What Is a Lay Bet in Sports Betting?
A Lay Bet is a bet against a specific outcome happening. Instead of betting that a team will win (as in traditional betting), you’re betting that it won’t win. In other words, if the team draws or loses, you win the bet. This logic completely shifts the betting approach: you don’t need to predict who will win—just who won’t.
This type of bet can’t be placed with traditional sportsbooks, as they only allow “Back Bets” (bets in favor). Lay Bets are only available on betting exchange platforms, such as Betfair Exchange, where you don’t bet against the house but against other users. You take the role of the bookmaker, committing to pay the opposing bettor if their prediction comes true.
This offers greater strategic flexibility—but also more responsibility: if you lose, you have to pay out the agreed odds to the winner. You’re taking on the risk of the opposing side. That’s why sports trading and arbitrage strategies (like Surebets) frequently use Lay Bets to hedge positions or create combinations that allow for profit regardless of the event’s final outcome.
Don’t Get Caught: The Hidden Risk of Hedging with Lay Bets
A common (and heavily marketed) strategy is hedging.
Hedging means covering a bet to reduce or eliminate potential risk from an already-placed wager.
It does not guarantee profit—it simply reduces potential losses or locks in part of a potential win.
Typical example:
You bet on Nadal to win at odds of 3.50.
During the match, Nadal starts leading and the odds drop to 1.60.
You place a Lay Bet at 1.60 to lock in a profit regardless of the outcome.
Sounds good? In theory, yes. But in practice:
Goal: limit losses or secure part of the profit
Doesn’t guarantee full profit
Not consistently replicable—it depends on market behavior and live-event dynamics
👉 That’s why it’s not a solid strategy. It can work as an occasional tactic but not as a professional method.
Where Lay Bets Truly Shine: Surebets
Lay Bets really shine in Surebets (arbitrage opportunities).
A Surebet happens when you bet on all possible outcomes of an event (using different bookmakers or exchanges), and no matter what happens—you make money.
Here’s where Lay Bets help cover one outcome and exploit a pricing error to lock in guaranteed profit.
Realistic example:
At a traditional sportsbook you find:
Back Bet on Djokovic to win – odds 2.10At Betfair you place:
Lay Bet on Djokovic to win – odds 1.90
If you calculate stake and liability correctly, you can guarantee a small profit regardless of the match result.
The key is finding odds discrepancies before they correct themselves.
But beware: this can’t be done manually. Opportunities are rare and last only seconds.
There’s no time to compare, calculate, and place the bets without automation.
So How Can You Find a Surebet Without Going Crazy?
Here’s the core issue: doing it manually is nearly impossible.
Why?
Odds change constantly—what you see now might be gone in 30 seconds.
You need to compare hundreds of markets across dozens of bookmakers in real time.
You have to make fast calculations to ensure the trade is profitable—and by how much.
You can’t afford mistakes—a tiny error can turn a profit into a loss.
That’s why most people who try manual Surebetting end up frustrated or losing money.
Spectacular Results Automating Surebets with AI
BetOven is an AI-powered tool that automates the entire process of finding and executing Surebets.
It scans live odds across dozens of sportsbooks.
It detects when an odds value is overestimated (a pricing error).
It places the first bet automatically.
Then it completes the trade with a second bet that locks in the profit.
It shows you the exact profitability of every trade and tracks how your bank evolves.
In addition, you can:
Set your minimum and maximum stakes per bookmaker
Manage your risk and stake sizing like a pro
Track your bank and performance across each operator
BetOven is the number 1 automated sports arbitrage software, specifically designed to automate the betting process while ensuring the maximization of our profits, both in surebets and valuebets. It is such a powerful tool that it can detect errors made by bookmakers in real-time when setting their odds, and automatically place bets on these errors.
In the following video, you can see how BetOven’s AI works and how you can try it for free to maximize your profits in sports betting:
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