Exchange Wagering
 

Does anybody ever use it or understand it? I don't see much talk on here about it.

I tried it a few times but could never even get the bet in. Notice TVG even has an infomercial trying to explain it. I watched it several times and I'm still not getting it. Could be in trouble unless it gets easier to use.

If you are a typical $2 Win Bettor, you would be looking at the "Bet For" (blue) options. In that column, Betfair is showing you the best odds that someone else is willing to give you AND how much action they are willing to book at the odds they are offering. Typically, you will find entries where the odds offered are HIGHER than the parimutuel odds available in our standard wagering markets.

From there, you can look at the "Bet Against" market. There, someone else is looking for specific odds on a horse and you can offer those odds to that bettor if you think that the horse will LOSE.

Betfair is not for the standard vertical (exacta/trifecta) or horizontal (double/Pick-3+) player. In Britain where win wagering remains a major staple over the exotics, you can see why an efficient market pricing scheme might well work.

If you want to learn more, my suggestion is to have two side-by-side windows on your PC : one is the odds board of the parimutuel site where you would normally wager (NYRABets or whatever). The second window is the Betfair market of the same race. Watch the odds on both sides. Remember that the Betfair side is priced in "decimal odds" as opposed to what we normally see in the US markets.

It can get more complicated as you apply strategies (similar to options trading), but let's keep it simple for now.

I hope that this helps.

WOW! Even more confused. Now I know I'm in trouble with this. But I appreciate your response. Thanks.

Wasn't there a way to bet during the race?

and by the lack of replies I guess not too many people do use it so I don't feel too stupid.

Yes you can bet during the race but there is virtually no liquidity and the offered prices are atrocious. I have used it in the past and have gotten a few very nice overlays but I don’t see the prices now offering that big of a difference. I think you may now have some computers in the pool. Also a few times of betting too early and taking a price WORSE than the track odds makes you feel like a tool. If you are interested I would say have patience and bet as late as possible to avoid this. What I do like though is betting against an ODDS ON favorite that I don’t like.

That would be my thinking as well.

I think Betfair has done a pretty poor job of training the betting public on how this works. I stopped by that tent at Monmouth and the college dropouts working it could not really explain how it works or why it may be better than the parimutual system. But I got a can koozie. I do not know any more about exchange wagering than I did before they introduced it; that is to say: nothing.

Exactly.

Good idea, bad system. Has to be made simpler.