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After yesterday’s bout of bookie bashing where we revealed who you voted for as the worst bookmaker from 2014 (Hello Stan James), today its time to uncover the bookmakers you actually rated as the best.

These are the bookmakers that either offer a high quality of service, welcome winners or simply put forward the best value odds.

The results were compiled from both the public and SBC member votes received via our December 2014 survey – designed to build the ultimate list of the best bookmakers.

So without further ado, here are the results for the best bookmaker category as voted for by YOU!

Bet365 – Have A Bang On That!

Clear top of the pile this year and taking the Gold award was Staffordshire-based bookies Bet365 who polled 36.5% of the popular vote.

Next up was last year’s winner – Pinnacle Sports who took Silver with a commendable 23.0% whilst Betfair scooped 19.7% of the vote and the Bronze award.

Interestingly – Pinnacle were last year’s winner with 42.7% of the vote, they lost a fair chunk of support in 2014, a decision no doubt influenced by their withdrawal from the UK market back in October this year.

Further down the poll, both relative newcomer Matchbook and old-stager William Hill also polled a creditable share of votes with 7.6% and 7.0% respectively.

Congrats must go to Bet365 though for scooping the top prize!

Better Bookmakers = Better Punting

Just as it is important to know who not to bet with – so it is even more vital to know exactly which bookmakers you SHOULD bet with and why.

The best bookmakers and exchanges very often put forward the best value odds and ultimately better odds means better profits for you when your bets come in.

Those such as Pinnacle Sports & Matchbook also actively welcome winners – so if you are fearful of not getting on or being limited for being profitable, they offer a genuine solution.

Please note – those of you based in the UK who are no longer able to bet with Pinnacle, should certainly check out Matchbook. Read our exclusive interview here as to why.

We also feel it is very important to highlight both the best and worst in the industry, given the lack of clarity suffered by punters when it comes to finding the right bookmakers.

Access The Full Awards Report

If interested in reading more on this topic, you can access our full 2015 Awards Report as a Smart Betting Club member.

Inside this special report you can find…

• The very best tipsters as voted for by SBC members including the Best Racing, Sports & Overall Tipster awards (Gold, Silver & Bronze awards for each)
• The very best Free Tipster as voted for by SBC members (Gold, Silver & Bronze awards)
• SBC members 2014 ‘Betting Hero’ (The person that inspired them the most last year)
• The best betting website as voted by both SBC members and the general public
• Plus the full stats on the fact that 83.61% of SBC members made a profit last year from their betting

All available to you the instant you sign-up as a Smart Betting Club member.

Sign-up For Your Instant SBC Membership

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In a belated attempt to catch up with what most of us in the betting industry have long known, the Racing Post has been publishing a short series on the issue of betting restrictions this week.

Long castigated for not wanting to rock the boat by criticising the same firms that advertise so heavily with them, it is a step in the right direction, if only the most gentle and tentative of steps.

Yet one of the key topics that these articles fails to address is what this actually means for you as a punter wanting to make money betting.

Does it mean you should stop betting altogether and hang up your punting boots?

Thankfully – it doesn’t, as there is plenty you can do to help your own betting. You just have to be shrewd, adopt the right tactics and bet on the right sports in the right way.

So to help you with that, today I have 5 tips on winning the punters v bookies war…

1) Know Thy Enemy

” If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. ” Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Bookies love to blur the lines when it comes to the simple fact of betting…they only make money when you lose.

They want to lull you into a false sense of security, encourage brand loyalty (so you bet with them as you like them rather than getting best price) and make you forget about their true intentions.

So for all the friendly bluster, funny twitter feeds and TV ads encouraging you to ‘have a bang on that’ – never forget that this it is all simply a ploy to help you lose money so they can win.

2) Cover Your ‘Betting Tracks’ With A VPN

Bookmakers these days are able to identify you as a shrewd punter via your IP (Internet Protocol) address and once flagged you will be quickly cut adrift. The solution therefore is to use one of the many VPN (Virtual Private Network) solutions out there to prevent this.

