Betting exchange offers 2 main types of the bet back and lay.
Backing odd means the customer is predicting that this specific outcome will be winning, the same as they would do with a classical bookmaker. On the other hand, what makes bet exchanges unique is the ability to lay the bet, meaning the customer is predicting that this particular event will NOT occur in the match.
For example: we have a game with a classic market of 1 x 2
The Customer can back or lay each of the markets offered, if the customer backs 1 it means he is predicting that team 1 will win a game, if he lays the market, he is predicting that team 1 WILL NOT win the game. You might think this is the same as market x2 which is correct, but this ability spans across every market which isn’t available on the classical bookmakers, also the difference is creating an equilibrium of the odds by covering back/lay at the same odd, meaning you don’t have to rely on risk management because players are covering each other’s bet placement so the house always takes dedicated % of the winning amount without the need to worry about sports feed risk management team.