Betting Exchanges?

Duckstabber · May 10, 2003

I already have an account with BetFair but the 5% commission rate is rather steep imo, therefore I'm looking for another exchange.

Here's what I want:

- Asian Handicaps on the major European football leagues.
- Safety (Obviously...)
- Liqiudity
- Low commision rate

To a lesser extend:
- 1X2-betting on various European football leagues
- US sports
- User-friendly software

Have you guys got experiences - good or bad - with some of the exchanges on the market: Sporting Options, Betdaq, Betsson, Parbet, Tradesports, Intrade, etc, etc...

Any input is much appreciated

JackDee · May 10, 2003

betdaq is fine imo, very safe irish(?) co., lots of betting offers too, dont know about commion rate, cant remember but it must be less than betfair.

Gamebookers offer one of the best exchange services as well, with much lower commision than betfair (4.25% or 3.9% to gold members), no commision when accepting a bet (i cant believe how betfair charge for accepting a bet...), and what i like most a feature that lets you resquest an odd, and the system automatically bets at the requested odd if and when available.

the rest i have not even heard of, tradesports rings a bell.

there a big war waged by bookies on betting exchanges, namely ladbrokes over betfair, for allegedly not paying taxes, (i.e. the exchange pays the state a lump sum to be in operation, but the person laying the bet does not pay the appropriate tax, while bookmakers do, bunch of crap imo.)

jjgold · May 10, 2003

gamebookers is solid and you should be playing there.

most others very ineffective and no volume which make them useless

souzathelooza · May 10, 2003

In the USA we're looking at 30-40 cent
spreads for action on Gamebookers that
Pinnacle has dime lines on. In the long run
dime lines are the way to profit on wagering.

Gamebookers rakes you.

acw · May 10, 2003

very safe irish(?) co.,
I have only had two accounts with Irish bookmakers so far being Sportsinteraction and Luvbet. No need to comment on them.
I will however open an account with Betdaq. There is simply not enough action on the non-English matches on BetFair.

I suggest to all those that think that the initial commission rate (5%) of BetFair is too high, on which I agree (I even think 2% is still too much), to send BetFair an email and complain! Tell them that there is no action on their Asian handicap market and this is the reason. Betdaq does look much better in that respect.

deecra · May 11, 2003

BetFair will not change their commision rate until their share of the market is under threat from Betdaq,Sporting Options or whomever else is fighting for market share,
they also don't seem concerned about the uncompetitive nature of the Asian Handicaps market as 3 way betting is still by far the most popular way of betting in the UK(still mainly British clients at Betfair) and after comission most games are bet to about 104% which is extremely competitive.

I personally now use all 3 of the above exchanges but would suggest that until Betdaq and Sporting Options increase their number of clients the only guaranteed a future is BetFair who's turnover is now colosal.

Re comission rates it is also worth noting that Horse Racing probably makes up 70% or more of their turnover and that the 5% comission doesn't really cut into the competitiveness of prices in these markets as bookmakers over round horse racing markets to such an extent.

Personally I think 2% will be the standard rate for most exchanges within a year or so..it has to be remembered that the cost of the operating systems, customer services, software and hardware development to deal with increasing turnover is not cheap.

re legality of exchanges, significantly in the UK betting exchanges have received a massive vote of confidence from government and are under no threat in this country,
I personally believe that Ladbrokes, William Hill or Corals will evenntually form their own exchange which will come with a ready made client base, though the longer they wait the harder it will be for them to dominate.

Right, sure you're bored by now so I'll shut up.
Cheers.

VG789 · May 11, 2003

BETDAQ seems nice also,I haven't used it myself,and the truth is that you can't bet on a lot of events here,but the 2% comission is pretty good.

5% is a steal,also betfair's costumer support is probably extremely slow,I e-mailed them asking about their comission,they answered me about 4-5 days later!

entropy · May 17, 2003

I already have an account with BetFair but the 5% commission rate is rather steep imo, therefore I'm looking for another exchange.

DS the 5% is only payable on winning bets so if you are backing / laying even money shots the effective vigorish is 2.5% or about what you will pay with the asian bookies.

I backed arsenal –1 @ 2.10 with Jphan.

On Betfair you can shop for the best price so as an example in the last 30 minutes before the match started I backed Arsenal –1 @ 2.14 then layed it @ 2.06 then repeated same whilst concurrently laying southhampton @ 1.86.

As a result of all that trading I had effectively backed Arsenal –1 @ 2.199. no other exchange with have the liquidity to allow you to do this.

i cant believe how betfair charge for accepting a bet.

JD betfair ONLY charges a commission on winning bets, not for accepting same.

namely ladbrokes over betfair, for allegedly not paying taxes

it was William Hill not Ladbrokes creating most of the fuss and it was more taxes they wanted. Betfair had been paying the taxes required and despite WH’s bleating the recent UK budget came down in BF’s favour.

MariaSharapova · May 17, 2003

Betfair only charges the commish on the
PROFIT you make on each winning market.

For example:
lay 100 euros against arsenal -1, @2.00
Back 100 euros on arsenal -1, @2.100

arsenal covers(just a hypo)

you profit 10 euros

Betfair charges a 5% commish on the 10 euros.

for a total commish of 0.5 euros .

entropy · May 17, 2003

quite right DD although they unbelievably treat the asian handicap and match markets seperately. i trust they will correct this soon.

i also laid Arsenal in the match odds @ 1.62 and 1.63. if Arsenal had not scored early i would normally be able to trade out of the positon to end up +ve no matter the result. as it was the 1 goal difference was my only losing result.

the "in play" market is a lot of fun, many months ago i only had 6 in one of my a/c's so laid MU for the lot @ 1.40. as the match progressed i covered the position bit by bit until i was positive for all results and ended up winning 7.8 when MU won in the last 8 minutes or so.