A VPN simply allows you to mask your IP address location and are widely used by those affected by geo-blocking (E.g. Enabling you to watch Sky Go while outside the UK for example).

One very easy to use VPN is called Zenmate, which is a free add on to your internet browser and you can turn it on and off in an instant.

A VPN like Zenmate will also help you if opening up new bookmaker accounts, as it will hide your IP address and ensuring the bookie cant link your past restricted account with your new ‘clean one’.

As a footnote to this point – I do advise reading our special feature on VPN’s and other bookie tracking devices cookies in SBC 89 and 90 for the full lowdown on this topic.

3) Behave Like A ‘Mug Punter’

Prevention is always better than cure and often the best way to avoid restrictions is to pretend to be a mug punter.

For example, Bet Victor like to see their customers play in the online casino for the simple reason that the vast, vast majority of people who do, lose money and help swell their shareholders coffers.

Therefore the simple act of spinning £10 or £20 on the roulette or blackjack table every couple of weeks can help keep up the charade that you might not actually know what you are doing. Even if you actually do.

4) Increase Your Betting on Football

Most of the difficulties punters face getting on these days revolves around horse racing, where bookies are very wary of taking bets on the sport.

This has also lead to many punters frustrated by horse racing to turn to football, where it is a heck of lot easier to get on and make money betting.

In fact, football is awash with bookies and exchanges willing to take your bets on the sport (such as Matchbook & Smarkets) with many of them offering competitive odds, high stakes and who actively welcome winners.

It is one reason why many SBC members after maximising all they can via horse racing, look to football to expand their profits.

5) Look To The States

It’s not just football capturing punters imagination these days but US Sports such as NBA, NFL & NHL which offer some fantastic opportunities for shrewd punters to win money without restriction.

If you have never bet on some of these sports or have no idea how they work, then rest assured they are actually very easy to follow indeed. The markets again offer great liquidity, competitive odds and make the horse racing betting market look prehistoric.

With BT Sport now showing NBA games and Sky making a big splash on their Sunday evening NFL action, betting on US Sports is only going to get more popular.

To cater for this interest – we recently launched our first ever US Sports Reports in October, to help uncover some of the best Stateside tipsters.

More punters than ever are turning to the US betting markets and its easy to see why.

It’s Hard Work If Betting Alone

With the problems facing racing punters and the increasing interest in US Sports & football betting, it is easy to see why the likes of the Racing Post should be worried.

If punters start to move away from racing, then why would they need their paper?

Certainly without proper advice and guidance on how to play the racing bookies at their own game, it is very difficult to win on the sport long-term.

A racing punter without applied knowledge on things like cookies and VPN’s or how to bet like a mug, really stands little to no chance to make sustained profits.

Help Is At Hand

Help is at hand for those of you keen to find out more not just on sustainable racing betting but football and US Sports with a Smart Betting Club membership.

In our bookie special magazine released earlier this year we helped reveal:

• How the bookies really work (as explained by our bookie mole)
• 8 ways you can pretend to be a mug-punter
• The truth about why your account might be limited (and how to avoid this!)
• The 5 stages of profitable betting – how to go from total novice to pro (by time-served experts)
• The pro punter with 15 years experience beating the bookies

PLUS we also recently published a special feature on using Virtual Private Networks to beat the bookies which discusses:

• How to safely open new betting accounts.
• How VPN’s work and why they are so useful.
• The best free & paid-for VPN options.
• How they can keep you winning long-term.
• Other ‘bookie tracking’ security concerns

All of which is accessible with a Smart Betting Club subscription – available now with a full money back guarantee if in anyway not satisfied by our service.

Sign-up For Your Instant SBC Membership

Following on from recent interviews with both Matchbook & Smarkets, today you can find our latest interview with another betting exchange worth checking out – World Bet Exchange (or WBX for short)

WBX offer markets on sports such as football, horse racing, cricket, tennis alongside many other popular betting events. For those of you impacted by the withdrawal of the likes of Pinnacle Sports from the UK market, they offer another solution for you.

