Sports Betting Exchanges

Sports betting exchanges like Betfair are great alternatives for serious punters. These exchanges give you the opportunity to place bets against other players instead of betting at regular odds provided by a bookmaker. They charge a really low fee on your bets which allows you to place profitable bets over the long run.

Check the best sports betting exchanges below and benefit from our exclusive sign up benefits.

Featured Sports Betting Exchanges

[vcGlobalTipsterLeaderboardWidget ckb_hide_pricepool=”true” title=”Tipster Leaderboard” limit=”7″]

How to Find the Best Sports Betting Exchange

Betting exchanges are a fairly new way of placing sports bets compared to the traditional bookmakers. A betting exchange is a marketplace for bettors where they bet against each other. Betfair was the first sports betting exchange to establish this new way of betting.

This marketplace aspect means that exchange members can offer odds themselves or request odds from other betting exchange members. The betting exchange itself is not putting any money at risk. They are just charging a small commission on your winnings for providing the interface. You can go head-to-head against other players and generate some nice profits.

In many cases betting exchanges are offering their customers better odds, more transparency, and lower commissions.

Sportsbooks vs Sports Betting Exchanges

The betting options offered at sportsbooks and betting exchanges are quite similar.

One of the biggest differences is that betting exchanges are also giving you the option to lay betting.

When laying a bet, you are betting against an event to happen. By doing so you are filling the role of a bookmaker and providing odds that other people can bet against.

Keep in mind that you can lose more than your initial stake when laying bets. These types of bets are a decent way of making large profits, but also riskier than simply betting on the outcome of a certain event.

Laying and Backing Details

Placing bets at a sports betting exchange is similar to regular stock exchanges. Instead of placing bets on a certain event, sports betting exchanges offer you two different kinds of bets: “lay” bets and a “backer”.

For a bet to get settled, there have to be both kinds of bets.  If you think that team A is going to win a match, you have to back that selection. A bookmaker who is offering punters that bet would be “laying” that event.

“Backing” a selection means that you are betting on a certain event to take place and “laying” means that you are betting for that certain event NOT to happen.

Advantages of Exchanges

• You are betting against real players instead of a bookmaker.
• Opportunity to find highly profitable bets on certain events.
• Ability to sell and trade bets.
• High betting limits.
• Great for high rollers.
• You can bet against a certain event to take place.

Find the Best Sports Betting Exchanges

The most popular sports betting exchange in the world is Betfair. It was also the first company to offer a sports betting exchange. However, nowadays many new sites have launched similar services for their customers.

Betfair offers two products at the same time: They have both, a traditional sportsbook and a sports betting exchange where customers can bet against each other.

Betting Exchange Free Bets and Bonuses

Both websites offer decent free bets for new customers. You can check the full details of those promotional offers in our sportsbook/sports betting exchange reviews. Moreover, there are plenty of other promotions for existing customers. Make sure to regularly check the websites in order to not miss out on a promotion.

The standard welcome bonuses of betting exchanges are not as good as other bookmaker promotions due to their low commission. Nevertheless, when signing up with VIP-bet you can participate in our exclusive private promotions.

VIP-bet users can claim their no deposit free bets by joining our private promotions. We are giving away 5 x €10 free bets in our Tipster Raffle.

Some bookmakers are also giving away no deposit free bets to their customers from time to time. In most cases, you will find additional information about that in their promotions area or you will be notified by e-mail.

Exchange Fees, Revenues, and Commissions

The betting exchanges are generating revenue by charging either fees on your won bets or transactions.

These commissions are often lower than at a sportsbook and many punters consider betting exchanges to be more profitable. Traditional bookmakers are offering their customers less attractive odds, including the so-called “juice” that serves as a commission for the bookmakers.

This is why the odds of the betting exchanges are often better than the ones of the sportsbooks. It is a different way of charging fees. Betfair was the first betting exchange, which entered the market in 2000. Nowadays, it is by far the biggest betting exchange in the world.

How are Betting Exchanges Making Money?

Instead of charging a commission on all of their bets, betting exchanges have taken a different approach. Unlike bookmakers who are actually risking their own money if their customers win, exchanges can be considered a marketplace where punters bet against each other.

To make money they are charging their customers a small number of their winnings. Most exchanges like Betfair are charging approximately 2% but the percentage may vary depending on the exchange you are using.