Betfair Starting Price for matched betting: BSP, Keep and Cancel

The last minute before a horse race is not the moment to discover that an exchange order is only half matched. Yet one innocent-looking setting can decide whether the remainder disappears, stays live after the off or turns into a Betfair Starting Price lay.

For ordinary matched betting, the safest default is dull but dependable: get the intended fixed-price lay fully matched before the off, then check the accepted stake and odds. BSP, Keep and Cancel solve different problems. They are not interchangeable rescue buttons.

The short answer

Betfair Starting Price, usually shortened to BSP or SP, is the exchange price calculated when the event starts. Betfair balances SP bets with eligible exchange bets during the reconciliation at the off.[1]

If a normal exchange order remains unmatched, its at-the-off instruction determines what happens next:

• Cancel lets the unmatched remainder lapse at the off.
• Keep leaves the order at its requested price when an eligible market turns in play.
• Take SP converts the unmatched remainder into an SP bet when the market is suspended at the off.

A fully matched portion stays matched. The instruction applies to what remains unmatched. Betfair says a normal exchange order can be adjusted or cancelled while it is fully or partly unmatched.[2]

Cancel, Keep and Take SP compared

None of the three choices guarantees the pre-race lay you calculated. Cancel is usually the cleanest failure because it leaves a visible unmatched amount to repair before the event starts. Keep preserves the requested price, not a guarantee of execution. Take SP seeks execution at a price calculated later, not the fixed price shown in your calculator.

Betfair's help page also notes a current product wrinkle: SP is not available in its new Exchange app experience, while desktop retains the option.[2] Check the controls actually shown on your device rather than following an old screenshot.

What Betfair Starting Price changes

A normal lay is entered as a stake at chosen odds. Its liability is the lay stake multiplied by the odds minus one. An SP lay is different: you state or carry a liability into the reconciliation, and the eventual price determines the lay stake that liability can support.

Betfair says that when an unmatched exchange lay converts to SP, its liability becomes the SP liability and will not exceed the liability originally specified. The amount it can win may change with the final SP.[1]

That distinction matters. A matched-betting calculator balances two outcomes using a known back price, lay price and commission. If the final lay price is unknown, one side of that equation is unknown too. A projected SP is useful market information, but it is not an accepted price.

An SP odds limit can put a ceiling on the price of a direct SP lay. If the final SP is longer than the maximum requested by the layer, the request lapses rather than matching at that worse price. A limit controls the boundary, but it does not recreate the exact fixed-price hedge you originally calculated.[1]

A checked free-bet example

Suppose you have a hypothetical £20 stake-not-returned free bet at bookmaker odds of 6.00. The exchange price is 6.20 and commission is 2%. The balanced fixed-price lay is £16.18, with £84.14 liability. After penny rounding, either result returns about £15.86 before any other costs.

Now suppose that lay remains unmatched and its £84.14 liability converts to BSP. If the final BSP is 8.00, the liability supports a lay stake of roughly £12.02. The bookmaker-win route still returns about £15.86, but the exchange-win route returns about £11.78 after 2% commission. The intended balance has gone.

If BSP settles at 4.00 instead, the same liability supports about £28.05 of lay stake and the exchange-win route returns about £27.49. That is a pleasant result, but it is not proof of a sound hedge. You accepted an unknown split between the two outcomes.

These figures are examples checked with Decimal arithmetic. Real commission, rounding, reductions and final prices vary. Use the Matched Betting Beast calculator for a known fixed lay price, then verify the exchange's accepted figures.

Partially matched orders need two records

A partially matched lay is already two things: an accepted bet and an open remainder. Treat them separately. Betfair classifies submitted offers as unmatched, partly matched or fully matched, and warns that an apparently unmatched offer can be matched moments later.[3]

1. Write down the matched stake and average matched odds.
2. Write down the unmatched remainder and its current instruction.
3. Cancel or amend the remainder only after refreshing the order status.
4. Recalculate any top-up from the accepted matched amount, not from the original intended stake.
5. Confirm the final total stake, average odds and liability before the off.

Do not place a string of replacement lays while the old orders remain open. Betfair explicitly warns that an unmatched order can later fill, leaving several bets where you intended one.[3] The partial-match guide shows how to rebuild the position from accepted amounts.

Why Keep is rarely a beginner's repair

Keep leaves an unmatched order available when a qualifying market turns in play. Betfair describes it as persistence, and says other unmatched bets may be cancelled at the start while the Keep order remains.[2]

The requested odds remain visible, but the race has started. The market can suspend, reopen and move quickly. Your order might fill after the price has changed elsewhere, or only part may fill. It may never fill at all. You cannot treat the bookmaker back as safely matched while waiting.

There are also non-runner details. Betfair's published rules describe circumstances in which unmatched racing lay offers are cancelled or adjusted, with different treatment for Keep and Take SP instructions.[1] Read the live market rules if a runner is withdrawn. Do not rely on a remembered reduction rule.

Keep can make sense for an experienced trader who intends to take in-play price risk. That is a different activity from closing a matched-betting hedge before the event.

Minimums and limits

Betfair's general rules currently state a £10 minimum liability for an SP lay and £1 minimum for an SP back, or the currency equivalent.[1] A small unmatched remainder can therefore lapse instead of converting as expected. Check the current rule and the message shown at the off.

A direct SP bet cannot be cancelled once placed, according to the same rules.[1] That differs from a normal unmatched exchange order, which can ordinarily be adjusted or cancelled before conversion.[2] Read the confirmation panel before submitting either type.

A safer at-the-off routine

1. Allow time. Do not start a racing match in the final seconds.
2. Place the bookmaker bet only after checking the event, market and terms.
3. Submit the calculated lay. Then open My Bets rather than trusting the bet slip.
4. Check accepted numbers. Record matched stake, average odds and liability.
5. Deal with any remainder. Cancel it, amend the price or recalculate a top-up while the event is still pre-off.
6. Stop if the off is too close. Do not turn an arithmetic problem into in-play speculation.

If the event starts with exposure still open, use the accepted records to calculate the position. Do not assume Cancel, Keep or Take SP behaved as expected. The exchange record is the fact.

Use the oddsmatcher, then verify the order

Outplayed can help find prices and calculate the intended lay. It cannot guarantee that the available money remains there until your order reaches the exchange. Treat the tool's figure as the instruction, then treat Betfair's matched-bet record as the result.

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