Betting in-running, or live betting as it is commonly known, accounts for about half of all betting on sports nowadays.

As the name suggests it involves betting on an event once the event has already begun. In a football match punters can now bet on the outcome of a game or if another goal will be scored right up until the final whistle. Most sporting events now have betting markets available right up until the result is determined.

Benefits of Live Betting

1. Bookmakers yield a much lower return on the average live bet than on the non-live which suggests that live betting is better for the bettor.
2. You can wait and see how an event is unfolding and offer a more educated opinion.
3. Things change fast and it can be very exciting.
4. You have many more opportunities to bet.
   1. You can bet on the next player to win a point in a tennis match or the next player to throw a 180 in darts. There is never a dull moment for the bettor.
5. You can lock-in a profit before the result is in.
   1. Take for example a tennis match. You have backed Nadal to beat Murray at 2/1 before the match starts. Nadal wins the first set and now Murray is 2/1 to win the match so you put some money on Murray at 2/1 to guarantee that whoever wins, you make a profit (This is how you would do it with a fixed odds bookmaker. With a betting exchange you can just ‘lay’).

Delayed Bet Processing

When placing a live bet you will notice a delay in processing the bet. Most bookmakers traditionally put a 7 second delay (5 seconds only on betting exchanges) on placement of a live bet. This is so that the bookmaker has a cushion in order to react to something happening and either suspend the market or adjust their prices accordingly. It also protects against the possibility that some punters may be getting their television pictures a few seconds ahead of the bookmakers – or even actually be a spectator at the event while they are betting.

If the odds get shorter in the 7 seconds while you wait for your bet to go through, it will not be accepted and you will be reoffered the same selection but at a lower price.

If the odds get longer during that 7 seconds then your bet will be placed and you will receive the higher (and better) odds.

Automated Trading

Some bookmakers manually adjust their prices in-running but most of the major bookmakers now run off pre-determined models. Every price on every market is linked to the starting prices of the competitors and the current score. This means savings for the bookmakers in resource overheads because 1 trader can trade several in-running events at one time.

A punter who is aware of this fact should be able to use it to their advantage. Bookmakers don’t always get the starting price correct so in a situation where you think they have obviously miscalculated the starting price you will be able to find excellent in-running value because the latest prices being churned out by the robot are all coming from the incorrect starting price.

GENIE SAYS: Live betting is booming and will continue to get more popular. It allows a more educated prediction of the outcome and a knowledgeable punter should be able to make a profit.

When a bookmaker offers Best Price Guaranteed (or BPG) on any event or market this guarantees all board and early prices against the starting price (SP). Essentially, Best Price Guaranteed is best explained by an example.

Best Price Guaranteed Example

• You spot a horse is available at 12/1 on the morning of a race and proceed to take place a bet of €10 with a bookmaker offering BPG.
• At the off your horse has drifted to 14/1
• Your horse wins and because you bet with a Best Price Guaranteed bookie you are guaranteed the best price. This means that you don’t miss out on €20.
• In the long run this could add up to a lot so it is a good idea to bet with Best price guaranteed bookmakers

It is estimated that offering best price guaranteed costs bookies approximately 2.5% of turnover and as such offers excellent value for punters. If you are a keen horse racing punter then it should be a prerequisite to bet with a best price guaranteed bookmaker. See the list of bookmakers offering BPG below.

Paddypower – Best price guaranteed

Online bookmaker Paddy Power presently offer best price guaranteed on all UK and Irish horse racing. With top horse racing money back specials, competitive odds and excellent market coverage, they offer excellent value to customers.

• Paddypower are also offering a bet €10 get €20 sign up offer should you need further encouragement!

Ladbrokes – Best Price Guaranteed

Ladbrokes are another top bookmaker also offering BPG on Irish and UK horse racing. In addition to an excellent live betting offering they also offer a huge range of markets and a broad supplementary product offering.

• If you’re not already a customer Ladbrokes are also offering a €10 free bet to all new online customers.

Victor Chandler (Vc Bet) -Best Price Guaranteed

Not wanting to be out done, online bookie Victor Chandler (recently branded as VCbet) also offer best price guaranteed on UK and Irish horse racing. As well as offering enhanced odds Victor Chandler also offer moneyback offers on five folds or upwards on certain football markets.

• Not a customer yet? VcBet are offering customers a €100 sportsbook & €25 casino sign up offer.

William Hill – Best Price Guaranteed

Online giant Will Hill maintains its competitive edge in line with other top bookmakers in its offering of best price guaranteed on UK and Irish horse racing. Having out done other bookies in their provision of top odds last year, Will Hill remain one of the most competitve bookmakers around.

• Currently William Hill are offering a €25 free bet to all new customers.

The fundamental starting point for any good punter is odds comparison. Genie recommends that you should price the market (or just selection if it’s a big field) up for yourself. Work out what you think the odds should be and see if a bookie will beat those odds. If they can beat the odds that you have priced up, then we have a bet. While it may be the case that betting exchanges more often than not offer the best odds, when commission is factored in this may not be the case. As such it still applies that you should investigate the market and try and beat whatever odds you have been offered on a market.

Odds comparison: A Value Betting Fundamental

Ensuring that you get the best odds available is the fundamental basis on which value betting is based. There are several odds comparison webistes around such as oddschecker.com, beatthoseodds.com (bestbetting.com), easyodds.com among others.

Rest assured that Genie will do the hard work for you and always present his tips along with the best available price.

In order to engineer a profit, rule number 1 is that you must always bet at the best available price by finding the best odds available on the market of choice. Essentially, that will mean trying to beat the odds of your normal bookmaker. This means that you will need to open many bookmaker accounts. Don’t be put off by this because thanks to deals done by Geniebet.com you can get free bets as part of the sign-up offers on some of our partner sites.

Click on the banners below and you can avail of Genie’s sign up offer.

1) Record Your Bets

Bettors should keep a record of every bet they have. This enables the bettor to constantly monitor how much they are winning/losing over a certain amount of time. It may also help to pinpoint certain types of bets or a certain sport which is particularly profitable or costly and maybe decide to adjust the stakes accordingly. Once you know the sports and markets that you make a profit on then can should focus on those primarily.

