A Betfair lay bot that runs in the cloud
Lay at Betfair SP to a liability, or at the live price inside your own limits, from selections you upload, a tipster you copy, or a lay system that's already on the record. Nothing to install, no PC left on. Three days free.
Laying is where a bot earns its keep. A lay bet is an offer to take someone else's back bet, your downside is the liability rather than the stake, and the price you get depends on the second the bet goes on. Doing that by hand across a card of racing every afternoon is a job. xCloudBot does it from our servers, on your own Betfair account, whether your computer is on or not.
What a lay bot has to get right
- Liability, not stake. Lay £10 at 6.0 and you're risking £50. A lay bot has to size bets by what you can lose, and cap the odds so one 20/1 shot can't take a week's profit. The maths, with worked examples.
- Timing. Lay prices move most in the last few minutes before the off. A lay placed at 11am is a guess at a price; one placed thirty seconds out is the market.
- SP lays work differently. Betfair takes a liability for an SP lay, not a stake, and won't accept one with less than £10 of liability. A bot that doesn't know that leaves your small lays silently unplaced.
- What happens when it's unmatched. A lay still in the queue at the off can lapse, or be carried in-play and matched exactly when the horse hits the front. The bot has to do the one you chose, every time.
How xCloudBot lays
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Lay at Betfair SP | Tick Place bets at BSP and the lay goes on to a liability worked out from your stake and the current price; Betfair settles the stake once the SP is known. £10 minimum liability per bet, which is Betfair's rule, not ours. |
| Fixed liability | The (Lay) Fixed Liability plan risks the same amount on every bet whatever the price, so a lay at 2.0 and a lay at 12.0 can each lose you £20 and no more. |
| Odds limits | Minimum and maximum lay odds, per system. The maximum is your liability cap. Set it to the range the system's record was built on and leave it there. |
| Bet timing | Seconds before the off, per system. Lay close to the off for the deepest market and the price nearest to where SP will settle. |
| In-play | Off unless you switch it on. With Allow betting in-play ticked the bot keeps trying after the off; a negative bet time means in-play only. |
| Stops | Stop for the day at a profit, a loss, or a number of winning or losing bets. A recovery plan should never run without one. |
| Simulation | Run the whole thing on paper first, with the same rules and the live prices, before a penny goes on. |
All of it runs on your own Betfair Exchange account through Betfair's API. Your money stays with Betfair; we never hold it.
22 lay staking plans
Every lay plan in the bot has its own page in the user guide, with the parameters and a worked example.
- Flat: Level Stakes, Percentage, Fixed Liability, Secure, Maria.
- Sequence: 1326, Fibonacci, Dalembert, Up-Down, XYZ.
- Recovery: Progressive, Recovery, Martin, HiPro86.
- Dutching: Dutch Fixed Liability, for laying two or more runners in the same race.
- Also in the bot: 1-4, Custom Plan, Labouchere, LP28, Parlay, Profits, Sqrt.
Most lay systems belong on level stakes or fixed liability. The recovery plans chase losses with bigger liabilities, and laying is where that empties a bank fastest. Which plan suits which system, and why.
Three ways to fill a lay system
- Your own selections. Upload a CSV each day on the Import Races page, or pick runners from the card. The bot lays them with your plan, your limits and your timing.
- A lay tipster. Any tipster can run a profile on xCloudBot. Once they've given you access, tick Auto download tips and their lays land in your system every day, with your own staking on top.
- A lay system that comes with your plan. Andys Lays on Standard; Betty Lays, an AI model that picks horses to oppose, on Premium. Both records are published bet by bet on PuntHub, losing runs included: Andys Lays and Betty Lays. FormBreaker's lay systems are on Standard too, while they're in testing.
What it costs
£40 a month on Standard, £50 a month on Premium with Betty Lays and the three Gap systems. Every account starts with three days free, and nothing is charged until the trial ends. There's no hosting to pay for and no VPS to rent, because it already runs on our servers. Plans and billing terms.
Questions people ask
Can the bot lay at Betfair SP?
Yes. An SP lay is placed to a liability rather than a stake, worked out from your stake and the price at the time. Betfair requires at least £10 of liability on an SP lay (A$30 on Australian markets), so lays below that don't go on. How BSP betting works in the bot.
Can I lay to a fixed liability instead of a fixed stake?
Yes. The (Lay) Fixed Liability plan sets the stake from the price so your worst case is the same on every bet. There's also a Dutch Fixed Liability plan for laying more than one runner in a race.
Does it lay in-play?
Only if you switch it on. In-play prices move in seconds and Betfair adds a one-second delay before an in-play bet is matched, so expect more unmatched bets and worse prices than pre-off. Most lay systems are built for pre-off.
Can I copy a lay tipster automatically?
Yes. The tipster runs a profile on xCloudBot, gives you access, and their selections download into your system each day. You set the staking, the odds limits and the timing. How tipster copying works.
Do I need a computer switched on?
No. The bot runs on our servers and places bets on your Betfair account around the clock. You log in from a phone, tablet or computer to check on it or change something.
Is a lay bot allowed on Betfair?
Yes. xCloudBot places bets through Betfair's own API, on your account, with your Betfair login. It's the same route the desktop bots use.
Try the lay bot free for three days. SP lays, fixed liability, 22 lay plans, and nothing to install. £40 a month after the trial.
Start your free trial