Lay betting is placing a bet that an event will not happen.
For example, if you place a bet that Chelsea will not win the Premier League
title in the 2017/2018 season or that a tennis player will not win a match, you
are making a lay bet. Lay betting is like what we commonly do in life when we
swear that certain things will not happen, such as telling a friend that “I bet
you that Arsenal will not finish in the top four”. You can do the same on
football matches by taking a stance that a team will not win, backing your
belief.
A few examples of lay bets:
(a) You can be on
Radamel Falcao’s loan move to Chelsea by betting that he will not score a goal.
(b) You can lay bet
that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not score 10 goals for Manchester United.
(c) You can lay bet
the Hazard will not move from Chelsea this summer.
(d) You can lay bet
that Manchester United will not win the Europa League.
Remember that lay betting is all about stating that
something will not happen. For example, instead of backing Chelsea to win the
Premier League you can lay Chelsea. When you lay them, you actually win the bet
if any other teams other than Chelsea win the title.
There are a few things you need to remember before you
venture into lay betting. First, you need to review statistics on the team you
want to lay so you do not make a wrong prediction that might cost you a
fortune. For example, if Liverpool are playing Manchester United, you really
need to check there head-to-head statistics, especially in recent meetings. If
you feel confident that Liverpool will not win the game, then you can lay them.
In this case, you will win the bet if Manchester United wins or the match ends
in a draw.
Secondly, in lay betting you essentially act like a
bookmaker. Most of lay betting occurs in betting exchanges such as Betfair and
Smarkets. This means that you are lay betting against other punters. If your
prediction is wrong in lay betting and your bet bombs, you must pay out as a
bookmaker would do. Unlike a traditional punter who simply loses the money
placed on a bet when the bet fails, the lay punter bears liability for the bet
so that a simple bet with a 10.00 odds for the favorite to lose becomes a
liability on the punter if the favorite actually wins. For this reason, you
should stick to traditional bets if you are only a casual punter. Lay betting
is not for the risk-averse or the faint-hearted.
The most critical aspect of lay betting that you must
understand is the increased liability that occurs when you lay bets. Don’t get
started with lay betting before you master the concept of liability. In lay
betting, liability means the amount of money you lose when your prediction
fails. In an ordinary bet, when you back a team to win, the most you will lose
if the team does not win is the stake you used on the bet. But in a lay bet,
your overall liability or risk is greater because the total sum involved is the
amount you should get if your selection wins. If you are supposed to make Ksh
10,000 for laying Liverpool not to win a match, you will pay Ksh 10,000 if
Liverpool actually wins the match.