2) Do Your Homework

Bettors should try to arm themselves with as much information as they can before placing a bet. Where possible they should try to get the updated team news at the time of the bet to see if the team news impacts on what price the selection should be. Bookmakers will be sure to be doing their research on these factors so in order to give yourself a chance to compete on a level playing field you must get as much information as possible.

3) Price the market before looking at the prices

Ideally the bettor should try to compute the prices on a market before he looks at the bookmaker’s odds on the market. He should try to compute the odds to the 100% line. The bettor should then compare his odds against the prices being offered by the bookmakers to see if he believes there to be any value available in the market. If the bookmaker is offering a price which is bigger than the bettor’s 100% line after the research has been done then this can be perceived to be a value bet with a positive expected return. Punters should refrain from betting at a price that does not represent a value bet based on the customer 100% line prices.

4) Always get the Best Available Price

Bettors should endeavour to get the best price available on their selection before backing it. There are various betting odds comparison sites where it’s easy to identify which company are offering the best price. This may involve opening accounts with a number of bookmakers to place your bets rather than just one specific bookmaker. It is free to open these accounts and in fact many offer incentives to join up so it is worthwhile opening a number of accounts if needed.

An important point to remember on placing bets with betting exchanges is that they will deduct a certain amount off your winnings if successful. So although the betting exchange is appearing as the best available price the bettor should calculate the return after the deduction to check if the price is still more generous than the fixed odds firms.

5) Keep an eye out for Special Offers

In searching for the best price on a selection you should make yourself familiar with any of the companies that may be offering cashback specials that may refund your stake if it loses.

Check out Genie’s cashback specials section for a quick look at all available cashback specials. We rate the cashback so that you know which offers the best value.

6) Compare the Each-Way terms

If planning to place an each way bet have a look at the terms being offered by the various companies as the more attractive the place terms gives you a better chance of success and will represent the value bet. For example some companies may pay out on the first 4 places in the Grand National while others will pay out on the first 5 finishers giving you an extra chance of success.

7) Watch out for Bookmaker Oversights

Bookmakers can at certain times offer different prices for the same selection. An example of this would be offering 5/6 on a team to win a football match while offering a better price of 10/11 on the same team -0.5 on the Asian Handicap which is exactly the same thing. So when thinking of placing a match bet or handicap bet on soccer it is worthwhile comparing the Asian handicap prices also to see if there is an extra incentive to be had which would represent value betting.

Cue the invention of the internet which turned bookmakers into international businesses. Still though the only way to bet though was for the bookmaker to offer odds on an outcome and the punter is free to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

That is of course until Betting Exchanges were born. In June, 2000 Andrew Black and Edward Wray launched Betfair, the world’s first betting exchange, and revolutionized the face of gambling forever.

A betting exchange differs from a traditional fixed-odds bookmaker in that it allows punters to bet at odds set and requested by other punters. Members can make both ‘Back’ bets (normal bets on a selection to win) and ‘Lay’ bets (bets on the opposite side of the Back, against the selection), thereby eliminating the traditional bookmaker.

Punters can request a price and post it on the website. If someone else is willing to offer you that price they will do so and your bet will be matched. If no-one is willing to offer you the price then your bet will be unmatched and the funds reaccredited to your account balance (no charge).

To understand it simply think of 2 mates (Paddy and John) down at the pub, having a pint and watching the game. Paddy is telling John that Barcelona have the best attack he has ever seen and are a cert to beat Real Madrid. John disagrees and thinks that their dodgy defence is going to cost them. John says to Paddy ‘I’ll give you 2/1 on Barca to win this game’ to which Paddy replies ‘you’re on’ That’s a betting exchange.

Betfair works just like that except that instead of just Paddy and John, there are millions more punters just like them offering odds. Their identities are never known to one another.

In essence Betfair connects punters and allows them to become the bookmaker. It is essentially a no-risk bet networking site which makes guaranteed earnings by charging commissions on winning bets.

Betfair is the daddy of all of the betting exchanges. In order for a betting exchange to be successful it needs liquidity; i.e. it needs lots of Paddy’s and John’s offering their prices so that punters are able to have a decent sized wager at competitive odds.

Betfair makes it’s money by charging commission on winning bets. The commission starts at 5% of winnings on a market and can be reduced to as low as 2% for high rollers. The level of commission that an individual pays can be reduced based on a loyalty points scheme.

Betfair turns over more money in bets than any other betting organisation in the world. It is not the only betting exchange however. Other betting exchanges include Betdaq and WBX (World Betting Exchange), both of which operate in much the same way as Betfair.

The birth of the betting exchange is the most important occurrence in the history of sports betting. It made the fixed odds bookmakers review how they operated and ensured that they reduced their margins (improved their odds) in order to be competitive with the betting exchanges. Almost overnight the position of the punter was greatly improved.

Single
A single is 1 bet on 1 selection and that selection must win in order to get a return.

Each-way Single
2 bets on 1 selection in 1 event – One bet on the selection to win and the other on the selection to place in the event. A €1 e/w single will cost €2.

Double
A double is 1 bet on 2 selections in separate events. Both must win in order to get a return.

Treble
A treble is 1 bet on 3 selections on different events. All 3 must win in order to get a return.

Fourfold
A fourfold is 1 bet on 4 selections on different events. All 4 must win in order to get a return.

Accumulator
An accumulator is 1 bet on 5 or more bets on selections on separate events. All selections must win in order to get a return.

Trixie
A Trixie involves picking 3 selections on separate events. It is made up of 4 different bets – 3 doubles and a treble.

At least 2 of the selections must win in order to get a return. A €1 trixie will cost €4.

Patents
A patent involves picking 3 selections on separate events. It is made up of 7 bets – 3 singles, 3 doubles and 1 treble.

At least 1 of the selections must win in order to get a return. A €1 will cost €7.

Yankee
A Yankee involves making 4 selections in 4 separate events. It is made up of 11 bets – 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a fourfold.

At least 2 of the selections must win in order to get a return. A €1 yankee will cost €11.

