Arbitrage (Arb/Arbing)

A matched bet where instead of having a qualifying loss, you have a qualifying profit.

For example, a back bet placed at odds of 10, and the lay bet placed at odds of 9.5.

This should be done with caution - it is a quick way to get an account gubbed. As such this is something that should only be done on an already gubbed or restricted account.

Back Bet

A bet typically placed with a bookmaker, which wins if the proposed outcome happens.

For example, a back bet is placed on a specific horse to win - that bet will win if the horse comes in first place but will lose if it doesn't.

Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG)

An offer from certain bookmakers that means you get paid out at the starting price if your bet was placed at lower odds.

For example, you place a £10 back bet at odds of 10.

When the race begins, the starting price has risen to 12, so if your horse wins, your bet will return £120 instead of £100.

Betting Exchange

A marketplace where users back and/or lay an outcome, with other users being on the other side of the bet instead of the bookmaker.

Bookmaker

A company that allows you to place back bets - typically on their website for matched betting purposes.

Commission

A fee paid to a betting exchange, charged as a percentage of your winnings.

For example, you might pay 5% commission on Betfair Exchange, so a profit of £100 becomes £95. You aren't charged for losing bets.

As we are almost exclusively placing lay bets on betting exchanges, commission plays a smaller part in our calculations as our wins are usually much smaller than our losses.

Dead Heat

Occurs when two or more horses cannot be separated at the finish line - winnings will be divided by the number of tied horses, as each horse effectively wins.

Decimal Odds

Indicates the amount returned per £1 wagered on a back bet, including the stake.

For example, a £1 bet at odds of 10 will return £10, for a profit of £9.

Donkey

A non-technical term for horses with particularly high odds. "That horse is an absolute donkey!"

Each Way

A method of betting used most commonly in horse racing where two equal bets are placed, one for the horse to win, and one to finish in the "places".

Places offered vary from race to race, and bookmaker to bookmaker, however it is common to see between 2-4 places for standard races.

The odds offered for a horse finishing in the places is typically 1/5 of the win odds, however for some races it is 1/4.

For example, a horse backed at odds of 10 will have odds of 2.8 for the place part of the bet if they are paying at 1/5 odds.

Extra Place(s)

Bookmakers offer more than the standard number of places for certain races, known as extra places. Sometimes they will offer more than one extra place (up to 4 extra during the biggest events such as Cheltenham Festival!)

We can profit from these by placing an each way bet with one of these bookmakers and laying the standard place market on a betting exchange.

If the horse finishes in the extra place, both bets win!

Fill Or Kill

An advanced setting used on our extra place matchr that specifies how your bet will be handled by the exchange.

If fill or kill is active, your bet will only be placed if the entire bet can be "filled" i.e. there is enough liquidity on the exchange at those odds, otherwise the bet will be "killed" (cancelled).

If fill or kill is turned off, you no longer have this protection, and your bet will be placed at the exchange no matter what. For some users this is preferable, but it can result in partially matched bets so should be used with caution.

We also have the option of "minimum fill quantity", which is a compromise between the two - you set a minimum amount that needs to be matched, and if that amount can't be filled, the order will be killed.

Gubbed/Gubbing

A term used by matched bettors to describe when a bookmaker puts restrictions on your account.

This is most commonly done by preventing you from participating in offers such as free bet promotions and/or by restricting the size of stake that you can place on a bet.

Some bookmakers do both at the same time, others just prevent you from participating in their promotions.

Implied Odds (IO)

The most important value for extra places! This is the odds generated by dividing your potential win by your qualifying loss.

If we make this number higher than the actual probability of something happening, the bet becomes profitable!

Lay Bet

A bet placed on a betting exchange (such as Betfair Exchange), which wins if the proposed outcome does NOT happen.

For example, a lay bet is placed on the win market for a specific horse - that bet will lose if the horse comes in first place but will win if it doesn't.

Liability

How much you are set to lose if a lay bet loses. You are required to have this money in your account prior to placing a lay bet, and this money is tied up until the bet settles.

Liquidity

The amount of money available to bet at the specified odds on a betting exchange. This value can be seen below each odds increment for every selection.

Overlay

Laying more than normal, which will result in a larger qualifying loss if the back bet wins, but a smaller qualifying loss if it loses.

Partially Matched Bet

A bet on a betting exchange that hasn't fully matched.

In this scenario you can either leave the bet to queue on the betting exchange in the hope that it will fully match, or use our calculator to fix the bet.

Places

A term used in horse racing (and certain other sports).

Typically found when placing an each way bet, where part of your bet is for the horse to finish in the top "x", x differing based on the number of horses in the race. A race between 5-7 runners will normally offer 2 places, whereas a race with 8-11 horses will normally offer 3 places.

Qualifying Loss (QL)

The amount of money you will lose if your bet doesn't win. For extra places this is calculated by adding the losses from laying both parts of the each way bet.

Queuing

Placing a bet (or leaving an already placed bet) on a betting exchange that isn't fully matched. Your bet is then said to be in a "queue", waiting for another user to place a corresponding bet to match with yours.

Rule 4

A rule in horse racing that comes into play when a horse withdraws from a race. As this makes each of the remaining horses more likely to win, a deduction is made on each runner. The exact deduction amount is based on the odds of the withdrawn runner - see here for more information.

Shared Liability

When laying multiple bets on the same market, your liability will actually decrease for each bet you lay as long as you've covered the full number of outcomes.

For example, when laying the win market, there can only possibly be one winner, so if you place more than one lay bet, at least one of those bets will win, so you can't be liable for more than one of them. The potential winnings from that bet also reduce your liability.

When laying the place market it can be a little more confusing as there will be more than one possible winner, however the same rules apply - if you are betting on the 3 to be placed market, once you have placed 3 lay bets, your liability will no longer increase as it's not possible for more than 3 of your bets to lose.

This is a big benefit when doing extra places as we often want to get on as many horses as possible in a race, which wouldn't be possible without shared liability!

Stake

The amount of money risked when backing an outcome, or the amount you win when laying an outcome.

Starting Price (SP)

The odds on a particular horse when a race begins. This is determined by the odds from bookies at the racecourse itself.

True Odds

The mathematically correct odds, based on probability. Bookmakers will strive to give slightly worse odds than this in order to maintain their margin.

Underlay

Laying less than normal, which will result in a smaller qualifying loss if the back bet wins (or a profit!), but a larger qualifying loss if it loses."

Unmatched Bet

A bet on a betting exchange that is unmatched.

In this scenario you can either leave the bet to queue on the betting exchange in the hope that it will fully match, or cancel it and place a new bet at the current odds.

Variance

A statistical term, used in matched betting to essentially describe the ups and downs of certain offers. We cannot expect results to perfectly line up with the probability of events - sometimes we go on long losing runs, sometimes we go on runs of wins.