Betfair Betting Exchange
New Betfair customers register an account (include the promotion code AFF025) and you will receive a £25 no loss free bet. Once you've made a deposit to your account, place your first bet up to £25. If the bet loses, Betfair will credit your account with up to £25. If the first bet wins, there will be no credit to your account.
Betfair is the world's leading betting exchange. It was founded in August 1999 by Andrew Black and Edward Wray in order to commercialise proprietary betting technology they'd developed.
Unlike with conventional bookmakers. All bets on Betfair are placed by users who either want to back a selection to win, or lay a selection to lose. Betfair matches the bets between people with opposing views.
Betfair is the trading name of Betfair Limited, registered as a limited company in England and Wales.
Betfair provide betting opportunities on horse racing in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA. They also offer bets on a wide range of other sports including:
- American Football
- Athletics
- Australian Rules Football
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Boxing
- Chess
- Combat Sports
- Cricket
- Cycling
- Darts
- Gaelic Games
- Golf
- Greyhound Racing
- Handball
- Ice Hockey
- Rowing
- Rugby League
- Rugby Union
- Snooker
- Football
- Tennis
- Winter Sports
The Betfair API is an application programming interface that enables developers to create software that seamlessly integrates with the Betfair sports exchange.
Typically applications can be used to automate many aspects of your betting or trading.
You can either develop your own applications or buy software from a vendor, such as Grey Horse Bot or BF Bot Manager.
SP is an abbreviation for ‘Starting Price’ and traditionally has been determined by the on-course bookmakers.
Betfair have introduced their own SP, which is based on bets placed by both backers and layers in any market. With no margin for profit built in it gives you much better odds than traditional SP.
In addition to regular betting, Betfair also gives you the opportunity to trade the odds, either prior to or during an event.
The idea is you back a selection at higher odds and lay the same selection at lower odds, to guarantee a profit, whatever the outcome of the event.
There are many ebooks and software programs around help you with this. See the Exchange Trading section for more information.
Betfair operate a layered commission structure whereby the more you bet, the lower your rate will be. Commission is charged on your net winnings from any single market.
You do not pay any commission on losing bets.
Their standard commission rate is 5%, but you will be able to decrease that depending on the volume of bets you have matched.
Commission amounts can easily be offset by the increased odds you get betting on a betting exchange, opposed to betting with a traditional bookmaker
In addition to the betting exchange Betfair has also established a games portfolio, including Betfair Poker, Betfair Casino and a number of exchange-enabled games.