How would you like to trade a market where you get large regular price swings every 10 minutes in the afternoon, seven days a week. A
market where all prices are set purely by supply and demand, few transaction costs, no middle men and you only pay commission if you win? Where you can freely act as a market maker and where you have direct market access and where you can create a spread for others to take?

Betfair has revolutionised the betting market and created an open platform for exchanging risk on sports events. This market is now viewed much more like a traditional financial risk market than an old fashioned betting market. Smart users have realised that there are huge opportunities on Betfair because they can buy and sell risk in much the same way they would in a normal financial market but without the burden of cost or the restricted access that is usually associated with traditional financial markets.

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Hmmm, Usually only alerted on new accounts with transactions above 10k. Maybe they are getting tighter?

Just tried to re-open old a/c and was told same info-money laundering etc.

My original USA election result bet as per the above was:

103 @ 2.76 = 284.28
20 @ 2.78 = 55.60
Less the 123 staked = 216.88 net

A late start for me today after going out for a long lunch. Talked and drank too much!! Anyhow, the first four horse races I have done this afternoon. I know nothing about horses and don't subscribe to any tipping services but the first four I did this afternoon were just the sort of races I like. Eleven more left to do.

Looked into this a while back. There used to be a site called sure bets which helped calculate these no lose situations. I may be wrong but it always appeared that you really needed luck on your side to make the book (ie a lot of changing sentiment to shift odds up and down)

Is there much preparation for each race - ie do you place bets just before the race or is there lots of screen watching all morning?

Arbitrage is usually what people call sure bets. There are various services that pump out 000's of these a month but not flawless.

http://www.betbrain.com

Gives you a list of current arbitrage opportunities.

"Is there much preparation for each race - ie do you place bets just before the race or is there lots of screen watching all morning?"

In the afternoon I do one race and when the race starts switch to the next. There are races every 10 mins, So I tend to stay stuck to the screen unless I am not particulary interested in a particular race. In summer you get evening racing also. But I usually have a preferance for Soccer in the evening if it is on.

Lots of money on horses nowadays though. The 16:00 at Stratford (Just run) had 846k traded.

Do you bet in the running? Would you need to have the right TV channels for that?

Vetting customers should be done before opening an account and that kind of information should not be requested via an unsecured web site. I assume it is insecure because it has http not https and there is no padlock.

Doc, Not on the next race so some time to answer you.

103 @ 2.76 = 284.28
20 @ 2.78 = 55.60
Less the 123 staked = 216.88 net

Currently you can lay 123 at 2.34 so you could mitigate all liability by laying 123 @ 2.34

P&L
43.26 - Bet 1
8.80 - Bet 2
52.06 net profit if Democrats win and no liability

Or lay slightly more and win money whether either party wins. Your P&L will be green on both lines.

"Yantraman - 28 Oct'04 - 16:13 - 26 of 28
Do you bet in the running?"

No, Not on Horses. I know guys that do and do very well from it but not my style. I think you need to choose to or not. Difficult to mix strategies.

Football is a bit different I do bet in running on football. Thats part of the mix IMO.

I'm sure with horse racing you can catch a lot of mugs out, I know, I've been that mug.

I've backed a horse and the bet is unmatched when the race has started, the horse is well behind and got no chance so someone matches my bet and takes easy money.

IMO, you should cancel your unmatched bets before the race starts.

All unmatched bets are cancelled at the start of each event whether it be a football match or horse race.

Is that true? I'm sure I've been caught out on horse races before

The only thing that could have happened is if you submitted the bet when the market was closed and then re-opened. I've been caught like that before.

Jeff

definitely true - had bets cancelled and f'ed and blinded about it lol

Some events such as manager markets are unmanaged so bets are GTC. When Mark Hughes was appointed as manager of Blackburn Rovers I was listening to five live. So I went into the market and just swept up everything in front of me. It seemed to take ages for the news to filter out.

I think I've noticed on Betfair how you can bet on some races whilst the horses are still running but before the race has finished. Haven't done it though.

I'm not really a horse betting man but I do think I'm an 'opportunist' which puts me into the 'I'm not bothered what it is and/or I'll even leave it alone' category. So Betfair is OK with me and I'll have tickle with anything really, just to sorta kinda put my money where my mouth is.

I quiet fancy this course, would have prefered a saturday though to a working day,and theres lots of sporting events on a saturday too to make it possible for live trades,
Scrip, cant you do 2 days?:-)
And hopefully there is coffee and tea:-)

will be in touch