Frequently Asked Questions

Betfair is a betting exchange. A betting exchange is a marketplace for customers to bet on the outcome of an event, including while it is happening, known as In Play betting. It differs from a traditional bookmaker by allowing customers to back or lay an outcome. Back betting means putting your money on something to happen. Lay betting means betting on something not to happen, for example, if you lay a football team to win, your bet will be settled as a winner if the team loses or if the game ends in a draw – so two outcomes are playing in your favour. Unlike a traditional bookmaker you are not betting against Betfair, instead you are betting against other Betfair customers who have the opposite opinion to yourself, because of this you can request your own odds when placing a bet. Another benefit of betting with other customers is that the odds are likely to be better than a traditional bookmaker, who set their own odds and build in a margin.

We do offer a results service. The Betfair Results Service delivers the results of Australian markets settled in the past 24 hours. Results are generated from the market settlement carried out 24/7 by our Market Operations team. Results are usually available within a matter of minutes of Betfair settling a market. This site can be viewed by going to www.betfair.com.au/hub/racing/horse-racing/racing-results/

The minimum bet on the Betfair Exchange is $AUD 1.00 online and $AUD 50.00 through our Telephone Betting Service.

Your TAN (Telephone Account Number) is a unique code that allows you to place bets via our Telephone Betting Service. To use your account over the phone you must quote your TAN when calling our Telephone Betting Desk on 132 BET (132 238). Your TAN can be found by clicking on the “My Account” dropdown list positioned at the top of the homepage on the desktop website and then selecting “Contact Preferences”

Yes. Our dedicated Contact Center are on hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to place bets on your behalf. To use this service please phone 132 BET (132 238) and quote your Telephone Account Number (TAN).

There are two easy ways to open a Betfair account. Online by selecting Join Now at the top of the page. Over the phone by calling 1300 BETFAIR (1300 238 324) where our Customer Service Team operators will open the account for you.

If you forget your username or password, simply click on the relevant part of the “Forgot your username / password?” link beneath the login section of the website and follow the instructions. If you have any issues, please call the Betfair Contact Centre on 1300 BETFAIR (1300 238 324) and they will be able to assist you

The National Consumer Protection Framework requires all wagering operators to provide a monthly Activity Statement to their customers who were active during the month. Commencing July 2022 you will receive activity statements via email if you are active in the statement period.

View your Activity Statements Requires Login

The Activity Statement is a monthly statement of your settled bet transactions for the previous month. It’s designed to help you gamble responsibly, track and monitor your online wagering spending, wins and losses.

Yes, as a record of those deposits or withdrawals but there will be no betting history for the month.

If there is no betting activity or deposits to, or withdrawals from, your wallet, then you will not receive an email notification about your Activity Statement for that month. However, if there was any activity on the account in the previous 12 month period your Activity Statement will be available for you to view online.

Activity Statements are a snapshot of settled bets in your account at the end of the calendar month, as a result they may not match your live transaction history.

Please review the Activity Statement Information Sheet to understand how to interpret your Activity Statement and what is included in the calculations.

If you have not had any betting activity for a while or are a new Betfair customer there is no historical activity to display. Your graph will fill in over time if you resume betting again.

Activity Statements are an automatically generated snapshot of your monthly settled bets and betting activity over time covering wins, losses, net results and transactions. In contrast, Account Statements are manually generated by you on the website, can be for custom date ranges exceeding a calendar month and provide a simple transaction history.

Yes. You can call Betfair on 1300 238 324 and request an Activity Statement for any previous month, starting from 1 July 2022

Customers can call the Australian National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858 or access the website www.gamblinghelponline.org.au. In addition, customers can call Betfair on 1300 238 324 or email service@betfair.com.au. Betfair has Responsible Gambling information and Player protection tools available to you on our website.

Your monthly statement will be issued within 7 days of the following month. For example, a June statement will be issued within the first 7 days of July. If there is no betting activity or deposits or withdrawals in your Betfair account, then you will not receive an email notification about your Activity Statement for that month. However, if there was any activity on the account over the previous 12 months, your Activity Statement will be available for you to view online.

