Learn the basics

Laser 247 explained for a first-time player

Laser 247 is a betting exchange, so you trade prices with other players instead of taking a price from a bookmaker. This chapter shows what that changes on your screen and in the way you bet.

Written by the Lorvano desk. Last checked 29 Oct 2026. 16 min read.

Most people who message the desk for the first time have bet before, usually with a bookmaker that shows a price and asks you to take it or leave it. Laser 247 works another way. It's an exchange, so every price you see was put there by another player, and every bet you place is paired with someone who thinks the opposite. Once that clicks, the screen stops looking like a wall of numbers.

This chapter is the slow version. We cover what changes when you move from a bookmaker to an exchange, how a price gets onto the screen, what "matched" means, where the Lorvano desk fits, and how a sensible first evening on Laser247 goes. The odds maths has its own chapter in how Laser 247 odds work, so we keep the arithmetic light here.

Exchange vs bookmaker in one table

The quickest way to see the difference is side by side. Read down each column and picture where your money goes.

The row that matters most is the second one. With a bookmaker, the company is your opponent. It builds a margin into every price so that, across all its customers, it comes out ahead. On an exchange the site pairs players with each other, so one player's back is another player's lay.

That has a practical knock-on. Because players compete to offer prices, the gap between the back and lay prices on a busy market tends to be narrow. On a quiet market, such as a minor tennis match late at night, the gap can be wide and the prices jump around more. You can treat the gap as a rough gauge of how many people are trading.

The third row is the one new players underuse. Laying lets you bet that something won't happen. If you think a team is overrated, you can lay the team you doubt instead of hunting for the right opponent to back. The catch is liability, which we come back to further down, because a lay at a high price can tie up far more of your balance than the stake you typed.

The fifth row confuses people most in their first week. A bookmaker either takes your bet or it doesn't. An exchange can take part of it, hold the rest in a queue, and leave you holding a bet that is half live and half waiting. The section on matching below explains what you're looking at when that happens.

The last row opens up something a bookmaker can't offer in the same way. Because you can both back and lay the same outcome, you can close a position before the match ends. If you backed a team at a long price and the price has shortened in your favour, you can lay the same team at the shorter price and keep a smaller profit whatever happens. Exchange players call this trading out. It works in reverse too, so a lay can be closed with a back. You don't need any of this on your first evening. Just know that a bet on Laser 247 isn't locked until the final whistle.

The menu of things to bet on stays familiar. The sports on Laser 247 are cricket, football and tennis, with match odds, session markets and fancy markets on cricket, plus a live casino with teen patti and andar bahar. The cricket markets chapter goes through each market type and when it settles.

Where the price comes from

Open any match on Laser247 and you'll see two sets of prices beside each team or outcome, a back side and a lay side. Trust the labels over the colours. The back side shows prices other players are willing to lay at. The lay side shows prices other players are willing to back at. Whichever you click, you're taking the other half of someone's offer.

That sounds backwards at first. Put another way, if you want to back India, you need someone willing to lay India, and their offers sit on the back side waiting for you. If you want to lay India, you need someone who wants to back India, and their requests sit on the lay side.

The best price on each side is the one nearest the middle. Behind it, the screen often shows the next prices in the queue and how much money sits at each one. That's called depth. A price with a large amount behind it is solid, and you can usually get a decent stake on at it. A price with a small amount behind it can vanish the moment someone else takes it.

Before anyone has traded, the opening prices come from players who place bets at prices they think are fair and wait for someone to accept them. As more people join, the asks and offers squeeze together around what the crowd believes. On a big cricket match that happens fast. On a small market it happens slowly, which is why prices on quiet events can look strange.

Prices then move for the reasons you'd expect: team news, the toss, the weather, a wicket, a dropped catch, a red card. Each one changes what players think, so they cancel old offers and post new ones. When the movement is sharp, the exchange may suspend the market for a moment so nobody gets caught on a price that no longer makes sense.

You don't have to take the best price on screen. You can type a better one and wait. As an illustration, if you ask for 2.20 when the best back price is 2.10, your bet goes into the queue as an offer, and it only matches if the market drifts to your price or someone decides to take it. Offers like yours are how prices get onto the screen in the first place, and what happens to them next is the subject of the following section. For a fuller walkthrough of decimal prices and returns, read how Laser 247 odds work.

