Whereas non-in-play bets are entered into the system immediately after being placed by the customer, when betting in-play a time delay might be instituted so as to make it somewhat more difficult for unscrupulous customers to accept offers for bets that for whatever reason have suddenly become highly favorable. Markets may also be actively managed by the operator. In this case, betting will be briefly halted after each occurrence likely to cause a substantial change in the odds (for example, in association football matches goals, penalty kicks and sendings off would warrant such suspensions), so that unmatched bets can be cancelled.

In-play betting is not currently available on exchanges licensed in Australia. This is due to local regulations.

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For example, if someone thinks Team A will win a competition, he may wish to back that selection. A bookmaker offering the punter that bet would be laying that selection. The two parties will agree the backer’s stake and the odds. If the team loses, the layer/bookmaker keeps the backer’s stake. If the team wins, the layer will pay the backer the winnings based on the odds agreed.

As every bet transacted requires a backer and a layer, and the betting exchange is not a party to the bets transacted on it, any betting exchange requires both backers and layers. Of course, the distinction is moot: A layer is always simply backing that the event will not occur. Laying the home team is the same as backing the visiting team to win or draw. Laying one horse in a race is just the same as backing any of the other horses to win.

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Most exchanges make their money by charging a commission which is calculated as a percentage of net winnings for each customer on each event, or market. Gamblers whose betting activities have traditionally been restricted by bookmakers (normally for winning too much money) have found these sites a boon since they are now able to place bets of a size unrestricted by the exchange – the only restriction is that one or more opposing customers need to be willing to match their bets. Moreover, the odds available on a betting exchange are usually better than those offered by bookmakers, in spite of the commission charged, because the middle man is eliminated.

In spite of these advantages, exchanges currently have some limitations. Because exchanges seek to concentrate their liquidity in as few markets (i.e. propositions) as possible they are not currently suited to unrestricted multiple parlay betting. Betfair does offer accumulators but these are limited in number and type: Users cannot determine the outcomes contained in accumulators themselves. Some exchanges also offer multiples but the exchanges act in the same manner as traditional bookmakers in doing so (i.e. they themselves and not a customer act as the layer of such bets) Exchanges also tend to restrict the odds that can be offered to between 1.01 (100 to 1 on i.e. 1 to 100) and 1000 (999 to 1).

A further advantage that traditional bookmakers retain over exchanges is that bookies are better willing and able to allow customers to bet on credit. There are two obvious reasons for this:

- Exchanges operatee on much tighter margins, which lessens their ability to absorb bad debts.

- Allowing customers to bet on credit would likely compromise customer confidence in the financial integrity of an exchange, especially when one considers the effects of the ongoing credit crisis and the close association between betting exchanges and Internet betting in general.

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The concept of peer-to-peer betting – the precursor to a betting exchange – was first brought to the public by the UK website Flutter.com in May 2000. At the same time Irish-based betting exchange Betmart.com was launched into the UK. Soon after, UK-based Betfair launched what it originally called “open-market betting”, in June 2000 – a name which was quickly changed, by the media and the associated industry, to “betting exchange”. Betfair embraced a pure exchange model – one Flutter later adopted and, some say, even improved upon in places – but it took a year before Flutter launched their new technology, and first-mover advantage proved decisive for Betfair. Though Flutter managed to climb to a reported 30% market share, Flutter’s backers were content to broker a merger which left Betfair the dominant partner by a reported ratio of 84:16. Post merger, Flutter’s customers were transferred to Betfair’s system, which was later upgraded to embrace some of Flutter’s functionality. Betfair went from strength to strength and controls a reported 90% of global exchange activity today. In late 2004, Betfair announced a rescue package which resulted in it absorbing the customers of Sporting Options, which had gone into administration with debts in excess of £5 million.

As with other types of exchanges, betting exchanges thrive on liquidity and customers tend to focus on the exchange where they are confident their bet can be paired up with a matching counterbet. Breaking with British tradition, Betfair uses decimal odds instead of fractional (traditional) odds because they are more popular globally. Some of its competitors allow customers to use fractional odds if they prefer.

Unsurprisingly, Betfair’s success has attracted a number of rivals.

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The term betting exchange is used to describe a form of bookmaking in which the operator offsets its risk perfectly through technology, such that the effect to the customer is that customers are seen to bet between themselves. Coined because of its apparent similarities to a stock exchange – it is often defined as “a stock exchange for bets” – it is therefore commonly seen as a peer-to-peer gambling website, when in fact it is more closely described as “many-to-many” (i.e. most bets are not strictly one person on one side betting against one on the other). Equally, it is often suggested, or commonly believed, that the operator is merely acting as a broker between parties for the placement of bets, rather than a bookmaker, although the reality is that bets are being accepted and offered simultaneously through the exchange’s technological interface. Since it is only the exchange operator who holds a bookmaker’s licence in most cases, the legal and licencing requirements invariably dictate that the legal contract for all bets be with the operator itself and not between customers. Most betting on a betting exchange has been a form of fixed odds gambling, although recently the phenomenon was also briefly established in the sports spread betting market.

Links

• BBC article on how betting exchanges work
• Bloomberg article on betting exchanges
• Tactical Trader article about betting exchange trading
• An analysis of the betting exchange industry

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