Betting can be profitable if you know how to work the markets correctly. Betting exchanges are great since you can back a selection to lose rather than win. If you balance your win bets with your loss bets, you can often ensure you are always on a winner. The reason for this is because betting exchanges also operate within play bets.

This past weekend’s matches were a great example. West Bromwich were 16/1 to defeat Arsenal with the home side very short in betting. If you had backed West Bromwich to win you would have been feeling nervous, but fairly confident early in the second half. However, football is football and you just never know what may happen.

Let’s say you placed £50 on West Bromwich at 16/1. With 20 minutes to go in the second half, the tables were turned with Arsenal down 0-3 and their betting odds out to 2/1 (5/2 in some areas). At this point, a £100 bet would have ensured a profit no matter who won.

In this form of betting, your total outlay was £150 with the potential for a return of either £850 or £300. If Arsenal had managed to get up and win, your profit would have been £150 – if the Baggies get up, which they did, your profit would have been £700. Either way, it’s a great return.

There are two downsides to this type of betting. Naturally, when Arsenal clawed their way back 2-3 late in the game there was the potential for a draw. In that case, you lose the lot. The other downside is that long shots rarely provide this opportunity although this weekend there were plenty. You can often find a team offering two or three to one in early betting then having a good lead at half time – your profits will be much smaller, but a profit is a profit and over time can build into quite a tidy sum – you just have to know how to play the betting exchanges.