Sportsbetting
Exchanges
& Online Sportsbook
by
J. Phillip Vogel
SportsBetting Exchanges
is a new
breed of betting forums
that have crept into the gambling scene, an industry whose novel
approach to
wagering has set the stage for a potential sportsbetting coup.
Sports wagering has
traditionally
been made through the
services of a bookmaker, a person or organization set up to “book”
bets, pay
winners and collect from losers.
These person-to-person
sites have
turned the wagering world
upside down, letting gamblers confront one another rather than the
house. But which is
better? That’s for
you to decide.
Traditional
Sportsbooks vs. SportsBetting
Exchanges
At
their most basic levels, the two formats are
Sportsbook: An organization that
accepts wagers on
sporting events. In
order to provide
bettors with their services, bookmakers charge a small commission on
all losing
wagers.
That
commission ranges from a
typical 10% to as low as 5%. Following
the posted event, the bookmaker pays winners according to predetermined
values,
or odds.
SportsBetting Exchange:
A betting
exchange
facilitates wagers between gamblers directly.
They allow bettors to act either as the book
themselves—setting things
up to earn a profit through others—or to search for the best odds
courtesy of
another bettor.
The bettors are involved
only with
each other, with the
exchange taking no direct interest in any wagers.
Instead, the exchange makes its profit by
charging a commission, which is calculated as a percentage of net
winnings for
each customer on each event, often 2% or less.
Traditional
online sportsbooks offer a variety of
benefits. For
starters the biggest
books provide bettors with an extremely wide range of events—just about
every
major and minor event the world over—as well as diverse betting
opportunities
including reverse bets, round robins,
futures,
propositions, straight wagers, parlays, teasers, if-bets, etc.
Also,
the better books tend to
offer players more in terms of incentives then their exchange
competitors.
These can take many forms, such as sign-up bonuses, VIP
points, 1/2 “juice”
specials, and referral bonuses. In
ideal
cases the book will also feature a combination of recurring incentives
(such as
monthly deposit bonuses) so punters can perpetually augment their
bankroll.
Finally,
let’s not neglect the
fact that traditional online sportsbooks are relatively easy to use,
simple to
navigate and tend to come complete with a host of resource options and
links
that can assist gamblers while making a decision.
Like their more
traditional
counterparts, betting
exchanges have their own set of special perks.
Punters, for
example, can back
their selection just as they would a traditional bookmaker, but expand
to “lay”
a price; that is bet against a team
winning, rather than betting that they do win.
In
addition, when it comes to specific
bet, punters are free to ask for a better price than what’s offered in
the hope
that someone will come along and match that request.
In fact, the odds available on a betting
exchange are frequently superior to what’s offered by the traditional
bookmakers,
despite the commission charged.
Another
advantage of the SportsBetting exchanges
is the ability to alter one’s position during a long-term event.
For instance, if
you backed team X for $10 at
16-1, later you could lay them at 2-1 in order to guarantee a profit.
You could offer
$30 of your potential profit
in order to win $15 if they fail, thereby covering your initial $10
stake.
In
this case, your first bet of
$10 would return $160 with a victory.
In
the case where you are laying team X for $15 of your opponent’s money
to $30 of
your own, team X’s loss would earn $15.
When both bets are accumulated the result will
either be a $130 profit
with a team X victory ($160-$30=$130) or a $5 profit (-$10 + $15=$5).
On the downside,
however,
betting exchanges can face restrictions
that may limit a bettor’s opportunities.
For example, exchanges
are not suited to unrestricted multiple parlay betting. Major exchanges
like
Betfair do offer accumulators of their own content but these are
typically
limited.
Also,
exchanges tend to
restrict the odds that can be offered to between 1-100 and 999-1.
As you can see,
there are
plusses and minuses
associated with both online sportsbooks and betting exchanges—both are
great,
neither is perfect.
Tour
through the
different sites, get a feel for how each one works and choose the one
that
suits you the best.
Sportsbetting
Bankroll follows SportsBetting Exchanges OR Return to Sportsbetting Program home page

|