This is where you can BACK a horse (i.e. bet to win) with a fixed odds bookmaker, then LAY the same horse (i.e. bet to lose) at a SHORTER price on the betting exchanges. This creates a ‘Back To Lay Arb’, where subtracting the LAY losses from the BACK winnings leave you an overall profit.

This is how it works…

For example, let’s say there is a horse called Bob’s Lad on offer at 5/1 with William Hill. And the same horse is available to Lay at 4/1 with Betfair.

So, if we bet on (or, BACK) Bob’s Lad for £50 at 5/1 with William Hill AND also LAY
Bob’s Lad for £50 at 4/1 with Betfair, we can create the following scenario:

1. If Bob’s Lad WINS the race – we collect £300 from William Hill
   (£50 x 5/1 = £250 profit, plus stakes returned). But we also LOSE £200 on Betfair (£50 x 4/1 = £200 loss). Giving us an overall £50 profit.
2. If Bob’s Lad is beaten – we LOSE £50 to William Hill, but WIN £50 from our LAY on Betfair which covers our losses.

So whatever the outcome of the race…we either make a profit or break even!

And it only takes a slight tweak of your stakes to guarantee a profit from both outcomes…

Let’s say, we place the same £50 bet on Bob’s Lad to win at 5/1, BUT this time LAY the horse for £60 on Betfair (instead of £50).

1. If Bob’s Lad WINS the race – we collect £300 from William Hill (£50 x 5/1 = £250 profit, plus stakes returned). But we also LOSE £240 on Betfair (£60 x 4/1 = £240 loss). Giving us an overall £10 profit.
2. If Bob’s Lad is beaten – we LOSE £50 to William Hill, but WIN £60 from our LAY
   on Betfair. Also giving us an overall £10 profit.

A profit no matter who wins the race. You cannot ask for much better than that!

Cash-in on daily Back-to-Lay opportunities with OddsCatcher.com…

Our unique computer software highlights multiple Back-to-Lay opportunities EVERY day. Doing all the work in the background so you don’t have to. All you have to do is click on to the Back-to-Lay page on the site to see all the day’s runners that are trading shorter on Betfair than with the bookmakers, including the meeting, the race time, the price difference – and highlight the Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) bookmakers.

Back-to-Lay betting is also a clever way of staying one step ahead of the bookmakers. An occupational hazard of being a regular winner is you will come to the attention of the bookmakers. Some members use Back-to-Lay bets to fool the bookies into thinking they are typical punters – to avoid any unwanted attention of possibility of having their accounts limited.

For example, if you are placing a Back-to-Lay bet like the one outlined above and the horse LOSES (as in scenario 2). Although you have your losses covered by winning the LAY part of the bet on Betfair – as far as William Hill (or whichever bookmaker you use) are concerned it is a £50 loss.

How to boost your profits with BOG – and stay off the radar…

By ‘losing’ with a bookmaker but winning the same amount from Betfair, you are simply transferring your bookmaker winnings into Betfair. But this will help keep you off the radar of the bookmakers and free to cash-in on this loophole with attracting any unwanted attention.

You can use our built-in Back-to-Lays calculator and work out EXACTLY how much you need to stake on each part of the bet – even taking into account the Betfair commission. This will help you tailor your stakes if you have a personal feeling about the race outcome. You can either lock-in a guaranteed profit – regardless of whether the horse wins or loses. Or if you have a strong view, you can ‘weight’ your stakes more in favour on that horse winning or losing.

Using BOG bookmakers is also a way to boost your profits – for free! If the horse you BACK is with a BOG bookmaker and its price drifts out to a bigger price before the off – you will paid at the higher SP. And because you’ve already LAYED the same horse at lower odds, this can easily DOUBLE or even TREBLE your profit.