Matchbook Review: We Really Tested It!

Matchbook is one of the most exciting betting exchanges in the industry right now. They have made considerable improvements to the way that they are able to market their product and also to the features that are included on the site.

Available Sports

Sports coverage at Matchbook is pretty good. We’ve got to be honest when we say that they possibly aren’t as big as some of the competition, but there is a decent range on offer that will cater the majority of punters.

One area that they are solid in is the range of American based sports. These include the likes of American football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey. Each of these has massive coverage on-site, and they are about as strong as you will find anywhere.

Outside of these, you get the main range of sports that you would expect to see. Included in this are the likes football (soccer), boxing, cricket, golf, darts, horse racing and tennis, amongst others.

Here is a full list of sports that you can expect to see at Matchbook:

• American Football
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Cricket
• Darts
• Football
• Golf
• Ice Hockey
• MMA
• Motor Sports
• Politics
• Rugby
• Tennis
• Baseball
• Horse Racing
• Greyhounds
• Handball
• MotoGP
• Table Tennis
• Volleyball

Betting Coverage

Matchbook has been around for a good few years now, but it’s only been the last couple of years where they’ve really been able to challenge the best in the business. The primary catalyst for their recent success has been down to the betting coverage and in particular, their pricing.

We’ve noticed that lots of people talk about their odds and make this one of the main reasons why they use the site, so when testing we were hopeful it would live up to the hype.

Testing betting exchanges are often tougher than traditional bookies as the lines move very quickly, but from what we found, their pricing was exceptional. We looked at over two dozen different betting markets from a range of sports and found that they were right up with the best.

They had more best-price markets than any other exchange that we looked at, and they were never far off the best price in the industry. Exchanges can often look bloated in prices as you need to take into account the commission charged, but given that this is so low, it means that it’s almost negligible.

A common theme throughout the pricing structure was that they were able to offer at least one for that market as equal to or standalone best price. For example, on the 1×2 market for a football match, they were often best price or very near with either the home win, away win or the draw. So, for at least one of those bets, they were able to offer great value.

Website Design, Structure, Layouts and User Experience

The first thing to note on Matchbook is that the design is unique to the brand. This may seem obvious, but in the betting industry, many bookies use the same layout and then repeat it, changing the colours and logo to make it “unique” to their brand. If you see sites looking very similar, then this is often the reason.

Given that Matchbook is a betting exchange, this means they need the site to work differently than your traditional bookmaker. This is also the reason why it’s unique.

How to Register at Matchbook?

As with most of the more prominent betting companies, registration is simple and will take you just a couple of minutes to complete. Here is a breakdown of the process:

Matchbook Welcome Promotion

Starting offers are great for new players. They help them, especially in their first steps in online betting. At Matchbook as a new player, you can get back up to £20 as a free bet in case your first bet loses. Do so by using the Matchbook promo code MB20 when you are registering on the platform. Place your first bet with odds 1.8+ and wait for it to settle. The bookie will then give you two rewards if your best results in a loss – up to £20 as a free bet. Use it in the Exchange only.

Compare Matchbook with other bookmakers

Welcome Bonus

£20

Rating

8.9

Bonus Percentage

-

Minimum Deposit

-

Turnover

-

Live Betting

Live Streaming

Cashout

Apps

Visit Matchbook

New Customers Only, Sign up using Bonus Code: MB:20. Place your first bet, if it loses we will refund your first bet stake as a free bet, up to the value of £20. The first bet must be placed within 7 days of registration and at odds of 1.8 or more. 18+ T&C apply |begambleaware.org | gamstop.co.uk | Play Responsibly

Welcome Bonus

€200

Rating

9.9

Bonus Percentage

100%

Minimum Deposit

-

Turnover

x5

Live Betting

Live Streaming

Cashout

Apps

Link to 1XBet

18+ T&Cs Apply | Play Responsibly

Welcome Bonus

$3,000

Rating

9.9

Bonus Percentage

200%

Minimum Deposit

$50

Turnover

40x

Live Betting

Live Streaming

Cashout

Apps

-

Visit Stake

18+ T&C apply | Play Responsibly

Welcome Bonus

7.5 BTC

Rating

9.8

Bonus Percentage

-

Minimum Deposit

0.001 BTC

Turnover

30x

Live Betting

Live Streaming

Cashout

Apps

-

Visit ForuneJack

18+ T&C apply | Play Responsibly

Matchbook Live Betting

The in-play betting section can be accessed by the main menu on the left-hand side. It’s all integrated into the layout of the site and with it is one of the best features of the Matchbook betting exchange.

Once you get into the in-play betting section, it’s a bit of a free for all. You can’t filter by sport here, which is pretty crazy and it means that you need to trawl through hundreds of games and markets that are taking place at any one time.

The best way to narrow it down is to visit each sport individually then from here you can see the live betting markets for that sport. It’s not ideal, by any means, but given the lack of structure, it’s one of the only plausible options here.

What we will say about the live betting section is that it’s extensive. Matchbook includes a lot of sports and a decent number of markets within those sports as well.

