- Overall info
- Smarkets sportsbook Review
- Customer Service
- Bonuses
- Deposit and withdrawal
- Special betting options
- Smarkets app
- Our verdict
- Customer Review
Smarkets is a betting exchange. Before proceeding to the consideration of the sections of the Smarkets website, it is necessary to say about the principles of the betting exchange. Here’s what you need to know about the specifics of betting exchanges:
- The coefficients on the betting exchange are set by the players themselves;
- Bettors on the betting exchanges play against each other, and not against the office (exchange);
- On the betting exchanges there are no restrictions on the size of the bet;
- There is never any margin on the betting exchanges – there is only a commission on the winnings, which the company takes for itself.
Overall info
Smarkets is a fairly young betting exchange, it was created in 2008 by Americans Jason Trost and Hunter Morris. By this time, other similar platforms had been successfully operating on the betting market for many years, and the creators of Smarkets wanted to compete, but in terms of popularity and liquidity, this betting exchange failed to come to the fore.
Due to the fact that Smarkets is only a sports exchange, and not a full-fledged bookmaker’s office, only trade can be found on the site. There is no standard set of a bookmaker company with poker, casino, slots and other opportunities for games. Therefore, the site is perfect for those players who want to try their hand at real trading.
Smarkets history
The company representatives call Smarkets the most progressive betting platform in the world. In 2012, the company was named “Breakthrough of the Year” in the UK, and according to Wall Street Journal has become one of the ten most promising startups in Europe.
It is known that one of the investors in Smarkets is the former owner of Last FM Stefan Glanzer, as well as representatives of large companies Passion Capital and Deutsche Telekom. In April 2015, representatives of the Smarkets company concluded deals totaling more than a billion pounds. And after a year and a half, this figure increased to 3 billion. Today, the Smarkets betting exchange is the main sponsor of the Queens Park Rangers football club.
Smarkets official website
As mentioned earlier, the company was opened by two developers Jason Trost and Hander Morris – they were helped by a group of investors from Europe who allocated a large amount of money for the development of the project, as well as a marketing campaign and start-up liquidity.
Bookmaker license
The company operates under licenses issued by the Gambling Commissions of the United Kingdom and Malta. Today, the Smarkets betting exchange operates exclusively in the online format.
The betting exchange is focused mainly on players from Europe, Canada, and the UK. For many users from the CIS countries and some other countries, access to the site is closed. To bypass the blocking, some players use different services, for example, the VPN program, which helps to bypass the blocking and change the IP address.
How to create an account
Due to the fact that the Smarkets betting exchange is designed mainly for players from the UK, some Western European countries, and Canada, access, and registration on the site for residents of these countries is simple and straightforward. There is a separate domain for UK customers – smarkets.co.uk.
But it is more difficult for other clients to register an account on the site. Players from the CIS countries may have problems accessing the site, because the official site is blocked for these countries, and the company has not yet created a separate official mirror for them.
For everyone who has access to the site, registration will not take more than 10 minutes. To create an account on the site, you need to enter personal data (last name and first name, login and password, country of residence and phone number, as well as address and password). After that, you need to go through the verification procedure – this is done in order to protect the company’s clients from fraudulent attacks.
Registration on the bookmaker’s website
Smarkets sportsbook Review
The Smarkets betting exchange has long established itself as one of the leading betting exchanges in the world. The company structure includes Smarkets fixed odds as well as betting odds, inside information, and more. The company provides gamblers with a wide range of services and additional information that can help gamblers make reasonable bets.
The Smarkets website has complete information about all sports – not only popular ones like football, hockey, or baseball, but also less popular ones – horse racing, boxing, and other important sports. On the company’s website, you can also find information about the champions leagues, as well as news and odds for other international events.
The interface of the Smarkets website is quite user-friendly – even a new user can easily navigate it. Sports events and bets are collected in one place, which is convenient for players. Thanks to convenient navigation, you can quickly jump from one section to another. The site operates on a proprietary platform, so it is reliable, efficient, and fast.
Betting line
The line is quite small when compared with bookmaker companies. There are no small and unpopular matches here, all bets are focused mainly on the most popular international tournaments.
The action line is rather narrow. For the most popular football events alone, it can reach 20-30 markets. For other sports, only bets on the main outcomes are available. This is, in principle, a good indicator, because Smarkets positions itself as a sports exchange, and not as a bookmaker. For her, ratios and liquidity are more important.
Smarkets offers users all the standard bet types that can be found at any other company.
This list includes:
- Money line bets
- Spread Betting
- Proportional bets
- Performance Betting
- Futures betting
The money line is one of the simplest bets.
