A Guide To Laying
What is laying?
Laying is the term used to describe what bookmakers have been doing for generations, but is now available to members of the public through exchanges, that is accepting a bet on the outcome of an event. In other words the liability on the bet is borne by the layer should the bet be successful. If the bet is unsuccessful the layer keeps the stake of the punter.
For Example – Punter A thought that Denman would win the 2008 Gold Cup, he went on to a Betting Exchange where Punter B was convinced that Denman could not possibly win the Gold Cup and had put up a price of 3.0 or 2/1 about Denman for a total liability of £100. Punter A was happy with that offer and had a £50 bet on Denman at 3.0. In other words Punter A was due to win £100 if Denman collected and Punter B would pocket his £50 stake if he did not. Well as the record books show us, Denman bolted in winning Punter A £100 much to the annoyance of Punter B.
This may appear a simplistic approach to the laying game and yes it can get more complicated, dependant on the layers (forgive the pun) of complex profit tools? that a punter has available. However, at its core, laying is a bit like two blokes in a bar with an opposing opinions having a bet.
In an on line exchange environment the layer does not know who he is laying the bet to, he could be laying the owner of a horse with more information than him, or indeed he could be laying a professional footballer who has decided to back the opposing side in a match he is playing in. This anonymity is the only real down side in an exchange world, where no license is required and there are no overhead costs to pay. The exchanges themselves know the activity of each and every punter, but the punters have no idea who they are transacting with.
Before you can lay a bet you must have sufficient funds in your exchange account to cover the liability of the bet. In our example above Punter B needed to have a minimum of £100 in order to put up a laying order on Denman. A laying order is when you want to lay the selection at a lower price than is currently available in the market. For example you want to lay Denman at 3.0, but the market is currently mopping up all of the 3.2 available. If the price of Denman, through pure weight of money continues to fall sequentially all of the 3.1 and then the 3.0 will be matched including of course yours. However, if the price does not fall, it plateaus or indeed drifts, your lay order at 3.0 will remain unmatched, it is your prerogative to withdraw the lay order at any point, even if the event is actually off.
As long as the bet is not matched it remains a “bid” in effect. If the bid is not matched, then you may have to consider upping the price, in order to get it matched. The obvious scenario is that if you up the price you are also upping your liability. We will discuss in running betting in greater detail in another chapter, but if the bid remains unmatched, it may be a better idea to roll the bet into the race as an in running bet rather than upping your liability pre-race. The smart players who see value as critical might say that if they can’t lay the horse pre-race at the price they want to lay it at, they would prefer to walk away from the event altogether.
Laying is a very different type of gambling inasmuch as it is a negative result the layer is seeking. He wants horse x, or team y to be beaten, he is cheering on the field or the opposition. It does take a little getting used to and potential layers should be aware that as soon as they hit that “lay” box for the first time they will never watch sport in the same way ever again.