Lucky 15
A Lucky 15 involves making 4 selections in 4 different events. It is made up of 15 bets – 4 singles, 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a fourfold

At least 1 of the selections must win in order to get a return. A €1 Lucky 15 will cost €15

Super Yankee (Canadian)
A Super Yankee involves making 5 selections in 5 different events. It is made up of 26 bets – 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 fourfolds and 1 fivefold.

At least 2 of the selections must win in order to get a return. A €1 Super Yankee will cost €26.

Lucky 31
A Lucky 31 involves making 5 selections on 5 different events. It is made up of 31 bets – 5 singles, 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 fourfolds and 1 fivefold.

At least 1 of the selections must win in order to get a return. A €1 Lucky 31 will cost €31.

Heinz
A Heinz involves making 6 selections on 6 different events. It is made up of 57 bets – 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 fourfolds, 6 fivefolds and 1 sixfold.

At least 2 legs must win in order to get a return. A €1 Heinz will cost €57.

Lucky 63
A Lucky 63 involves making 6 selections on 6 different events. It is made up of 63 bets – 6 singles, 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 fourfolds, 6 fivefolds and 1 sixfold.

Super Heinz
A Super Heinz involves making 7 selections in 7 different events. It is made up of 120 bets – 21 doubles, 35 trebles, 35 fourfolds, 21 fivefolds, 7 sixfolds and 1 sevenfolds.

At least 2 legs must win in order to get a return. A €1 Super Heinz will cost €120.

Goliath
A Goliath involves making 8 selections on 8 different events. It is made up of 247 bets – 28 doubles, 56 trebles, 70 fourfolds, 56 fivefolds, 28 sixfolds, 8 sevenfolds and 1 eigfhtfold.

At least 2 legs must win in order to get a return. A €1 Goliath will cost €247.

Straight Forecast
Involves selecting 2 horses in a race to finish 1^st and  2^nd in the exact order selected. You must specify which will finish first and which second.

A €1 Straight Forecast will cost €1.

Reverse Forecast
Involves selecting 2 horses in a race to finish 1^st and 2^nd in any order.

A €1 Reverse Forecast will cost €2

Tricast
3 selections to finish 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd in the specified order in  race.

A €1 Tricast will cost €1.

Combination Tricast
3 selections to finish 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd in any order in a race.

A combination tricast is a bet type that consists of all combination meaning a total of 6 bets so a €1 Combination Tricast will cost €6.

Spread betting is a different type of betting tool to the traditional fixed odds bookmakers or the betting exchanges. The spread betting bookmakers set their quote on where they believe a selection will finish up (e.g. Man Utd Premier League season points: 82-84). Depending on your opinion on this market you can either “Sell” at the low end of the quote, 82, or “Buy” at the high end of the quote, 84. By “Selling” at 82 you will lose x times your unit stake for every point that Man Utd finish above the 82 or you will win x times your stake for every point that Man Utd finish below the 82 points. “Buying” at 84 works the opposite way as you will win x times your unit stake for every point that Man Utd finish above the 84 or you will lose x times your stake for every point that Man Utd finish below the 84 points.

No Limits?

Basically spread betting works on the premise that the more the customer is right the more he/she will win but on the flip side the more the customer is wrong the more he/she will lose. Depending on the type of market this can result in profits and losses escalating very quickly. The customer must always be aware that it is possible to lose more than their original stake. The customer must familiarise themselves with the worst case scenario result to calculate their maximum possible losses before they have a bet to ensure that they aren’t putting themselves in a position to possibly lose an amount they cannot afford to lose. To calculate this properly you must familiarise yourself with the “Stop Loss Rules” of each spread betting company which sets a maximum profit/loss on each market.

Types of Spread Bets

Spread Betting offers many different types of bets. “Win Index” is like match betting where they award a certain amount of points for winning, drawing or losing. Supremacy betting gives higher profits and losses depending on how much your selection win or lose by. Spreads companies offer many totals markets including total corners, bookings and goals in soccer, total games or points in tennis, total runs in cricket or total points in GAA and rugby. These markets tend to be more volatile than the traditional match betting markets so caution is advised before proceeding to have your bet. Spread betting can offer an alternative to trading on the stock exchange by offering certain financial quotes.

Binary Betting

Another alternative type of Spread Betting is Binary Betting. This offers a quote between 0 and 100 based on the percentage chance of the event occurring. These markets are settled at 100 if the event occurs or settled at 0 if the event doesn’t occur. Again it is important to be aware of your total winnings or losses before placing your stake.

From time to time a bookmaker will offer better odds on a selection for a period of time in order to encourage betting on that selection. There are a few reasons why they might to this:

1. For a competitive advantage.
2. To keep the punters coming back to check regularly for enhanced odds offers.
3. To balance their book a little better.
   • For example if Federer is playing against Nadal and the bookmaker has a large liability built up on Nadal they may attempt to encourage some betting on Federer so that their potential loss is reduced.
4. To encourage betting on multiples.
   • Bookmakers want punters to bet on multiples so from time to time they will offer enhanced odds on the outcome of a multiple bet.
     • For example; Man Utd are 1/2 to win their match and Tiger Woods is 6/4 to win a golf tournament. If you were to bet a tenner on both to win the normal price would be 11/4. The bookie says that if you bet on this right now we’ll pay you at 3/1.

GENIE SAYS: It can represent good value for the punter to bet on enhanced odds. Make sure to keep an eye out on any enhanced odds Genie spots in the featured section.

Like any business a bookmaker needs to control their risk. Doing this as a bookmaker can be a bit more complex than for most businesses because there are thousands to people like you trying to take their money off them.

In order to manage risk they use risk control systems, namely a combination of ARC, Customer Risk Categorisation and Stake Factor.

Automatic Risk Control – A.R.C.

Automatic risk control refers to the computer system that all good fixed odds bookmakers use to control the liability that they open themselves up to on any given event. It is an essential piece of kit for any online bookmaker as it avoids the risk of getting completely taken to the cleaners if they offer an incorrect price or if someone knows something that they don’t.

Key Terms:
Max Book Loss (MBL)
The maximum amount that the bookmaker is willing to potentially lose on an event. It represents the level of liability that they are open to on any one selection in a market.

Max Singles Takeout (MST)
The amount of money that the bookmaker will allow any 1 person to win on a selection in a market. The MST applies to single bets only.

