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Betfair is not a bookmaker it is a betting exchange – and every serious punter should have a Betfair account. Read on to find out why.
When Betfair launched it was a revolutionary addition to the betting industry.
Betfair definitely has its pros and cons, the upside being that it can provide punters with a lot more value as well as a lot more control – the downside, is that most people who bet recreationally for fun often don’t take the time to learn how to use an exchange, or even know what one is.
This review aims to fix all that, and in addition to providing a detailed review on Betfair, it will provide you with all the basics you need to start betting on a betting exchange.
Betting with a betting exchange isn’t like betting with a bookmaker – you’re actually betting against other punters
You can set your own prices and when someone else matches you, the bet is on!
You can ‘back’ a bet – bet on a winner, or you can ‘lay’ a bet – bet on a horse, player or team – not to win. For example, if you think Liverpool might stumble at home to West Ham, place a lay bet on Liverpool and if they LOSE or DRAW, your bet wins.
Those 3 points can be extremely hard to absorb and get your head around at first, so let that sink in for a minute.
Laying bets is one of the unique things about Betfair and is probably the hardest part for new exchange punters to come to grips with.
Basically, you’re taking on the role of the bookmaker when you lay a bet. If someone wants to bet $100 on a favourite at $1.10 odds, you only pay out their profit on the bet if it wins. So it only costs you $10 to lay their $100 stake (meaning if the favourite loses, you win the other punter’s $100. If the favourite wins, you lose $10 to that other punter).
So, you may be asking, if you’re betting against other punters, how does Betfair make any money out of this? Well, they take a commission from winning bets, usually 5% depending on the market you’re betting on.
So in that example above, you’d actually be winning $95 from their $100 stake, and Betfair would take their $5 cut.
Laying bets opens up a lot of betting possibilities for you that you can’t get with a bookmaker.
Let’s say you’ve got a 5-leg premier league multi, the first 4 legs have all hit and you’re waiting patiently for the last game to start.
Your $100 bet @30-1 will pay out $3K if this last game wins. But now you’re starting to second guess yourself and the bookie you bet it with doesn’t offer a cash out option.
Well, you can get out a calculator and bet on the other team to win as well as the draw. In a 3-outcome bet like soccer Win-Draw-Win it’s possible to do it this way but still an inconvenience. What about if your last leg is on the golf where there can be dozens of entrants? Or a horse race that can have up to 20 runners?
With Betfair, you can lay whatever you backed in your multi. Simple! Because when you lay a bet, it means that if any other result comes up, you get paid.
The site is intuitive, once you get the hang of exchange betting it is very easy to back and lay, with the greyhound and horse racing showing the races in order of race time.
It can take quite a few clicks to get to specific sports markets, particularly futures bets. If you want to find the NBA MVP betting market for example, it takes a bit of a journey to get there at times, and when you do, not every player has odds available to bet.
Apps for Android and iOS devices are available through Google Play and the App Store respectively.
The app is very similar to the desktop site and has all the main functions you need to deposit and bet.
If you’re keen on sports betting, Betfair covers the popular markets across a large range of sports including major codes AFL, NRL, NBA, tennis and soccer.
For the main popular markets, you’ll find that there is plenty of market liquidity (the amount available for you to bet). For example, head-to-head NBA, or the line, or total – these are all fine.
If your betting tastes venture away from that, you may struggle to find good odds, or to get a decent sized bet on. For example, player performance bets, or alternate lines and things of that nature – you may be better off going with a traditional bookmaker.
Same game multis – or any multis for that matter, are not as easy for Betfair to offer punters. Recently they have launched a limited offering for AFL. For a wider range of multi’s, you will want to use a normal bookmaker. If you enjoy putting on exotic bets (for example a trifecta on the horse racing) – many of these are now available on Betfair as well. While not as wide a range as with a standard bookmaker, like other markets, you may find better value on these with Betfair.
If you want to bet on alternate lines for sport, these can be limited as well. Even venturing 1 point away can have limited liquidity on medium popularity sports like NBL.
Betfair might be the ideal option for some betting markets, however you need to always factor in that Betfair’s commission will come off your winnings. However, regardless of commission, Betfair is well known for delivering the truest odds on many markets because the market is set by your fellow punters. You can often find standout odds on Betfair – one famous example of this was Verry Elleegant having a 59% better price vs TAB when she won the Melbourne Cup in 2021.
The other thing to remember, is that the odds can be out of whack the further it is until the start time for a race or for a match to begin.
When a market goes up, you may only see $1.01 odds on every option, until the market takes shape.
Due to strict regulations, bookmakers are no longer allowed to promote any special deposit bonuses or deposit matches as these are considered an ‘inducement’ to open an account. You must create an account and log in to see their latest offers.
Betfair has all the main deposit options including:
In terms of customer service, Betfair is a big beast. You may need to email them your question and may not hear back until the following day.
Sometimes the answer may be generic and not quite give you what you need but it is adequate most of the time.
Betfair offers customer service through the following:
Helpline: 1300 BETFAIR (1300 238 324)
Phone betting line: 132 BET (132 238)
Support email: [email protected]
