In Australia, punters look to online betting sites for a chance to place a bet on a particular game or match. While online bookmakers certainly have the greatest share of the market, there are other ways to bet online. One type of betting that is gaining in popularity is online exchange betting. This is where punters will actually bet against each other instead of betting against the bookmaker. In the notes below, we are going to take a look at how exchange betting works and the type of bets that can bet placed.
How Exchange Betting Works?
In traditional online sports betting, a punter will back a certain outcome. If they win, the bookmaker will pay them out the agreed upon odds. With exchange betting, there is no bookmaker involved whatsoever. All the transactions take place between the punters themselves. The exchange betting site is there to provide the betting platform and take a cut of the winnings. Since the exchange site does not have to pay out any losses, it can provide an unbiased platform with variable odds between the punters themselves at sports betting sites.
Back and Lay Betting
There are two main types of bets that can be placed at an exchange betting website; these are backing bets and lay bets. Both of these bets are types of fixed odds bets where both parties agree on the odds at the start of the bet. A backing bet is where a punter places a wager on a particular event taking place. For example, a backing bet could be a bet on Roger Federer winning the next Australian Open. A lay bet on the other hand is a bet made by a punter against the backing bet. Essentially, the lay bet is saying that Roger Federer will not win the Australian Open.
An Example of Lay Betting
With exchange betting, each event will have a back and a lay bet. Punters can either choose to back the outcome or lay the bet. To understand this better, we can look at an example where two mates place a wager on a roll of a dice. The one guy is going to back a bet saying that he will roll a three. The other guy places a lay bet against him saying that he will roll any other number. Obviously, the chances rolling a three are much lower. In fact, the odds are 5:1. So for this bet to be fair, the guy placing the lay bet must pay his mate 5:1 if he does actually roll a three.
Laying a Horseracing Bet
Lay betting is unique to exchange betting and cannot bet found with traditional online sports betting. In the case of traditional sports betting, the online betting site effectively lays any bet that a punter will place. At exchange betting website, punters can take on the role of the bookmaker and lay any bet. This can include betting on horseracing where a punter backs a particular horse to win. You can then choose to lay the bet saying that it doesn’t matter which horse wins as long as it is not the one picked by the backer. If the chosen horse does win, you will be liable to pay the backer the agreed upon odds.