UK Betting Explained

Fancy a bet with your local or online bookie but don't know where to start? Check out the bookies.uk.com betting guide to help get you started.

Accumulator Bets
Asian Handicap Betting
Each Way Betting
Exchange Betting
Fixed Odds Betting
Spread Betting

Accumulator Bets (also see fixed odds betting)

An accumulator is where you add together two or more bookie bets. For example a £200 winning bet on Newcastle United to win at 3/1 and Alan Shearer to score first at 6/1. Is calculated in the following way: your £20 stake goes on Alan Shearer to score first at 6/1 this returns £140 (6 x £20 plus your stake returned). That £140 is then placed on United to win this returns £560 (3 x £140 plus your stake returned). This calculation process works in exactly the same way on accumulator bets of any number of selections.

Asian Handicap Betting

In Asian handicap betting, the bookies odds-compilers give a goal deficit to the team they think is more likely to win expressed in goals, or fractions of goals. The main benefit of this is it allows you to bet on a heavily mismatched game. It also turns a football match into a straightforward win/lose bet with the draw not a factor.

Example:

If Manchester United play Port Vale in the FA Cup, you would expect to see Manchester United priced to win the match at around 1/10. On Asian handicaps, however, Manchester United might be priced up with a -2.5-goal start around 10/11 and Port Vale with a +2.5-goal start at a similar price.

So rather than backing a team simply to win the match, you are backing them to overcome the handicap awarded to them. So, in this example you would back Port Vale if you felt they could avoid defeat by 3 goals or more.

see: www.vcbet.com

Eachway Betting (also see fixed odds betting)

Eachway bets are where you place two separate bets on a win and on a placed finish. What constitutes a placed finish is usually determined by the size of the field. If there are a small number of runners you will normally get between 1/3 and 1/2 the odds on the place bet for the first two. Bigger fields, such as golf tournaments will pay out between 1/4 and 1/5 of the win bet for a 1,2,3,4 or 1,2,3,4,5 finish. You can also find 'e/w' bets on events like first goal scorer with 1/4 odds for first three scorers.

Exchange Betting

Betting exchanges provide peer-to-peer (p2p) betting, where punters bet against each other on a wide range of sports and markets. There is one big advantage to this punters you can 'lay' a bet - that is, act as the bookie and offer a price against an outcome (for example, football match ending in a draw). On visiting a site like www.betfair.com you will see it is really simple - choose your sport, pick your event and market, and the latest prices to 'back' and 'lay' will be clearly marked just as if you was visiting your normal bookies site.

Example:

Betting on a football match between England and Argentina. You are unsure who will win, but you are confident the game won't end in a draw.
Simple - on the betting exchange you can lay the draw. In other words, as long as either England or Argentina win, you win too. That's what 'laying' is all about - it's betting that a particular outcome will not happen.
However should the outcome you lay occur, you don't just lose your stake - you pay out at whatever price you placed your bet. So in this example if you laid the draw with a £10 stake at 3/1, you would lose £30 if the match was drawn.

Fixed Odds Betting

Here you will find a breakdown of all the various fixed odds bet types you will commonly come across at your local or online bookies. Click here

Spread Betting

When you spread bet, your winnings and losses are calculated in terms of how right or wrong your bet is. You 'buy' or 'sell' a bet with a stake of your choosing, and win or lose depending on the outcome. Spread betting is simply a question of higher or lower? The more your right, the more you win; the more your wrong, the more you lose.

Example:

If you think a rugby match between England and France will be a free-scoring game, then a spread of 42-44 points would suggest you buy total points. This means you think the combined score will exceed 44 points, so you select a stake and you win or lose proportionately according to how right or wrong you are. If you selected a £10 stake for every point you are right or wrong you lose, you win or lose £10. If you buy at 44 and England score 32 points and France 30 giving a total of 62 points, you win £180 (£10 x 18 - the difference between 62 and 44). But if buy at 44 and the combined total was 36 points you lose £80.

Spread betting firm: www.sportingindex.com