Backing a team to win is familiar. Laying a team, or betting that it will not win, is the exchange's distinctive move. This page works through the sums for cricket so the risk is clear before anything is staked.
When you lay a team you are acting as the bookmaker for that selection: you win the backer's stake if the team fails to win, and you pay out if the team succeeds. Cricket has a third result in some formats, because a match can be drawn or tied, and a lay on a team wins in those cases too. The exchange app description lists cricket among its markets; coverage of specific tournaments for Pakistan has not been confirmed.
These figures are illustrations chosen to make the arithmetic simple. They are not real prices.
Suppose a backer wants to stake 10 units on Team A at decimal odds of 2.5, and you agree to lay that bet.
If Team A wins you must pay the backer 15 units of profit. That 15, the stake times odds minus one, is your liability and it is reserved when the bet is matched.
You keep the backer's 10 units. Commission, if the market ends in a net profit for you, is taken from that gain.
Commission is judged on your net outcome across all bets in the market, so a lay that loses can offset another that wins before commission is applied.
Cricket can turn on one over. Exchange prices respond in real time, which brings opportunity and danger for a layer.
An early wicket or a quick partnership can move a team's price sharply. A lay placed before the move can look good or terrible afterwards.
Liability grows with the odds. Laying an outsider at a high price risks a very large payout to win a small backer stake.
Rain and interruptions affect how a market is settled. Read the market rules before you bet and do not assume a standard result.
Less popular matches may have few offers, so you may not get matched at a price you like or at all.
Settlement rules come from the operator. Contact it directly if a result looks wrong.
Each market states how ties, abandonment and no-results are handled. Check them before the match.
Betfair lists Live Messenger, a direct message on its official Facebook page and the BetfairCS Twitter account.
Customers outside the UK can take an unresolved dispute to eCOGRA after a deadlock email and can refer gaming complaints to the Malta Gaming Authority.
Laying is an advanced move, and the downside can exceed what looks like the stake.
Never confirm a lay without checking the liability figure and asking whether you could afford to lose it.
Following a sport closely does not guarantee better judgement than the market, which already reflects many opinions.
Betfair's terms make customers responsible for complying with their own local laws. This site does not say that cricket betting is legal in Pakistan.
Account holders must be at least 18 years old.
A small glossary combining cricket vocabulary with exchange terms.
A market on which side wins the match, where each team is a selection that can be backed or laid.
The backer's stake multiplied by the odds minus one. It is the most you can lose on that lay.
Betting while the match is under way, when prices shift with each over.
A match that ends without a decision, for example because of weather. Market rules say how it is settled.
A match that ends level. Whether it affects a market depends on that market's stated rules.
A back or lay offer that another customer has taken at the stated price.
Questions that come up when a reader sees laying for the first time in a cricket context.
Because they believe the team is less likely to win than the price suggests, or because they want to reduce an existing exposure by taking the opposite position.
Yes. Your liability on a lay is the backer's stake times the odds minus one, which can be several times the stake you receive.
The iOS app description lists cricket among its markets. Which matches and tournaments are open to Pakistan customers has not been confirmed.
No. Betfair says commission applies to net winnings per market, not to losing bets.
Settlement follows the rules stated in the market. Read them before betting, since treatment can differ.
No. They are invented to keep the sums easy. Live prices must be read from the operator.
Back and lay, explained