General
I must admit, that this review might be a bit biased. It simply has to do with the fact, that I don’t see any bookie able to compete with Betfair in terms of odds and fun. Well still I’ll try to make an independent review.

Betfair was the first betting exchange established on the internet. It’s 100% online based and for those, who don’t know what a betting exchange is all about, I’ll try and explain it.
The revolutionizing thing about a betting exchange is the fact, that there actually are no one trying to make a profit when setting the odds. Those offering the odds are punters like you and me. You can yourself lay or buy odds at any price. The only requirement for placing a bet, is that some other person is willing to match it.
Betfair makes money by taking commission of the amount won. This commission can be 5% or 1%. For markets in soccer betting you’ll only pay 1% commission, if you bet on Asian handicaps or “total goals”. The rest of the markets charge is charged 5% commission. Since Betfair don’t have an interest in the odds the best punters will benefit from this service.
Those capable of setting odds early often will have their bets matched even if the odds they are laying or buying are much in their favour. This happens simply because more inexperienced punters can’t judge what the right odds are. This also makes arbitrage possible. If you have the feeling that odds might fall you can buy the odds and sell it later, when the odds is lower. This will give you a risk free bet. Betfair gives you so many possibilities to improve your betting strategies that I’m sure, that everybody will join me in the praising of this betting exchange.

 Some facts about Betfair: They are licensed in England and Wales. The company behind Betfair is The Sporting Exchange Ltd. They have customer support in several languages. They have received the “Queen's Award for Enterprise”, which is one of the highest recognitions for companies in England.

 

Registration
The registration is simple, and they offer you a demo-guide to see how to register and place a bet. We recommend that you see this demo.
You will probably at some point be asked to document your identity.

Bonus
Betfair offers a free bet up to 25£. By using this promotion code: AK525477 you can stake 25£ on the first bet. Whatever result of the bet you’ll receive 25£. Please see the requirements beneath.

Wagering requirements
Quote taken from Betfair:
“Enter the promotion code detailed when joining Betfair and we’ll credit the free bet amount to your account after you’ve had at least the value of the free bet amount settled. “Settled” means a market of the Betfair betting exchange has been completed and any due funds have been returned to customers accounts.”

Odds and games
I have already explained the odds at Betfair. With the right timing and knowledge you’ll be able to receive a return of a lot more than 100% on certain matches. They offer a big market for all sports, but some markets, that are small, you’ll find it hard to match your buy or lay offer. This only applies to really small markets like for example the Danish 2nd division and similar markets.

Betfair Betting Exchanges

In 2000, Betfair launched its betting exchange to British customers. The concept revolutionized how many people wager. Instead of playing against a bookmaker, as most people are familiar with, Betfair created an environment where bettors wager against each other and the company takes a commission on the winnings. While World Sports Exchange started its own in-running betting markets prior to that, the bettor was still playing against the bookmaker who assumes the risk. As well, World Sports Exchange trades only on specific games, most often on football, basketball, baseball and on the rare occasion, hockey. Betfair trades pretty much every sport, although its most popular sports have always been soccer and horse racing. Without a doubt, World Sports Exchange presents a remarkable betting opportunity for North American bettors to be discussed in a future article, but for this article we will concentrate on Betfair.

The concept of exchange betting is simple. There are 2 lines, the back and the lay. Bettors can either back a contestant and get the odds listed or they can lay the contestant and get the corresponding odds that someone else is willing to back. Say, for example, that the New York Knicks are 5 ½ point favourites over the Atlanta Hawks. While most books will have a line of -110 on both sides, at Betfair you would likely see a line of say New York Knicks -5 ½ points Back 1.98 Lay 2.0 and Atlanta Hawks +5 ½ points Back 1.98 lay 2.0 - so essentially the line is even money on either team. This eliminates the vigorish and costs the bettor the commission on winnings, which is usually 5 percent. The percentage on the commission is reduced if the bettor meets certain criteria. There are other betting exchanges out there, but none comes close to Betfair. Unfortunately, because Betfair doesn't allow American bettors, the odds on U.S. based games usually have quite small handles, and the true value at Betfair is really in British sports where there is often upwards of $5 million traded on a single game. In 2005, Betfair had revenues in excess of £150 million or roughly U.S. $300 million.

Betfair Poker

Betfair Poker is the poker site of one of the world s largest online sports betting exchange of the same name. The poker site has been functioning since 2004 and the traffic has been increasing everyday. This poker room shares player base with other poker rooms using Cryptologic network.

