Matchbook Review

About

Since its beginnings in 2004, Matchbook has been a vibrant exchange platform challenging the more established players including Betdaq, Smarkets and market leaders, Betfair.

Strong coverage of worldwide sports and big events is a key part of the service at Matchbook, backing this up is a competitive 2% flat rate commission, a first-class pools betting and casino service plus the inclusion of accumulator betting and cash-out buttons across many mainstream events both pre-game and in-play.

Before getting started with this review, we should first point out the three very generous sign-up offers available to any new customers making use of Matchbook for the very first time. These offers currently include 30 days of 0% commission on the exchange, a $10 (or currency equivalent) free bet on greyhound racing or a cash refund of up to $20 if your first bet loses.

More details on these offers can be found in the section below!

New customers only. Sign up today using bonus code RISKFREE and deposit at least $25. Place your first bet and if it loses, we will refund your stake as cash. The first bet must be placed within 7 days of registration and at odds of 1.8 or more to be eligible. The max refund is $20 and it will be applied to your account within 48 hours of the qualifying bet being settled. T's and C's apply. 18+. Be Gamble Aware

Welcome Offer

Any new customers joining the Matchbook exchange right now will be entitled to one of three generous sign-up offers, these include 30 days of 0% commission on the exchange, a $10 free bet on greyhound racing or a refund up to $20 on losing first bets.

Starting off with the “Refund Up To $20” offer first, simply signing up to Matchbook using this link and the code RISKFREE, you're able to receive a cash refund if your first bet loses. Your qualifying bet must be at odds of 1.80 or greater and the maximum refund you can receive is $20 which will be credited within 48 hours of your bet being settled. 

Next, looking at the greyhound themed offer, simply signing up with this link and using the code GREYHOUNDS, then depositing and betting £10+ on greyhound racing at odds of 1.8+ will grant new customers a $10 free bet for use on any greyhound market.

The third and final welcome offer, granting new customers 0% commission for their first 30 days on the exchange, can be obtained by signing up via this link and entering the code COMMFREE (be aware that this 30 day 0% commission period will begin from the date of first registration).

NB - Be sure to check the T&C’s carefully for each offer and make sure to deposit via debit card to be eligible for any of the above offers! Whilst Skrill, Neteller and PaySafe are available for depositing, they will exclude you from the welcome offers when used for making an initial deposit into Matchbook!

You can sign-up to Matchbook and take advantage of any of these special welcome offers by clicking here!

Sports & Markets

Matchbook stands out as a well established betting exchange thanks to the many popular events and worldwide sports which are on offer.

Such coverage includes popular sports such as horse racing, tennis, football and cricket with many other worldwide sports including Formula 1, Australian Rules Football and NFL American Football coming together to make Matchbook a great place for exchange betting!

Some popular sports and events available at Matchbook include:

 

Horse Racing

One of the most popular sports on the Matchbook exchange is horse racing, good coverage of many leading races both at home and across the many big racing nations is readily available at Matchbook.

Big races and meetings such as the Wellington Cup Carnival, the New Zealand Cup, the Auckland Cup Week and the Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival are all covered alongside many international favourites including the Cheltenham Festival, the Aintree Grand National, the Kentucky Derby and the Melbourne Cup amongst many others.



 

As can be seen above, the racing offering at Matchbook starts off at the dedicated horse racing homepage where upcoming races can easily be accessed alongside virtually any other race worldwide via the “racing grid” section (which can be seen below):



This racing grid lists all races for the current day by both meeting location and start time, simply click on any of the intersections to be taken straight to the corresponding race. The filters atop the grid can also be adjusted to show races from the following day if needs be.



Once on the exchange betting page for any individual horse race, in this case above we see the 16:00 at Newmarket, all runners are easily available for both backing and laying thanks to the nicely designed interface. Should we want to move away from the 16:00 at Newmarket then the “Today’s Races” menu found to the right of the page makes finding virtually any other race at home or worldwide really quick and easy:



The only real issue with the horse racing offering at Matchbook comes from the lack of form, stats and runner information which is not available from within this betting page (as it is on competitors including Betfair and Smarkets). Additionally, Matchbook does not provide any access to any live video feeds of horse racing (feeds which are currently available only on greyhound racing at the time of writing).

 

Football / Soccer

Another popular sport in which Matchbook continues to impress with is football, this includes coverage of several of the top leagues such as the New Zealand National League alongside many big international leagues such as the EPL, the German Bundesliga and the Portuguese Primeira Liga amongst others.



As can be seen above, the main football (soccer) homepage provides a clear view of upcoming matches with the ability to access more games by start time, country or league available via the tabs at the top of the page.



Once on the betting page for an individual fixture, in this example above Manchester City vs Arsenal, we can then begin backing or laying any of the selections within any of the main markets available for this game. Other, less mainstream markets can also be accessed via the tabs at the top of the page, such markets can often include:

• 1x2 (match odds)


• Correct Score


• Winner & BTTS


• Both Teams to Score (BTTS)


• Half-Time / Full-Time


• Goals Under / Over (0.5 / 1.5 / 2.5 / 3.5 / 4.5 etc.)


