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If you are a UK based punter then chances are you have been impacted by the recent withdrawal of the likes of Pinnacle Sports & SBOBet from the betting market due to the new Gambling & Licensing Act, which was scheduled to come into force this Wednesday. (Although it should be noted that yesterday it was announced that this has now been put back to the 1st November due to a legal challenge. I am awaiting news from Pinnacle on whether they will keep accounts open for a further month)

Mindful of the need to seek out genuine bookmaking alternatives for UK punters to use, here at the Smart Betting Club we have been speaking with the guys over at Matchbook about exactly how they can fill this particular void. They were kind enough to answer a variety of questions including a number put forward by some of you via the SBC Twitter account.

Matchbook is a sports betting exchange with good market liquidity and low commission rates. They are a growing force especially for those of you seeking out competitive odds in markets such as Football, NBA & NFL. With plans to expand their range of markets including the introduction of Horse Racing early next year and a range of special commission offers (including just 0% commission on in-play football) they are well worth checking out.

Here without further ado is our interview with Matchbook

SBC: First off what everyone wants to know in reference to the Gambling Act as put forward by @SunnyRanmal … Can you make a definite statement that you have no plans to leave the UK market?

Matchbook: We have submitted our application for a UK licence this week and have no plans to withdraw from the UK market.  The Gambling Commission will issue licences to successful applicants on 1 October and we should be able to provide our services to UK customers from that date. As we already have a licence from the AGCC, we are confident that our licence application will be approved.

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

Matchbook: This is a huge opportunity for us. We do not foresee the new tax structure having an affect on the odds and liquidity we offer and we will continue to lead the market in value betting. We don’t think bookmakers will be as resilient and will find it much harder to be as competitive on price and margin as they previously were. More and more often, customers will see that Matchbook has the best prices.

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 Matchbook?

Matchbook: Specifically in relation to the operators that have withdrawn, Matchbook as an alternative is a perfect fit. The sports & markets where they are competitive are exactly where Matchbook is strongest – quite simply, if you’re serious about betting on football, tennis or US sports, and you’re not betting on Matchbook, you’re effectively wasting money. The operators that have withdrawn have traditionally attracted the more savvy and price sensitive customers and we are confident they’ll quickly recognise the value proposition of Matchbook’s offering.

SBC: What are your current fees and commission rates?

Matchbook: We charge 1% commission on a volume basis. In addition to that we have some ongoing promotional rates available:
0% commission on all live tennis betting until the end of the year
0% commission on all live football until the end of September
0.5% commission on football handicaps until the end of the year

SBC: @OddsClogger was also keen to know if you will keep these existing rates and if they might change due to the new point of consumption tax?

Matchbook: As a low margin operator, we are reviewing our options. However, we are committed long term to offering the lowest commission rates and the best value in the industry

SBC: Moving onto the markets available on Matchbook, the key question with any exchange is the liquidity and the amount of money available to back and lay – how do your markets stand up in this regard?

Matchbook: As I mentioned earlier, they stand up exceptionally well. Our focus in growing Matchbook has been to take it one sport and market at a time, make sure that we have high quality prices and liquidity and move on to the next. For example, on the opening weekend of the NFL we matched over £22m in customer volume on 16 games and the first two nights of the Champions League have seen over £34m in pre-game, matched volume. We’re increasing our market offering all the time with a focus on offering the best price and liquidity available – a quick scan of the Oddschecker grid on a Saturday or Sunday will prove that we’re doing a good job of that.

SBC: Do you know how the liquidity in these markets compare with Betfair for example?

Matchbook: The majority of the time, Matchbook will have a better price and more liquidity, and this is before you factor in our lower commission! The feedback from customers who have moved over has been overwhelmingly positive and the growing momentum over the last 12 months is testament to that.

SBC: @CrazedAlchemist, @OddsClogger and @Hareeba all wanted to know if you will be expanding some of the markets you offer – specifically into lower league football beyond the Championship? E.g. offering bets in Leagues 1, 2 and the Conference?

Matchbook: Yes, we are working on expanding our offering at the moment, with L1 & L2 to come before the end of the year. Similar to what I outlined earlier, we want to make sure we can bring a top quality L1 & L2 product to the market before offering it.

SBC: In terms of expanding into other markets, @SunnyRanmal queried whether you still plan on introducing horse racing markets towards the end of this year?

Matchbook: It won’t be the end of this year but we are looking at introducing it early next year, with a view to being live on Matchbook for Cheltenham

SBC: How about other sports such as the NBA? Will you be covering all the games in the upcoming season?

Matchbook: We have long been one of the best places to bet NBA. Last season we had over £459m in matched volume. We offer moneyline, handicap and total for all games with 3-5 games a night available for in-running betting.

SBC: @oddsclogger also wanted to know if you intend 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?

Matchbook: Yes. However, we need to balance our development output between improvements on the existing product (see lower league football question above), & the release of new products (see horse racing above). So while this is something that is on our roadmap, we are conscious that there are some product advancements, which customers require more than others.

SBC: Do you have a mobile phone app or website for placing bets on the go?

Matchbook: Yes, we have a mobile website and apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. A vast majority of our customers are multiple device users and it was important to us to deliver a valuable second screen experience. Our mobile apps feature a lot of the same functionality as our website, providing our customers with complete access to our markets. Now they can bet how they want to and where they want to. Not to mention, Matchbook was the first company to offer full cashier functionality on mobile apps and we will continue to drive innovation in this space.

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

Matchbook: Our main focus for the next few months will be adding to our overall product offering, especially in-running. For those that like trading applications we will be live on a popular one of those in the coming months. Additionally we will be adding a host of smaller features and functionality that will make it as easy as possible for users to access the liquidity and place their bets – this will include on-going improvements to our suite of mobile applications.

