07 Why lay? / Betfair Education / 29 January 2008 / Leave a comment

When bookies do get it right though, the punter by backing a selection offers the bookmaker a great price on the alternative option(s). The final of the 2004 Hopman Cup was Karol Kucera v James Blake.

Using a sample of 12 betting firms listed on TipEx (http://www.tipex.com), the top price available on Kucera to win was 3.46. The Betfair price never even got above 3.10. However Blake traded from as low as 1.31 up to a high of 1.41, closing at 1.40. By laying Blake early at 1.33 (1/3), the price you are effectively backing Kucera at is 4.0 (3/1). Even if you were slow off the mark, you could have laid 1.36 (4/11) or even 1.40 (2/5), and still returned a better price (effectively backing Blake) than any bookmaker in the sample (before taking commission into account).