What matched means

A bet on Laser 247 has a state. It's matched, partly matched, or unmatched, and the difference decides if you actually have a position on the match.

Matched means the exchange found a player on the other side at your price, and your bet is now live. It will win or lose with the result. Unmatched means your bet is sitting in the queue, waiting for someone to accept it. Until that happens it's an offer, and it can't win or lose.

Partly matched is the in-between case. As an illustration, say you ask to back a team for a stake of 500 at a price where only 300 is available. The 300 matches straight away. The other 200 waits in the queue at your price. Your open bets screen shows both parts separately, and the result only applies to the part that matched.

New players often place a bet, see it on the screen, and assume they're in. Then the match starts, the price moves away, and the bet never matches, so they were never on the result at all. The fix is a habit. After every bet, open the open bets view and read the status.

Unmatched bets can be cancelled any time before they match. That's handy when you change your mind, and it's also a trap if you forget about them. An old offer at a price that looked good an hour ago can match later, during a sudden swing, when you no longer want it. Before you close the app for the night, clear anything you don't want left in the queue.

In-play markets add another wrinkle. When the market suspends for a wicket or a goal, the prices shift as soon as it reopens, and an offer you left in the queue may now sit at a price that makes no sense. On your first few matches, check your open bets right after every suspension. If something looks off, message the desk and describe what you see on the screen.

Live casino tables have their own rules for when a bet is accepted, and they don't run on a sports queue. The live casino chapter covers teen patti and andar bahar separately.

Who the desk is in this picture

If players set the prices and the exchange pairs them up, you might wonder what the Lorvano desk is for. Mostly access and money. The desk issues your Laser247 ID, handles your deposits and withdrawals in WhatsApp, shares the Android app file, and helps when a login goes wrong.

The desk doesn't decide prices or results, and it doesn't sit on the other side of your bets. When you back a team, your opponent is another player. We say this plainly because some new players worry that whoever gave them the ID is somehow betting against them. On an exchange the matching happens between players.

A normal relationship with the desk goes like this. You message the desk on WhatsApp through the button on this site. After a short chat, the desk issues an ID tied to your mobile number. You log in, change the password, and keep it to yourself. When you want to add money, you ask in the same chat, and the desk shares the current UPI or bank details. When you want to withdraw, you ask in that chat too.

The desk also works as a filter. Betting players get a lot of unsolicited messages, many from numbers pretending to be the desk they already use. Keep a simple rule for yourself: real requests go through the chat you opened from this site, and nothing that arrives from a new number gets your money or your login. The safety chapter covers cloned numbers and fake sites in more depth.

There are limits to what the desk can do. It doesn't decide market results. If you regret a matched bet, ask the desk what your options are, but don't assume it can be undone. It can explain what you're seeing, check the status of a deposit or withdrawal, and get you back into an ID you're locked out of. If you're comparing desks before you pick one, the questions in choosing a Laser 247 desk are the ones we'd ask ourselves.

The desk isn't a source of tips either. We'll explain how a market works, how liability is calculated, or why a bet didn't match. We won't tell you which team to back. You can read more about who writes this workbook on the about page.

A first evening on Laser 247, step by step

A first evening goes best when it's dull: no real money and no big match. The aim is to learn the screen, place a few practice bets, and watch what happens to them. This is the order we'd suggest.