In fact, whether or not you are a UK based punter or not, there is every chance that WBX might well be of interest to you, especially given the wide range of sports they cover.

To find out more on what they offer, Peter over at WBX was kind enough to answer a variety of our questions on their service.

All new WBX accounts can also earn up to £25/ €25/ $35 in free bets (depending on the currency you use)

SBC: For those unaware of your service, can you briefly introduce WBX and what it is you offer punters? WBX:

WBX (World Bet Exchange) is a leading sports betting exchange that launched in 2006 when the founders saw an opportunity to put control back into the hands of punters by offering an alternative betting exchange to market leader Betfair.

WBX has competitive odds that are often better than those found at traditional bookmakers. The odds are comparable to other leading exchanges.

There is a large selection of sporting events, covering over 20 sports internationally, with better live odds especially on high interest sporting events such as Australian Open Tennis, Cricket ODI/Twenty20, Premier League matches and more.

Many punters are now looking for alternatives to the likes of Pinnacle Sports & SBOBet who have recently left the UK market due to the new gambling and licensing act and its Point Of Consumption (POC) Tax.

Can you confirm you will be trading beyond the 1st November with UK punters and detail how the new gambling act impacts you as a business if at all?

I can confirm that WBX and its members will not be affected by the legislative change. WBX has been licensed in the UK for more than ten years since before its launch and have always paid duty to the HMRC for all its members.

The main effect is that it will put our competitors on an even playing field with WBX in the UK.  With several major players dropping out of the UK betting market, there will be many punters looking for new sites to bet with.

Those that are applying for the license in order to continue operating in the UK will likely look to recoup these costs somehow, with some passing it along to their members in the form of lower odds for bookies and higher commission for betting exchanges.   WBX commission rates will remain unchanged.

The new POC tax has knocked out plenty of your competitors for the time being at least. What would you say to those people looking for an alternative place to bet and considering WBX?

As you mentioned in the previous question, Pinnacle Sports is one of the top bookmakers leaving the UK market.  Relative to other bookmakers they have a good reputation for offering good odds and welcoming winners. These are two of the core strengths that WBX offers its members. The odds available at WBX are often much better than those you can find with bookmakers, and we do not discriminate against winners. After all, if you aren’t allowed to win then what is the point of betting?

As an added incentive to switch to WBX, we will match existing discount rates with competitor betting exchanges. For example, if you have a 30% commission discount rate with Betfair or Ladbrokes Exchange/Betdaq, simply sign up with WBX and contact our Member Services team to carry over your discount at WBX.

Traders can look at WBX as an alternative to bet with when the odds are favourable. With lower commission and no premium charges, you can make the same bets at WBX with added security in the event of unscheduled maintenance at the exchange you normally bet with – you will be able to trade out at WBX if you find yourself heavily exposed during downtime.

What are your current fees and commission rates and will these be changing in the future, especially in regards to the new point of consumption tax?

The commission rate varies from 3% to 5% charged on net winnings in a market and is based on the number of entrants.

The way it works is if a market has 3 entrants or less, for example a football match with win/lose/draw, a basketball match with win/lose, cricket match with win/lose/draw, in fact most team sports, we charge 3% on net winnings in a market. Other sports with more than 3 entrants such as horse racing, greyhounds or winner markets will be charged 5% on net winnings in a market.

Most payment types offered such as Skrill/Moneybookers and NETeller have no charges, with a few at a small fee. These fees are often subsidized by WBX to be lower than the actual cost price so it is very fair for the member.  For a full list, check it out here.

As mentioned earlier, WBX is positively affected by the new legislation, with no plans to increase the commission rate or increase any costs to our members.

Can you tell me more about your loyalty discounts and how they work? How much does a customer need to trade on WBX to start to benefit from them?

The WBX Loyalty Discount is based on how many WBX points you have accumulated.  Members receive 1 WBX Point for every £1 in commission generated by their bets. Whether this is on the winning side or losing side of the bet, Members will still receive 1 point.  For example, if you win £40 on a horse race and pay £2 commission, you will get a 1% discount on your commission. If you reach 8 WBX points, it is a 2% discount and so on.

