- This topic has 4 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 9:20 am , 17/11 by
Profile 42.
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Daily Sport
We would love to hear some feedback on your experiences of the smaller exchanges!
Matchbook v Smarkets: what is the best exchange for you and why?
Profile 42
Personally I feel Matchbook is the more user friendly of the two sites. But I must say that both provide a lot of their own liquidity. A lot of seeding happens so if you’re not paying PC I see no reason to leave Betfair or Betdaq and to these two.
Caan
Over time I’ve had a look at all betting exchanges. However, it always comes back to the same points!
- Betting Liquidity
- Commission Rates
- Useability
It really is that simple. This is why Betfair always wins too!
If we’re talking strictly Matchbook v’s Smarkets though I would say Smarkets comes out on top.
Here are my thoughts as to why:
There are several groups of users on all exchanges; punters, arbers, matched bettors and traders. The first bracket dwarfs the rest although the last 3 are more likely to turn-over large betting volume.
For punters: they don’t really care about anything other than getting their bet on in the easiest possible fashion. The industry is geared toward simplicity, tips and verdicts because they know this. Unfortunately for everyone (except bookmakers) this keeps them uneducated and taking the path of least resistance, generally speaking.
In terms of exchanges, they see them as complicated. For small exchanges like Smarkets or Matchbook, it makes getting traction hard. To win over users they need to hammer the marketing and spend lots of money on customer acquisition, which isn’t great as they are super-low margin operators.
For matched bettors: these exchanges provide a slightly more appealing option due to lower commission (until Betfair gazumped them all last month). The downside is liquidity because they have a lot less.
This isn’t too much of a problem though as most of the matched betting offers are on large events.
For traders: they just have to go where everyone else is. Liquidity is king, and the smaller exchanges like Matchbook don’t have enough. Nor do they have the tools to make trading a viable solution.
This is then further muddied because they seed and trade their own exchanges – why would they want competition from customers?
I believe this is why exchanges aren’t particularly mainstream like people once thought they would be. Until something drastic changes it’ll probably stay that way too…
So when comparing Smarkets with Matchbook, there is very little difference apart from the colour and varying liquidity on some sports. They are both small low-commission options for matched bettors so its worth having an account with all, although I personally don’t think there’s a whole lot of difference.
Rick19
I discovered that on Matchbook If you set a bet to be kept in play and then before it is matched and before the off, you change the price and click the green tick, Although it still says it will be kept in play below. It Will Not. If ya change the price you want you have to cancel the original selection completely and re -do with new price otherwise it will cancel at in play !!!!! Just watch out as I missed a number of lay bets I thought would be kept yet they were canceled
That’s really good info Rick, thanks a lot.
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