Peer to Peer betting is an ingenious way for anyone with an interest in sports to have the ability to place bets with other sports bettors in one of two different ways.

When you sign up to a Betting Exchange which is where all peer or peer or P2P betting takes place you have the option of placing bets and wagers on a whole host of sporting events as you normally would, or you can take bets off other sports bettors and effectively become a bookmaker yourself!

The one main benefit of using a Betting Exchange as opposed to placing your wagers with a bookmaker site is that you are able to ask for the odds you want on any sporting event, or if you wish to lay bets you can offer the odds you want to make available to other sports bettors on your chosen sporting events.

Understanding Roles of Backing and Laying

When you become a backer at a P2P Betting Exchange you can look up the sporting event you wish to place your wager on, and you can then accept the current odds for the bet or bets you are looking to place in much the same way you would at a bookmaker's site.

Those odds will be displayed in such a way that the highest valued ones are always displayed first, however due to those odds being offered by other customers of that Betting Exchange there will only be a certain volume of wagers available with those odds available, based on how much a layer has chosen to risk on those betting opportunities.

If you do not want to accept the odds available, you can ask for the odds you would like to have offered to you and if a layer is prepared to offer you those odds once you bet has been placed onto the Betting Exchange layers will be able to see your required odds and the amount you wish to place on that bet and will then have the option of accepting it.

Setting the Odds as Layer

If you choose to become a Layer instead of a Backer then you can lay any bet other sports bettors want to place, and if those bets lose you then win from those sports bettors their stake money, however if their bets win you have to pay them out their winnings at the odds you offered.

So for example if you offered odds of 10 to 1 on any sporting event, and the Layer placed a wager of 10.00 on that bet and it lost you win the 10.00 stake money from that bettor, however if that bet won for the sports bettor you are required to pay them out their winnings, which would be 100.00.

How a Betting Exchange Works

One thing to keep in mind however is when you do joining a Betting Exchange you are always given the option of both Laying and Backing, even if you have live bets in place.

What many savvy P2P sports bettors will do is try and guarantee a profit by both offering their own odds (Laying) on any sporting event and also place bets (Backing) when the odds change in their favour, this is always a very real possibility as the odds available on any sporting event change by the second on all Betting Exchanges due to the sheer number of customers those sites attract.

Therefore when you initially sign up to a Betting Exchange you should be prepared to both Lay and Back bets to ensure you have the maximum chances of winning.

When you log into your account you simply need to fund your account by making a deposit, using any of the available banking options, and then look up the sports category you have the most knowledge of from the side menu.

You will then be presented with a list of the current scheduled sporting fixtures and then can select the ones that interest you the most. You can then peruse the current odds being offered by Layers and opt to back any of them, or you can offer your own odds on those sporting fixtures.

When you place a bet and take the odds offered your stake money is instantly removed from your account balance, and when laying odds when another sports bettor accepts these odds the potential winnings you will have to pay out if they win are removed from your account too.

Once the result is known then either the layer receives the stake money placed by that sports bettor if their bet lost or the backer receives their winnings if their bet won. A Betting Exchange such as BetFair keeps a small commission from all winning wagers and that is how they make their profit for the service they offer.

Is Peer to Peer Betting Better Than Regular Betting?

Peer to Peer betting is certainly a much more appealing proposition for anyone with a keen interest in sports betting, as you can back up your own opinions and predictions on any outcome of any sporting event with your own money, as either a backer or a layer.

There is also the added advantage that Betting Exchanges also tend to offer much higher odds than a bookmaker or a sportsbook, as due to the number of customers using Betting Exchanges and the huge volume of wagers placed on them there is a lot of competition with layers to have their proposed betting odds accepted by backers.

BetFair Betting Exchange

One aspect of any Betting Exchange you do decide to sign up to that you do need to ensure is that the site does have a huge customer base, as that will ensure the fluidity of funds running through that P2P site and will ensure odds are always on offer and available on every single sporting fixture.

BetFair for example have cornered the market in regards to Peer to Peer betting, and they offer some of the most competitive commission rates and also have their own loyalty scheme too.

As a customer of BetFair you can become a Baker or a Layer and they also offer in-play betting markets too, and as such you are not restricted to only laying or backing before any sporting fixture starts but also whilst it is in live play too.