The Lay Challenge Review

The Lay Challenge is a new to market football and horse racing laying service that is operated by one Jonathan Fox. He claims that starting with a very small betting bank, you can expect to see some incredibly substantial profits.  

Introduction to The Lay Challenge

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. One of the biggest barriers to getting involved with betting in a serious capacity for a lot of people is the financial investment. Especially with tipster services. With a decent betting system, you pay out a lot, but because it is a one time cost you can get that investment back over time. With a tipster service though, you always have to cover your subs. I’ve seen a lot of tipsters crow about a 10 point profit, but if you were betting to £10 per point, you’d be cutting that in half once you’d paid them.

This brings me to The Lay Challenge. It is a service that really caught my eye because it is theoretically one of the most appealing services I think have ever seen for those who are looking to simply get started following a tipster service. Jonathan Fox isn’t asking a lot, you can get started with a very small amount of money, and because of the approach taken you should win consistently. Taken at face value this is arguably one of the most exciting tipster services on the market for those who are looking to get started.

I genuinely wish that I could end it there. Nothing would please me more than to say that The Lay Challenge is worth some consideration, that it is a solid approach, and that you will indeed do well. But I can’t. Because despite the incredibly impressive claims that Jonathan Fox makes, there are some massive questions that hang over this service. And rather unfortunately, they mostly surround whether it is genuine and the ability to deliver. Both key things when looking at a tipster service. So, let’s get into it.  

What Does The Lay Challenge Offer?

There is a huge amount that can be said about The Lay Challenge, but one of the things that I think is absolutely definitive and needs to be established right from the get go is that it is incredibly simple. This is something that I feel I say quite often if I’m really honest with myself. But what Jonathan Fox is doing here takes it to a whole different level.

From the discussion of what The Lay Challenge actually is, to the way that it is managed, and even the bets that you are ultimately placing. Every single element screams simplicity. Or perhaps I would be better describing it as being very basic. This is a minor distinction, but one that I think is very important to make and understand.

So, first things first, let’s look at how Jonathan Fox manages his service. Given what I’ve mentioned so far, you might be thinking that you’re dealing with the bare minimum. This is the one area where The Lay Challenge does go above and beyond on the norm. Not by much mind you, but I suppose I have to find something to credit.

Ultimately, The Lay Challenge is a pretty straightforward daily tipster service. Jonathan Fox issues his selections directly via email, as is the industry norm. These emails contain predominantly basic information. However, there are a few minor elements that make this stand out. Namely, there is the inclusion of staking advice for each bet. Like I said, it isn’t much, but it’s something.

Of course, with that said, this is also the kind of thing that you’d realistically expect from a lay betting service. And that is a bit of a key point when discussing The Lay Challenge. You see, there is a lot that is required with lay betting that isn’t with a more conventional backing service. So, let’s talk about that.

First and foremost, if you are going to be placing lay bets, you will require an account with a betting exchange. Jonathan Fox mentions Betfair, Smarkets, and Betdaq as options, and honestly, all of these are viable. This is because (from what I’ve seen so far), you aren’t dealing with much in the way of niche bets with The Lay Challenge. As such, there should be a decent amount of liquidity available on all exchanges.

Now, something that I do want to touch on here is something I’ve already mentioned. Jonathan Fox gives you staking advice. This is all well and good, but he does rather miss the mark on arguably the more important factor with lay betting. That is inclusion on insight for maximum odds if you’re following The Lay Challenge.

For those who may not know, when you lay a bet, you have a liability at risk which is tied to the odds that you lay at. Effectively, the odds minus your initial stake. So, if you’re following The Lay Challenge and lay at 10.0, you would pay out 9 times your initial stake. The astute amongst you will realise that this means at some point, the risk for that bet offsets the reward, which is your initial stake minus commission.

 This is a bloody big deal. From what I’ve seen of The Lay Challenge, you aren’t necessarily dealing with massive odds as it happens. But Jonathan Fox’s complete lack of awareness or disregard for this is a highly concerning point. Especially because these are exactly the kinds of things that genuine laying services are concerned with.

Now, let’s briefly talk about numbers. According to Jonathan Fox, you can start getting going with The Lay Challenge using just a £50 betting bank. It really isn’t a lot of money at all if you want to get started. But it also isn’t a huge amount of money to be betting with. Especially if those liabilities get out of control.

A part of the reason that this is so important is that there isn’t a huge amount of insight into how often you will win with The Lay Challenge. Theoretically, there should be a very manageable strike rate given that this is a lay betting service. But this isn’t something that Jonathan Fox is particularly explicit about (something of a running theme, as I will explore).  

How Does The Lay Challenge Work?

