The Laying Concept

A bookmaker (the layer) creates a book on all eventualities for a given event, giving odds for all horses in a race, odds for the home win, away win or draw in a football match and accordingly takes bets from his clients on their perception of the outcome.

The betting exchanges notably Betfair have offered sports bettors an alternative to the bookmaker by matching individual backers (who think a team will win) with layers (who think that team will lose) thus facilitating the bookmaking function between two individuals.

If we analyse the outcomes of certain sporting events that fit our preset criteria it is certainly easier to find a loser than a winner.
If we look at an average handicap horse race with 15 runners, by definition only 1 will win and 14 will lose. When someone bets on a horse to win they have one running for them and fourteen running against them.

However when Alternative Strategies lays a horse we have the one we have laid running against us and fourteen running for us.
Quote from Mark Davies, Director Betfair “In a 12 runner horse race a lay is a bet on 11 of the runners”

Furthermore by carefully selecting certain football matches we can profit from the losing team and the draw. In any given football match one team will be favoured over the other due to home advantage, form, position in the league, injuries etc and it can end in a draw.
When Alternative Strategies lays a football team in a match the draw and the predicted loss is our profitable outcome.