Betting exchanges offer an innovative approach to wagering. Like in traditional bookmakers, sports betting is the most dominant type of wagering, but users can bet on many other events as well, such as esports, politics, entertainment, and more.
Since they are rather new, betting exchanges are not very common. Give or take, there are approximately ten such platforms that are legal and trustworthy. The good news is that their number is bound to increase in the future, as the novel type of betting they offer has vast potential.
The only challenge that exchanges need to overcome is their popularity. Simply put, the number of bettors who haven’t heard of them is still relatively high. Once they get the word out there and people start understanding their potential, the industry will begin to bloom. This will also lead to an increasing number of betting exchanges opening their virtual doors to customers.
If you haven’t heard of betting exchanges before, it’s not a big deal, as we’re going to explain what they are and how to find the best ones at the moment.
What Is a Betting Exchange?
Betting exchange works like any other exchange, except that you trade odds with other users instead of currencies. In other words, exchanges allow you to bet against other users.
This is different from traditional sports betting sites, where users bet against the bookmaker who sets the odds. Bookmakers basically risk their revenue by playing against gamblers, but that’s not the case with exchanges, which act as intermediaries, so you can think of them as a service that matches various bettors and allows them to wager against each other, while also taking a small commission for that.
One of the major differences between exchanges and bookmakers is that users can enjoy the benefits of lay betting when participating in the former.
So, what exactly is lay betting? Essentially, it’s betting on a certain team losing.
Namely, every wager that people create by using betting exchanges consists of two separate bets — the back bet and the lay bet. In other words, one user will back a team to win, and another will place a wager against it. Therefore, if a team loses, the user who has made the lay bet will win.
Let’s use bookmakers to explain this a bit better. In bookmakers, you always need to make a back bet. This means you always have to bet that a certain team will win. In this case, bookmakers act as the other side, making a lay bet.
In betting exchanges, the one who makes a lay bet actually assumes a bookmaker’s role in the traditional sense.
This approach to betting has opened a whole new horizon of betting possibilities that are not an option in traditional bookmakers.
How to Place Bets in Betting Exchanges?
The entire process is pretty straightforward. Once you open an account, you need to select some of the available games (if you’re betting on sports). Next, you have an option to back or lay bets.
When you pick the game and choose the bet, you need to enter the amount of money you want to stake and set the odds. After confirming your selection, the exchange needs to match you with someone who has an opposing opinion compared to the one you’ve just made through your bet.
An important thing to remember is that bets may be unmatched sometimes. Simply put, you might not be able to find someone to place the lay bet (or the back bet if you’re the one who has placed the lay bet). Of course, as long as your bet is unmatched, you don’t have to confirm it.
Some customers fail to find suitable matches for their proposition if the odds are not fair. Therefore, instead of making a new bet, exchanges will allow you to change the odds until you’ve found a match.
Why Do People Use Betting Exchanges?
As stated above, one of the major benefits that exchanges offer is lay betting, and that’s precisely the reason why many bettors prefer them to bookmakers. Naturally, this has paved the way for plenty of other opportunities as well.
For instance, some people who are willing to take a chance on certain events won’t always be able to find a suitable match on bookmaker platforms. The odds presented by the bookies are the only ones available, which means that you’re stuck with them.
However, you’ll almost always find people willing to take chances on betting exchanges, meaning they will be eager to lay your bet even if the odds come with many risks.
Also, betting exchanges offer a much better value compared to bookies. In fact, when bookmakers determine the odds, they always make them a bit lower than they should be.
Let’s imagine what would happen if a bookmaker were to give you the odds for a coin flip. Of course, we all know that there’s a 50% probability for either side to land after you’ve tossed the coin, so the odds for both outcomes should be 1/1. In other words, if you bet £1, you should receive an additional £1 as a prize if you get it right. However, bookmakers will, in this case, offer you the odds of ⅘, which is why you’ll earn approximately £0.8 if you bet £1. This is basically how bookmakers make money.
However, such manipulation is not present on betting exchanges, as you’re the one who makes the odds and chooses which bet to lay.
Finally, the selection of available bets is much greater on betting exchanges, as there are thousands of active users who want to bet against others. If you apply the right strategy, the possibility to make profit is much higher.
How to Find Betting Exchanges?
Finding the right betting exchange for you is not a difficult task if you have prior experience in betting on bookmaker platforms. Some aspects that you should pay attention to are pretty much identical to bookies.
If you don’t feel like doing the research on your own, you can always check out Betopin’s ultimate list to find a betting exchange. All of the sites on that list are legal and trustworthy. Moreover, they feature a wide array of benefits for everyone who wants to experience top-notch exchange betting.
Let us describe how Betopin has made the list.
Licences and Security
The first thing that Betopin’s experts did was review licences and security of the betting exchanges they covered. All sites that failed to meet the strict safety criteria were immediately excluded, which means all platforms left on the list have a licence from leading gambling commissions. Moreover, they use cutting-edge security protocols to ensure maximum user protection.
Bonuses and Promotions
Like many bookmakers, betting exchanges use bonuses and promotions to attract new users and retain regular customers. Some of these platforms offer better rewards than others, and Betopin’s reviewers devoted a good deal of their research time to comparing promotions on different sites. They read their respective T&C sections and included only the platforms that offer bonuses with real value.
Welcome bonuses were the primary focus, but the researchers also paid attention to other promotions that you can claim once you become a regular user.
Available Betting Options
It’s no secret that some sites offer better betting options than others. There was only one rule that Betopin followed here — the more, the merrier.
When reviewing standard bookies, it’s important to devote some time to comparing their respective odds in order to see which one offers the best of them. However, there’s no need to do such a thing here, as the users are the ones who propose odds.
Available Payment Methods
To place online bets on any online sports betting site, you need to make a real-money deposit. As it turns out, some payment methods are much better than others, so Betopin’s experts decided to look into the matter and pick the exchanges offering only the best and safest options for deposits and withdrawals.
Once you join an exchange of your choice, feel free to examine available methods before making your first deposit. After all, each method is unique and comes with different limits and fees. If you use some of them for online purchases, you should be able to make effortless exchange deposits as well, as the entire procedure is similar to any online shop.
Customer Support
Finally, every online gambling site needs to have adequate support. New and regular customers often have questions that require immediate answers, and good customer support should provide assistance right away.
Therefore, the experts at Betopin tested the customer support team for every exchange they reviewed before introducing it to the final list. In other words, no matter which site you select, you’ll be able to rely on the support team and ask them about anything exchange-related whenever you want.
Conclusion
To sum up, even though some betting exchanges have been around for quite a while, they are still relatively new. Punters around the globe are starting to realise that exchanges offer much better value compared to traditional bookmakers, and that’s why it’s predicted that many similar platforms will pop up in the near future.
Right now, there are approximately ten betting exchanges that are legal and offer a great service, but it wouldn’t come as a surprise if their number doubled anytime soon.
The more exchanges there are, the more options you’ll have as a bettor. For now, feel free to examine Betopin’s list and pick the one that you like the most. There, you’ll have an opportunity to make your first back bet and find a suitable match.
