Best Betting Exchange Sites

Each online betting exchange site we review is internationally-regulated and licensed by well known and reputable jurisdictions ensuring that they are regularly tested for fairness, security and a high level of customer service. New Customer Offers, [geot country=”US”]21+[/geot][geot exclude_country=”US”]18+[/geot], T&C’s Apply to each of the offers below, click “Bet Now” for more information.

Betting Exchange Sites

There can be little doubt that one of the industries that has benefited substantially from the rise of the Internet as a tool for commerce and consumer entertainment is sports and casino betting. It could even be argued that the industry itself drove the rapid expansion of the public use of the Internet, since it enabled punters to indulge their favourite pastime more conveniently and to do so with relative impunity from countries where such activities are technically banned!

The connectivity of the Internet has also spawned a fascinating new extension of the betting industry, challenging the dominance of traditional bookmakers. This is the rise of betting exchanges as a tool to profit from forecasting future events, including the many opportunities arising from the hundreds of sporting events that take place around the world every day.

So what are betting exchanges and how do they differ from online sportsbooks and bookmakers? Well, the crucial difference lies in there being no central bookmaker acting to set the odds and accept bets in a betting exchange. The markets for bets are created by the punters themselves taking positions on possible outcomes of sporting events.

You can not only ‘back’ a bet, as at a traditional bookmaker, but you can also ‘lay’ a bet, effectively acting as the bookmaker in that instance. So, for instance, if you feel that a match between Arsenal and Liverpool is not going to end well for the Londoners you could either back a bet for Liverpool to win, or alternatively lay a bet from another punter who wants to back Arsenal to win (giving you a result if there’s a draw too).

The main attractions for using betting exchanges over and above the added flexibility of using lay bets to pursue profits are two-fold. First, the profit margin of a traditional bookmaker is no longer affecting the offered odds. The exchanges do take a small commission on a punter’s winnings (typically in the region of 5%), however the absence of a traditional bookmaker’s margin normally encourages better odds. The market sorts itself out – if you back a bet at odds acceptable to another member of the exchange it will be ‘matched’ as a lay bet and it’s game on! The second advantage of betting exchanges is the ability to trade a bet you’ve made before the target event has happened. This is a facility geared towards more sophisticated bettors who enjoy the thrill of playing the market using backed and layed bets in the manner of stocks and shares. The idea here is to see how the odds of events move and profit from those movements, rather than profiting from correctly forecasting a sporting event’s outcome.

Sports exchange betting isn’t for every sports bettor, but if you relish the challenge of these sites’ more advanced ways to profit from your passion and knowledge of certain sports, then there’s a whole world of opportunity just a click away on your desktop or mobile device.