The Bet Engine

Name: The Bet Engine

How to Contact: Bet Dynamics Ltd website or via email: [email protected]

Price: Free trial for 7 days then £12.50 per month (2 tabs) £25 per month (5 tabs) or £35 per month (10 tabs)

Guarantee? No -a free trial is available

Service Summary: Automated betting platform for placing bets with Betfair. Covers horse racing and greyhounds. Built in staking plans – up to 10 betting tabs available which run concurrently.

Time Input Needed: User determines

BBR Status: Recommended

Review: First impressions count and when you look at the website what you are getting is so clear that you immediately feel positive about the program. It sets the tone for the product and does not flatter to deceive. The software is fully approved by Betfair and is designed for use on the Windows operating system. Apple users can access using a Virtual Private Server.

The free trial period is sufficient to allow you to decide if the program has the features that you require. If you are new to betting bots then the familiarisation time may be a little longer but the instructions are clear and well laid out in an extensive PDF manual so you are able to see the screen and the instructions at the same time.  Sounds trivial but can make a big difference to the time spent and understanding.

Alistair, the developer, seems to go the extra mile for his clients with pertinent email advices about potential problems such as Betfair down times. There is also a forum with many questions that you may have discussed and answered. In a nutshell, the infrastructure is all there to fully support the product.

The program allows you to both back and lay horses and greyhounds using any system you have chosen and there is a test mode so you can make sure you have it right before risking actual cash. You can set a separate system for each betting tab (up to 10) and the results will be recorded separately to allow analysis. There is even a virtual bank option which allows you to divide your balance with Betfair to suit the staking you require for each tab.

There are over 40 built in staking plans that you can assign to your system and in addition you can set up your own staking plan to operate with your plan which can be stored independently.

Setting up your system is simple and the really good thing about this particular bot is that everything is pretty much visible on just one screen – you will use pop outs to both adjust your settings and selections but because you start from the same place every time it makes life easier and the less potential for error there is the better.

As well as being able to make your selections daily and just input them you can set up your pet systems for both backing and laying and these will then be bet automatically and excellent records kept that you can download to Excel or direct to The Staking Machine which is a brilliant assessment tool. Some service providers supply their selections in file format which can be easily loaded to the bot or even better they offer an automatic download facility at a certain time so you do not even have to be around to make sure the bets are loaded.

All the staking plans can be fine tuned for your own peculiarities and once you have set up a system on the bot it is then just a question of recalling it when you want to enter the days betting.

It seems to me that pretty much every eventuality has been catered for by the software and a detailed description of any function is easily accessible in the manual. I particularly liked the ability to use live odds rather than just Betfair prices for deciding if a bet qualifies and to be able to have a minimum liquidity setting for any race is very sensible.

One of the dangers that the Bet Engine will allow you to overcome is the revolving favourite – you can set the software to place a bet only once during its search time or allow multiples. Each way betting using Betfair is well set up and you can adjust the weight of bet between win and place as you wish.

Stake adjustment can be automatic using the plans preloaded and you can even set overall profit/loss targets for the day across your systems rather than allow them all to have a bad day! Stop loss settings can be made either for the day or cumulatively. You could even set your bets for a week if using automatic systems and go away and leave it to get on with it as there is an automatic roll over to the next day’s racing feature.

The main danger using this – or any bot – is that the device you are using has a power outage or suffers an internet disconnection. As mentioned earlier the best way to insure against this is to use a VPS which is as close to ensuring such issues are avoided as you can get.

I have been using The Bet Engine now for some 7 years and consider it to be the most practical and efficient bot for horses and greyhounds. It has allowed me to test more systems that would be possible manually and the ability to escape from the device knowing that what is programmed will work. Of course, like any software it will only do what you, the user, instruct it to do so you must ensure you set up your betting tabs properly.

This is a sophisticated piece of kit and the time you will need to invest in getting to know the program is likely to be very worthwhile long term. I would recommend that you make full use of the trial to see for yourselves the power of the program. I could not be without it.