The more you bet, the more WBX points you get and this increases your WBX Loyalty Discount percentage that is capped at 60%, equating to a rate as low as 1.2%.  The 60% discount rate is generally achieved by high volume traders and market makers giving them an added incentive to bet more at WBX.

However, getting a 20% discount rate is much more achievable to the mid-range punter.  For example if you tend to bet on horses or greyhounds a 20% discount from 5% to 4% commission would account for a win/loss record of £15.6k or 780 WBX points.

Furthermore, WBX is the only betting exchange to offer a Loyalty Refund. The way that this works is if you improve your discount rate, any commission paid in the previous 60 days will automatically be counted with your discount applied. If you trade in high volumes this can benefit you, knowing you’ll get to 60% rate within 2 months of joining. You can rest assure that all of your earlier bets will be on the lowered rate as well, because WBX will refund you the difference.

How does your take on commission compare with your competitors?

If you were to bet on football at Betfair, compared to WBX you’re paying nearly twice the commission there. When our odds are very similar it means you are winning more on your bets at WBX and don’t need to worry about additional ‘premium charges’ that are aimed at Betfair accounts who are showing a profit.  These charges can be as high as 60% of the gross profits on winning punters, so if you have a gross profit of £10,000 you would be handing them back £6,000 in premium charges.

In fact once you factor in WBX Loyalty Discount, WBX actually charges the lowest commission of any betting exchange. For serious traders that focus on sports such as football and tennis, WBX commission can be as low as 1.2% on wins. This is far lower than Betfair and Betdaq, nearly half Smarkets, and when you factor in Matchbook charging 1% on wins and losses it beats their rate as well.

We also do not vary the commission rate from one country to another, as we have seen others increase their rates as high as 7.5%.

Which markets and sports offer the best liquidity at WBX?

Horse racing is the top sport on offer at WBX. In the minutes leading up to each race the betting activity picks up to a furious pace with odds rapidly moving as members get their bets down in a flurry. It can be a very exciting sport to bet on at the exchange, and part of the attraction to that is the ability to both back and lay bets, as well as seeing much higher odds on outsiders than you would get at a bookmaker. For example middle of the pack horses in big races are paying between 13.0 to 16.0 at the bookies, but are paying 40.0 and higher at WBX so there are opportunities to win 2-3 times as much on the exchange.

Football is another very popular sport, particularly the bigger leagues like Premier League and Champions League. WBX offers over 3,000 football markets weekly and has an excellent selection of live betting markets with a lot of activity on the bigger matches. However, we also offer a varied number of other leagues the average punter can easily get bets down on local tournaments if betting on them is of interest, for example Singapore S League, or Paraguay Primera Division.

Tennis, is undoubtedly another of our Members’ favourites to bet on. Every match from the ATP and WTA tours is offered live.  There are great opportunities to trade and lock in profits as odds swing from one point to the next.

Cricket and Greyhound racing are also very popular, American sports such as NFL and NBA, and Australian sports like AFL and NRL also have a growing following on the exchange.

For live betting, WBX offers better live odds with good liquidity on high interest sporting events such as Australian Open Tennis, Cricket ODI/Twenty20 and Premier League.

Do you have any stats or details on how your liquidity compares with your competitors? Are there certain markets or sports where there are specific advantages to using WBX?

WBX members have wagered over £1,000,000,000 on the exchange and over 3 million bets are processed daily. Most markets offer competitive odds and members can easily get their bets matched. The advantage to betting at WBX is that it combines the best of both worlds when it comes to lower commission, and a large selection of pre-match and live markets to bet on.

There are exchanges that have high liquidity and charge hidden fees and commissions, there are also exchanges that have low commission but the liquidity and selection of markets can be quite poor. WBX is a well-balanced medium, in that it is one of the major players in the exchange betting market, while also having low commissions and a reputation as a trusted betting exchange.