The new legal requirements, referred to above, commenced operation on 31 July 2022

New legal requirements have been introduced which require Betfair to issue monthly Activity Statements to active customers. The aim of the statement is to help you be more informed and empowered to manage your betting activity over time.

Betfair charges Commission only on your net winnings on a market. You do not pay commission on losing bets. Your commission is calculated based on the Market Base Rate for the event/market you’ve placed a winning bet on – and is calculated overall at the market level, not the transaction. To learn more, feel free to review our Commissions & Charges page.

Pending bets are bets that were placed or matched in the statement period that are yet to settle. These bets can become partially matched, settled, voided or cancelled in future statement periods.

The stake amount of your pending bet will be included in the net result for the statement period in which the bet was placed.

Liability is the amount you stand to lose at a market or event level – This is typically based on your worst outcome. On some occasions this amount may fluctuate month to month as your market position changes, or even become a positive value depending on your market position.

Adjustments are changes during your statement period that may not relate to a transaction being displayed. This can occur across released exposure, voided bets, resettled bets etc.

If you place a Betfair Starting Price (BSP) bet and we are unable to remove a non-runner until after the race has completed, the BSP Price that is calculated at the race start may change after the non-runner has been removed. The Reduction Factor of the non-runner will be applied to the original BSP odds generated, which will return a revised price for your bet. This instance rarely occurs, usually when a horse is declared a non-runner after the race, or when a horse is scratched very close to the off of a race and we are unable to remove the non-runner from the market before the race jumps.

SP bets with price limits are included in the calculation as long as doing so allows an SP to be calculated that has no imbalance between backers’ stakes and layers’ liabilities. For example if SP bets and Exchange bets could be matched at a price of 5.0 with no imbalance between backers’ stakes and layers’ liabilities then SP back bets with a price limit of 4.0 would be included, but SP bets with a limit of 6.0 would lapse unmatched and would not form part of the calculation of the Starting Price.

Yes. SP bets can be seen in the runner information pop-up, which can be accessed by clicking the graph icon next to each selection in the market view. In the Traded Table next to the graph, you will see two new columns, backers’ stakes and layers’ liabilities requested at SP. Amounts requested with an odds limit will show in these columns next to the respective prices with backers’ stakes showing as blue and layers’ liabilities showing as pink. (Note this is the opposite to Exchange bets in this table where backers’ money shows in pink under “To Lay” and vice versa) SP bets on which no price limit was specified will show at 1.01 for SP back bets and 1000.00 for SP lay bets. The Far Price will give you an indication of the balance between SP backers and SP layers.

By default unmatched bets on the Exchange ‘lapse’ and are cancelled at the start of the event.You can still choose for this to happen if you wish, and unmatched bets will have “cancel” as their default. However you now have the ability to:Convert your unmatched Exchange bet to an SP bet if it remains unmatched at the off by selecting the “Take SP” option.Please note again that you can cancel an unmatched Exchange bet prior to the off even if you have chosen the ‘Take SP’ option.

Yes. Your bets will show in Current Bets at SP along with any odds limit you may have set.

SP bets can be placed on m.betfair.com.au and Betfair’s Mobile Application.

It is not possible for you to cancel a bet you have placed on the site at SP. This is so that we can provide an estimate of the Starting Price based on money committed to betting at SP. If bets could be cancelled, this estimate could be manipulated by placing a large bet and then cancelling it. If, however, you have an unmatched Exchange bet with the option “Take SP” selected you can still cancel this up until the time of the off. If you have specified a limit on your SP back bet you can reduce the minimum odds you are prepared to accept. If you have specified a limit on your lay SP bet you can increase the maximum odds you are prepared to offer. You will not be allowed to increase the odds on a limit SP back bet, or reduce the odds on a limit SP lay bet as this would allow customers to amend their bets to levels that would be highly unlikely to be matched, which would have the same effect as cancelling which is not allowed, as explained above.

In detail, the pricing calculation is performed as follows: SP bets become matched bets once the reconciliation has been performed at the start of the event with commission charged on a customer’s net winnings in each market. The commission on SP bets will therefore be calculated in exactly the same way as normal Exchange bets.

