Beginner exchange guide
How to Lay a Bet on Smarkets
This page shows the basic matched betting flow for laying a bet on Smarkets after placing your bookmaker bet. Use it as a beginner-friendly walkthrough, then swap the placeholder images for your own screenshots.
If you are using a Smarkets 0% commission offer, make sure your calculator commission field is set to 0% while the offer is live. That gives you a more accurate lay stake and profit estimate.
Use Smarkets as your exchange
Follow the same process for qualifiers and free bets, and use the 0% commission period to improve value when it is available.
Lay betting in one minute
- ALWAYS place your qualifying or free bet with the bookmaker first.
- Open the same market on Smarkets and select the lay side for the same outcome.
- Enter the lay stake from your matched betting calculator.
- Check the liability amount before confirming the exchange bet.
- Submit the lay bet and record both sides in your tracker.
What you need before you start
- A bookmaker bet already placed or ready to place.
- A funded Smarkets account with enough balance to cover liability.
- Your back stake, back odds, lay odds and exchange commission.
- Match betting Calculator to generate the correct lay stake.
0% Smarkets offer note
When Smarkets offers 0% commission for new users or for a limited period, your lay bet becomes more efficient because there is no commission deducted from exchange winnings. That usually reduces qualifying losses and improves free bet conversion.
Join Smarkets 0% OfferStep-by-step on Smarkets
Step 1
Sign up to Smarkets
Start by creating your Smarkets account and completing the signup form. Use your own signup screenshot here, then update the next steps with dashboard and market screenshots after your account is live.
Sign up to Smarkets
Signup screen showing the Smarkets registration form.
Step 2
Work out the lay stake in the calculator
For this example, I backed the draw in Barcelona vs Newcastle for £10 at odds of 4.9, and the lay odds available were 5.1. I used the matched betting calculator to work out the lay stake, which came out at £9.61.
Work out the lay stake in the calculator
Calculator example showing a £9.61 lay stake for the Barcelona vs Newcastle draw.
Step 3
Place the lay bet on Smarkets
Open the Barcelona vs Newcastle market on Smarkets, find the draw, select the lay odds of 5.1, and enter the £9.61 lay stake from the calculator. Check the liability before confirming the lay bet.
Place the lay bet on Smarkets
Smarkets lay bet slip for the draw at 5.1 using a £9.61 lay stake.
Beginner tips
- A lay bet means you are betting against an outcome happening.
- Your liability is the amount Smarkets locks up if the lay bet loses.
- The closer your bookmaker and Smarkets odds are, the smaller your qualifying loss usually is.
- If you have a 0% Smarkets commission offer, your calculator commission should be set to 0% for that period.
Example with 0% commission
If you back a selection for £10 at odds of 3.0 and the lay odds on Smarkets are 3.1, using 0% commission gives a more favourable result than using a standard exchange commission rate. Run the exact numbers in the calculator, copy the lay stake, then place the lay on Smarkets.