Max Multiples Takeout (MMT)
The amount of money that the bookmaker will allow any 1 person to win with a multiple bet that includes a selection in this market.

The level of liability is normally dictated first and foremost by trading policy of a bookmaker. A larger bookmaker is generally willing to open itself up to a greater degree of liability than a small bookmaker. This may be because they have been around a bit longer and have good alerting tools and more confidence in their traders or because they have a better customer risk categorisation policy in place.

The other key factor in the level of risk that a bookmaker is willing to take is the type of event in question. For example a bookmaker may be willing to set a MBL of £250,000 for a Premier League football game with a MST of £50,000 whereas on a Blue Square Premier League match they may set the MBL at £10,000 and the MST at £1,000. The reason behind it is pretty straightforward – all of the info that a bookie has at his disposal is the same as what you have access to. A football trader would find it difficult to keep up with team news from a lower league team but he may be all to aware that the goalkeeper might be your cousin and he told you that half the team contracted swine flu. They would also be wary of allowing a liability on lower paid levels of the game where the temptation for the players to cheat for £50k may be quite a bit higher.

Golf is an excellent example of how the bookmakers use ARC to manage their risk. Firstly they will set a MBL at the overall book level. This applies to all selections initially but on any 1 selection they may allow a higher or lower liability.

Here is a table that may help you to better understand.

The market is assigned the following default overview limits:

MBL of £100,000
MST of £15,000
MMT of £50,000

Any of the fields in the above table that remain blank are set to the overview limits. This means that the bookmaker is willing to take a liability of up to £100k on Tiger Woods, Mickelson, Singh, Els, Westwood and Cabrera.

They may have a lot of patriotic Irish punters so they decide to take a bit more risk on Harrington because they know lots of people will bet on him. However to continue to allow a lot of people to bet they have decided to reduce the MST to £5k and the MMT to £20k.

The trader reckons that Sergio Garcia is not going to play well this week so he is willing to take a bit more money on Garcia. For example other bookies may be offering a lower price of say 12/1 but this trader thinks that Sergio will have a bad week so he offers higher odds than any other bookmaker on Garcia to attract more bets. In order to accommodate the expected extra bets he has to open up the potential liability to £250k.

Similarly he fancies that Kenny Perry has a good chance of winning this week. He still wants to have a balanced book and offer a competitive price but he may adjust the amount that he is willing to lose on Kenny (MBL to £50k, MST to £5k and MMT to £20k).

Because Tom Watson is such high odds the bookmaker feels the need to raise the liability in order to accept a reasonable sized bet from the customer.

The bookmaker will continue to adjust the limits during the lifetime of the market. They will always be aware of their liabilities and may adjust a MBL on one player if they see that the potential loss is getting close to the current MBL. This is so that they can continue to take bets.

If the max book loss is reached then any further attempted bets on that selection will be rejected.

Customer Risk Categorisation

Not every customer that signs up to a bookmaker has their betting patterns scrutinised but when you start betting at a certain level or if you start to win off the bookmaker they will analyse your play and put you into a certain category of punter. The categories vary across different bookmakers but they generally cover the same ‘group’, namely;

New – By default a new sign up will be identified as a new customer.

Monitored – When a customer has made a few bob but the bookie is trying to work out whether you were just lucky or whether you really know what you’re doing.

Good – A customer who is doing better than the average punter. This customer will continue to be monitored and any bets of a certain size may be referred to a trader before being accepted.

Hot – A customer that is beating the bookmaker. The bookmaker can use a number of tools at their disposal to restrict how much you can bet.

Arber – A customer who is continuously betting on prices that are better than those available on other bookmakers or betting exchange will stand out as a probable arber. Once you are identified as an arber the amount that you are able to bet will be very low (maybe even zero). Bookmakers cannot beat arbers in the long term so naturally they will cut them off as soon as they can.

VIP – A customer who bets a lot and is not very good at gambling (i.e. lose a lot of money) will be identified as a VIP. The VIP will generally be allowed to bet more than the average punter by adjusting their stake factor upwards.

Stake Factor

The MBL, MST and MMT are all important but some customers are allowed to win more than others and some punters are restricted to only being able to win small amounts. How the bookmakers do this for an individual customer is through their stake factor.

The stake factor is the multiple of the regular maximum bet that an individual punter is allowed to have.

By default a new customer is given a stake factor of 1. This means that they can continue to bet at the same level as 90% of all customers. If the MST on a selection in a market is £10k then the most that you can win on a win single bet is £10k.

If you are a punter who bets high stakes and loses quite a bit of money then there is a fair chance that your stake factor will be increased. So for example if your stake factor is raised to 3 and the MST on the market is £10k then the most that you can win on a win single bet is £30k (3*£10k).

If you are a punter who likes to bet high but beats the bookie then they might reduce your stake factor. For example if your stake factor is reduced to 0.1 and the MST is £10k then the maximum that you will be allowed to win on any win single bet is £1k.

That is a high level overview. The modern bookmaking systems are very sophisticated and allow the bookmaker to reduce stake factor for certain sports and not others or allow you to bet on certain betting markets but not others.

Other Risk Control Mechanisms

Along with these main risk control strategies a modern online bookmaker will also employ the services of companies like Bet Radar. Bet Radar track all of the bookmakers prices and will alert them to any time that their odds are out of line with those available on Betfair. Once the trading team has been alerted they can choose to adjust their odds or to keep their price at the same level.

The type of alert generated depends on how far out of line you are with Betfair. If the price is 5 times of that available on Betfair for example the Bet Radar sytem will issue a high level alert to the bookmaker as it is quite obvious tha they have made a mistake in their pricing.

The terms and conditions of most bookmaker sites, as well as attempting to cure insomnia, are pretty comprehensive and allow them to cancel a bet that has been placed where an obvious pricing error has occurred. On the face of it this might seem like a scam but it is a very reasonable position as the traders entering the prices are only human and therefore error prone. Any adjustment or cancellation can be challenged by the punter (at no expense) with the regulatory body of the bookmaker (changes as per the jurisdiction of the company).

