If you are one of these punters who likes to make long range bets – for example, betting on the winner of this year’s English Premier League, then betting exchanges can often be your best friend. You will often find that the odds offered through betting exchanges are slightly less than those offered by traditional bookmakers, but that is because of the way bets are structured.

Betting exchanges don’t run a book to a certain percent like normal bookmakers – they run their books to 110% with the extra 10% being their cut. Betting exchanges are really controlled by the punters as much as anyone else so their book values are often ranging between 95% and 105%.  That difference can be to your advantage.

There is an even better reason to bet on a betting exchange when it comes to long range bets – you can often sell back your bet, albeit at a loss to you. This is done basically by reversing the bet at the new odds, leaving you with that small loss – but very handy if you think your bet’s chances have taken a turn for the worse. It would be interesting to see how many bets on Chelsea have been sold back, and how many punters are now keen to take the better odds.

Betting exchanges are not the same as traditional bookmakers. You can back a selection to win or to lose. You can offer bets at different odds to the mainstream, and in some exchanges, you can sell or trade back your bets if you think they are going to lose. Of course, someone else has to then take your bet on.  Betting exchanges – test them out, they bring new interest to betting.