Trigger Bet Small Loss Explained
In ‘Step 1 - Choosing Your Trigger Bet’ we said that you will make a small loss of between 25p to 60p when placing your £5 trigger bet:
In this optional article, we explain the two reasons why we make this loss and how we can minimise it.
Reason 1: Bookmaker Odds & Exchange Odds Difference
Ideally, when we place our trigger bet with the bookmaker, we would be able to place a lay bet at the same odds on Betfair Exchange.
This means should the team win, we are winning the same amount on the bookmaker as we are losing on Betfair Exchange.
Gimme an example with the same odds!
Sure, let's take Wales vs Slovakia as an example. If we place a £5 trigger bet on Coral on Wales to beat Slovakia at 2.0:
Ideally we would be able to place a lay bet on Betfair Exchange at 2.0 also:
This would mean if Wales do win we:
Win £5 on Coral
Lose £5 on Betfair
and vice versa if Wales do not win. So, excluding Betfair commission, we would not lose anything on my trigger bet.
However….often the Betfair odds are slightly higher
Than on Coral, which means we are paying out more on Betfair Exchange relative to how much we win on Coral.
Gimme an example with different odds!
If we are able to place a lay bet on Betfair Exchange at 2.1:
Then we:
still win £5 on Coral
but we now lose £5.50 on Betfair.
If the odds were 2.2, we still win £5 on Coral, but now we lose £6. So the smaller the difference between the odds, the smaller our trigger bet loss.
Reason 2: Betfair 5% Commission
Betfair make a profit by charging a 5% commission on winning bets.
Therefore, even if you find odds that are the same on the bookmaker and Betfair Exchange, then you would still make a small loss due to the 5% commission.
How To Minimise This Small Trigger Bet Loss?
Always remember, the trigger bet is tiny (25p to 60p for a £5 trigger bet) relative to up to £15 profit we make from our £20 free bet!
But you can still minimise the loss by choosing the team with the smallest difference between the bookmaker odds & the Betfair Exchange odds - I post up the best selections for your trigger and free bets twice a week in the blog, so make sure you check it out. It’s a real time saver.
Remember to stay above the minimum odds and also aim low odds to keep your liability low, as explained in Step 1 video and the choose low odds article.