It is not at all necessary for one to be a gambler in any commonly understood sense of the word to understand the simple concept of betting on the outcome of a sporting event. People have been betting for thousands of years, pitting their wits against their peers and against the odds in the hope of finding some good fortune and making a few pennies along the way.
Typically betting is about selecting the winner of a particular contest. In other words you may fancy a certain horse to pass the winning post before the others, especially after studying stats, fitness, form, past performance, the choice of rider and so on. Similarly at a football match you may believe a particular side is going to win the contest or, for the more adventurous, that it will end with a certain score line Rajabandot.
Of course, there is a large and growing number of other complimentary markets to make the field of play a little more interesting. To pursue the football example, how many yellow cards will be flashed during the first half? Which side will take the first free kick? Precisely how many goals will be scored throughout the contest?
Although the markets have become far more sophisticated there is one common denominator throughout them all. In every instance one is betting on a particular event to take place – a named player to score a goal, another to get booked, or indeed a horse to ride in placed if not at the very front of the field.
At a glance then the lay bet would appear to be just a mirror image of the same idea. When a person lays a football team the bet that is being made is that that team will not win the match. When a horse is laid the bettor is predicting that, irrespective on how the others may perform on the day, the selection will most definitely not win.
Whilst it is of course true that, for instance, horse laying is the opposite of backing a horse, there is an entirely different psychology that is informing the choice. When considering race tips on lay racing selections we are not evaluating any horse’s chance of finishing at the head of the pack, but its probable inability to make any impact at all in the face of the opposition against which it finds itself.
Any insider information will be of a negative ilk, possibly one of the competing mounts has hurt its foot or developed a penchant for chips and kebabs since the last time it ran out. In effect all we need to know is that a particular runner does not have what it takes to win the race in which it is competing.
