Smarkets is one of the newer betting exchanges. They were founded by Jason Trost a formed UBS banker to integrate financial trading aspects to sports trading. Smarkets offer a slightly more visual experience than industry leader Betfair by offering live charts and a more financial-feeling layout. They compete with Betfair by providing lower commission rates and market makers to fill liquidity gaps.
Smarkets Betting Exchange Review
Name: Smarkets Betting Exchange
Description: Smarkets is a UK-based betting exchange that allows customers to back or lay on certain events worldwide, predominantly based around sports. It works similarly to other betting exchanges with a few added perks, which we will discuss shortly. Smarkets can be used by anyone looking to either back or lay on a particular event. However, like most betting exchanges, it is aimed at the professional trading market.
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Summary
The Smarkets exchange is a platform that allows you to back, lay and trade on a multitude of sporting events, as well as some political and entertainment markets. You can bet on football, golf, cricket, rugby, basketball, handball, volleyball, and many other sports and current affairs. Its main selling point in comparison to other betting exchanges is that it offers a lower commission rate which we will come on to shortly. It perhaps doesn’t have as many markets as its competitors, and the platform lacks the experience that they have in terms of reliability, but it is more user-friendly and indeed more welcoming to customers who are not as knowledgeable about betting exchanges.
Smarkets Betting Exchange Expert Review
I’ve always liked Smarkets, I interviewed the founder Jason Trost back in 2018 I’ve been using it on and off since inception to place bets on major events, because, a. they are cheap, and b. they are good looking. And the fact that I say I like them has nothing to do with the fact that they once invited us to their box when they were sponsoring the Jockey Club at Sandown Park and let us choose the best-dressed horse in the parade ring and hand out a trophy. Absolutely nothing…
Pricing & Commission
Smarket’s unique selling point is its lower commission rates in comparison to other betting exchanges. They currently charge just two percent on winning bets, whereas Betfair’s betting exchange can charge up to five percent. This is a huge difference and one that can impact the bigger players massively. To give you an idea of how that translates, if you placed a £100 bet at odds of 5.0 and your selection won, you would win £400. Smarkets will take two percent of the profits, which is £8. Its competitors can take anything up to £20, which is a huge difference. Although £12 might not seem a lot, that is only one bet. If you worked this out across 6-12 months, it would probably be a frightening figure you have seemingly given away by not doing your research.
Market Access
Smarkets are slightly let down by their range of markets. they do cover, most of the major events, but there is better liquidity and range of markets on Betfair.
Betting on the exchange platform flips the switch on traditional betting. It allows the customer to become their own bookmaker by setting their own odds. You will often hear the phrase you will never beat the bookie, or the house always wins in gambling, well now you can become the house. Traditionally you have only ever been able to bet on something to win. However, now you can bet on something to lose, which opens up the possibilities of making a profit. For example, if you bet on a football team to win, there is only one outcome where you can win. However, if you were to lay a team to lose, you have two winning outcomes as you will also win your bet if the team you lay draws the match.
However, and this is a big however, building a betting exchange is hard, and quite frankly, unless you reach critical mass, not as profitable as being a traditional bookie. So, if you can’t find what you are looking for on exchange, you can try Smarkets sports book, SBK.
Platform & Apps
I really like the platform; it’s got a nice modern feel to it and if you look at sports trading in the same way as the financial markets, the charting and volume features are so much easier on the eye. Yes, Betfair also offers charting, but they haven’t updated the graphics in years, so it’s like trying to trade on a Windows 95 PC.
Customer Service
It’s always helpful enough when you need it.
Research & Analysis
Smarkets have their own press release team and can often keep you up to date with the latest sporting and political events. The Smarkets blog works similar to a newsfeed. It keeps you updated with all current affairs to make a better-educated decision on your trades. Their own team continuously updates it with the latest content, so you never miss a beat. It updates you on the latest political news, current affair, and much more. It also offers an insight into the industry and how the present markets are performing. There are topics on wellbeing and mental health too.