• Asian Handicap (-2.5 / -2 / -1.5 etc.)


• Odd / Even Total Goals


• Match Result & Over / Under Goals (1.5 / 2.5 / 3.5 etc.)


• Plus many more...

Whilst Matchbook don't currently provide any live streaming of football fixtures as of time of writing, they do offer a very useful live stats and live commentary box (an example of which can be seen below):



This live stats box will become live when the game starts and will show live stats for the game itself (including the number of cards, corners, attacks etc.). In Addition to this the live stats box will also include live text-based commentary as to what is happening on the field at any given moment in time (a dangerous attack by Valencia as can be seen in the Valencia vs Deportivo Alaves game above).

Overall, a great football betting offering in the making and with just 2% flat rate commission in place, a great place for those seeking the best value football bets!

 

Golf

Golf is an ever-popular sport that features good coverage at Matchbook, this includes coverage of top tournaments including the New Zealand Open alongside other popular events including The Open, the US Open, the US PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup amongst many others.



The main golf homepage (seen above) is where all golf tournaments can be found including big events or those in-play with all other events accessible via the tabs at the top of the page.

A full range of golf markets are also available at Matchbook, these include:

• Winner


• 1st round leader


• Top 5 / 10 / 20


• 1st Round top 5 / 10 / 20


• Selected players to make the cut


• And more...

 

Tennis

Tennis is another sport which remains ever popular and enjoys good coverage at Matchbook! This coverage includes coverage of many big tournaments including the ASB Classic in Auckland, the US Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open amongst many other professional tennis tournaments worldwide!

A good range of betting markets are also available for tennis events at Matchbook, these include:

• Match Winner


• Set Betting


• Total (Over / Under)


• Games (Over / Under)


• First Set Winner


• Plus others...

 

Politics

Political betting has been increasing in popularity over recent years, this is partly thanks to the number of increasingly unexpected events happening in the political world such as Donald Trump becoming the 45th President of the United States.



In response to this political betting revolution, Matchbook offers some political betting which covers some of the bigger events such as the next US President. 

Unfortunately, as can be seen in the image of the political betting homepage above, Matchbook does seem to struggle with market depth and liquidity on these mainstream political markets, especially when compared to close rivals Smarkets and market leaders Betfair (both of which have very active political betting offerings).

 

Multiples and ACCAs at Matchbook

One of the biggest reasons to stay with a traditional bookie in recent years has been the ability to place accumulator bets, often involving virtually any series of selections thanks to the modern “bet builder” type systems that many now employ.

In addition to the ability to place single bets on the exchange, Matchbook also offers players the ability to build multiples bets with up to 10 individual legs supported per bet.



As can be seen above, whenever we add 2 or more lines to the betslip we can switch over to the multiples betslip via the multiples tab (when available) on the right of the betslip. Once in this multiples betslip we will be given the odds for the combined multiple, in this example (above) we see combined odds of 11.11 for our Manchester City, Everton and Southampton Premier League treble.

NB - Currently, multiples bets at Matchbook can only be made up of back bets, if laying of multiples is important then check out our review of Smarkets (who do support laying multiples) by clicking here!

Unfortunately, one of the biggest limitations with Matchbook is that multiples are limited in that they only support a single selection per event, this means, for example, if we try to add both teams to score for one of the games above we will be refused the bet:



Furthermore, Matchbook does not, as of yet, offer the ability to cash-out any multiples bets either, be it before a leg starts or whilst a leg is already in-play as is readily available at some other providers.

Such restrictions naturally make multiples betting at Matchbook slightly more restrictive than the modern “bet builder” systems available at the more traditional bookies, but if your multiples requirements are fairly simplistic then this is still a valuable service to have built-in to the betting exchange itself.

NB - Whilst in the example above we saw a treble, Matchbook do, in fact, support many other types of multiples bets depending on what selections are in the betslip, these can include:

• Double / Treble / 4+ leg accumulators


• Patent


• Trixie


• Yankee


• Lucky 15


• Lucky 31


• Super Yankee


• Heinz


• Super Heinz


• Lucky 63


• Goliath

Before comparing the multiples betting at some other leading exchanges and bookies, there are a few important things to note when placing an accumulator bet at Matchbook:

1) Multiples involve the winnings for each leg being rolled over onto the next leg automatically, if the odds for this second leg have changed since the time the multiple was first placed (upwards or downwards) then the final payout might vary.

2) As was mentioned a little earlier on, we can only have 1x selection per sporting event in our multiples bet, this means if I was to add Manchester City to win versus Arsenal from the example above then I could not also add both teams to score (BTTS) to the multiples selection as well.

3) There is a maximum limit of only 10 selections in a multiples bet at Matchbook.

4) A maximum limit of 3 or 4 selections applies to Patent, Trixie, Lucky 15 and Doubles bets.

5) In the case of non-runners, multiples bets will automatically be reduced with the remaining legs still standing (e.g. a treble will then become a double and so on).

6) Finally, another major drawback at Matchbook is that cashing-out of multiples bets is not supported!

