BETFAIR is the world's leading online betting exchange, a concept it has pioneered. Driven by cutting-edge technology, Betfair enables punters to choose their own odds and bet against each other, even after an event has started. Betfair processes 5 million transactions a day and more than 300 bets a second.

All bets on Betfair have been placed there by users who either want to have a bet in the normal way (back), or offer odds to other punters (lay). Bets are matched between people with opposing views. So you can either back your favourite horse or if you think a horse is overpriced or a donkey, then you can lay the horse to lose! So if you can't seem to pick a winner, you can always lay the horses.

As Betfair is a betting exchange where you back or lay a horse against other players. That means that the market decides the odds.

• You can bet that an outcome will happen (back) or that it won't happen (LAY).
• You can choose the odds you want to play at.
• You can bet whilst the game is in play.

Back or lay

When you "back" a selection (be it an individual, a team, horse, dog or other), you are betting that it will win. This is just like betting with conventional bookies.

When you "lay" it, you are betting against it winning. For example, if you're betting in a market on which team is going to win the Premiership and you lay Man Utd, you offer odds to other punters who wish to back Man Utd. If Man Utd don't win, then you pick up the backer's stake. If Man Utd wins, then you pay out. This is what bookmakers traditionally do.

You never know who you are betting against, your privacy and the confidentiality of your bets is maintained by Betfair's secure site.

Choose odds

With Betfair there is always a choice of what odds to accept. If you want better odds than are currently available, you can place an order for a better price, but be realistic because there has to be somebody prepared to lay the bet at those odds, and vice versa.

Take a look at the odds before a racee and you will see them change as visitors back and lay their bets. The odds often improve nearer to the off, as there are more people in the market.

Back or Lay
The average odds on a horse to back is approx. 20% higher on average than the odds offered by the traditional bookmakers such as Ladbrokes and William Hill. And you can lay a horse not to win!

Bet in Running
You can back or lay a horse whilst the race is running. So if your horse that you backed does not seem to have a chance of winning, you can always hedge that bet and lay your horse or vice versa.

BETFAIR does not run many special promotions for their customers. They are far and few between.

BETFAIR has a simple but limited loyalty programme. Essentially, the more you bet, the more points you earn. Depending on your total points balance, the commission charged by Betfair on any winning bet (back or lay) is discounted by your discount rate up to a maximum of 5%.

Excellent software with easy to navigate and use website. Layout of the odds and betting is excellent, and in particular if you wish to lay or back the entire field. This works equally well when backing or laying a horse whilst in running.

DEPOSIT OPTIONS:
VISA, Mastercard, Switch, Solo, Delta, NETeller, Moneybookers, Personal Cheque, Cashier Cheques, Money Orders, Bankers Drafts, Western Union,

CASH OUT OPTIONS:
VISA, Mastercard, Switch, Solo, Delta, NETeller, Moneybookers, Cheque

Please note you cannot withdraw more to a UK MasterCard Credit Card than you deposited with that card and cannot withdraw anything to international MasterCards. These rules are imposed by MasterCard.
Owing to a recent change in policy by VISA, you can only withdraw up to a maximum of USD50,000 or currency equivalent per day to any VISA card (including all debit cards).

BETFAIR has one of the best customer services of all online gaming sites that we have come across. Only negative is that they don't offer a freephone number. However, the response is very quick, knowledgeable, helpful and has always been able to deal with any queries or disputes promptly and efficiently. Rather pay a local call and get excellent service than hanging around for hours waiting for someone to answer even if the call is free - Time is Money!