Smarkets New Customer Offers
You can currently get 0% commission when you trade for 60 days when you open a new Smarkets betting exchange account. Full terms and conditions are on the website but basically you need to use code COMMFREE to trade with 0% for 60 days. It is only valid for new UK, IE & Malta users who deposit a minimum of £10/€10 first deposit only using Card or Instant Banking. Full T&Cs apply.
Latest Smarkets Free Bets & New Customer Sign-Up Bonuses
See all the latest free bets and offers from Smarkets and get free bets and discounts. To use the free bets, click on the code or the button to take you directly to the offer.
Smarkets Promo Code
Like most betting platforms, Smarkets offers a welcome bonus when you sign up to become a member. The offer currently running comes into play when you open an account and deposit £20 using either a bank or credit card or via a bank transfer. Once you place a bet, if that bet loses, they will refund up to £10 of that bet, offering a safety cushion. Like all promotional offers, there are terms and conditions, so be sure to read them so that you know exactly how to qualify. Compared to other betting exchanges, this is an inferior offer and perhaps makes Smarkets look small compared to their competitors.
Smarkets Commission
As previously mentioned, Smarket’s unique selling point is its lower commission rates in comparison to other betting exchanges. They currently charge just two percent on winning bets, whereas its competitors can charge up to five percent. This is a huge difference and one that can impact the bigger players massively. To give you an idea of how that translates, if you placed a £100 bet at odds of 5.0 and your selection won, you would win £400. Smarkets will take two percent of the profits, which is £8. Its competitors can take anything up to £20, which is a huge difference. Although £12 might not seem a lot, that is only one bet. If you worked this out across 6-12 months, it would probably be a frightening figure you have seemingly given away by not doing your research.
Smarkets Accumulators
An accumulator is a bet that is made up of more than one selection, which increases your odds but decreases your chances. Smarkets allows you to do this, which wasn’t initially offered by betting exchanges. It is unique in that you have the option to either back or lay the grouped selections. There are some limitations to this. You can only choose to lay your accumulator if every selection has available liquidity in that market. There are also some limitations on the markets you can select. However, overall this is an excellent added tool to have.
Smarkets Sign Up Offer
As previously mentioned, Smarkets does offer a sign-up offer where you can redeem £10 of the losses on your first bet. As we have discovered, this offer is meagre compared to Smarkets competitors and does let them down slightly. To be eligible, you have to place a bet of £20 on one single selection. This can sometimes catch people out as the offer is to redeem £10 of your losses. That is why it is always important to read the terms and conditions. You also have to make the deposit using a card or bank transfer. If you place your initial deposit through another platform, the offer is invalid.
Smarkets 0% (Zero percent) Commission
Smarkets often run zero percent commission offers through affiliate sites such as OddsMonkey, Profit Accumulator, and Profit Maximiser. They have one running at present, which expires at the end of March. To be eligible, you must be a premium member of one of those sites and ensure that you opt into the offer. Again, you have to ensure that you are depositing via a card or bank transfer to qualify. Their competitors occasionally offer this feature to new customers.
Smarkets Sportsbook
Smarkets does have a sportsbook facility; however, it is on a completely different platform called SBK. A sportsbook works similarly to an exchange service. Regardless, instead of betting against another user, you are betting against a bookmaker. The sportsbook does not charge you a commission, but the odds are usually slightly less generous than those of the exchange markets.
Smarkets US Election Betting
As previously mentioned, Smarkets offers its customers some unique markets to trade on, including politics. As well as the obvious next US president markets, they provide other opportunities to trade on for those that don’t want to have to wait a full presidential term. These include where the new US president will select as his first international visit, who will be nominated to stand for the republicans in 2024, and will the new president see out a full term.
Smarkets Withdrawal Time
Like any exchange of bookmaker service, withdrawal times can be dependent on your bank. However, most card transaction withdrawals will take between one to six days to hit your bank account. Suppose you decide to withdraw via bank transfer. In that case, it will take considerably longer, and you will be looking at around five to ten days to receive your money. There are quicker methods such as Neteller, Skrill, and Paypal, which usually take one to two to complete. It is also worth noting that there is a charge of £10 to withdraw via bank transfer, so not only is it going to take you longer to receive your money, it is going to cost you also.