Players can simply place their bets on the winner of the match, disregarding the differences. Over / under is also included in this type of bet. Profits can also include first half or quarter results. This allows you to place bets based on which score is after the first or second quarter.
Bet line
Spread is betting on a match in which you can predict in advance how many points the winner will score. For example, if Team A is expected to beat Team B by a score of 10, the spread will be -10 A. If Team A wins by nine, whoever takes Team B wins.
Additional bets are types of bets that can include almost anything. For example, you can place a bet on which commercial will be shown first during a specific match.
Performance betting is where the players have to predict the performance of the athletes in the game. In this type of bet, you can, for example, bet on how many saves the goalkeeper will have. You can also place a bet on how many points a particular player will score.
The future is a type of bet where players have to guess, who will win the championship. For example, you can bet on how many wins a particular team or player will have at the end of the season.
Live betting
The live betting section is not distinguished by a good selection of offers. The company doesn’t offer as many current events as it does in the prematch line. The list is even worse, and the liquidity for the players is completely unattractive. The only advantage that the Live section of the betting exchange has is high odds.
In addition, this section also has good infographics and detailed statistics that display game dynamics and liquidity. Among the shortcomings of the live section, one can note the lack of video broadcasts and a match tracker, which displays the time and progress of the game.
If the match was popular, then its result can be viewed in the infographics and statistics section in a separate event tab. In this tab, the entire course of the match is detailed. In addition, any user can find out the results of all events in which he took part – for this you need to go to your personal account.
Live line
Smarkets exchange
The policy of the betting exchange was that when using Smarkets, a commission is paid to the site. This is done in order to establish a partnership between the client and the betting exchange site. Thus, there is never any margin on the betting exchanges – there is only a commission on the winnings, which the company takes for itself.
A separate file is published on the website of the Smarkets betting exchange, which contains all the company’s rules – it is recommended to study them before registering. For any violation, your account can be blocked by the decision of the company without prior notice.
The advantage of the company is that it almost never changes the limits and does not lower the highs. According to numerous reviews of users on the exchange, you can place sure bets, play for large amounts and not worry about the state of your account.
Customer Service
Users on the Internet note the good work of the support service. To contact the operator, you can use the online chat on the company’s website, or write by e-mail or use the phone. The response time of the operator in the chat is from 1 to 5 minutes, however, on especially busy days, the response time may be increased. As for e-mail, operators answer within an hour, and a phone call to the hotline – up to 5 minutes.
You may contact customer service and ask any questions about Smarkets review, betting odds, Smarkets account, and UK gambling commission, Smarkets odds, betting platform, lay bets, in play betting, Malta gaming authority, losing bets, betting exchange platform, minimum deposit, deposit limits, bet credits, popular betting markets, lay odds, Smarkets platform, qualifying deposit and so on.
Before contacting support, you can look through the FAQ section – you may be able to find the answer to your question there. Also, the support service does not answer questions about the time when funds are credited to a personal account, since it often does not depend on the betting exchange, but on the banking method that you have chosen for the transaction, as well as on the peculiarities of the bank’s work.
Bonuses
The betting exchange offers a fairly modest set of bonuses, but the plus is that both new players and experienced users can get them.
| № | Bonuses | How to get |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Welcome bonus | Is available only for new users — they have to register on the website and top up the account with at least 20 pounds |
| 2 | Free bet bonus | Is available for bets on horse racing. |
| 3 | Cashback bonus | Is available on horse racing |
The Smarkets betting exchange website offers new players only one bonus. To get it, you need to register on the website and top up your account with at least 20 pounds. This amount must be wagered on any event, and if the bet loses, the user will be refunded up to 10 pounds back.
The second bonus, which is available to all players of the company, is a free bet of up to 10 euros for bets on horse racing.
And another offer is a 50% cashback up to € 10 on horse racing bets.
However, users from the CIS countries cannot get a free bet.
Deposit and withdrawal
Despite the fact that Smarkets is not a betting company, but a betting exchange, the methods of depositing and withdrawing funds are the same as those of many bookmakers. The company offers all available methods.
Deposit methods
To deposit funds after registration, you can use bank cards with the Visa system (in this case, the minimum deposit amount is 10 euros, and the maximum amount is not set). For bank cards with Mastercard, Maestro, Eurocard, Solo systems, the minimum top-up amount is 10 euros, and the maximum is equal to the amount of the deposit.
You can also replenish the deposit using the electronic systems Skrill, Neteller (the minimum replenishment amount is 10 euros, and there is no maximum).
The big advantage is that there are no deposit and withdrawal fees on the site. However, there is an exception: when withdrawing money via bank transfer, the transaction fee is 12 euros.
