How Betfair works

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I have registered for Betfair, and I do not understand how it works.

I want to offer odds to people, but I am told that I have sufficient funds.

For example, If I offer portugal to win Euro 2004 at 9/1 and have £10 in my account, then I can't accept a £20 bet can I?

call me a mongo, but I am completely confused?

This was the question I received a few weeks ago from Richard. Since I thought this might be of interest to our readers I'm publishing the answer here:

Well, when you're laying odds you have to keep in mind the loss you're taking if you lose (if the outcome you laid happens to be the outcome ef the match).

If you don't have the money on your account to cover the loss then you're not able to lay the odds at the stake you want.

It's easy to do the maths:

The loss (if you lose) = the stake you're asking for * the odds you're laying - the stake you're asking for ((stake*odds)-stake)

I hope this cleared some of your mind about exchange-betting and laying odds.

In your case (I believe 9/1 means 10,00; I usually operate with decimals rather than fractions when it come to odds) you'll have to have £180 on your account instead of only £10. That's because if you lose your bet the loss will be £180 ((20*10,00)-20).

I hope you'll enjoy the fun of exchange-betting. But be careful... Don't EVER underestimate the people you're offering odds to. They probably know more about the match than you do. At least you should always assume that they do. These days I seem to prefer to use Bet365 for sports betting because they simply offer a superior service.