Should I Use Multiple Exchanges for Matched Betting?

TLDR: Yes

You should use multiple exchanges for matched betting to take advantage of promotions offered by each betting exchange, ensure you have access to the greatest liquidity possible for laying your bookmakers’ bets, and for shopping around for the best lay odds to improve your profit. In addition, having accounts on multiple betting exchanges allows you to back a promotional offer offered by one betting exchange on a separate betting exchange.

Some of the most popular betting exchanges that we will cover in this article are Betfair Exchange, Smarkets, Matchbook, Pocketbet, SBK, Spreadex, and Betdaq.

How I Use Betting Exchanges

The three betting exchanges I use the most are Betfair Exchange, Smarkets, and Matchbook. They each serve a different function in my matched betting strategy.

Smarkets is my go-to exchange for laying accumulator bets. Smarkets offers a low commission of 2% of net winnings, decent liquidity, and easy-to-use UI. I also know someone who used to work for the company behind Smarkets so I trust it.

I use Betfair Exchange for liquidity, which is critical when trading in more niche markets. Betfair Exchange often has the highest amount of money traded in each market due to the platform’s popularity.

Then I use Matchbook for its low commission and because Matchbook sometimes offers better odds than the other exchanges so it’s worth checking.

Betting Exchange Promotional Offers

For example, Smarkets and Betdaq sometimes run promotional codes that allow you to trade commission-free for your first few months after signing up. This can be pretty valuable, particularly if you are doing bookmaker sign up offers or there is a big horse racing festival that month.

Betfair Exchange allows you a daily chance to hit the cash jackpot on its Prize Pinball. Common prizes are 5 free spins on a selection of casino games, a win spin (free 10p spins until you win) on selected casino games, scratch cards, casino bonuses or cash prizes. Betfair Rewards also allows you to trade higher exchange commissions on net winning (5% or 8% versus 2% on the Basic plan) in return for free exchange free bets, access to promotions, Prize Pinball, free Accas, and free spins each month.

Matchbook also runs some pretty generous promotional offers such as a Money Back As A Free Bet up to £100 if your golfer is the outright leader at the end of any round and fails to win offer during the 2024 PGA Tour, a free £1 Bet Builder Free Bet on the Premier League, or Money Back As A Free Bet on a specific horse during Cheltenham Festival.

You can also normally secure free bets for signing up to the SBK and Spreadex exchanges.

Shopping for the Best Lay Odds

Why lay a bet at 14.0 when you can lay it at 13.0? Although there are lots of algorithms and trader out there looking for arbitrage opportunities in the betting markets, the betting markets are still quite small and sometimes thinly traded (compared to say, foreign exchange markets) so you will differences in available odds appear on different betting exchanges. They might not last forever but it’s worth flicking through the betting exchanges that you’re signed up to to ensure that you’re matching your bets at the best available lay odds to maximise profit.

Multiple Betting Exchanges for Liquidity Purposes

Even if two betting exchanges offer the same lay odds for a particular bet and the same rate of commission, it may be better to lay your bet on one exchange versus another because of the amount of liquidity available. If one exchange has low liquidity then you might not be able to lay your full bet at the going odds and your bet will end up partially matched. This will mean you’ll have to lay the rest of your bet at higher odds and you’ll earn lower profits. Partial bet matching can really complicated matching a bet and if the odds in a market slip then you can end up wiping out the profit on more marginal matched betting opportunities, so it’s always a good idea to check the liquidity available before placing your bets.

Here is an example from the Betdaq exchange. The amount of money listed below the decimal odds is the amount of money currently available to be placed at the stated odds to back or lay that market outcome. Attempting to place a bet of greater than that amount will result in partial matching and will worsen the odds in the exchange assuming no other activity in that exchange market.

Advantages of Using a Single Betting Exchange

Whilst you should definitely set up accounts on multiple betting exchanges (they’re free so there’s nothing to lose by it), it can sometimes pay to concentrate your lay betting activity to a single betting exchange. If you’re placing multiple bets on the same market, then by laying all these bets on a single betting exchange you can reduce your liability versus laying each bet on a separate betting exchange. This is because only one outcome can occur so your maximum liability is the liability for the outcome that results in you paying out the most money. This means that less money is tied up by the exchange as liability, so it’s particularly useful for people working with a small bankroll.

A good example of this is the Grand National race. This is the biggest single race in the horse racing calendar so bookies will be competing for business by offering punters promotions. You might end up needing to lay bets on 5 or more horses in this race. By laying all the horses on a single exchange, you can free up your bank roll because you wouldn’t need to put up any additional money versus just laying the bet that has the greatest liability.

Low Commission

Outside of the zero commission sign up offers, 2% on net winnings for each market is the industry standard rate. As mentioned above, Betfair Exchange offers Betfair Rewards plans that allow you to trade higher commissions for access to promotions. This is because Betfair tries to cater both to the high-volume matched bettors and market makers as well as your regular punters who place bets at worse odds on their sportsbook section and plays the casino games (I advise against this).