What odds comparison (if any) websites do you appear on?

Odds Monkey and Sports Punter are just a few sites that carry WBX odds, there’s far too many to list. Our affiliate program offers the XML odds feed so webmasters can promote our better odds. In return we give them a generous 50% of the revenue that’s generated by those referrals so it is a win-win-win situation for us, the affiliate and the member.

Do you have a mobile website or app?

Yes, unlike other sites that have members to download an app we’ve simplified the experience for the visitor.  When a visitor accesses WBX with their mobile or tablet, it’ll automatically detect it and give them the choice to access the standard WBX.com website, or a version that is optimised to their device. There are 3 versions of the site suited for smartphones, tablet devices, or for older mobile phones, offering them the same secure experience with the same odds and markets available as the main WBX website.

We also run promotions occasionally for mobile users, and we recently had a £10 free bet for tablet users which was quite popular.

A regular criticism of the likes of Betfair is in relation to their website downtime – how does WBX compare on this front and how stable is your platform?

WBX.com boasts a 99.9% uptime. It is uncommon to have any unscheduled downtime. The technical team runs a very tight ship and understand how important it is for traders to have access to a reliable exchange betting platform. Nobody wants to have a large bet exposed and suddenly see a down for maintenance message appear.

How safe and secure is money deposited with WBX?

Member funds are extremely safe. In fact, WBX is possibly the single safest website to bet at. There are a few reasons for this, firstly, WBX is not like any normal bookmaker where they are exposed to large bets going against their expectation and suffering heavy losses. Our members bet against each other so there is no risk no matter the outcome – one side will win, one side will lose, WBX simply acts as a broker to facilitate people betting against each other.

Member funds are kept secure in a trust fund under a separate company, WBX Member Funds Limited. This trust fund can only be used to pay out winning member bets, and undergoes regular independent external audits with the results published quarterly on the WBX website.

WBX does not make slow pay outs or give customers the run around. With WBX you are betting with a reputable betting exchange and can rest assured that when you bet and win you will receive your winnings.

Do you have any other developments or upcoming improvements to the WBX service you can tell us about?

We are looking to further improve our live betting offerings available for basketball and other sports. Although we often receive positive feedback for our website’s intuitive and quick response design and feel, we are planning to improve it in the near future.

WBX have been around for several years – what would you say to those who may have tried you in the past as to why they should revisit your website?

As WBX continues to grow in popularity, the betting experience also improves because it is the members on the exchange that dictate the quality of the odds on offer. Our live betting offering has improved and for those that have been betting at other exchanges, as mentioned earlier we will match their commission discount rate.

Also, if anyone reading this found something lacking in their experience with WBX, we welcome constructive criticism and would love to hear from you first hand on what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn’t like. Our member services team will value any feedback that you have to offer.

Finally, do you offer any incentives or free bet offers for those registering for the first time with your website?

Yes, WBX members receive £25 / €25 / $35 in free bets. The first free bet is given as a £/€10 free bet when the member has won or lost £/€100. The way that this works is that they can win £/€50 then lose £/€50 and this will be enough to generate their first £/€10 free bet, with more free bets to come in £/€5 increments.

Something that sets our free bets aside from most is that winnings from those free bets can be withdrawn immediately without having to roll it over x number of times at certain odds. Members are free to bet at the odds they choose, which is something that many bonuses do not allow in their fine print.

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Our thanks go to WBX for taking the time to answer these

questions. Find out more and open a WBX account 

For More Help With Your Betting…

If you enjoyed this interview with WBX, you can find access more expertise dedicated to helping you improve your betting profits as a member of the Smart Betting Club.

With everything from independent tipster reviews to expert guidance on the best bookmakers that you should be using – we have plenty to offer that can make a big difference to your betting bottom-line.

Read More On How We Can Help YOUR Betting

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Hot on the heels of our Q&A session with Matchbook last week, today we have an interview with another up and coming betting exchange of note – Smarkets.

Smarkets operate a low commission betting exchange with a variety of markets catered for including horse racing, football, tennis & political bets.