Smarkets withdrawal
To withdraw funds from a personal account, you can use the same methods that are available for replenishing a deposit – bank cards with different systems such as Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, Eurocard, Solo systems; electronic systems such as Skrill and Neteller and bank transfers. In this case, no commission is charged. It should be borne in mind that the timing of the transaction depends on the chosen method and on the bank – sometimes funds can be transferred up to 3 business days.
If you have any problems when replenishing a deposit or withdrawing funds – you can contact the support service – the contacts are indicated on the official website of the betting exchange.
Special betting options
The company has an interesting offer for players – everyone can bring a friend to the company, and if he makes a deposit of 20 euros, then this player will receive a free bet of 10 euros. To receive a free bet, the amount of the deposit must be fully stated (on the referral’s account too).
Smarkets cash out
On the website you can find a special cash-out function – it makes it possible to withdraw funds at a specified price even before the end of the match. You can exchange both pre-match bets and in-game bets. If you use the trade function while playing, your trade will be confirmed with an 8-second delay. This is necessary so that there is sufficient time to cancel the bet if the market is suspended due to events such as a penalty kick, a goal, or a red card.
Smarkets app
| № | Option | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mobile version | Yes — it opens autimatically when you enter the official site with from your mobile device |
| 2 | Mobile app for Android
| Yes — it is available only for gadgets with below 5.1.1 version |
| 3 | Mobile app for IOs
| Yes — it is available only for gadgets with below 8 version |
Betting exchange Smarkets has developed a separate platform for users to play from mobile devices. The company has two applications for Android and IOS devices. Both versions have the same functionality, but it differs from the main version of the site and is limited. Please note that applications cannot be installed on Android below 5.1.1 version and on IOS below version 8. Therefore, before installing the application, you will have to update the software to a newer version.
The application gives users the ability to:
- manage your personal account, save and change rates;
- to place bets on sports, politics and many online events;
- quickly find the tabs you need using a convenient search;
- change the interface depending on the time of day from a dark theme to a light one.
At the same time Smarkets has a mobile browser version of its betting exchange, but it does not feature mobile specific promotions or bonus.
Our verdict
We reviewed the site of the Smarkets betting exchange. The main conclusion that can be drawn after the analysis is that the site is perfect for those players who want to try themselves in real trading. Smarkets is only a sports exchange, not a full-fledged bookmaker, therefore the site does not have a standard set of a bookmaker with poker, casinos, slots and other opportunities for games.
The site allows you to place bets on 20 sports – the number of disciplines may vary depending on the time of year and the activity of clients. In addition to sports betting, you can also place bets on lotteries, political events and show business.
The line is quite small when compared with bookmaker companies, but this is quite expected, because Smarkets positions itself as a sports exchange, and not as a bookmaker. For her, ratios and liquidity are more important.
In general, the interface of the Smarkets website is quite user-friendly, even new users can easily navigate in it. Sports events and bets are collected in one place, the site operates on a proprietary platform, so it is reliable and fast.
Yes, the company is legal, because it is not a betting company, but a betting exchange - this means that there is no violation of the law and Smarkets operates without problems in the United States.
A Supreme Court ruling that sports betting should be allowed nationwide allowed Smarkets to enter the US gambling market. They will now be able to accept bets directly. This is one of the reasons why the company immediately created the Smarkets app. This allows users to place bets all over the world.
The tricky part of the bidding process is that a company must obtain a license from each individual state to operate legally. At the moment, in many bookmaker companies, it is possible to place bets only in a few states, and after the company goes through the licensing process, this option will be possible for other states as well.
The betting exchange Smarkets operates under licenses issued by the Gambling Commissions of the United Kingdom and Malta. Today, the company operates exclusively in the online format. The main office of the company is located in London, with additional offices in the USA and Malta. The betting exchange is focused mainly on players from Europe, Canada, and the UK. For many users from the CIS countries and some other countries, access to the site is closed. To bypass the blocking, some players use different services, for example, the VPN program, which helps to bypass the blocking and change the IP address.
Yes, live bets are available. but the live betting section does not have a good selection of offers. But the company has a lot more current events in its prematch line than live. The list in live is very modest, and liquidity is not attractive for players. The only advantage of the Live-section of the company is the high odds that it offers players.
Also, the live section has good infographics and detailed statistics that show the dynamics of the game and liquidity. However, there is also a big drawback - this is the lack of video broadcasts and a match tracker that displays the time and progress of the game.
Yes, Smarkets offers a bonus for new players. To get it, you have to register on the official website of the betting exchange and top up your account with at least 20 pounds. This amount must be wagered on any event, and if the bet loses, the user will be refunded up to 10 pounds back.
