Matchbook Review – an Introduction to an Excellent Sportsbook
It is hard to believe that it is now over ten years since Matchbook was founded and it just goes to show the sheer amount of hard work which has gone into making this betting exchange one of the leading players in the market.
Over this period of time, lots of betting exchanges have come and gone, each one trying to emulate the enormous success of Betfair but greatly under estimating exactly what setting up and running a successful betting exchange involves.
Most matched bettors who have been involved with betting exchanges over the past few years will have seen at first hand the struggles that Matchbook have been through and their attempts of getting even a small market share of the industry which is dominated by Betfair.
The fact of the matter is though, they are now the betting exchange of choice for many punters due to the stable platform which supports the business along with the attractive commission rates which they offer.
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- A modern betting exchange
- Amazing Sign up offer
- Wide range of betting markets
- Regulated by UKGC
- 24/7 Customer Support
- 24/7 Customer Support
- Minimum deposit:£10
For matched bettors in particular, this lower commission rate can result in vastly increased profits over the course of a year so as long as Matchbook keep up their good work, there is no reason why they will not continue to attract an even bigger share of the market and carry on going from strength to strength.
They are also involved in some massive sponsorship deals such as the Matchbook betting exchange handicap which just goes to confirm the lofty ambitions of this sportsbook.
Is Matchbook Fully Regulated?
Matchbook is licenced by the UK Gambling Authority and the Alderney Gambling Control Commision so you can rest assured that they tick all of the boxes in offering their customers a safe and secure gambling environment.
Matchbook UK also seems to take their responsibilities seriously when it comes to offering support and advice to customers who are experiencing problems with their gambling activities.
They are associated with GamCare so will use their services in order to point struggling customers in the right direction, which is always a good sign, and it would be fair to say that Matchbook UK is a betting exchange which does actually care about the people who have opened an account with them.
The Matchbook Betting Exchange Sign up Bonus
The Matchbook sports betting sign up bonus is a little different to the kind of sign bonuses that you may be used to because instead of a cash bonus, it is based on a period of time where you will be charged 0% commission on the bets that you place.
The length of the commission free period will depend on when you open a Matchbook sports betting account but the maximum will usually be 30 days.
If you are a regular betting exchange user or a matched bettor, this sign up bonus will probably be more lucrative to you than any other sign up bonus out there so to explain this a little more clearly, let’s take a look at an example.
You have signed up for an account with Matchbook and have 30 days of 0% commission.
If you are a matched bettor you will probably be using your new Matchbook account every day so for arguments sake, let’s say that you lay off one £200 bet per day over that period in order to take advantage of the many sportsbook promotions that are out there.
To make the calculation easier to understand, we will assume that you are placing a £200 bet at odds of 5.0 and laying this bet off with Matchbook at odds of 5.2.
The matched betting profit, assuming the 0% Matchbook sportsbook commission would be (-£7.70)
If you were laying the bet off with Betfair and assuming a commission rate of 5%, your profit would be (-£15.54)
As already mentioned, we are assuming you are doing this every day for 30 days so you would actually be £235.20 better off by using Matchbook.
When you also take into consideration that some matched bettors will be placing far more bets than this example, you can get some idea of how lucrative the Matchbook UK welcome bonus can be.
The Matchbook Markets
It goes without saying that a betting exchange has to do far more than merely offer markets to bet on, they also need to ensure that the liquidity is available so that punters can actually bet on the markets.
There is nothing worse that logging into a betting exchange in order to place a bet only to discover that the odds on offer are terrible due to the fact that punters are offering poor odds on the lay side of the bet.
As with most betting exchange operators, Matchbook sportsbook had a hard time when first starting out due to the lack of liquidity but they have stuck with it and now, even though they are not on the same scale as Betfair, they do now have a betting exchange which offers adequate liquidity over a large number of markets.
The main markets are as you would probably expect, football, horse racing and tennis but if you are also looking to get involved with sports such as basketball, rugby union and ice hockey, amongst others, Matchbook will be able to accommodate you.