This interview is part of our quest to seek out more genuine bookmaking alternatives for UK punters impacted by the withdrawal of Pinnacle Sports & SBObet from the UK market.

In fact, whether or not you are a UK based punter or not, there is every chance that Smarkets might well be of interest to you, especially given the wide range of sports they cover.

To find out more on what they offer, Chris over at Smarkets was kind enough to answer a variety of questions, including a number put forward by some of you via the SBC Twitter account.

All new Smarkets accounts are also eligible for a £10 welcome bonus as long as you deposit at least £20 with them initially.

So without further ado, here is our interview with Smarkets…

SBC: For those unaware of your service, can you briefly introduce Smarkets and what you can offer punters?

Smarkets: Smarkets is a sports-betting exchange that has been operating since 2010. Across the industry odds are bad value and operator margins are too high. We want to change that, and bring the efficiency and transparency of financial markets to the betting industry.

Already with Smarkets you have access to liquid markets on all major sports, including football, tennis and horse racing, with an industry-low commission of 2% on winnings only. Our longer term aim is to be the cheapest, leanest and slickest betting experience on the web. We want people who care about price, liquidity and technology to see Smarkets as their go-to exchange.

SBC: Many punters are now looking for alternatives to the likes of Pinnacle Sports & SBOBet who have recently left the UK market due to the new gambling and licensing act. Can you make a definite statement that you have no plans to leave the UK market?

Smarkets: Sure – we are not leaving the UK. The UK is very much our core market. We have registered with the Gambling Commission in the UK, who will be issuing continuation licences in the next month, so we will be able to continue to accept customers from here.

SBC: Mindful of this, how does this new Gambling Act impact you as a business if at all?

Smarkets: If anything this is an opportunity for us. We won’t experience any significant extra costs and the shakeup of the UK betting industry can only be a positive occurrence as we obtain a UK license and fill the vacuum from other companies leaving.

SBC: The new tax has knocked out plenty of your competitors for the time being at least. What would you say to those people looking for an alternative place to bet and considering Smarkets?

Smarkets: We’d say to them that if you are a savvy trader that cares about value, odds and liquidity, Smarkets is the place to trade. Our markets are liquid and offer some of the best odds out there. Our commission is a simple, no catches, no small-print, 2% on net winnings, with no charges for volume. As a result you win more with Smarkets than almost any other operator. If you’re not convinced and just want to try us out without committing, we also offer a £10 sign-up bonus, which will refund any losing bets back to you.

SBC: What are your current fees and commission rates and will these be changing in the future, especially in regards to the new point of consumption tax?

Smarkets: We charge a flat 2% commission on net winnings. You can trade as much as you like and in and out of a market without incurring any charges – only your net winnings will be charged. With no charges on betting volume we believe that makes our commission the best value out there.

The UK point of consumption tax won’t impact that. We’re one of the leanest operators around, with a smart core development team and low overheads. This means we can absorb the taxes better than most other companies. Our outlook, that margins in the industry remain too high and need challenging, is not going to change.

SBC: In terms of the markets you offer, how does the liquidity and the amount of money available to back and lay stand up on key sports such as football and horse racing?

Smarkets: We calculate volume in a market by adding up how much has been risked.  Volume traded can be larger elsewhere though this does not impact the liquidity available. In the context of horse racing I’ve found our liquidity to be at the same level as our competitors. If a trader wants to place a very large bet then he should have no problem getting matched with us if the market is also liquid elsewhere.

SBC: How do you calculate how much money is traded (i.e. the liquidity?) I ask as when I compare a horse racing market available on Betfair with Smarkets, there does seem to be a much greater volume of money matched on Betfair.

Smarkets: The volume traded at other exchanges can be significantly more though it is also worth considering that all exchanges use different formulas for measuring this. Whilst volume traded may be larger elsewhere this does not impact the liquidity available. In the context of horse racing I’ve found our liquidity to be at the same level as our competitors. If a trader wants to place a very large bet then he should have no problem getting matched with us if the market is also liquid elsewhere.