Yes, but at the off if the liability on the bet is less than $30 the bet will be cancelled and will not be included in the SP reconciliation. For example: As an Exchange layer I decide to lay a horse for $15 @ 2.0. It is trading at 3.0 so my bet is unmatched. I then request to ‘Take SP’ at the off if my bet is still unmatched at 2.0. The system will allow this request but if unmatched at the off it will lapse. Also, if a customer for example asks to lay $150 at 1.5, convert to SP if unmatched, and $120 gets taken leaving $30 lay at 1.5 the balance will cancel at the off. It will not convert into an SP lay bet as the revised balance at the off was less than the minimum $30 liability allowed for SP bets.

The profit and loss will only reflect your SP bets once the event has started and the bets have been matched at the Starting Price. The projected profit and loss cannot be displayed using the ‘what if’ feature within ‘More Options’ because there is no price upon which to base the calculation at this stage.

SP odds limits is a feature that allows you to specify either the minimum odds you are prepared to accept for an SP bet, for back bets, or the maximum odds you are prepared to offer for a lay bet. Traditional bookmakers or totes don’t offer this type of bet, but Betfair has created an SP system that will. You just need to select the set odds limit option when placing the SP bet and specify the minimum acceptable odds for back bets or the maximum acceptable odds for lay bets. If the Betfair SP falls outside the limits specified, stakes are returned and the bet is not matched. This enables Betfair to calculate the minimum profit you will make on the selection if the result goes in your favour. SP Backers Min Profit Calculation (Min Odds – 1) x Stake = min profit SP Layers Min Profit Calculation Liability / (Max odds – 1) = Min Profit See the Setting SP Limits section for further details.

In theory, there could be unmatched SP bets. We don’t actually guarantee a match. But this would only happen if the price is 1.01 or 1000 – the two extremes of our SP. If 1.01 were the final SP, then some backers might be unmatched. If 1000 were the final SP, then some layers will be unmatched. However, we expect this to be very rare.

The process of determining the SP takes place in the short period of time between the race being suspended and the race going in-play. During that period no one at Betfair has any influence in how the price is determined. No one at Betfair has access to any privileged information on SP markets.

Once the reconciliation process has taken place, SP bets are just like normal matched Exchange bets. They will be settled along with every other matched bet.

In a normal Exchange market, if you are laying you are asked to specify the backer’s stake you would like to try to win and your liability is calculated for you. In contrast when placing an SP lay bet layers are asked to specify a liability (rather than a backer’s stake). This is because the SP won’t be known until the off, so customers have to specify the liability they desire so that we can ensure they have sufficient funds in their account to pay the backers we match them with should the selection go on to win. Backers and layers at SP will therefore not know how much they could win until the start of the event. Backers at SP specify their stake as normal and this amount will reduce their “available to bet” balance as usual.

The minimum stake for a back bet at SP is $1. The minimum liability if laying is $30.

You will be informed of the odds at which your bets have been matched once the market is suspended at the off or turned in-play. At this point your bet will be matched against customers who have placed an opposing bet. The actual SP will then be displayed in the middle column on the market as long as you have the “Betfair Starting Price” box ticked above the market. Your Bet Manager is now split into three colour-coded sections. These are Unmatched Bets, Matched Bets and SP Bets. Any SP bets that were showing in your Bet Manager before the race started will be moved to the Matched Bets section once the SP is confirmed.

Yes. You will not know what the Betfair Starting Price is until the event starts, as additional bets placed before then will affect the calculation of the price. However Betfair will offer two calculations of the projected SP: Projected SP – which indicates what the SP would be if the market were to suspend now, this is also known as the ‘Near Price’ calculation. Near/Far Odds – The closer it is to the start of the race, the more accurate these prices are likely to be due to more liquidity and up to date information. Note: If there is no money wagered at the Starting Price, then the system would find the halfway point between the best available odds to back and lay and show this as the projected SP. The projected SP & Near/Far Odds can be toggled off and on within your Settings.