US players cannot play at Betfair Poker. This poker site supports 2,400-2,700 ring game players and 1,800-2,000 tournament players at peak hours playing with real money according to March 2006 statistics.


Games Offered

Games include poker games of Omaha, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi/Lo, and Seven Card Stud. House limits and rake are similar to those in the gaming industry. You can play high limit tables with 100/200 in your suitable currency. Smallest stakes for fixed limit games is $1/$2 games and pot-limit and no-limit games have the lowest stakes of $0.50/$1

Deposit and Withdrawal options

You can deposit through your Credit Cards or Debit Cards, Cheques, Neteller, Western Union, Bank Draft, Delta, Solo, Switch, Maestro or Wire Transfer. You can play your games in Euros, Dollars, or Sterling. You need a specific PIN code to withdraw your money through the same options. You receive this PIN through mail after payment of your first deposit.

Software

Cryptologic network software powers all games at Betfair Poker. As this is among the best software with excellent networking facilities, you can enjoy uninterrupted games at Betfair Poker. Some of the features of this software include hand history, note taking, exchange accounts, and others. Hand history lets you know your game skills in your past games and helps you improve on your mistakes. Note taking helps you keep track of all the players by keeping notes about their game play and other tactics for future reference.

Bonuses & Promotions

Betfair Poker helps you save money through Betfair Exchange. You can play ring games at the site and earn commission points. These points reduce your commission charges at their sports betting.

You can win around £300 if you receive a Royal Flush. You receive this bonus irrespective of how many players win it in a day. You should play real money games. You should play the game independently without revealing your hands to any other player. You must use at least two down cards in a game of 7-card stud. However, poker tournaments do not feature in this.

There are many loose and easy games on Betfair Poker. You can therefore take advantage of such games to win at Betfair Poker. Betfair Poker offers an open program. You receive $10-$20 per hour for playing in new and shorthanded games.

Betfair Casino

Mention Betfair to most people and they will usually think of the Betfair betting exchange or Betfair Poker, but now the company has launched Betfair Casino, giving it a three-pronged presence in the online gambling world. The new casino offers two gaming lounges - a main lounge of more than forty regular casino games and a "Zero Lounge" where you can play four games with a zero house percentage.


According to Betfair, the Zero Lounge effectively makes this the only casino in the world with no house edge - but are the games themselves up to scratch?

The layout of the Betfair Casino lobby page is pretty much what you would expect from a Betfair site - clean, organised and easy to navigate. The casino requires no software download because games are played in pop-up browser windows (make sure any pop-up blockers are turned off), so all you need to get started is an account - and you won't even need one of those if you only want to play for free.

If you have an existing Betfair account then you can use this at the Betfair Casino - simply log in with your regular username and password. If you don't have an existing account then you will need to open a new one from scratch. This doesn't take more than a couple of minutes, and requires little more than your name, address, contact details and payment information.
 

Games
To start playing, select a game from the menu on the left hand side of the Betfair Casino lobby screen and wait for the pop-up window to load the game. There are more than forty games in the main lounge, including 3 reel slots, 5 reel slots, baccarat, blackjack, casino stud poker, three card poker, Pai Gow, roulette, craps and all the other favourites.
In the Zero Lounge the four games you can choose from are baccarat, blackjack, jacks or better and roulette.

Why would anyone play main lounge games when there are Zero Lounge games offering no house edge? It's a good question, but there are two main reasons. The first is the sheer variety of main lounge games that players have to choose from. Forty games versus four is really not very much of a fair contest, and although the four Zero Lounge games are of a very high standard, if your favourite game is Pai Gow, three card poker or anything else not offered in the Zero Lounge, you're pretty much left without a choice.

The second reason why players will choose to play main lounge games instead of, or as well as, Zero Lounge games is purely financial, because the former has a higher minimum stake than the latter (£5 instead of £1).

For baccarat, blackjack, jacks or better and roulette players who are quite happy to play with the required minimum stakes, Zero Lounge games are the better option. No house edge means that you have a greater chance of showing a profit. Zero Blackjack pays odds of 2 to 1 for a hand of blackjack, Zero Roulette has no zero, Zero Baccarat reduces commission on the banker bet to 2.75% and Zero Jacks of Better offers a Royal Flush payout 22% higher than you'll find anywhere else.

Overall, Betfair Casino is an excellent offering from the Betfair brand, and should prove very popular with both new and seasoned online casino players. We'd like to see more games in the Zero Lounge, and maybe this will happen in the future, but even as it stands the Betfair Casino is well worth visiting.