock.
There are two main benefits of betting exchanges and both apply
to horse bettors. First, the payoffs are 20% better than at a pari-
mutuel system, because tracks take around that percentage cut
before pay-outs are distributed and so the monies produced are less
at the track then at the exchange. Secondly, betting exchanges offer
fixed odds. A 10-1 shot pays off at 10-1 regardless of what the pari-
mutuel pool is. In addition odds available on a betting exchange
are usually better than those offered by tracks because there are
many people of differing experience levels, offering prices. The
exchanges make their money by charging a small commission which
is calculated as a percentage of net winnings for each customer
on each event...generally around 2 to 5 %. An exchange also offers
the opportunity to lay outcomes or bet a horse to lose. This is the
position traditional reserved for bookmakers, but through the
exchange is now available to all.
Every bettor requires a backer and a layer. Much like putting in an
order to purchase shares of stock, someone offers, someone buys.
The betting exchange is not a party to the bets transacted on it. The
exchange is simply the middle man in the transaction .A layer is
always simply backing the opposite outcome. Laying the home team
is the same as backing the visiting team to win or tie. Laying one horse
in a race is just the same as backing all of the other horses to win.
The bottom line is, betting exchanges give the serious horse player
unprecedented value and alternatives to traditional horse betting.
Better prices, fixed odds and the ability to bet a horse to lose... A
couple of examples of pay-outs on the betting exchange were: At the
Breeders Cup “Ouija Board” paid $4.80 at the track and paid $7.00 at
the betting exchange, “Miesques Approval” paid $50.60 at the track
and paid a whopping $112.00 at the exchange. Sounds like good
things in a challenging market. Go to ehorseX.com for more info.
Visit the authors website http://www.ehorsex.com