Laying horses to lose should be simple, after all the horses you back to win never win, they always lose. Surely by laying these horses to lose on the betting exchanges, making money will be simple. Pick the same horses you would normally back and lay them on Betfair. It sounds like a good idea, but, as this article shows, whilst it may be possible to make money laying horses, it's far from easy.
With the advent of the betting exchanges, laying horses to lose was simplified and initially widely touted as the road to riches, unfortunately it soon became obvious that this wasn't the case, but why not?
Firstly, if we're honest, overall the bookies are pretty good at their main job, maths. Though they don't always get it right, more often than not they do, and their odds are generally a good reflection of the horses' chance of winning. When laying a horse to lose, we are effectively acting as the bookmaker and taking bets. However, given that the exchange prices to back a horse will generally be higher than the bookmakers, and the lay price will always be higher than the back price, you will usually be laying at higher odds than those that the bookies consider fair.
When laying the favorites price, you should be able to lay at a price fairly close to the true price, but as the odds on the horse you are laying go up, the price discrepancy will be greater. It is common for horses at 20/1 or 30/1 to be available to lay at 40/1, 50/1 or more on the exchanges.
So should you discount laying? Absolutely not, you just have to work smarter and find the value lays, similar to how you would find value in horses to back. In the same way that identifying a horse that is over-priced can provide a "value bet", identifying a horse that is priced too low and you have a value lay. The skill obviously comes in picking these horses that have a greater chance of losing than their odds suggest.
Additionally, all horse races are not equal and the often quoted "30% of favorites win" does vary over race types and courses. This information can be used to seek out the value and produce a strategy to find value lay bets. Of the numerous horse laying systems that come across my desk, there are only a couple of laying strategies that I am comfortable enough to recommend.
With the advent of the betting exchanges, laying horses to lose was simplified and initially widely touted as the road to riches, unfortunately it soon became obvious that this wasn't the case, but why not?
Firstly, if we're honest, overall the bookies are pretty good at their main job, maths. Though they don't always get it right, more often than not they do, and their odds are generally a good reflection of the horses' chance of winning. When laying a horse to lose, we are effectively acting as the bookmaker and taking bets. However, given that the exchange prices to back a horse will generally be higher than the bookmakers, and the lay price will always be higher than the back price, you will usually be laying at higher odds than those that the bookies consider fair.
When laying the favorites price, you should be able to lay at a price fairly close to the true price, but as the odds on the horse you are laying go up, the price discrepancy will be greater. It is common for horses at 20/1 or 30/1 to be available to lay at 40/1, 50/1 or more on the exchanges.
So should you discount laying? Absolutely not, you just have to work smarter and find the value lays, similar to how you would find value in horses to back. In the same way that identifying a horse that is over-priced can provide a "value bet", identifying a horse that is priced too low and you have a value lay. The skill obviously comes in picking these horses that have a greater chance of losing than their odds suggest.
Additionally, all horse races are not equal and the often quoted "30% of favorites win" does vary over race types and courses. This information can be used to seek out the value and produce a strategy to find value lay bets. Of the numerous horse laying systems that come across my desk, there are only a couple of laying strategies that I am comfortable enough to recommend.
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