1. Check that you can play. You must be 18+, and Laser 247 availability depends on the law in your state. If betting isn't permitted where you live, stop here.
2. Message the desk. Use the desk chat link and say you're new. Ask for a demo ID so you can practise first. The Laser 247 ID chapter shows what the chat for a real ID looks like.
3. Log in and change the password. The desk sends your login details in the chat. Log in on the browser or the app, then set a new password that only you know. If the login fails, the login chapter lists the usual fixes.
4. Pick a quiet market. Open a cricket or football match that hasn't started yet. Pre-match markets move slowly, which gives you time to read.
5. Read the two sides. Find the back side and the lay side for a team. Look at the best price on each and the amounts sitting behind them.
6. Place a small back bet at the best price. Watch it appear in your open bets as matched.
7. Place a back bet at a price nobody is offering. Ask for a slightly better price than the best one on screen. It will sit as unmatched. Cancel it and watch your balance come back.
8. Try a lay bet. Read the liability on the betslip before you confirm. Notice how much of your balance it holds compared with the stake.
9. Watch some in-play action. If the match starts, watch the prices move and the market suspend after a big moment. Don't trade. Just watch.
10. Clear the queue and log out. Cancel anything unmatched, read your settled bets once the market closes, and write down anything that surprised you.

The next evening can repeat the same steps on a real ID if you're comfortable. When you get there, the deposit methods chapter explains how money is arranged in the chat, and for any limit or timing you ask about, the desk confirms the current figure in the chat.

On Android, the desk shares the app file in WhatsApp. On iPhone you use the browser and can add the site to your home screen. The app download chapter walks through both. Either works for a first evening, though a bigger screen makes the two sides easier to read.

Words you will see on screen

Laser 247 uses a handful of terms that bookmaker sites don't. You'll pick them up quickly, but it helps to have them in one place for the first week.

Exposure catches people out more than any other word. Say you back a team in match odds and lay a line in a session market. Each bet holds back its own liability, and your available balance shows what's left after all of them. If you can't place a bet because the balance looks too low, open bets you've forgotten about are usually the reason.

Session and fancy markets are where Indian cricket betting differs most from what you'd see elsewhere. They settle at different points in the innings from match odds, and the way they're priced takes some getting used to. Read the cricket markets chapter before you put real money on either.

If a word appears on your screen that isn't on this list, message the desk with a screenshot of the betslip and the market name. Crop out your balance if you'd rather not share it. We'll tell you what it means and how it settles.

Mistakes new players make

We see the same handful of mistakes from new players again and again. Very few involve picking the wrong team. Most come from misreading the screen or handling the account carelessly.

Tapping the wrong side

On a phone, back and lay sit right next to each other. A quick tap on the wrong side turns a bet for a team into a bet against it. Before you confirm, read the word on the betslip as well as the colour. After you confirm, check open bets. If you catch it while the bet is still unmatched, cancel it.

Ignoring liability on a lay

A lay at a long price can look small on the stake line and large on the liability line. Laying an outsider at a high price means you pay out a lot if the outsider wins. Read liability first, stake second.

Leaving offers in the queue

An unmatched offer sits there until someone takes it or you cancel it. Players go to bed with old offers waiting, a swing happens overnight in a long match, and they wake up holding a bet they forgot about. Clear the queue when you stop for the session.

Chasing in-play

In-play prices move fast, and the market suspends just when things get exciting. Placing bet after bet to win back a loss is the fastest way to empty a balance. Set yourself a limit before the match starts and stick to it. The responsible gaming page has practical ways to do that, including taking a break.

Trusting a new number

A message arrives claiming to be the desk, from a number you've never used, with a new payment link or a request for your OTP. That message didn't come from us. The desk never asks for a password or OTP, and payment details only come in the chat you opened. When in doubt, ask in your existing chat before you send anything.

Funding before practising

The demo ID exists so your first mistakes cost nothing. Players who skip it tend to make their tapping and liability errors with real money. Ask for the demo ID first, even if you've bet with bookmakers for a long time.

Reading a price as a promise

A short price on a favourite feels safe, and new players sometimes back at very short prices because the team "can't lose". The price only reflects what players on the exchange believe at that moment. Favourites lose often enough that a run of short-priced backs can wipe out a balance with one upset. Size the stake by what you can afford to lose, and don't let the price talk you into a bigger one.

Mismatched names on withdrawal

Withdrawals go smoothest to an account in the ID holder's name, and the desk tells you in the chat what it checks. Using a friend's account, or letting someone else use your ID, causes delays and questions you'd rather avoid. Keep your ID, your mobile number and your bank account in your own name. The withdrawal chapter explains the name match in detail.

If you're ready to try the screen yourself, message the desk and ask for a demo ID.