Matchbook - betting exchange worth having in your portfolio

Let me introduce you another betting exchange – Matchbook.
It is not as popular as Betfair but has its own advantages and worth checking.
I tried to use it 3-4 years ago and wasn’t impressed. The biggest problem was to trade out your bets because of lack of liquidity. Liquidity means – that someone needs to match your bets. For example, if you are asking for 1.9 on game X, but there are no takers of your bets, it is just waste of time. Betting exchange in order to operate smoothly needs customers who are active.
But let’s speak about today. If you are betting on Top leagues you can give a try for sure. At the moment there is more liquidity to place bets at high prices or trade before or during the game.
If you are looking for the same offer as Betfair has, you will be disappointed. You will not find lower level leagues. But one thing which puts Matchbook in front of its main competitor is a commission. Here you will find a big advantage against Betfair in certain cases.

Above you can the screenshot from the random game – I chose Turkish Superleague game which could be considered as a medium level league. The screenshot was taken prematch. As you can see prices are similar, but the amount of money already matched differs by 10 times in favor of Betfair.
But let’s evaluate commissions effect on final price. We know that usual Betfair commissions are around 5% on winning bets and 0% on losing bets.
Matchbook has two different commission rates, depending on whether you accept another user’s offer, or whether they accept your offer. If you accept an existing offer in a market the standard commission rate is 1.5%. If you post an offer, which another user then matches, the standard commission rate will be 0.75%
At first look Matchbook’s commission scheme might look a bit complicated, so let’s use the specific game.
Let’s say you want to back draw in this game. Prices are the same on both exchanges – 5.4.

You bet €10 on Betfair@5.4 and win your bet. Your profit is €44 – 5% fee = €41.8
You bet €10 on [email protected] and lose your bet. Your loss is €10.

You bet €10 on [email protected] and win your bet. Your profit is €44 – 1.5% fee = €43.34
You bet €10 on Match[email protected] and lose your bet. Your loss is €10 + 1.5% fee = €10.15

Just from €10 stake difference in payout is 3.6% higher if you won the bet, but loses only 1.5% higher if you lost your bet.
But we are not finished here yet. Matchbook charges even lower commission if you offer YOUR price. In our case, we can ask for 5.45 or 5.5 and if our price will be matched we will pay only 0.75% of commission from winnings or from lost stake.

You bet €10 on [email protected] and win your bet. Your profit is €45 – 0.75% fee = €44.66
You bet €10 on Matchbo[email protected] and lose your bet. Your loss is €10 + 0.75% fee = €10.075

That is another example, why you shouldn’t take a price on offer but offer your own price. The lower commission is a good way of attracting new customers as this is the only chance for newish Betting Exchanges trying to compete with Betfair. It is also an advantage for punters looking for highest prices.
Before signing up, check the sports on offer by Matchbook. They do not offer sports like handball or volleyball, only a couple of basketball leagues are offered. But football, horse racing, and tennis are pretty well covered. Check the limits too – a couple of hundred euros per market should be easily matched, but you might struggle if you think you can place thousands.
Minimum bet is €/£/$2.00, so Matchbook is affordable to all users.

At the moment football season is quiet, but if you are betting on other sports Matchbook usually have promotions for different tournaments and you might find offers with even lower commissions.

All in all, Matchbook has advantages and disadvantages, but they are on my good list and worth having them if you are looking for the highest prices for your bets (and I am sure you do it). Definitely, one of the bookies to have in your betting portfolio.

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