Smarkets Trade Out
Betting on the exchange offers you the chance to trade out of your bet, which not all bookmakers allow. There are a few reasons you might want to trade out of your bet, but the main ones are to reduce your exposure, guarantee your profit, or cancel a bet that you may have changed your mind on. So, whether your football team is 1-0 up with ten minutes go and they’re hanging on by the skin of their teeth, or you have placed a bet pre-match, and since found out that the team’s star player isn’t playing, you can trade out of your bet. It works as follows: if you place £10 on team A to win at odds of 4.00 and they are winning 2-1 at halftime, and you want to guarantee a profit in the match, you can then select to lay them. As they are winning, the odds of them winning the game are much shorter at 2.00. Therefore, you could choose to lay them for your initial stake to ensure that you can’t lose any money. If they win, you will get back £20, and if they lose, you will break even.
Cashing Out On Smarkets
Cash-out and trade-out are fundamentally the same thing but use different processes. A trade out works by you calculating the math yourself and offers you the chance to win or lose a percentage of your profits or state back. A cash-out is completed by the hosting platform and will predetermine how much you will get back. Of course, you can do this with a trade out if you work the math out properly yourself. At the point of a cash-out, your bet will be ended there and then at the amount offered to you, but in a trade-out, you will still wait until the end of the result to be paid out.
Smarkets Blog
The Smarkets blog works similar to a newsfeed. It keeps you updated with all current affairs to make a better-educated decision on your trades. Their own team continuously updates it with the latest content, so you never miss a beat. It updates you on the latest political news, current affair, and much more. It also offers an insight into the industry and how the present markets are performing. There are topics on wellbeing and mental health too.
Smarkets Deposit Methods
Smarkets offers a multitude of ways to deposit, much like many other exchanges and bookmakers. There are the typical debit and credit card payments which are the most popular formats to use. However, you can also deposit via bank transfer, Pay Pal, Trustly, Neteller, and Skrill. The minimum deposit through most formats is £10 except for bank transfers and Paypal, which is £20, and Trustly, which is £40.
Smarkets New Customer Offers
As previously touched upon, Smarkets do offer new customers a risk-free £10 welcome bonus. It won’t be described as risk-free as that is often less appealing to customers, but essentially that is what it is. To qualify, you need to deposit £20 via a card payment or bank transfer. Other payment methods will not make you eligible. You will be automatically refunded £10 of your £20 stake on your first bet should it lose. The bonus is low compared to its competitors as you essentially have to lose £10 to receive it.
Smarkets News
Smarkets have their own press release team and can often keep you up to date with the latest sporting and political events.
Smarkets Royal Ascot Betting
Smarkets offer detailed daily previews of the Royal Ascot horse racing meeting every year. They offer many ante-post markets, which will become available closer the time. These detailed graphs can come in handy when betting on the ante-post markets. You can track exactly where the money is going in that particular market.
Smarkets Arbitrage Calculator
An arbitrage bet can also be known as a sure bet or sure win and works by the bettor placing a series of bets on one particular market that will guarantee them to profit or, at worst, they will break even. The arbitrage calculator works out how much you have to stake on each outcome to make a profit. A simple example can be explained as follows: You have two basketball teams to bet on the money line market, which takes the draw out of the equation. Team A is priced at 1.6, and Team B is priced at 4.00. Enter these odds into the calculator with the amount you are willing to stake out. The calculator will work out how much of that stake to place on each selection. Therefore, if your stake were £10 in this particular market, you would place £7.14 on Team A and £2.86 on Team B, and you would be guaranteed a return of £11.43, making a profit of £1.43.
Smarkets Lay Commission
Smarkets charge an industry-low two percent on all winning bets whether you have backed or laid that bet. You are not charged anything if your bet losses.
