Ok. As you've said you understand the back and lay concept and have placed some bets losing just a few pence here's the golden nugget. The necessity to do this is entirely reliant upon you getting a free bet into the bargain. As a new customer to any one of the bookies on the main site, you will be offered a free bet or a deposit bonus by opening an account.
By spending (losing) a few pence on your back and lay "qualifying bets" you will earn the free bet on offer. Backing and laying the free bet earns you the free money which is yours to keep (as you can't just withdraw the free bet).
You then move on to the next bookies free bet opening offer.
There is money to be made by arbing ( where the lay odds are lower than the back odds) but it's a very small percentage of your stake, so to make it worthwhile stakes need to be quite big.
Most people need to re read the tutorial several times before they get it, so youre not being thick. Hope this helps the penny drop
