The Ashes Betting

The Ashes is a great way to make money from trading because each team is likely to have spells of dominance, especially given the closeness in talent of the current Australia and England teams.

Take Day One of the First Test. The prices of the 3 outcomes, and how they changed throughout the day, are shown below:


Going into the day's action, Australia were favourites and available at just over 2.0, with England available just over 3.0 and the draw around 4.4. And though those three options remained in the same order by the end of play, much had changed in between.

Australia's trend was generally downward, as you would expect on a day when Peter Siddle took six wickets including a hat-trick. At only one point during the day, midway through the second session when Kevin Pietersen seemed to be in the groove, did Australia's odds move higher to become the absolute outsider of three. For a full explanation of this graph click here.

In order to make money trading, you need to back an outcome at a high price and then lay at a lower price. For instance, if you backed Australia at 3.0 with $10 just before Pietersen's dismissal you could have guaranteed yourself $10 by laying them at the end of the day.

This is because your back bet would have made you $20 in the event Australia won, and lost you $10 in the event England won or in the event it was a draw. And if you lay'd them at the end of the day for $20 at 1.5 you would have lost $10 if Australia won, and won $20 if either England won or it was a draw. So in either outcome - Australia winning or Australia not winning - you would have made $10.

For more info on backing and laying click here.

Remember, you can only bet in-play over the phone in Australia. Call 1300 BETFAIR to do this. Or, you could bet online at the end of each day's play, there are still plenty of trading opportunities doing it this way. Find the latest Test Market here.

Back and Lay Explained

Backing an outcome is betting on that outcome to happen. Laying an outcome is betting on that outcome not to happen - so if any other outcome happens, your lay bet wins.

Say the odds of Australia are 5.0 to win an Ashes Test. If you place a $10 back-bet on Australia, and they win, you'll get $50 back (5.0 x $10 = $50). This is inclusive of your stake, so your actual profit will be $40. If Australia don't win, you'll lose your $10.

If you place a $10 lay-bet on Australia at 5.0, and they don't win (so the Test ends in a draw or an England win), you'll make $10 profit. If Australia win however, you'll lose $40 (this is 5.0 multiplied by $10, minus $10).

For more info on backing and laying click here.