Betting - are you a backer or a layer?

Have you ever seen a poor bookmaker? Take a look in the average betting shop and you will see why the average bookie can afford a Bentley and world cruises every year! You will see the punters in there with their form books, their lucky charms, their tips from a mate at work. It's every now and again they will have a win which may make them a great deal of money but it is odds-on that that money will be lost very quickly over the next weeks, days or even hours. It is just as well that people bet in this way since otherwise there would be no betting shops and no bookies; they pay for the enjoyment of the professionals, many of whom have good solid betting tips and some of whom are layers, rather than backers.

So, what is the difference between a layer and a backer? It's simple. A backer is one who bets on a particular horse winning a race, and a layer is, like the bookie, someone who accept the bet. Given the fact that the overwhelming majority of horses do not win, and that the odds are calculated in such a way as to ensure that the backers do not, under normal circumstances, make an overall profit it is clear that layers can expect to make money out of gambling, and backers can expect to lose.

Backers and layers are two entirely different types of people of course. A backer hopes to make large profits on each win and, hopefully, has the good common sense to quit whilst ahead and not to continue chasing a losing streak. A layer on the other hand is content to accept, on average, a much lower profit on every bet which is laid; but this profit is likely to be regular and mathematically almost certain.

It is of course much easier to pick losers rather than winners; the vast majority of punters can confirm the truth of this! A good argument can be put forward for being a layer (like a bookie) rather than a backer; but then if you have a supply of reliable betting tips then everything changes completely..........

Click here for UK betting tips! If your previous bets can gone sour and your credit rating has taken a hammering you may want to think about credit repair (but next time look for better tips!).