The basic principle of matching bets on the Exchange is maintained for SP bets. Backers are matched against layers. In the case of Starting Price bets, we are matching Starting Price backers (who have specified a stake) and Exchange backers with Starting Price layers (who have specified a liability) and Exchange layers. Matching takes place in the brief period between the event being suspended and it being turned in-play using a reconciliation process which determines the SP. The reconciliation process considers SP bets that have been placed on each selection, taking into account any price limits that have been specified, and unmatched Exchange bets on that selection. The calculation determines the fairest price which will match the largest amount of money risked by backers and layers against each other.

You can configure your settings, to show your “What if” figure, by clicking on the “Settings” button, located at the top of the market view screen. A “pop up” like the one below will be displayed where you can tick the relevant checkbox.

Yes, Betfair offers products for most current mobile phones.

Betfair charges a Commission on your net winnings on a market. If you have a net loss on a market you do not pay commission. Commission is calculated by multiplying your net winnings by the Market Base Rate (MBR), as shown on the Rules tab of each market. For example, if you win $100 on a market with an MBR of 5%, you will pay $5 in commission.

In-play betting involves betting while an event is in progress. At the start of selected events, unmatched bets are cancelled and an in-play market is opened. This allows you to bet right up until the final whistle of a match, the final game of a tournament or the winning post of a race. These events are clearly indicated by this in-play “tick” icon being displayed at the top of the market view. To place a sports bet In Play just call one of our Telephone Betting operators who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 132 BET (132 238). Horse racing in-play is available over both the internet and telephone for all customers.

Our horseracing markets are guarded against possible non-runners with a system of Reduction Factors. Each horse is allocated a Reduction Factor, based on its likely chance of winning the race, as assessed prior to the race by expert racing analysts. Win and place markets are calculated differently. Should a horse be declared a non-runner, the Reduction Factor will be applied to the prices of all matched bets, for both backers and layers. This is to ensure that layers are not unfairly treated and exposed to large liabilities when the chances of other horses winning have improved. The Reduction Factors are designed to be fair to both backers and layers. To learn more go to Betfair: Rules & Regulations

Details of your account information are held within the “My Account” section, accessible from the menu at the top of the screen when logged into your account. This information is only stored on-line for three months, but the Experience Team can provide you with any historical information about your account that you require. The My Account section includes details of: Current bets (Matched and Unmatched) Your “Profit and Loss” (how much you have won and lost by sport or time) Your Betting History Your Account Summary, including a full statemente” section of the web site. You can access this via the “My Account” link at the top of the main page on the web site.

Two ways – when viewing a market, watch the “My Bets” tab on the right hand side of the screen which will indicate which bets are matched and which are unmatched ensuring that you have a tick placed in the matched bets box located at the bottom of the “My Bets” tab. If the bet remains unmatched, you still have the ability to change the price or stake (the odds and stake box will still be editable). Alternatively, check your Profit and Loss figure which can be displayed beneath each selection when the “Show Profit and Loss” box is checked. To enable this option, click the “Setting” arrow button at the top of a market view and then tick the “Show Profit and Loss” box. The Profit and Loss will update as your bet(s) is matched. Green indicates potential profit, red shows potential loss.

Laying a bet means you are betting on something not to happen – a match not to end in a draw, a horse not to come in first, a rugby team not to win by over 7 pts etc. You can only lay an outcome if someone else is willing to take the opposing view (i.e. bet that the outcome will happen). So if the odds of Hawthorn winning the AFL grand final are $7.00 and you don’t think they’ll win, you are risking $6.00 to win someone else’s $1.00.

Yes, with our own Betfair SP. Click the SP box next to the odds to do this.

Your Betfair Wallet is where your total available balance (Balance that you are able to bet with at the current time), retained commission (Held commission on markets you are profitable on but have not settled yet) and your current total exposure (Stakes tied up in current bets) are all shown and held.

If you have placed a bet into a market which is a guaranteed winning bet, for example laying a team which can no longer win the AFL Premiership, when we partially settle the market, we will add these winnings to your “available to bet” balance. As you can change your position on the market by placing further bets, we do not know your final profit figure for the market, and therefore hold the maximum 5% commission of the amount released to you as retained commission.

Your account statement will display the total money in your account, including the funds in exposure; as there is no available balance, you will be unable to place the bet in question.

