Smarkets VS Betfair

Hi Socal,

There are several differences to consider:

First: Smarkets no longer want matched bettors – they have made this quite clear to us.

Temporary 0% deals are likely to disappear in the future I suspect. They want high-value customers that spend money on their sportsbook and the like (like a bookmaker).

Betdaq also have a 0% commission deal if you click here.

Other differences:

Betfair liquidity dwarfs Smarkets (as you suggest). Also remember they calculate matched volumes very differently too. Betfair considers a £10 match at 4.0 to be worth £20 (£10 back and £10 lay). Whereas Smarkets consider it to be £10 match at 4.0 being £40). This means the same bet looks like 4 x the amount of liquidity on Smarkets, but it’s not.

Betfair have player protection that guarantees your betting funds are safe in various events, such as the company going bust. With Smarkets this is not the case.

Betfair and Betdaq do not trade their own exchange. Smarkets seed their own betting exchange markets and actively trade against their customers. If they can see your open decisions is open to debate (we hope they can’t) but this is also a concern for end-users.

Betfair how has a variable rewards plan (details clicking here). You can get 2% flat rate also.

There are also extra charges to consider if you are thinking about trading. Betfair has the Premium Charge but not until you are consistently successful and over various thresholds. If you have been matched betting its unlikely you will hit them soon. The charge is applicable to profits only.

Smarkets have their own charge. Its unclear and there are various reports that some people have just been closed down altogether (gubbed) because they are beating their trading team. The Smarkets version is on 1% of turnover, meaning you pay 1% on everything you bet, rather than profits, like Betfair.

If you want a 0% option for your matched betting, we’re still free to use and you can get the 0% with Betdaq.

Hopefully, that answers your question fully 🙂

Hi I’m Steve,I’m no expert but this is how I feel about Betfair v Smarkets,I have been Matchbetting since March and made a few quid, what I find when I find a suitable bet and go to lay so many times on Smarkets the odds have changed,because the liquidity is not there,if I go through betfair ,I usually get matched nearly every time.Another thing I find is Smarkets looks a mess,to me Betfair  looks so clean and easier to use,I can navigate around betfair a lot easier.Having done a lot of sign ups I am finding matchbetting so frustrating and not worthwhile at the moment,this had led me to look in to trading,and I have just started to do some football trading,the group I have joined use betfair and although they said you could use Smarkets I really don’t think this would be possible,the interface would just not be practical to use,so this is another reason for me to use Betfair.For me paying the 2% at Betfair feel worth the price,when I want a price matching it get’s matched,the times I have missed out on better odds from Smarkets have made me feel like ditching Smarkets completely, they are trying to get punters to use them,but I feel they are getting enough in there and will struggle to compete with Betfair.As I said I’m no expert and others will have a different opinion to me,but like I said this is how I feel about the two 

Hi Chinacrisis

Thank you for such a passionate first post, I hope to see you carry on contributing to the community…

In response to your comments there:

– They don’t care for matched bettors even though you are right in saying they are a large part of their business. With the conversations I’ve had with them they made it clear they are only interested big losers now. I would assume matched bettors are highly demanding customers that don’t bring them enough profit per-head.
– You are correct in saying they now have better player protection. This is a new addition as previously they did not. I know this having checked on it myself personally a short time ago.

There is a link to the detail below, although they have removed the date it was updated, so we won’t know when…

https://help.smarkets.com/hc/en-gb/articles/212626745-How-are-my-funds-protected-

To add to the Betfair v Smarkets debate, are you also aware of the new Smarkets turnover charge?

It was introduced at 1% on turnover, not profit. Although I received a message earlier in the week it has now been raised to 3%…

This is true: https://help.smarkets.com/hc/en-gb/articles/212654665-Smarkets-commission-FAQ

I’ve also had contact with them from a trading perspective. In December 2017…

They informed me there would be API trading tools within 6 months publicly for users. They urged I should promote this to my audience of loyal followers…. I did.

….and here we are 2 years later, no API tools, turnover charges and a third party company (Hanson Applied Sciences) betting against their own customers.

From where I’m standing they look more like a bookmaker each day. A shame really as I know their CEO is typically a straight-up guy who genuinely wanted exchanges to take over, because they’re better for the end user.