Need help understanding few terminologies

[Luca Daniel]

Hi,

I finally understood the way the API is structured. I need little help understanding few things in getMarketBook.

1. What are runners?
2. I am getting multiple runners in getMarketBook and each of them have a different orders to back and lay. But only 1 runner value is listed in the betfair dashboard. How does betfair determine which runner order to list?

[jabe]

A runner is whatever "thing" might win the market. The word runner comes from horse racing, where the horses are known as runners. In many other events, the word runner doesn't really make a lot of sense in itself, as examples show, but for many years horse racing has been the main sport for betting. It may be that football is now more or similarly popular for betting.

Here are some examples.

a. A horse race. In the WIN market, each horse is a runner. One horse/runner will win, the rest will lose. In the EACH WAY market, there may be 1-4 winning runners.

b. A football match. In the MATCH ODDS market, there are three runners - team 1 to win, team 2 to win, or a draw. In the CORRECT SCORES market, there are 19 runners. In this market, the winning runner is either the final score (perhaps 0-0 or 3-1 or 2-2, etc) or the outcome when one or both teams score 4 goals (Any Other Home Win, Any Other Away Win, Any Other Draw). In an Asian market, where the number of goals scored is being bet on, there will be two runners; one for under 3.5 goals (or whatever the number is) and the other for over 3.5 goals. In the BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE market, the runners are YES and NO.

I hope that helps. There are many more examples. The runners are simply possible market winners, so a runner is something that can be bet on.


I'm not certain what you're asking in the second part of your question.

[Luca Daniel]

A runner is whatever "thing" might win the market. The word runner comes from horse racing, where the horses are known as runners. In many other events, the word runner doesn't really make a lot of sense in itself, as examples show, but for many years horse racing has been the main sport for betting. It may be that football is now more or similarly popular for betting.

Here are some examples.

a. A horse race. In the WIN market, each horse is a runner. One horse/runner will win, the rest will lose. In the EACH WAY market, there may be 1-4 winning runners.

b. A football match. In the MATCH ODDS market, there are three runners - team 1 to win, team 2 to win, or a draw. In the CORRECT SCORES market, there are 19 runners. In this market, the winning runner is either the final score (perhaps 0-0 or 3-1 or 2-2, etc) or the outcome when one or both teams score 4 goals (Any Other Home Win, Any Other Away Win, Any Other Draw). In an Asian market, where the number of goals scored is being bet on, there will be two runners; one for under 3.5 goals (or whatever the number is) and the other for over 3.5 goals. In the BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE market, the runners are YES and NO.

I hope that helps. There are many more examples. The runners are simply possible market winners, so a runner is something that can be bet on.


I'm not certain what you're asking in the second part of your question.

Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation. Solved all of my doubts.

I see that I wasn't very clear in my second question. What I meant to ask is this.

When I query for runners, I get 3 runners for the MATCH_ODDS. Here is a sample response

"result" : [
{
"numberOfWinners" : 1,
"totalMatched" : 0,
"inplay" : false,
"crossMatching" : true,
"version" : 1391906769,
"betDelay" : 0,
"runnersVoidable" : false,
"isMarketDataDelayed" : true,
"runners" : [
{
"status" : "ACTIVE",
"ex" : {
"tradedVolume" : [

],
"availableToBack" : [
{
"price" : 1.06,
"size" : 45.69
},
{
"price" : 1.03,
"size" : 21.85
},
{
"price" : 1.02,
"size" : 19.87
}
],
"availableToLay" : [
{
"price" : 1.66,
"size" : 20.84
},
{
"price" : 3.5,
"size" : 17.98
},
{
"price" : 920,
"size" : 3.67
}
]
},
"selectionId" : 6714726,
"handicap" : 0,
"totalMatched" : 0
},
{
"status" : "ACTIVE",
"ex" : {
"tradedVolume" : [

],
"availableToBack" : [
{
"price" : 4.9,
"size" : 11.77
},
{
"price" : 1.02,
"size" : 60.98
},
{
"price" : 1.01,
"size" : 237.57
}
],
"availableToLay" : [
{
"price" : 920,
"size" : 3.78
}
]
},
"selectionId" : 9505821,
"handicap" : 0,
"totalMatched" : 0
},
{
"status" : "ACTIVE",
"ex" : {
"tradedVolume" : [

],
"availableToBack" : [
{
"price" : 1.43,
"size" : 25.18
},
{
"price" : 1.4,
"size" : 13.36
},
{
"price" : 1.01,
"size" : 70.8
}
],
"availableToLay" : [
{
"price" : 950,
"size" : 7.75
}
]
},
"selectionId" : 58805,
"handicap" : 0,
"totalMatched" : 0
}
],
"numberOfRunners" : 3,
"totalAvailable" : 798.73,
"complete" : true,
"numberOfActiveRunners" : 3,
"bspReconciled" : false,
"marketId" : "1.126058278",
"status" : "OPEN"
}
]

I am guessing the unique identifier for a runner is the selectionId. How/where do I look up this value to get a name for the runner?

[jabe]

Ah, I understand. The runners are identified only by their selectionId in the marketBook. The name of the runner (runnerName) is matched with the selectionId in the marketCatalogue.

The marketCatalogue includes an array (or whatever structure you want it to be) of runners and the type is runnerCatalog. The runnerCatalog includes selectionId and runnerName (as well as sortPriority, which may (I'm not certain) determine the position of the runner in the lists returned by listMarketCatalogue and listMarketBook).


I don't understand why the words "catalogue" (UK) and "catalog" (USA) have been used in the terms marketCatalogue and runnerCatalog.

[Luca Daniel]

Thanks a lot man. I finally started placing bets. Appreciate the help.