Matchbook Odds
As you will be aware, the peer to peer betting system which Matchbook sports uses means that the odds on offer are market driven.
If you have never had the pleasure of using a betting exchange, spend a few minutes simply watching the horse racing market in the five minutes before a race begins and you will be fascinated by how quickly the prices change.
It is therefore Impossible to compare betting exchanges due to the odds that are on offer but one way you can compare the returns from your betting exchange betting activities is by taking into account the size of the commission that you must pay on your profits.
We have already spoken about the 0% commission which is on offer at Matchbook UK when you open an account but you will be pleased to know that the commission which is payable after this introductory month is still far lower than Matchbooks main rival, Betfair.
Matchbook sports has two basic commission levels and they are as follows.
If you accept another user’s offer you will pay a commission rate of 1.5% but if you post an offer which gets accepted by another user you will pay a commission rate of 0.75%.
As an example, you want to back Liverpool who are playing in a Premier League football match against Chelsea.
You see that Liverpool are on offer at 3.00 so you decide to back Liverpool at accepted odds using a stake of £5. Liverpool win the match so out of your winnings of £10, you will have to pay a commission to Matchbook of 15p which equates to 1.5% of your £10 profit.
As you can see, we are only talking pennies in terms of commission but if you turnover lots of bets, these pennies can soon mount up and this is what gives Matchbook a distinct advantage over Betfair.
Live Betting with Matchbook
Live betting is of course where betting on a betting exchange comes into its own.
Perhaps the best example of this is in the football and horse racing markets but if you are planning to trade in this way it would be highly advisable to use software which will make the whole process far more effective for you.
Think about it for one minute, let’s say that you are planning to trade on a five furlong horse race and you are waiting for a horse to reach a certain price before you get involved.
If you are not using betting exchange software, by the time you have clicked your mouse a couple of times, the price that you wanted could very well be long gone and you are left wondering what happened.
If you are using one click software though, you will stand a far better chance of availing yourself of the odds that you are looking for and as you will actually be betting against other punters, you will have a head start over those who are trying to place their bet manually.
Matchbook Live Streaming
There is no live streaming facility on the Matchbook website so if this is something which is important to you it might be a good idea to open an account at William Hill and watch the live sport on there.
Please don’t let this put you off from opening an account at Matchbook because in the grand scheme of things, it is not really a big deal.
Cashing out with Matchbook
Cashing out with Matchbook is different to most sportsbooks because you can basically cash out any bet by backing or laying the opposite side of the bet that you would like to cash out.
Rather than having to work out the cash out amounts yourself though, Matchbook has a clever feature called Dynamic P & L.
This feature will show you instantly what your profit or loss position is on the bet that you are thinking off cashing out.
It is very easy to use and your best bet would be to take a look at the Matchbook website yourself where everything is explained extremely clearly.
Matchbook Mobile
- Native apps for Android and iOS
- Live bets
- Robust and Reliable App
Matchbook have an excellent mobile app for both Android and iPhone.
It has exactly the same design as the desktop version of the website and uses the same account wallet so there is no messing around with moving funds around to fund your mobile account.
It is extremely important with a betting exchange mobile app that the platform is robust and reliable, due to the enormous amount of activity before and during a big sporting event.
You can rest assured that you won’t have any trouble whilst using the Matchbook app because it ticks all of the right boxes in terms of capability and reliability.
Matchbook Deposits and Withdrawals
When it comes to deposit and withdrawal methods and limits, Visa and Mastercard along with web wallets such as Skrill and Neteller are accepted.
There is a minimum deposit limit of £10 in place and the maximum withdrawal is dependent on the method which you are using.
The use of a web wallet such as Skrill comes into its own when depositing into Matchbook because withdrawals can be made within only a few hours so that the funds are ready and waiting to be deposited into another sportsbook or withdrawn.
| Matchbook Banking Options | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sports | Min. Deposit | Withdraw |
| Football | Rugby | Tennis | Golf | £10 | 3-5 Working Days |
| Payment Methods Mastercard Visa Skrill PayPal NETELLER | ||
Maximum Bet Limits and Withdrawals with Matchbook
The great thing about Matchbook and other betting exchanges for that matter is that there is no set limit to the size of the bet that you can make.