Bookmakers are profit making businesses. To keep them profitable they need to write in a certain amount of margin into each market they offer prices on. An overround of 110% means that the customer must stake a total of €110 spread out over all the selections to guarantee himself a return of €100 regardless of the result. In this way the bookmaker expects to make a profit of €10 for every €110 turnover.

We will first look at how margin is calculated:
For odds displaying in the fractional form X/Y the margin on this is calculated using the formula Y/(X+Y). e.g. the margin on 6/4 = 4/(6+4) = 4/10 = 40%.

For odds displaying in the decimal format this calculation is even easier as you just divide 1 by the decimal and display as a percentage. e.g. the margin on 2.5 (this is the decimal form of 6/4) is 1/(2.5) = 40%.

So if a bookmaker offers odds on a 3-way market with odds on the 3 selections of 1/1 (=50%), 2/1 (=33.33%) and 3/1 (=25%). This results in an overround of 108.33%.

The size of the overround depends on the number of selections and how high profile the event is. These can range from approximately 104% for the Superbowl match betting, 106% for Premier League Soccer match betting, 111% on lower profile soccer leagues, 125% on greyhound races with 6 selections, 130% on soccer correct score market to in the region of 160% on a golf tournament with over 100 golfers. The higher the overround the more margin the bookmakers expect to make from a market, making it increasingly difficult for the bettor to have a profitable bet.

Please see Genie’s chart that converts prices from fractional to decimal odds and displaying the margins on these odds.

FRACTIONAL ODDS

Those of you from UK or from Ireland will be most familiar with fractional betting odds.

Fractional odds display the amount of profit that you will stand to win relative to your stake

N.B. – If a selection has odds of 6/1 this means that we are saying it has a 1 in 7 chance of winning, not a 1 in 6.

The fractional odds assigned to a selection are determined by the expected chance it has of winning so if we believe something to have a 25% chance of winning it will be 3/1… meaning that it has a 1 in 4 chance of winning.

Example 1: If you be £2 at fractional odds of 5/2 then you stand to make a profit of £5 (you will also get the original stake of £2 back meaning a total return of £7).

Example 2: with fractional odds of 1/3 you will need to stake £3 in order to make a profit of £1.

Fractional Odds * Stake = Winnings

DECIMAL ODDS

Decimal odds are more commonly used outside of the UK and Ireland.

Unlike fractional odds, decimal odds are displayed in such a way that the stake multiplied by the odds is equal to the total returns.

Decimal odds are always displayed to 2 decimal places.

To decide upon the decimal odds of a selection we also have to firstly consider it’s prospective chances of winning. If again we say that it has a 25% chance of winning then we use the formula;

100/(% chance of winning) = decimal odds

in this case

100/25 = 4.00

Decimal Odds * Stake = Returns

US ODDS

Most of us Europeans aren’t too familiar with US Odds display but you may come across it from time to time so you might as well know what it all means.

There are 2 types of US Odds and you will need to understand both:

1)     Positive US Odds: When the price is Evens or higher (the selection has 50% or less chance of winning).

2)     Negative US Odds: When the price is lower than Evens (the selection has a greater than 50% chance of winning).

Positive US odds can be distinguished by the ‘+’ sign displayed before the number. They show the amount that you would stand to win (profit) for a 100 stake… so, as with the above example of a 25% chance of winning, the US odds in this case are +300

Negative US odds are distinguishable by the ‘-‘ sign before the odds. The number shows the amount that the punter needs to bet in order win 100… so, for example, if Liverpool have a 75% chance of winning their match then the fractional odds would be 1/3 and the decimal odds would be 1.33. The US odds would be -300.

GENIE SAYS: If you are still a little confused about betting odds then why not contact us with any of your questions.

Match Betting / win-draw-win / 1-x-2 / Money Line
Betting on the outcome of an event with 2 teams or participants.

Outright Betting
Betting on the overall winner of a competition or tournament.

Double Chance
This is effectively the fixed odds bookmakers’ way of offering the customer an opportunity to ‘lay’. It is only available on an event involving 2 teams and where a draw is a possible outcome. The punter selects 2 of the possible 3 outcomes and if either occurs then the bet is a winner.

Betting w/o Favourite
Hypothetical bet in which the market favourite is removed and the odds adjusted accordingly. If the market favourite wins the event then the second place finisher is the winner of the betting w/o favourite market.

Draw No Bet
If the match ends in a draw then stake is refunded. This market is only available on an event between 2 teams where a draw is a possible outcome. For example Arsenal vs Liverpool. You bet £10 on Liverpool at 2/1 in the ‘draw no bet’ market. If the game is a draw then your stake is refunded. If Arsenal win then you lose your £10 and if Liverpool win you will receive £30.

Over/Under
The bookie will fix an estimate on the number of points that will be scored. They will then offer odds on the result being higher or lower than that. Over/Under betting is available on things such as total goals, total points, total corners, 3 dart average, total 180’s to name a few.

Bookings Index
Specifically a football bet. 10pts are awarded for a yellow card and 25pts for a red. The bookmaker will fix a score, say 44pts, and you can bet on whether there will be more or less that 44pts. With a fixed odds bookmaker you can have a straightforward bet on whether the figure is higher or lower than the estimate. In spread betting you can win/lose extra cash for every point over or under the line when the event is resulted.

Total Goals
Bet on how many goals there will be in a game of football. It is usually available in over/under format as well as betting on the exact number of goals.

Total Points
Bet on how many points there will be in a game. It is usually available in over/under format with a half point line.

First Goalscorer
Bet on which player will score the first goal in a game of football. If no player scores then the bet is a loser. If you bet on a player who is not in the starting line-up and they are not on the pitch when the first goal is scored then your stake will be refunded (only by fixed odds bookies, not in a betting exchange). Extra time goals do not count. When the first goal of a match is an own-goal then the scorer of the second goal will be settled as a winner.

First tryscorer, first point scorer etc all work in much the same way.

Anytime Goalscorer
Bet on a player to score at anytime during the match. If you bet on a player who does not play any part in the game then the stake is refunded (only by fixed odds bookies, not in a betting exchange).

Anytime tryscorer or anytime scorer etc all work in the same way.