SBC: When trying to place several bets quickly, I found your website navigation a little clunky and hard to move between markets easily. Your sub-menus appear in the main window, rather than underneath the parent section. Have you any plans to change this or improve the flow between markets for users?

Smarkets: We do get a lot of comments about this and we will be working on updating this soon. In the meantime, the search bar should offer a quick way to switch between markets.

SBC: Do you have plans to introduce a price and volume of money history (including a graph) for any bet you offer, similar to that available on the likes of Betfair?

Smarkets: Yes, adding richer and more detailed trading data is on the roadmap. We already publish trading volume stats and we’ll be looking to add to this to ensure transparency.

SBC: What odds comparison (if any) websites do you appear on?

Smarkets: We have a public odds feed available and those sites currently publishing it include Odds Monkey, Best Betting, BetBrain, BetOnValue, OddsOddsOdds, amongst many others.

SBC: Via our twitter account – @SunnyRanmal wanted us to ask if you were looking to address the amount of downtime and unreliability that your IT systems experience?

Smarkets: We recognise that downtime has been an issue in the past – given we care so much about technology it’s something we’re a little embarrassed about. Part of the problem we face is that as we grow we experience new technological challenges related to the overall load on the site – to give an idea as to the scale of that problem, since January our active user base has tripled, while at the same time you find increasing numbers of scrapers and other heavy load users. We’ve expanded our engineering team to help us meet this demand.

That said, we’ve made some big changes recently that have improved downtime statistics – as we write this, we are currently running at 99.9863% uptime over the last 30 days. That’s largely come from some infrastructure changes we’ve made. We’re continuing to make changes in the coming weeks which will allow us to quickly scale up to meet demand during peak times. We are also focusing at present on improving site performance and responsiveness, especially during busy periods.

SBC: Also on twitter – @CrazedAlchemist asked how long it will be before you introduce a mobile/tablet app for use with Smarkets?

Smarkets: We already offer some mobile functionality at m.smarkets.com. This is suitable for any smart phone and offers most of the features of the exchange but on your phone. Alongside this we released a Smarkets app for android last year. We will also be developing a dedicated app for iOS, which we plan to do within the next 12 months.

SBC: @Levelstakes also wanted to know how secure the money deposited with you is and whether it was ringfenced?

Smarkets: Yes, player funds are segregated from our company funds and held in separate accounts with regulated financial institutions in the European Union. The Malta LGA and since May 2014, the UK Gambling Commission have both required a high level of protection and reporting of player funds. This reduces the chances of players losing out in the event of insolvency. We’re also currently a well-funded business with low costs and with investment from leading European venture-capital funds, including Deutsche Telekom. Also, with Smarkets parent company being in the UK, our shareholders are public record.

SBC: Finally, do you have any other developments or upcoming improvements to the Smarkets service you can tell us about?

Smarkets: Over the next 6 months most of the changes to the site will be behind the scenes – we want to make the trading experience ever-faster and more responsive. This is the key to attracting liquidity from serious traders. As well as that, we’ve mentioned some of the other stuff we’ll be working on – interface improvements, more data, native iOS app.

If any of your readers have any more questions or want to learn more about us, they are welcome to contact us directly via the live chat on the exchange itself or by emailing us at support@smarkets.com. You can like us on facebook and follow our twitter accounts @Smarkets and for tech related tweets @SmarketsTech. Traders are also very welcome to drop by our offices in London for one of our open-house events. We will be holding another one before the end of the year and details will be released via twitter and our blog.

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Our thanks go to Smarkets for taking the time to answer these questions.

Find out more and open a Smarkets account 

For More Help With Your Betting…

If you enjoyed this interview with Smarkets, you can find access more expertise dedicated to helping you improve your betting profits as a member of the Smart Betting Club.

With everything from independent tipster reviews to expert guidance on the best bookmakers that you should be using – we have plenty to offer that can make a big difference to your betting bottom-line.

Read More On How We Can Help YOUR Betting