The Lay Challenge seems to be built around a very simple premise. And that is that lay betting is somehow better. This is something that is invariably subjective, but I can see the merit under the right tipster service. Unfortunately, there isn’t necessarily a huge amount of insight that really suggests whether or not Jonathan Fox is the right tipster to be running said service. Something that I say because there is almost no information or evidence backing up anything.

I say this because when it comes to the sales pitch, almost everything is taken up by Jonathan Fox simply talking about what lay betting is. Something that is incredibly straightforward and simple. As such, we are told a lot about what Betfair is and how much money there is to be made from it. Honestly, The Lay Challenge serves as a fantastic advert for the platform. Rather unfortunately, what isn’t discussed is much more than this.

Honestly, everything about The Lay Challenge hinges on this notion that Jonathan Fox has a lot of experience in betting and that he can make money through lay betting. That is everything. We are told that selections are researched, but without further information I am inclined to take that with a very big pinch of salt. Not least of which is because there isn’t really any understanding of horse racing demonstrated.

As mentioned, it is also a cause for concern that there is no evidence backing anything up. Keep in mind that the sales material for The Lay Challenge makes explicit mention of a substantial betting history. So why is there no proofing or results provided? There might be a genuine reason for that. But when you put it into the wider context of everything else, it is really quite suspicious.

What is the Initial Investment?

If you want to sign up to The Lay Challenge there is only one option available. This is a one time payment of £42 plus VAT. For this, you get access to Jonathan Fox’s selections for a “cycle” of The Lay Challenge. Something that will supposedly around 4 months. This seems like a hypothetically plausible timescale; however, I refer you back to that distinct lack of anything.

One of the few things that I can say is a positive about The Lay Challenge is that there is a full 30 day money back guarantee in place. This is backed up by the fact that Jonathan Fox is selling his service through Clickbank which means you shouldn’t have too many issues claiming this. To be fair to him, this is also mentioned quite prominently in the sales material.

What is the Rate of Return?

I liked that The Lay Challenge started small in terms of numbers, but this doesn’t mean that the claimed income is small too. In fact, Jonathan Fox says that you can expect to turn your initial betting bank into £5,000. Quite how he plans to do this with lay betting isn’t really explored, however, one suspects that there is going to be some compounding. Without that, I just don’t see how that is viable.

Conclusion for The Lay Challenge

Lay betting can be a very powerful betting tool in the right hands. It can be a great way of limiting your risk if you take the right approach. After all, it stands to reason that from a purely statistical perspective, it is easier to pick out a horse to lose than it is to pick one to win. And that seems to be about the extent of what The Lay Challenge is based around.

The unfortunate truth though is that when it comes to lay betting, there is a massive amount of nuance and skill required. You can’t just dive into it two footed and expect that you will win simply because you’re picking out what wont’ win. There is just as much needed to find those losers as there are to find winners. Something that Jonathan Fox doesn’t really acknowledge with The Lay Challenge.

All of this is hugely problematic. Because it isn’t even like you’re just dealing with a single type of bet or anything. Let’s not forget the fact that Jonathan Fox is laying both football and horse racing. That is one hell of a skill set to spread out. Especially when there is no demonstration that you have those skills.

Other things that concern me is a complete disregard for the odds. One of the skills to lay betting is knowing when a bet is worth the risk. Just like when you’re backing. It seems like it’s really obvious to just lay those 100/1 outsiders. After all, they’re incredibly unlikely to win, right? Meaning that it’s easy money.

But what about if they do? How worth it is a potential outlay of £990 to see a little under a tenner back? For my money, and based off my experiences, it isn’t. There is always a tipping point where any bet ceases to be value, but with lay betting that is enhanced many times over. Unfortunately, this is yet another thing that Jonathan Fox doesn’t acknowledge with The Lay Challenge.

So, what do you really have here? Somebody who is claiming that they are knowledgeable and able to provide you with winning lay bets. And that is about it. And honestly, for that, it isn’t even like The Lay Challenge is particularly cheap. £42 might seem like value for money, but there are much better and actually proven services that don’t cost much more.

Which begs the question of why you’d bother with The Lay Challenge? Honestly, I can’t really see much reason why you would want to. There are a lot of good tipster services on the market, there are a lot of bad ones too. I don’t think that Jonathan Fox is the worst. The nature of lay betting means that there is always some possibility that you will have some wins.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe that you will realistically see them with any sort of consistency though. That is fundamental to making something like The Lay Challenge work. So, probably not all that surprisingly, I really wouldn’t look to recommend this. Jonathan Fox gives you little reason to trust his service, and when you can get better for very similar money. There is no reason to spend yours on this in my opinion.  

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