We hold your worst-case scenario liability for each market in what we call exposure. As we are holding your worst-case scenario in liability, should you back opposing selections in the same market, your stake will be returned to your Betfair wallet up to the amount of liability you have released i.e. Backing Nick Kyrgios to win the match for a stake of $50 at odds of 2.0 (Profit $50), your liability/worst-case scenario is $50, as that is the amount you are risking. If you then Back Novak Djokovic to win the match for a stake of $50 at odds of 2.0 in the same match, the $50 profit on Nick Kyrgios is used instead of your available balance to make this bet. So, we now have a $50 liability and $50 profit on both players resulting in a profit/loss of $0.00 on this match, as your worst result is now $0.00 your liability will be returned to your available balance. The ability to move your profit around on the same market is what makes Betfair unique and assists with your trading on the platform

When placing a bet, your stake does not leave your Betfair account balance; it is moved out of your available funds into your exposure wallet. We do this so that the stake cannot be withdrawn or re-bet into another market resulting in a possible negative balance.

Funds held in exposure do not show in your available-to-bet balance, however, if you go to your Account Statement, you will be able to see that your exposure is included in that total figure.

Should your wager be settled as a winning bet, exposure will be released back into your account, and the winnings will be credited.

In the case that your bet has been settled as a loss, exposure equaling the amount lost on the selection will be deducted from your account.

In both cases, you can access your account statement through the Betfair website to see a detailed breakdown of how this affects your balance.

Want to get to know about Betfair?

Go to Betfair Help

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the unique advantages of betting with Betfair?

Do you have a results service?

What is the minimum bet?

What is my TAN (Telephone Account Number)?

Can I place a bet over the phone?

How do I become a customer?

What happens if I forget my Username and/or Password?

What is an Activity Statement?

I didn’t bet but deposited or withdrew money out of my Betfair account, will I receive a statement?

I didn’t receive an email about my Activity Statement for a certain month, why?

Why doesn’t this match my transaction history?

How do I read the Activity Statement?

Why does the graph on my Activity Statement seem a bit empty?

How is this different from Account Statements?

Can I request an Activity Statement?

Who can I talk to if the Activity Statement raises concerns about my gambling?

When is the statement issued?

Why am I only receiving this now?

Why do I need an Activity Statement?

What is commission?

What are pending bets?

What does Liability mean?

What are adjustments?

What happens to a Betfair Starting Price (BSP) bet if there is a late non-runner?

Do SP bets where an odds limit has been specified form part of the Betfair SP?

Can I see the amounts of money to Back and Lay at SP?

What can I do with an unmatched bet in SP markets?

Are my SP bets highlighted in current bets, betting history and on my statement?

Can SP bets be placed using Betfair mobile?

Can I cancel or amend my SP bet?

What is the commission rate payable when betting at SP?

Can I request to ‘TAKE SP’ on an unmatched lay bet if my liability is less than $30? (minimum liability)

Why does my profit and loss reflect my SP bets?

What are SP odds limits?

Will there be unmatched SP bets if the money isn’t there?

Does Betfair see what is happening with the SP bets?

How are the bets settled and when?

If I am laying at SP, how will I know how much I am risking?

What is the minimum stake for an SP bet?

When will I know the odds and my potential winnings?

Can I see roughly what price I am likely to get before the off when I bet at SP?

How is the money matched?

How can I see my position in the market, before I actually place the bets?

Can I place bets through my Betfair Account on my Mobile?

What commission do I pay?

What is In-Play betting?

How does a non-runner affect my bet?

How can I view my previous/current bets?

How do I know when my bet is matched?

What is laying?

Can I place an SP (Starting Price) bet on Betfair?

A customer must not allow a third party to use their Betfair account

How do I complete the Identity Verification Process (KYC – Know Your Customer) and are there any restrictions until my account is verified?

Can someone else make a deposit on my behalf to my Betfair account?

How do I deposit and withdraw from Betfair?

What is Retained Commission?

When I attempt to place a bet, I am told I do not have enough funds, but my account statement says I have the amount in my account?

How can Liability be reduced and traded?

What is exposure?