Liquidity is notably good. This is an essential factor for betting exchanges, and we’ve noticed that throughout the site, liquidity has been good. Some of the lesser games, such as lower league football, for example, can suffer here though and punters looking for mid to high stakes action may need to take slightly weaker prices as a result.

Once in the games, you can take advantage of a good-looking match centre. This includes game data and stats, as well as live streaming integrated into it, again adding another dimension to this section.

Sports Betting Products

We’ve spoken previously about Matchbook seeing significant growth over the last few years. One of the main reasons that they have seen this growth is down to the features and products that they now have on offer.

Below we have taken a look at some of the features on offer from this betting exchange.

Matchbook Casino

The casino is an excellent addition to the betting exchange and is all linked under the same wallet. It comes with over 200 games to choose from a range of game developers, that includes NetEnt, Red Tiger and Evolution Gaming.

Even though the casino is not the biggest, their links with both NetEnt and Red Tiger, in particular, allow them access to a unique line up of games to choose from. Table games include the likes of roulette, baccarat, Caribbean poker, craps, red dog, pai gow and sic bo.

Live Casino

The live casino is solely powered by Evolution Gaming, who is one of the best in the business right now. The games are located all over the world, and you can often get each variant in several different languages, although English is the most popular.

Games include roulette, blackjack, poker, baccarat, Texas Hold ’em bonus poker and Deal or No Deal Live. This is, without doubt, the best live casino line up of games that you can access, and the quality is second to none. Outside of the betting exchange, it’s probably the best part of the Matchbook package, and such is the strength of the games on offer.

Matchbook Mobile Apps

The Matchbook App can be downloaded straight from the Google Play Store for Android and the App Store for iOS users. It’s quite rare to have the Android download option, so this is a big plus. If you can’t access the download for Android for whatever reason, they do have an .APK file that you can download straight from the Matchbook website.

The app is quite superb. It functions instantly, and it looks great. These are two massively essential features for betting on an exchange as well, and they have nailed it. It’s clear that with the menu set up and the integrated bet slip, that a lot of thought has gone into the usability of the app as well.

What we did notice is that the mobile app has rave reviews on both the Google Play and App Store, highlighting that others agree with our glowing review.

Payment Methods

There is a decent range of payment methods at Matchbook, without ever being great. Deposits start from as little as £5, and withdrawals come with no fees attached, initially at least. Fees will only be charged if multiple payments are processed a month.

• Deposit Methods
• Withdrawal Methods

Payment Method	Deposit Minimum	Deposit Maximum
Bank Wire Transfer	€500	It depends
Neteller	€10	It depends
Skrill	€10	It depends
Credit Cards	€10	It depends
Debit Cards	€10	It depends
Instadebit	€10	It depends

Payment Method	Withdrawal Minimum	Withdrawal Maximum	Time for Withdrawal
Bank Wire Transfer	€500	It depends	up 72 hours
Neteller	€10	It depends	within 12 hours
Skrill	€10	It depends	within 12 hours
Credit Cards	€10	It depends	2-5 days
Debit Cards	€10	It depends	2-5 days
Instadebit	€10	It depends

Security and Regulation

Security and regulation at Matchbook play a significant role in the site. They can open their virtual doors to a wide range of countries, primarily down to the fact that they hold two main licenses from Alderney Gambling Commission and the UK Gambling Commission.

They are also long-standing partners of both Gamcare and Gamstop. These organisations have been set up to help those with gambling addictions and also to prevent players with addictions from accessing sites like Matchbook.

Affiliate Program

Matchbook also includes a massive affiliate program. This allows people to sign up and then promote the Matchbook brand. In exchange for any players that they get to sign up through their link, Matchbook will pay them 30% net revenue for the first six months the player is registered with the exchange.

Company Information

Found in 2004, Matchbook is one of the most reputable betting exchanges on the market. The brand’s platform is licensed by the Gambling Commission in the UK. Given that exchange betting is so heavily dominated by Betfair, it’s been impressed to see that Matchbook, along with their low commission rates of 1.5% (compared to around 5% industry average), have been able to make a significant impact into the sector. The inclusion of features such as cash-out betting, live streaming and accumulator bets have been a big part of this

Customer Care and Contact Information

Customer service at Matchbook is outstanding and is one of the many positives about the exchange. Here’s a look at how you can get in touch:

• Phone UK: 0203 642 6867
• Phone Republic of Ireland: 021 242 8626
• International Phone : (+44) 203 642 6867
• Email: support@matchbook.com
• Live chat

Overall Rating

Matchbook has improved a lot over the last couple of years. They can offer a decent range of sports and a strong range of betting markets within each of those sports.

The site struggles a little with the lesser sports/markets when it comes to liquidity, but the 2% base rate commission more than offsets this negative, making it one of the lowest commission rates you can get. It’s hard not to compare these exchanges to Betfair as they have been leading the line for so long, but Matchbook is now a very credible alternative and will have the likes of Betfair and others looking over their shoulders given their recent growth.

• Rating: 8.9/10

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