We have seen fantastic growth on Matchbook over the last 12-18 months. Looking at our product roadmap, as well as the ever evolving gambling market, we are very excited about what’s in store for the next 12 months and beyond.

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

Find out more and open a Matchbook account

For More Help With Your Betting…

If you enjoyed this interview with Matchbook, 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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In response to the developing story as regards the closure of Pinnacle Sports, SBOBet and other ‘Asian’ bookmakers, we have been investigating further the use of Bet Brokerage services.

Here at SBC we have subsequently been made aware of the uncertainty surrounding the use of Bet Brokers by users from the United Kingdom in particular. At this time, we can no longer recommend UK readers or members use any such unlicensed Bet Broker service given this information. Anyone doing so from the 1st October does so at their own risk and fully aware of the situation. Those of you from outside the UK who do utilise a Bet Broker service, should also be aware of how this may impact you based on your country of residence.

At the moment this is a developing story although there is a very good outline available at the Sports Book Review website.

We understand that Pinnacle Sports do have a UK Gambling Commission licence application currently pending, although are not able to supply a timeline for when this may be approved.

It is understood that some bookmakers such as 188bet who are licensed in the Isle of Man or Alderney will have extra time to apply for their Gambling Commission approval.

For the time-being other genuine alternatives include using the likes of Matchbook and Smarkets, who offer exchange style gambling and low commission rates plus decent liquidity. We intend to publish an interview with Matchbook to answer some of your questions soon. Bet365 if used predominantly for high liquidity sports such as football or NBA do generally offer competitive odds and are willing to take decent bets.

As we get more information on this story, we will endeavour to update all SBC readers and members.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you won’t failed to have noticed that football is back and with it comes the chance to make some serious money betting.

Earlier this week I touched on the genuine betting tipster experts who can help you in this quest, but with which bookmaker(s) should you bet this season?

To help answer that question, today I have a really special deal to share with you on the football bet brokerage service we have been investigating for some time that can make a major difference to your betting.

It’s good because not only does it allow you get all the best football odds from several bookmakers via just one account, but you can also trial it for 1 month for free courtesy of us!

I should state here, it’s probably best suited to those of you who bet at what you might term medium to high levels, but if that includes you be sure to read on…

What A Bet Broker Does…

You may well be wondering what it is exactly that a bet broker does?

Well quite simply, a bet broker can help you place bets with most leading bookmakers without going through the hassle of opening multiple accounts or transferring money back and forth.

Instead you simply have one account with the bet broker and place all of your bets through them – saving you time and money, whilst also helping you get the best odds quickly!

In many ways they are like an odds comparison site where you can not only check the best odds but bet directly with them.

Introducing Sportmarket Pro

One of the very best bet broker firms we have come across are Sportmarket Pro, who we have been observing and using for some time at the Smart Betting Club. We reviewed them twice earlier this year and all reports so far have been very positive. With the onset of the new season we thus thought it was high-time to let you all know about them!

Via their unique bet broker service, you can login to your Sportmarket Pro account and place bets which are available with any of the following firms:

– SBOBET
– Pinnacle Sports
– Matchbook
– IBCBET
– ISN
– Singbet
– Samvo
– Foobet

Those of you who may have bet with the likes of SBObet and Pinnacle Sports will be aware they are amongst the very best football bookmakers – offering hugely competitive odds that many of the tired, old UK high street bookies can’t compete with.

Indeed, you might not have heard about some of the other bookies listed above, but they are all serious players originating primarily from the very busy Asian markets.

In short – they offer great odds that can make getting your bets on a lot easier!

Grab Your Catch-Free 1 Month Trial

You might be wondering so far…all sounds great but what’s the catch?

Well there genuinely isn’t a catch, beyond a few fees such as a £20 monthly charge and a £10 fee each time you withdraw.

This £20 monthly charge is waived if you turnover enough money each month – and best of all its been waived entirely for any Smart Betting Club readers keen to try them out for a month.

Simply register an account using our special Sportmarket Pro link and you will be automatically granted a free month to use their service. If not for you after this time, you can simply close it down.

Please note – you must use our Sportmarket Pro link as this 1 month trial is only available to Smart Betting Club readers.

Download Our Sportmarket Pro Review

If you want to know more about Sportmarket Pro, you can also now download our in-depth review of their service which we first published to members back in April 2014.

This is now available to anyone with a FREE Smart Betting Club membership, and once registered you can download the full review in PDF format.

Not only this but as a Free SBC member you can also grab a sample magazine, tipster profit report, football system & football bookmaker guide.

Extend Your Free Trial To 2 Months…As An SBC Member

I should also mention that if you are interested in grabbing an extended trial of 2 months free Sportmarket Pro access – that is also now available to all Gold SBC members.

It’s part of the Tipster Savings section available to SBC members, where we negotiate special deals, discounts and free trials on some of the best tipsters, services and software out there.

Very often the deals on offer will save you a heck of a lot more than what it costs to join us here at SBC!

Sign-up For Instant Smart Betting Club Membership Right Now!

Today I am on a man on a mission…and that mission is to help you improve the odds you get on your football bets.

For far too long, the majority of punters have been unaware of some of the very best (but often lesser known) bookmakers and just how they can help your betting profits.

So to change all that, I have teamed up with my friends at Progambler to put together a free report on the best football bookmakers and just how they work.

Download Your Free Report Now (link opens up a PDF file)

In total this free reports lists independent analysis on 7 different football bookmakers (none of whom are exactly household names) but who offer better odds than many big-name firms.

And as our guide goes on to explain by examing 5 of this weekend’s top fixtures, it can mean as much as a 15.5% difference to your profits.

The report is yours free to download and is available in PDF file.

Download Your Free Report Now