Last Goalscorer
Bet on which player will score the last goal in a game of football. If no player scores then the bet is a loser. If you bet on a player who is not in the starting line-up and they are not on the pitch when the last goal is scored then your stake will be refunded (only by fixed odds bookies, not in a betting exchange). Extra time goals do not count.

Total Corners
This market is normally what is called band betting whereby you are given more that 2 choices for the range of total corners and you must select the correct one in order to win.

For example: Total Corners in match
Under 10                 5/4
10-12 inclusive         15/8
Over 12                  2/1

Half-Time – Full-Time
In this market you must indicate the result of the game at both half and full time in order to win.

For example: Liverpool vs Arsenal. If I think that it will be level at half-time but that Liverpool will win the match then I would select ‘Draw-Liverpool’.

To Qualify
Bet on which team will progress to the next round of the competition.

Correct Score
As it says on the tin really; You must predict the exact final score of the match.

Scorecast
A sort of multiple bet in which you must correctly predict both the first goalscorer and the correct score of the match to win.

Match Handicap
One team is given a theoretical head start and you select the result from there. Best to explain with an example really. If Ireland were playing against New Zealand in Rugby Union then you might see something like:

Handicap Betting
Ireland (+20)           10/11
Draw (+20)              16/1
New Zealand (-20)    10/11

This means that Ireland start with a theoretical 20 point advantage. If they win the match or lose by less than 20 points then they ‘beat the handicap’. If they lose by more than 20 points then New Zealand ‘beat the handicap’. If New Zealand win by exactly 20 points then the handicap market is drawn.

Points race – first to x points
Betting on which team (or player) will reach a certain number of points first. It is quite common in a tennis match or game of basketball

Golf Threeball Betting
Betting on which of the 3 players playing together will have the best round. If 2 or more players finish on the same score, dead heat rules apply.

Golf Tournament Match Betting
Given a choice of 2 players you can choose which one will finish higher on the leaderboard. If the players are level then dead heat rules apply.

Golf End of Round Leader
Betting on which player will lead the field at the end of the round. Dead heat rules apply when 1 or more players share the lead.

Winning Margin
Betting on the margin of victory to your selected team. Commonly presented as band betting.

Boxing/UFC: Method of Victory
Typically the bettor is give 5 options and must select not only who will win the fight but how they will win it. The 5 options are always:

• Fighter A by Decision (to win on points)
• Fighter A by KO, TKO or disqualification
• Fighter B by Decision (to win on points)
• Fighter B by KO, TKO or disqualification
• Draw

Boxing/UFC: Round Betting

The bettor must select the winner of the fight and in what round they will win the fight or whether they will win by decision (points)

Boxing/UFC: Total Rounds (over/under)
Betting on whether there will be more or less rounds in the fight than the bookmakers’ specified ‘line’.

Tennis: Set Betting (correct score)
Betting on the final score in sets. The punter is required to specify which player will win and by what scoreline.

Tennis: Total Games odd/even
Betting on whether the total games played in the match is an even or odd number of games. A tie breaker is counted as one game.

Tennis: Total Sets
Betting on the total number of sets that will be played in the match.

Cricket: Top Team Batsman
Betting on which batsman will score the most runs for his team in an innings. Dead heat rules apply if 1 or more end up with the same amount of runs.

Darts: Total 180’s over/under
Betting on whether the total number of 180’s (from both players) in a match will be over or under the bookmakers’ line (prediction).

Darts: 3 Dart Average over/under
Betting on whether the three dart average for a specified player will be over or under the bookmakers’ line (prediction)

Darts: Colour of Winning Double
Betting on the colour of the winning double thrown in a leg. The 2 choices are green and red. A bullseye finish counts as red.

Darts: Most 180’s
Betting on which of the 2 players will throw the most 180’s in a match. The draw (i.e. both players to throw the same number of 180’s) is also an option.

Darts: To Win X^th Leg (or set)
Betting on which player will win the x^th leg (or set) of the match. Take care to note which player is throwing first in the leg (or set) as this represents a significant advantage.

Snooker: To Score Most Points
Betting on which player will score the most points in the match. Points accumulated by the player in every frame are added up and whichever player has the most is the winner.

Snooker: Most 50+ Breaks
Betting on which player will have the most breaks or 50 or more points in a match.

Snooker: Most Century Breaks
Betting on which player will have the most breaks or 100 or more points in a match.

Straight Forecast
Betting on 2 horses in a race to finish first and second in the order specified.

Reverse Forecast
Betting on 2 horses in a race to finish first and second in any order. It is effectively 2 separate straight forecasts.

Tricast
Betting on 3 horses in a race to finish first, second and third in the specified order.

Combination Tricast
Betting on 3 horses in a race to finish first, second and third in any order.

We hope that helped explain the different betting markets to you. If you have any questions or comments please let us know!

Amounts
We’ve all seen magicians who can turn a rabbit into a white dove but show me a man who can turn a pony into a monkey and then I’ll be impressed. Here is Genie’s run down on the terminology of betting amounts.
Score – 20 quid
Pony – 25 quid
Ton – 100 quid
Monkey – 500 quid.
Grand – 1000 quid
(If you really want to impress your mates with your knowledge of betting terminology you can tell them that the term monkey was adopted and brought back by Soldiers based in India during the British occupation. The Indian 500 rupee note had a picture of a monkey on it so became known as “a monkey”.)

Ante Post
Refers to bets placed before the day of a race (or event). It is a betting term mostly used in horse racing circles.

Up until approximate 24 hours before an important horse race the bookmaker will have their ante-post prices available. These prices have been set and manually kept up-to-date by the bookmaking trading team. The day of the event the bookmakers will switch the pricing over to feeds coming from one of the 2 major players, SIS and the PA.

Arbitrage
When a difference in the odds available (from all bookmakers) allows a punter to back both sides and guarantee a win. Someone whose partakes in arbitrage is referred to as an ‘arber’ or ‘scalper’.

Banker
A selection highly expected to win by the punter.

Bankroll
The amount of money that is available for gambling purposes

GENIE SAYS: Always differentiate your bankroll from other available funds.

Beard
Someone who places a bet on behalf of someone else.

Best Price Guaranteed
This is a recent development in racing circles. The betting term refers to a special offer that is of great benefit to the punters.