As long as you have got the funds in your account and there is enough liquidity on the odds that you would like to place the bet on, you are good to go.
Opening a Matchbook Account
You will hopefully get the idea from reading this Matchbook betting exchange review that this is a betting exchange which you should seriously consider opening an account with.
If so, all you need to do is click on the red ‘Join Matchbook’ button in the top right hand corner of the Matchbook website and simply follow the steps which are given.
When you open a Matchbook account you will receive a KYC request so the advice on this matter is the same as with all sportsbooks.
Have a scan of your driving licence/passport and a utility bill ready and waiting so that you can comply with the request asap and be ready to get involved with placing bets with Matchbook.
Some people seem to get upset when they receive a request of this nature but it is perfect normal and put in place to protect you, the customer, as well as the sportsbook or in this case, the betting exchange.
Not sure how a betting exchange works? Make sure to read our article, where we explain the concept of betting exchanges.
Placing a Bet
If you have never used a betting exchange before, take the time to spend a little time familiarising yourself with how it all works.
If you scroll down to the bottom of the Matchbook website you will see a wealth of helpful information which will help you to understand exactly how it all works.
Don’t worry though, it is all very straightforward and you will soon realise why using a betting exchange for backing and laying selections has become so popular.
Ongoing Promotions
If you click on the ‘promotions’ tab which can be found at the top left-hand side of the website you will be directed to a page which lists the latest Matchbook promotions.
It is always worth keeping an eye on these promotions because they are usually in the form of reduced commissions and they are prone to change.
As an example, at the time of writing there is a promotion for 1.5% commissions across all horse racing markets.
Matchbook Customer Care
Matchbook customer support is available through telephone, email and live chat.
As the betting exchange concept is new to quite a few punters, the customer support staff need to be highly knowledgeable about all aspects of the operation and this is definitely the case with Matchbook.
There is nothing worse than phoning up customer support at being able to hear the agent sigh because you have asked what they regard as a stupid question.
Don’t worry, as far as Matchbook are concerned there is no such thing as a stupid question so you can relax on that score.
If you use the Matchbook live chat, which is recommended, you will find that the support on there is first class and you don’t usually have to wait too long in order to get connected with a customer service agent.
Safety and Security
We have already mentioned that Matchbook are fully regulated by the relevant gambling commissions so their whole set up is extremely safe and secure with full SSL encryption in place.
The Matchbook Conclusion
Whilst we often recommend that you should open an account with a particular sportsbook, in the case of Matchbook, it is a betting website which you absolutely must have an account with.
Even if you are more than happy with your Betfair account, Matchbook is an account that you should have an account with even if it is just used as a backup to your regular betting exchange.
If you are a matched bettor, Matchbook should be your betting exchange of choice due to the lower commission rates and there is no getting away from the fact that you will end up with more money from your matched betting exploits and this is what it is all about really, isn’t it?
The platform which is used by Matchbook is extremely stable (both desktop and mobile versions) and along with the commission rate, it is exactly what a matched bettor is looking for.
The support is very good, friendly and perhaps more important, extremely knowledgeable so if you do have any questions they will be answered quickly and correctly.
If there was a complaint about Matchbook it would be that there is quite an emphasis on the casino games which are also offered by them.
Most punters who are using a betting exchange are using it to take advantage of the prices, the fact that they can place large bets and because they can lay a selection as opposed to just backing it.
Admittedly, Betfair also emphasises the casino and gaming sections of their website so this part of the business obviously makes money but for this Matchbook betting exchange review, it is the betting exchange side of the business which comes very highly recommended.
Looking past that slight piece of negativity in this Matchbook exchange review though, if you don’t already have an account with them it would be a good idea if you put that right as soon as possible.
