Laying bets
A 'lay' bet is the opposite to a 'back' bet – if you lay a particular runner or team, then you expect it NOT to win. Remember, a regular bet has to have two parties – someone who lays, someone who backs.
Historically, laying bets was pretty much the exclusive domain of the bookmakers and as punters would simply decide if we wanted to back what was offered to us. This all changed with the advent of the betting exhanges, such as Betfair, and you and I are now able to back or lay any runner or outcome in a given race or event. It is now possible to bet in ways that were previously impractical (or impossible).
If you want you can now play bookmaker by laying odds across multiple runners in the market, though you should remember, like any bookmaker, that you should always be looking to balance your book and minimise the risk of any one outcome/winner. Betting exchanges are covered in greater detail as we go on and like any betting there are risks you need to be aware of.
Let's look at an example to see how a single lay bet works and the exposure you would have to profit or loss for given odds. Blackburn are playing Chelsea at Ewood Park. Blackburn are quoted on Betfair at 7.8 to back, 8.0 to lay.
If you fancy Blackburn to win and back them £10 to win at odds of 7.8 then if you are right you will get back £78 including your stake. If you are wrong and Blackburn lose, you lose your £10 stake.
If however you think Blackburn are very unlikely to win – i.e. you think either Chelsea will win or the match will at worst be a draw – then you might choose to lay £10 that Blackburn won't win at odds of 8.0. You would be matched with another party who is looking to back at 8.0.
Laying long shots can be costly if you get it wrong
In this Blackburn example you would be exposing yourself to the prospect of a £70 loss if you are wrong and Blackburn do in fact win (remember the odds of 8.0 equate to 7/1, i.e. include the other party's stake, which they would get back). But if you are right and they don't win, you get to keep the other party's £10 stake.
Inverting the odds
When you lay it may help to invert the odds so that you know what you are really looking at. In other words, flip it into the more familiar 'back' bet format. What you do is this:
Inverted odds = 1 / (Lay odds – 1) + 1
So for Blackburn this would give us:
Inverted odds = 1 / (8 – 1) + 1 = 1.14
We can then think in terms of "backing Blackburn to NOT win at odds of 1.14". This may help you, it may not.
As with any betting it is important that you understand where value exists and only bet when it does. Lay betting is no different. It will always follow that if there is value in backing a particular selection, there won't be any value in laying that selection or visa versa, although due to the 'spread' (7.8 to 8.0 above), it may sometimes be that there is no value in either the back or the lay.
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