There’s a weird page on the AFL website about AFL Betting. It is titled “Betfair Education” so I guess it’s meant to explain the types of AFL Football betting that is available. But it reads more like a few paragraphs taken straight from Betfair and doesn’t offer much else. For example:
When you bet on AFL football with Betfair Australia you have several options to choose from, with head to head betting, exotics & much more. Betfair is the world’s largest betting exchange & because of the unique way we operate we are able to offer betting odds which are on average 20% higher than bookmakers, in play betting and the option to bet on something not to happen (lay).
AFL footy betting in play
And then there’s a section called “Laying an AFL bet“:
Is there a hot favorite that you think is well under the odds? At Betfair, you have the option to lay a bet meaning backing a team to lose. Belfair’s(sic) revolutionary betting exchange is the only betting service in Australia which allows you to lay a bet.
I’m a bit lost with that last sentence. Maybe it’s the terminology but I thought I could lay a bet with any bookie in Australia?
And last but not least there’s “Better odds on footy betting“:
There are those that bet with their heart and those that bet with their head. The majority of AFL bets fall into the former category. For clear favorites the AFL odds offered on Betfair might be closer to the bookmakers’ odds, but if the game is a much closer call there is often room to find a good bet where fans are supporting their own. The odds available may be considerably higher on Betfair, more accurately reflecting the teams true chances of success.
I agree that the Betfair system of other punters offering their own odds might make some available footy odds higher, but I don’t think that just because AFL footy odds from a punter are high that this is “more accurately reflecting the team’s true chances of success”.
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There is relatively new site http://ovalballodds.com that as well as offering predicted odds for an AFL team win also offers “line” odds for a team with a start. Check it out