Trading on Smarkets
Betting on the exchange platform flips the switch on traditional betting. It allows the customer to become their own bookmaker by setting their own odds. You will often hear the phrase you will never beat the bookie, or the house always wins in gambling, well now you can become the house. Traditionally you have only ever been able to bet on something to win. However, now you can bet on something to lose, which opens up the possibilities of making a profit. For example, if you bet on a football team to win, there is only one outcome where you can win. However, if you were to lay a team to lose, you have two winning outcomes as you will also win your bet if the team you lay draws the match.
Smarkets FAQ
How Smarkets works?
Smarkets is an exchange platform that allows customers to bet against one another. We can choose to back or lay a bet at our own desired odds.
Can you cash out on Smarkets?
Yes, Smarkets does allow you to cash out or trade out, as it is also known as in the exchange trading industry.
What is trade out on Smarkets?
The trade-out facility allows users to minimise their losses or lock in their profit at any given time during or before an event.
How does Smarkets work?
Smarkets is a betting exchange that allows its users to exchange bets between themselves rather than the more traditional way or against a bookmaker.
What is Smarkets Commission?
The Smarkets commission is set at two percent on all winning bets. There is no commission on losing bets.
Who owns Smarkets?
Jason Trost is the CEO and founder of Smarkets, and their headquarters are based in London, England.
How do I cash out on Smarkets?
To cash out of a bet on the Smarkets platform, you need to click on the trade-out button. You will then be asked to confirm the cash/out trade-out before this process is completed.
How long do Smarkets withdrawals take?
The withdrawal request will be processed immediately, but the withdrawal duration will be determined by the method you used. Typically, all card payments will take between one to six days to reach your card. Bank transfers will take longer and will reach your account within five to ten days of the request. If you are using another method such as Neteller, Paypal, or Skrill, it usually takes between one to two days.
How long does Smarkets take to withdraw?
The withdrawal request will be processed immediately, but the withdrawal duration will be determined by the method you used. Typically, all card payments will take between one to six days to reach your card. Bank transfers will take longer and will reach your account within five to ten days of the request. If you are using another method such as Neteller, Paypal, or Skrill, it usually takes between one to two days.
How to cash out on Smarkets?
To cash out of a bet on the Smarkets platform, you need to click on the trade-out button. You will then be asked to confirm the cash/out trade-out before this process is completed.
How to lay a bet on Smarkets?
To place a lay bet on any market, select the blue box with the odds of the selection inside it. The current odds will automatically be set, but you do have the option to change these odds if you wish.
How to lay bet on Smarkets?
To place a lay bet on any market, select the blue box with the odds of the selection inside it. The current odds will automatically be fixed, but you do have the option to change these odds if you wish.
How to trade out on Smarkets?
To trade out of a bet on the Smarkets platform, you need to click on the trade out button. You will then be asked to confirm the cash/out trade-out before this process is completed.
How to use Smarkets?
Once you have identified the market you wish to bet on, you need to either click on back or lay, which is highlighted in either a green or blue box next to the market heading. Once you have selected this, you need to accept the odds that the market is currently providing or enter your own odds. You will then be asked to confirm this selection. Once your choice is approved and the bet is matched, you are often given the option to trade out on most bets before and during the event.
Is Smarkets down?
Like all exchanged and betting platforms, they can go down from time to time, and they can also require maintenance to upgrade servers, etc. However, if this is the case, all customers are duly notified in an ample amount of time.
Is Smarkets legit?
Smarkets are a reputable company and regulated by the Gambling Commission.
Is Smarkets safe?
Smarkets is secure, and they use the latest Transport Layer Security to ensure that all of your details remain safe at all times.
What does trade out mean on Smarkets?
The term trade out means that you want to lock in a certain amount before the event is completed. This can be either profit or loss, or you may wish to cancel out a bet.
What is Smarkets?
Smarkets is a betting exchange that allows its users to bet against each other on selected sporting, political, and current affairs markets. The service enables its customers to choose to either be the traditional punter and back a selection or to essentially become the bookmaker and lay a selection.
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Customer Reviews
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What gamblers think of Smarkets
Great - Bit like a trading platform...
Always liked Smarkets, great interface, although liquidity could be better.