Profit From Betting: Is it Possible to Profit from Backing or Laying Odds On Horses?

If you are backing them blindly the answer is a definite NO.

If you back all odds on horses to win then you have a negative ROI of nearly 4%!!!! Laying is better but still a loss at -1.5% ROI.

So do any angles exist to profit from odds-on horses?

Well laying all odds on Favourites in NHF race over the last 3 years showed a 13pt profit with 3% ROI. This is in fact pretty good.
422 Winners
191 Losers
A Laying SR around 55%

All you need to do is be a little more selective and you can increase those profits.

Does the Going Make a Difference to How Favourites Run?

Yes. However not as the masses think.

Most folk are under the impression that heavy going results in less winning Favourites. This is not the case, look at the stats below:

Going Run Win SR P/L BF ROI BF
Firm 469 172 36.67 -15.11 -3.22
Good 9789 2984 30.48 -400.33 -4.09
Good To Firm 7310 2400 32.83 -10.92 -0.15
Good To Soft 4704 1483 31.53 -91.28 -1.94
Heavy 1738 597 34.35 -46.14 -2.65
Slow 51 20 39.22 -0.5 -0.98
Soft 5271 1701 32.27 -331.52 -6.29
Standard 7382 2334 31.62 -303.48 -4.11

GOOD ground has the worst SR of all the possible goings, and HEAVY doesn’t look so bad. However, for profitability the going that gives you the best advantage is GOOD TO FIRM with a lowely negative ROI of 0.15%

Profit From Betting: Can You Profit From Blindly Betting Favourites?

The majority of people the land over will waltz into a bookmakers and stick a bet on the Favourite in the next race.

So how are you likely to end up financially if you bet every favourite or random ones? Well regardless of how you do it over the long term you will have a 32% strike rate, which isn’t bad, however you will lose 3% ROI (return on investment), simply put, for every £100 you bet, regardless of how many winners you have, over the long term you will lose £3. Ouch!!!

Ah …. brainwave … so if that is correct you can surely lay them all on Betfair and make a nice 3% profit! Wrong. That would also result in a 3% loss!!!

So how come 3% loss whether you back or lay? Well when laying you have to include the overbet, that is the odds the betting exchanges offer over SP, as well as the commission you pay, which starts at 5% on Betfair.