Betfair is currently offering vastly superior odds to traditional bookmakers such as Sportsbet in the lead up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
With any sporting event there is typically some discrepancy between Betfair and traditional bookmakers due to the fact that one is a market and the rest have odds set by data analysts. These discrepancies always seem to be the greatest when it comes to tournament winners, and the 2010 World Cup is no exception. To illustrate how disparate the odds are for the World Cup, compare the odds disparities to those for a typical football match. I have purposely selected the first English Premier League fixture listed on Sportsbet.
Tottenham v Blackburn
| Result | Sportsbet | Betfair |
| Tottenham | 1.44 | 1.47 |
| Draw | 4.20 | 4.70 |
| Blackburn | 7.50 | 8.80 |
As you can see, for the football fixture the odds do vary, but not substantially. Note that if your Betfair bet wins you subtract a small portion of the displayed odds as a transaction fee.
Now compare the two sets of odds for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
2010 FIFA World Cup Winner
| Team | Sportsbet | Betfair |
| Spain | 5.00 | 5.2 |
| Brazil | 5.50 | 6.2 |
| England | 6.50 | 7 |
| Argentina | 10 | 12 |
| Italy | 13 | 15 |
| France | 13 | 19.5 |
| Germany | 15 | 15 |
| Netherlands | 16 | 17 |
| Portugal | 26 | 32 |
| Ivory Coast | 26 | 30 |
| Paraguay | 41 | 100 |
| Mexico | 51 | 85 |
| Serbia | 51 | 85 |
| Chile | 51 | 70 |
| United States | 67 | 80 |
| Ghana | 76 | 80 |
| South Africa | 81 | 130 |
| Australia | 81 | 150 |
| Denmark | 81 | 160 |
| Uruguay | 81 | 150 |
| Cameroon | 101 | 130 |
| Nigeria | 101 | 160 |
| Greece | 126 | 230 |
| Switzerland | 176 | 340 |
| Slovenia | 176 | 460 |
| Japan | 201 | 500 |
| Slovakia | 201 | 370 |
| South Korea | 251 | 300 |
| Korea DPR | 251 | 1000 |
| Honduras | 401 | 1000 |
| Algeria | 501 | 500 |
| New Zealand | 751 | 1000 |
For a number of teams you get more than twice the odds with Betfair as you would with Sportsbet. The less likely a team is to win, the more disparate the odds. Other than the obvious reason that the odds are better, another reason to use a marketplace such as Betfair for World Cup Winner betting is that you can bet against a team you previously backed if the odds drop. For example, in November I backed South Korea to win the World Cup at odds of 500-1. I can now lay a bet against South Korea at odds of 300-1. If I bet as much against South Korea as I previously did for them I would net 200-1 odds if they win, with no loss if they lose. Alternatively I could bet a little more on South Korea to lose, and lock in a guaranteed profit regardless of the outcome.
I do have my gripes with Betfair, for example the $5 minimum bet, and the complicated payoff system, but on days like this I can’t praise it enough. I’ve said this before when the tennis was on, but Betfair comes into its own for tournament betting.
