The Betfair Exchange is a peer to peer betting platform, which means that you can only place a bet if someone is willing to match it.
An unmatched bet is one that does not yet have a corresponding bet on the Betfair Exchange. All bets on the betfair exchange are either a back or a lay bet. For every back bet, there must be a corresponding lay bet for the stake to be taken, and for it to be confirmed on the Exchange.
What’s A Back Or A Lay Bet?
A lay bet is placed by a fellow Betfair Exchange bettor that is willing to take on the bookmaker’s role in the bet by paying the other bettor’s winnings or taking their stake, depending on the result. Any back or lay that doesn’t have a corresponding bet is called unmatched and is not an open bet until it is at least partially matched by a fellow Betfair Exchange bettor.
A back bet on the other hand is almost the same format as the sportsbook bet, which involves a stake which if winning will redeem a certain amount of return. This bet too, will not come into force until it’s at least partially matched by a lay bet.
When the back or the lay has a corresponding bet, boh pairs are then matched bets and are automatically confirmed and in force. There’s no cash out or back out option.
What Happens When Your Bet Is Unmatched On Betfair Exchange?
When a bet is placed it will immediately look for a pre-existing corresponding bet to match it with. If no match is found, the bet will be returned in red as an unmatched bet.
This is not the end of the line however, as the unmatched status of the bet is a pending status and if even a partial amount of the stake can be matched by a fellow bettor, the unmatched status will be replaced by either a partially matched status or a matched status. If the bet is not partially or fully matched before the game event begins, the bet will be lapsed.
What’s A Partially Matched Bet?
A partially matched bet is a bet that is matched with odds but at different stake levels. The smaller stake will be fully matched, but the larger stake will be partially matched.
This partially matched bet will be part confirmed and part unmatched, so the rest of the bet may or may not be matched before the event begins and the unmatched part of the bet is lapsed.
How To Get Your Bets Matched
The unmatched part of the matched bet is the same as a normal unmatched bet. You can potentially get these bets matched quicker by editing the odds to be more favorable. It is a subtle art to determine the most profitable odds that will get matched before the event begins, but remember you’ll get no profit from an unmatched bet.
A betting technique to try is to delete your original bet, place half the stake at the unmatched odds, and then add the other half stake at slightly more generous odds until it is matched.
This will confirm at least half of your stake as a matched bet and will leave the other half of your stake unmatched and with the potential of matching if the market turns in your favour before the start of the event.
How To Edit An Unmatched Bet Or Partially Matched Bet
The process of editing an unmatched or partially matched bet is straightforward. When you’re ready simply follow the below steps:
- Once you have an unmatched bet returned on the exchange the bet will offer you the edit and cancel options for a few seconds before showing a red number tag, which you can click to open up the unmatched bets tab.
- From the unmatched bets tab you can amend the odds and stake to any new figure that you think will attract an accompanying lay or back bettor, or simply cancel the unmatched bet and start again.
- You can click the edit button, from which you can increase the odds for a lay and decrease the odds for a back to get a matched bet.
- Alternatively you can click cancel and create a new bet with different stake or odds.
