The term hedge your bets is a very well known and commonly used phrase. If you are looking to find out everything you need to know about hedge betting for Australians you have definitely come to the right place. We have put together this comprehensive guide to this top betting strategy. Hedge betting has been employed by Aussie bettors for many years now to help guarantee profits so if you don’t want to miss out, read on to pick up the best hedge betting tips.

How We Rank The Best Hedge Betting Sites

The online gaming industry is a very crowded market place for Aussies which is no bad thing because it means that we are spoilt for choice when it comes to our betting options. Such a situation does mean, however, that it can be tricky to find the right online bookmaker. In the case of hedge betting, you will actually need much more than one betting account, but you can rest assured that any betting sit we recommend has been thoroughly vetted for its performance in the following areas.

What is Hedging Betting?

Hedge betting hails from the world of finance which is where it also takes its name from. The idea behind the strategy is to lock in profits by placing two bets on both of the potential outcomes of the same betting event. The best place to get this done is on a betting exchange where punters go to back and lay for and against two opponents. To back a team or individual player is to bet on them to win. On the other hand, when we lay against a team or solo player we are betting on them not to win. The profit that you make is what is occupying the middle ground between both of those outcomes.

This betting strategy also helps to lock in a win by acting as an insurance policy. If you are betting on an event where there are only two outcomes possible, and you have both of them covered, then, so long as there is enough value in both of the odds, you will make a return on investment. At the very least it can help to reduce losses which some of the time are inevitable. By placing a lay bet with odds as close to the back odds as possible we cut losses if the lay bet odds are not as generous as the back odds.

You should also consider that you will need to use more than one bookmaker in order to be able to hedge. In most cases, it will be impossible to make a hedge bet without the need to use multiple bookmakers making having more than one account essential. All of the most successful bettors will have many accounts with online bookmakers, and you should too.

Examples of Hedge Betting

To give you an example of a hedge bet let us suppose that Daniil Medvedev is 10/1 to win the Australian Open title and a bettor puts $100 down for that to happen. In this scenario, let’s assume that Medvedev reaches the final where he is scheduled to play Rafael Nadal who the bookies see as the favourite and price the Spaniard up at 7/10 to win the match and take down the title as a result. This would mean, under normal circumstances, that you would end up losing your $100 stake money. By hedging our original bet, we can mitigate that risk by laying against it. So, if we back the favourite Nadal before the final with a $500 wager we will get back $350 if he wins. And if we then deduct the $100 that we placed on Medvedev earlier on we have made a total loss of $350. However, if we put down a $1,000 pre match on a Nadal win, we have doubled our return. Of course, if Medvedev wins we will pocket $500 by the time we have taken out deductions.

How To Calculate Your Hedge Bets

There is an abundance of hedge betting calculators that are available for you to use for free online. With these all you need to do is simply enter the stake and the odds of your back bet followed by the stake and the odds of your lay bet and the calculator will generate the amount of difference between the two that will need to bridge. However, if for whatever reason, you can’t get to one of these hedging calculators then try following the step by step instructions outlined below to learn how to calculate your own hedge bet.

Let’s say that you want to place $50 on Novak Djokovic to win his opening round match at the Australian Open. Let’s also say that he is at odds to win of Evens (1/1). His opponent, Nick Kyrgios is at odds of 6/1. The first thing we need to calculate is how much to wager on your lay bet. The equation for this is the back odds multiplied by the back stake which is then divided by the lay odds.

So, this would give us have the following equation:

1/1 x 50 / 6 = £8.33

This is the amount you would need to place for your lay bet.

A Step By Step Guide To Hedging Bets

1. – Choose your betting.

2 . – Fill in all of the required boxes, this will involve inputting some of your personal information. After this you can ose your method of payment and add some funds to your new betting account.

3. – Find your betting market, we have chosen the Twenty Twenty World Cup final between New Zealand and Australia.

5. – Place a back bet AND a lay bet.

6. – Enter an appropriate stake for both and place your bets.

What’s The Difference Between Arbitrage Betting And Hedge Betting?

Whilst at first sight hedge betting might seem similar to arbitrage betting or arbing, they are actually subtly quite different from each other. The main difference between hedging and arbitraging is that with hedge betting, punters are placing an additional bet on the outcome of the original bet whereas arbitrage betting is placing at least two more bets on different outcomes. When arbing you would normally use two separate bookies that are offering different odds which you are aiming to exploit for profit.

Hedge Betting And In Play Betting

The availability of live betting offered by most online betting sites today means that hedging can be done in play too. Hedge betting in play is simply when you place more than one wager on the same live betting event in order to ensure a profit or cap losses when gambling in play. Hedging live bets over the long term is a good idea because of the unpredictable nature of sports markets which can make any wager vulnerable to a loss. When we hedge our bets in the live markets it provides us with the opportunity to vastly reduce the losses that we make and increases our chances of picking up a win.

A Race Against Time

The biggest problem you will come across when it comes to hedge betting in play is that you have a very small window of opportunity to get your bets in because of the time involved. As you might expect, hedging bets can be timely because you are looking for the right odds to make it work correctly. That is all well and good when you are hedge betting pre match, but hedge betting in play doesn’t give you the luxury of time because the game in question is ongoing and can change at any moment.

Even with a hedge betting calculator, finding the right amount to bet on each action can take a bit of time. Time you don’t always have. However, when you do find live sport bets that you are able to hedge it will result in a guaranteed profit so it will have been worth it. As an example, let’s say you backed the underdog to win and they take the lead, you can bet in play on the favourites to come from behind to win at better odds guaranteeing a profit. Cashing out a live bet is another way of reducing loss and ensuring a return.

Our Top 5 Tips For Hedge Bets

Hedging Bets On Mobile Apps

Betting on mobile is great for so many reasons, chief of which is the ability that it gives us to wager on the go. This is particularly true when we hedge our bets. Hedging our bets can take a bit of time so it is handy to be able to do it through a mobile app or apps because it means that we can do it anywhere. So, if we started our hedge betting prep work at home but then had to go out for some reason, we can continue backing and laying our bets while we are out.

Is Hedge Betting Against Terms and Conditions?

No, there is nothing wrong, illegal or immoral with hedge betting. In fact, hedging your sports bets can be an extremely sensible strategy that counters risk, guarantees a return and means that you will have some funds to bet with on another day. In short, hedge bettors need not worry about it, this is perfectly fine.

Final Word

By now you should have a good idea of what hedge betting is and how it is done. When we hedge our bets we are betting against ourselves as an insurance policy that will either reduce our losses or generate profits. It is a great betting strategy when bets are under threat, when the odds move or when an event really can go either way. We have also learned that we are able to hedge bets in play after an event has started. There are just so many options and reasons why this betting strategy can be useful and come in handy.

FAQs

Is Hedge Betting Legal?

Yes, hedge betting is perfectly legal.

Will I Need Multiple Betting Accounts?

Yes, hedge bets can take a bit of shopping around so multiple bookmaker accounts is a good idea.

Is Hedge Betting The Same As Arbitrage Betting?

No, there a slight differences between the two as we have outlined above.

What Is The Difference Between Arbing And Hedging Then?

Hedging uses moving odds to bet against yourself to turn a profit whereas arbing is using the difference in betting odds at different bookmakers to bet on opposing outcomes of the same sporting event.

Is It A Good Idea To Hedge A Bet?

There are times when it might not be necessary, but generally speaking it is a good idea most of the time.

Do Bookmakers Hedge Their Bets?

Even though bookmakers have an automatic 2% edge, they hedge bets in order to protect themselves.