Can you really make a tax free living trading on Betfair?

That was the question I had been asking myself for a couple of years as I became interested in the World of the Betting Exchanges.

Being from the Gambling Industry, I had watched the monumental rise of

Betfair in such a short space of time and frankly been astounded at the quick success of the whole betting exchange sector. I understood the concept, and

understood why it was so popular, but with my Gambling background, I had to

know more - and in particular, who other than Betfair was making money on the exchanges.

Of course, as the old adage goes, the people who made the most money in the

gold rush were the people selling the shovels. And in this case, that is also true. With Betfair taking a commission of all winning bets, they rake in a

fortune - but what is different about them is they are not the ones paying

out the winnings - some other punter is.

So, who is winning, and who is losing? And why do some people seem to be

making a very lucrative tax free living while others lose their shirts? It

was only when I came across Betting Exchange Trading that I started to make

sense of it all.

For those of you that don't know what Trading is on the Exchanges, it's a from of trading (like financial trading) using the movement in the odds to profit (or lose), so in simple terms, I buy odds at say 1.5 by placing a back bet on anything (horse, football, basketball, golf, snooker etc), and then the odds move (as they always do) and as long as they go in the right direction, I can then sell the odds by placing a lay bet into the market atsay 1.2. The difference in the price means I have profited on the movement in the odds. Sound confusing? Well, believe me it certainly is at first!

Nevertheless, trading on the exchanges is now becoming increasingly popular

as a way to make a tax free living from home. Be warned though, as with

everything else it takes a lot of work and effort to get it right and mistakes can be costly.

Personally, I didn't have too much success trading on the horses. It was only when I moved into Football Trading (or Soccer for you Americans) that I

really began to make some headway. I found it much easier to predict the way

the odds were going to move, and it was a lot less hectic than trading the

horse racing markets. With a bit of patience, a good tutorial and some good

trading software (all three are a must) I started to make a profit.

About a year on, it's all going well and I'm settling into my life as a daily trader. I'm not up to football player wages yet! but as the money you make

trading is tax free; you don't have to be bringing in mega money for it to be a 'quit the day job' income. And that's the secret to trading, it about not

being too greedy, it's about cutting your losses early and letting your profit ride as long as you can. There are so many markets to trade on that a tiny profit on each, soon adds up to a very tidy income.

If you think trading could be for you take a look at www.footballtrading.info.