Bookmakers have been placing laying bets on horses to lose ever since the sport of horse racing began. As punters putting a bet on a horse, we are actually involved with laying horses each time we place a bet. We are merely on the opposite side of the transaction. To back a horse, there will always be somebody who must lay the bet. Yet so many punters mistakenly think they are not familiar with placing lay bets on horses, so they shy away from it totally.
Here we will not show you how to make money by placing lay bets. It will not even explain exactly how you lay a bet on a horse to lose. My intention when writing this article is merely to show you that putting lay bets on a betting exchange isnt some sort of ‘voodoo’ and there is nothing ‘smoke and mirrors’ about it.
Traditionally it has always been the bookmaker who has taken on the role of laying bets. This role is something we are all comfortable with. But let’s examine the mechanic of placing a bet:
In this example, let’s assume we are going to back a horse called General Account at a price of 3/1 and for a stake of £10
We approach a traditional bookmaker and this is what we are offering: we are looking to risk our stake of £10 on the chance of this horse General Account winning the race. The price we are happy to accept is 3/1 If the horse does not win, we will give the bookie our money. However, if the horse wins we take our wager back, and what is more, the bookie gives us another three times our bet as profit.
In placing this stake, we are wagering on the fact that this horse will come first – it stands to reason, if we didn’t think it stood a chance of winning, we would not risk our bet.
Now remember, in order for a stake to be struck, the bookie must also agree to the terms of the bet. To lay the bet at the price of 3/1, the bookmaker is happy to risk three times our wager. To take our bet, the bookmaker is of the opinion that General Account will NOT win the race. If he thought the horse was going to win the race, he would not accept our stake, or at least he certainly wouldnt wish to risk so much money, and would not agree to a bet at 3/1
Hopefully you will observe that the difference between you and a bookmaker is their opinion of who will win the race – we think General Account will win, and the book maker disagrees, and we are BOTH prepared to put a bet on the outcome.
In effect, where someone is betting that a horse will win, a bookmaker is simply betting that the horse wont win. It is no more complicated than that.
Since 1999 and the introduction of betting exchanges, we all have the chance to take on the role of bookmaker. Betting exchanges are put simply a forum where you can find another person who has the opposite opinion to you, and match their stake.
If you turn out to have had the better judgement, then you will win your bet. If your ‘opposite number’ on the betting exchange turns out to be correct, then you will lose, and you will have to pay the man/woman at the odds confirmed when the stake was placed.
At the end of the day, laying horses to lose may still not your betting style. But hopefully this article will have given you the confidence to learn more. Despite what you may read, making money by laying horses is no easier than attempting to profit by backing horses. In fact there is no real difference in terms of risk.
As a punter, if you are happy to put some money behind your opinion that a horse will win, there is no reason you shouldn’t also arm yourself with the chance to win some money, if you feel a certain horse will not win a given race.
Tags: horse racing, lay betting
