God.

I'm developing various lay bet strategies.

No answers. So I guess it's never happened in the history of racing. I wonder why?

How often wouId this occur? Two horses in one race, with 2 or more runners, and both are paying 1.8 or less. I searched online but found it too hard to get accurate info about this.

Hello. I just wish to confirm that I comprehend the dividends of the following 2 lay bets. I make 1 lay bet on a horse in race 1, and then make 1 lay bet on a horse in race 2. The horse in race 1 comes last, and the horse in race 2 comes first. The lay odds for each horse are $2 and my stake is $20 on each horse to lose. So, on race 1 my pay out is $40 (including my $20 stake, so I get $20 profit). On race 2 my liability is $20 so I lose that amount. All this means I break even. Is this all correct? Thank you.

Harry, I read your post and have just figured out how to word what I've been trying to say. Here goes. "If my lay bet is successful & doesn't win, then my "profit" is the same as either the back bet stake or my lay bet stake, less Betfair commission.". That's as long as the back bet and my lay bet have identical betting amounts.. Problem solved. Whooo hooo! Thanks Harry

Alastair, in order to make that lay bet I mentioned, I'd need to lay bet $65 (a bet is a stake) on the horse to lose. What that means is that I'd be matching a back bet already made on Betfair where the back bet already had a stake of $65 listed, but wasn't yet matched with a lay bet. I would then match that stake, therefore my stake would be $65, and then I'd send my lay bet through to Betfair. If my bet was successful (meaning the horse did not win) then I would get $130 back into my account consisting of the return of my lay stake plus the stake listed on the back bet. in other words, if I always back bet like that then I'm pretty sure that's how it works when my lay bet is successful. Therefore, my profit of $65 with this lay bet consists of the stake on the back bet.

Thanks Harry. Just to clarify, the last hour or so I've read quite a few articles that say if your lay bet is successful then your "return" is the back better's stake. I suspect that is wrong. Surely the successful lay bet "return" is the back better's stake plus my own stake. In other words in my above example in my first post, the "profit" is the back better's stake of $65, whilst the total "return" is the 2 stake amounts added together. What do you think?.

I've been studying sites on the internet that explain lay bets on horse racing. I've spent a week intensely doing this and guess what? I'm now more confused than ever about lay betting. There's heaps of contradictions, heaps of different ways that explain what's "supposed" to be the same thing, heaps of disagreements, explanations that result in way more questions than definitive answers etc etc etc. It's never ending. Please, please, please ---- is there anyone here who can answer my following questions with definitive clarity? Thank you. Here's a scenario: I went to the Betfair website and filled out a "lay bet" slip. On the betting slip I need to fill out Backer's odds and Backer's stake, and I can list whatever odds and stake I want to list. So I list Backer's odds at 4 and Backer's stake at $65. Then next to this Betfair automatically lists the payout at $260 and the liability at $195. Here's my interpretation regarding what this means: I think the word "Backer's" in this scenario refers to the person who eventually matches my lay bet with a back bet by accepting these odds of 4, and the stake of $65. Is this correct? This would mean that if the horse I'm backing to lose comes first then that other person's back bet would receive a total payout of $260 (4 x $65). So he bet $65 and for his win received back his $65 stake plus his $195 profit, for a total of $260. Betfair then takes out its 5% commission. My lay bet loses because the horse came first in the race, so I then have $195 taken out of my account to pay for the back better's $195 profit. Can anyone, who definitely knows, please tell me if I have got these figures and explanations correct? Thanks.