The offer encourages a punter to take an early or board price and if the horse (or greyhound) that you selected is returned at a better SP (starting price) then you will receive the better price. Either way the punter can only benefit.

For example: It’s the morning time and I want to bet on Hi Ho Silver in the 3:15 at Ascot. The early price available to me is 20/1 so bet €10 at this price. At race time Hi Ho Silver goes off at 25/1 and would you believe it; he wins the race. Because the SP price is greater than the EP (early price) I will get paid at the SP. This means that I get €260 returned rather than the €210 I was expecting.

If the SP had been 16/1 I would have been paid at the EP of 20/1 so the best price is guaranteed.

GENIE SAYS: If you are betting on horses or greyhounds always do it with a book maker that offers Best Price Guaranteed.

Betting Ring
The area at the race track given over to bookmakers to display their odds.

Book
The bookmaker keeps a list of all competitors in the field and their price. The is collectively known as a book.

Bottle
Refers to odds of 2/1 in betting slang.

Burlington Bertie
Refers to odds of 100/30 (or 10/3) in betting slang.

Buy
A reference to spread betting whereby you gamble that an index based on the possible outcomes of an event will finish below the lower limit of the spread.

Carpet
Odds of 3/1 in betting slang.

Circled Game
Where a bookmaker restricts the betting allowed on the event by amount and sometimes by player. A bookmaker will restrict their liability in events where they suspect that someone may know something that they don’t.

Dead Cert
A participant or team is considered to be guaranteed of victory. Also referred to as a Lock.

Dead Heat
Where 2 or more participants finish level.

Double Carpet
Odds of 33/1 in betting slang.

Draw
The starting positions of a horse in the race. The number drawn represents the stall number from which the horse must start the race. It is only used in flat racing.

On racetracks with a bend or bends or where a strip of ground on one side of the track has better going, the horses drawn nearest the bending rail or in line with the favoured strip have an advantage. This is particularly true in handicaps and where a front-runner is among those with a favoured draw.

Drift
When the odds of an outcome are getting longer (higher) it is said to be on the drift.

Dutching
When a punter identifies and eliminates non-contenders and bets on the other selections in the exact proportions necessary to make a profit no matter which selection wins.

Early Prices
The night before a race the bookmaker will have odds available and these are known as early prices. Most bookmakers will keep their early prices right up until the off time of the race, although 20 minutes before the race goes off all bookmaker prices tend to fall into line as they all subscribe to the same price feeds that kick-in at that time.

See best price guaranteed

Edge
To have an advantage. For example: Being more knowledgeable than the bookmaker on a specific topic. Punters are always looking for an edge.

Evens
A straight bet. What you stake is the exact amount that you can win in profit. Yourself or the bookie will lose the exact amount of the stake… let’s hope it’s not you.

Fixed odds betting
Betting against a bookmaker as opposed betting on an exchange or doing spread betting. The amount that you bet is fixed and that is all that you can possibly lose.

Form
A rating of the recent performances of a horse, team or selection.

Grand
Slang for €/£1000.

Going
Refers to the underfoot conditions at the race track.

Favourite
The selection in a market with the lowest odds, i.e. the selection that is deemed most likely to win.

Field
The participants in a market. For example in a golf event all of the golfers who are participating are collectively referred to as The Field.

Handicap (horse racing)
A race in which the horses are penalised by adding to the weight they must carry or given allowances based on their past performance in an attempt to equalise their chances of winning. A horse that has been winning recently will have to carry additional weight in future races.

Handicap (sports)
It is the penalty in points (or goals or frames etc) that are added in order to give the underdog a better chance. Effectively it is a head start. For example if there is a football match; Arsenal vs Sunderland the bookmaker will allow the punters to bet on Arsenal (-1.5 goals) meaning that Arsenal must win by 2 ore more goals in order to beta the handicap. If Arsenal won by 1 goal or drew or lost then Sunderland would be deemed to be the winner of this market.

It is an extremely popular bet in markets that are particularly one-sided, such as New Zealand vs Italy in rugby union.

Handle
The amount of money taken by the bookmaker. Handle is an American term for turnover.

Turnover
The amount of money taken by the bookmaker.

Half Point Line
In order to only have 2 possible outcomes on a over/under market the bookmaker will often employ a half point line. For example: Basketball game total points market having 2 options – Over 198.5 or Under 198.5. If there are 198 or less points then the under 198.5 selection wins. If there are 199 or more points scored then the over 198.5 selection wins. There can in no circumstances be a ‘draw’ or ‘push’ result.

Hang Cheng
A form of football betting that is popular in Asia. Returns on a team winning are determined by half-goal handicaps.

Hedging
A bookmaker may choose to hedge their potential losses by betting on certain outcomes themselves; for example if a punter has a 10 leg accumulator and the first 9 legs have been a success the bookmaker, facing a potential large payout, may choose to offset part of the risk by betting on the 10^th leg outcome with another bookmaker or betting exchange.

Punters using a betting exchange will be familiar with Hedging or Laying whereby they can take a guaranteed profit by offering some of their original bet to another punter at reduced odds.

Jolly
The favourite.

Juice
The commission taken by the bookmaker. It is a seldom used term outside of America.

Layers
Another name for bookmakers (those who lay a bet).

Lengthen
When the odds get bigger they are said to lengthen.

Lines
Another term for the odds offered by the bookie.

Live Betting or Betting In-Running
Betting on the outcome of an event that has already started.

Please see section on betting in-running

Lock
A selection that is expected to win easily.

Longshot
A selection with little chance of winning.

Maiden
In betting circle refers to a horse that has yet to win a race. When the horse wins its first race that is referred to as their maiden victory.

Money Line
A US term for straight match betting (without handicaps).

Nap
The best bet. Often a tipster will have several recommendations of what to bet on in a given period but they will use the term nap to refer to the one that they think is the best bet of all.

Novice
A horse running in its first race.

Nursery
A handicap race for 2 year olds only.

Odds
The prices offered to the punter on the participants in a race or event.

Odds Against
When a selection has odds of higher than evens then it is said to be odds against i.e. it is thought to have a less than 50% chance of winning.