 

Comparing Matchbook Multiples with Other Exchanges

To check the value on offer whilst making multiples bets at Matchbook, it would be good practice to compare the odds given with those from another leading betting exchange, in this case, Smarkets.



As can be seen above, when placing the same Manchester City, Everton and Southampton accumulator at Smarkets, we are offered combined odds of 12 for the multiple (versus just 11.11 at Matchbook). Clearly not a huge difference but enough to notice if betting larger amounts on multiples at Matchbook!

Adding to the slightly better odds available at Smarkets is the ability to lay these multiples bets as well as simply just back them (and, at time of writing, Smarkets are the only exchange to support such functionality). The screenshot below shows that when we switch the “buy” button to “sell” we will now be laying the combined accumulator, notice how we also must do this at slightly higher odds of 14 versus just 12 when backing the same selections (this is Smarkets’ service fee, of sorts):



Where both Matchbook and Smarkets both falter slightly is that neither one offers the ability to cash-out these multiples bets at all (this could be worked around on the exchange, but is inconvenient to do so versus many bookies which now offer an easy cash-out function for such bets.

 

Comparing Matchbook Multiples to the Bookies

Whilst placing multiples bets at the betting exchange is clearly very useful (especially if you are already used to the often enhanced singles odds available there), it is still useful to compare the value on the exchange to that available at a more traditional bookie, in this case the leading high street and online bookmaker, William Hill.



As can be seen above, with combined odds of 10.66, William Hill is slightly behind the odds of 11.11 on offer from Matchbook for this same Man City, Everton and Southampton accumulator (and fairly poor versus the recently compared Smarkets). 

As a leading bookie it should be noted, however, that William Hill also provides much more functionality to their multiples bets via the “bet builder” style system they employ. This includes the ability to cash out multiples bets both pre-match and in-play alongside regular promotions including boosts, free bets and “ACCA insurance” should just one leg of your accumulator let you down!



Whilst it would be fair to say that Matchbook do have a solid multiples betting product with respectable odds, traditional bookies such as William Hill can still offer good odds when it comes to accumulators backed-up with the regular bonuses, insurances and free bets which have made them a favourite for accumulator fans over many years! 

 

Live Streaming and Match Stats

Matchbook do have a limited live streaming service however, as of time of writing, it is very limited and only covers a selection of greyhound racing tracks around the UK, these include:

• Central Park


• Doncaster


• Henlow


• Crayford


• Monmore


• Harlow


• Hove


• Romford

 

To active live streams, a €2 / £2 / $2 bet must be placed on the selected event beforehand (this can be either a back or lay bet).

As was mentioned earlier, whilst there is no live football streaming at Matchbook, a “live stats” box is available on many popular football matcheswhich shows (in real time) what is happening on the field alongside key stats such as the number of cards, corners and the scoreline.

 

The Matchbook Website & Smartphone Apps

A well designed and easy to navigate website and smartphone app is essential for any betting exchange provider, together they help to form a key part of the overall betting exchange experience!



As can be seen above, Matchbook have clearly worked hard on this front and, in-turn, developed and refined a visually appealing and easy to use website which makes finding any sport and placing both back and lay bets easy. 

Backing up this strong website offering is an equally well designed and easy to use smartphone app available for both iOS and Android smartphones.

 

Matchbook Casino and Games

Supplementing the sports betting side of the Matchbook exchange is a fully stocked casino and games section coming under the guise of Matchbook Casino.



Matchbook Casino features many favourite franchises including Deal or No Deal, Red Tiger, Megaways and Monopoly alongside many variations of slot machines, video poker games, Baccarat, jackpot slots and many live casino games including, Live Roulette & Blackjack, Baccarat, Poker, Monopoly Live, Dream Catcher and many more.

Account Settings

Managing any bets, both open and settled at Matchbook is easy thanks to the well designed betting history system built into the website itself.



From within this reporting system, we can keep track of any open bets as well as produce reports on the betting history across the entire account in itself, thus giving insight into any profits and losses overall.

Deposit and Withdrawal Options

Despoits

Accepted currencies:

• EUR (Euro)


• GBP (British Pound)


• US Dollar


• HKD Dollar


• AUS Dollar

Available deposit methods:

• Debit card


• Neteller / Skrill


• Paysafe

Withdrawals

You can withdraw money from Smarkets via several different methods:

• Debit card


• Neteller / Skrill


• Bank transfer

Help and Support

The Help section on the Matchbook website features several guides and articles have cover a range of subjects. However, if you need to get in touch with the customers support team, the methods below are available.

• Phone (when available, via the Contact Us section of the site)


• Email (support@matchbook.com) 


• Live Chat (for logged in customers only) Hours: 24Hrs

New customers only. Sign up today using bonus code RISKFREE and deposit at least $25. Place your first bet and if it loses, we will refund your stake as cash. The first bet must be placed within 7 days of registration and at odds of 1.8 or more to be eligible. The max refund is $20 and it will be applied to your account within 48 hours of the qualifying bet being settled. T's and C's apply. 18+. Be Gamble Aware