Odds On
When a selection has odds of less than evens then it is said to be odds on i.e. it is thought to have a greater than 50% chance of winning.

Outsider
A participant that is given little chance of winning. Another term for underdog.

Overlay
When the odds are higher than they ought to be i.e. higher than the chance of the selection winning.

GENIES SAYS: Always bet on an overlay… and don’t forget to tell us if you see one.

Overround
The extent to which the odds expressed as percentage probabilities, for all the participants in a field, add up to more than 100 per cent. The excess over 100 per cent – the overround – provides the bookmaker with his expected earnings.

See section on advanced betting

Pitch
The bookmaker’s stand at a racecourse

Placepot
A daily tote pool bet. The punter must name a horse to placed in each of the first six races on a nominated card.

Points Spread
Another term for handicap.

Proposition Bet
A bet on a non-sport event. It may be on a non-sport aspect related to a sporting event. For example: betting on how many times Didier Drogba will feign injury in a match.

Push
If a bet is placed on a full point line handicap and one cannot bet on the draw then, in the event of a handicap tie, the original stakes are refunded. A push tends to apply to betting on American sports.

Sell
A reference to spread betting whereby you gamble that an index based on the possible outcomes of an event will finish below the lower limit of the spread.

Sharp
A smart bettor.

Spread
American term for handicap.

Stake
The amount of money that a punter bets on an outcome is referred to as the stake.

Starting Price
The odds of the horse (or dog) at the time the race goes off.

Steam
An influx of a lot of money on 1 side (or selection) causing the betting lines to move quickly.

Steamer
A participant (usually horse) which originally had high odds but on which there have been a number of bets causing the odds to fall dramatically.

To punters and bookmakers alike a steamer may be an indication that somebody knows something you don’t about this participant.

Sure-Thing
A bet that cannot lose.

Teaser
US term for a bet based on the point spread where the punter can adjust the line in his favour in return of reduced odds.

Tic-Tac
Sign language used by bookmakers at a course to communicate to each other and  the punters (those who understand them anyway).

Tipsters
These are people who consider themselves experts on selecting value bets in their chosen category. They offer advice on how to make a profit.

GENIE SAYS: One of the most important lessons in becoming a winning gambler is learning which tipsters to listen to and which to ignore.

Totals
US term for over/under bets

Tote
The Horserace Totalisator Board (Tote) enters all bets into separate pools and deducts operating costs and profit sharing what remains of each pool among those who picked the winners or winning combinations. Bets on Tote pools can be placed on course or by telephone to Tote directly.  Some bookmakers are licensed to take Tote bets.

Value
Refers to a situation where the odds offered on a participant are greater than the true odds of them winning.

GENIE SAYS: In each case value is very much up for interpretation. One person’s idea of value does not necessarily match that of another. It is up to you to decide what is good value; or learn to listen the right tipsters who regularly advise on genuine value betting opportunities.

Vigorish

American term for the bookies commission.

Void
A bet that is cancelled and the stake refunded.

Wager
Another term meaning ‘bet’

Weight
In racing it refers to the weight carried by each horse in a race. It includes the jockey and all equipment except the bridle and the jockey’s helmet.

If we have missed out on any additional betting terminology please let us know and we’ll be happy to update our guide.

It is an important point to note that bookmakers tend to make less margin from bets that are odds-on (less than 1/1) compared to prices that are odds against (bigger than 1/1). This is best illustrated using an example:

The true 100% lines odds on an event happening are 1/3 (=75%) so the bookmaker offers a price of 1/4 on this. Should a customer back this selection 100 different times with a stake of €1 on each then he will expect to win 75 times out of the 100 with a return of €1.25 on each winning bet giving an expected return of €93.75. This results in an expected profit for the bookmaker of €6.25 from a stake of €100.

Similarly the true 100% lines odds on an event happening are 4/1 (=20%) so the bookmaker offers a price of 3/1 on this. Should a customer back this selection 100 different times with a stake of €1 on each then he will expect to win 20 times out of the 100 with a return of €4 on each winning bet giving an expected total return of €80. This results in an expected profit for the bookmaker of €20 from a stake of €100.

Conclusion

This indicates that there is more margin built into the odds against prices in general making it increasingly difficult to make it profitable at these prices.

Arbitrage is easy

Arbitrage (Arbing)

Arbitrage refers to the process where the bettor guarantees himself a profit irrespective of the result. This opportunity arises when different companies have varying opinions on the price of an outcome making it possible to back each selection to ensure a profit. This is best illustrated using a simple example:

Snooker match between Player A and Player B.

Best odds on offer for Player A are Evens.

Best odds on offer for Player B are 6/4.

Bettor stakes €50 on Player A at Evens to return €100 if Player A wins the match.

Bettor also stakes €40 on Player B at 6/4 to return €100 if Player B wins the match.

Now the bettor has staked €90 in total and is guaranteed a return of €100 regardless of which player wins the match resulting in a guaranteed profit of €10 from an initial investment of €90.

In certain sports bettors must familiarise themselves with the betting rules of each company before proceeding to bet. This is perhaps most relevant for betting on tennis where different companies have different rules regarding settlement of unfinished matches. Depending on the company some bookmakers will settle on a winner if at least one point has been played, others require at least a set to be completed while others require the whole match to be fully completed. A lot of these arbitrage opportunities may occur where there is a fitness doubt over one of the players meaning the player may possibly retire injured before the completion of the match. The only way to ensure you do not lose money in such a circumstance is to make sure that the two companies you bet with have the same rules for settlement on this sport.

The profit margins in these bets are usually quite small so it is preferable to only use them for markets that are to be settled in the near future as betting on long term Ante-Post markets requires you to tie up a lot of money for a period of time to guarantee yourself this profit on settlement.

Anther point to be wary of on arbitrage is that betting exchanges will deduct a percentage of all winning bets on settlement. This deduction must be calculated before you bet to ensure that there is still a guaranteed profit after the deduction.

Fixed odds bookmakers rarely make money off arbitrage customers (referred to as “arbers”) so as a result are likely to restrict the stake factor of these arbers. This means that they will only accept a smaller bet from these customers than they would from their normal customers making it difficult to place large bets and maximise your profit.