Matchbook Reviews and User Ratings

Full Matchbook Bookmaker Review

It’s important to put things into context, because Matchbook is an absolutely fantastic betting option, but for a specific type of bettor.

If you like placing a few bets here and there, doing lots of multiples, finding niche markets, betting on motorsports or other less bet sports, or any of the above, then this isn’t for you. Even if Matchbook offers markets on the sport that you like betting on, they may not have the markets you want, and so it’s better to take your business elsewhere.

If however, you want to zero in on some main markets, and excrete as much value as possible, from some simple, specific bets, then exchange betting and Matchbook should absolutely be a consideration. It’s important to stress that these will be some of the best odds that you will get, anywhere. And for a lot of bettors, that’s all that matters.

Advantages and Disadvantages

All explained in greater detail in this review, these pros and cons allow users to scan and understand where the strengths lie quickly.

• Established in 2004

• Triplebet Ltd

• UKGC licence number - 39504

First Impression of Matchbook

My First Impressions

At first glance Matchbook looks like a lot of other bookies, but then you take a look at the odds that are offered and you can immediately see the difference between exchange betting and fixed odds. In terms of how the platform functions, everything looks very as you’d expect, but it’s important to remember that Matchbook gives you the option of exchange betting or fixed odds (just for racing and football).

- Luke Bradshaw Lee, Senior sports betting editor

What is Exchange Betting?

With a standard bookie you are taking a bet from the house (the bookie in question), but with exchange betting you are betting with other bettors, and use the betting exchange as a platform where two bets are brokered. You can back a bet, or lay a bet, with different prices for each. The “lay” is more like a traditional bet with a bookie, so with exchange betting (and this is simplifying it somewhat) you can place a bet, or be the bookmaker. To find out more, and digest in more detail, head to our Betting Exchange Guide.

Matchbook Live Betting

Head to the In-Play Betting tab on the menu and you’ll find all available sports to bet on live. There isn’t quite the same range of sports here as you may find at other bookies, but these are generally minor sports – there was no badminton, esports or cycling at the time of review when other bookies offered markets on them at the same time. The number of markets per event aren’t always as many but, and you’ll hear this a lot in this review, the odds are among the best possible ones going. See where they rank in our best bookmakers for in-play betting.

Matchbook Live Streaming

Matchbook doesn’t offer any live streaming at the time of this review.

Matchbook Betting Odds

The fixed odds are as good as you’ll find anywhere, and the exchange odds are even better.

Through the Matchbook Zero part of the site, you’ll get fixed odds for horse racing and football with zero margin and zero commission, and that’s not even the main draw, because you can easily switch to the exchange and get even better odds. These are literally among the best odds that you’ll get in the UK alongside other exchange betting and spread betting sites.

Also, remember that it is always worth checking alternative betting options, including best spread betting sites and betting exchange sites, depending on who you are as a bettor.

Matchbook Betting App or Mobile Site 

The Matchbook app is excellent. It sounds obvious, but it’s the same information, just laid out more succinctly. Not many bookie apps use a tile system as a menu – it’s usually a dropdown, or hamburger menu – but it really works here. You can move between the Exchange and Zero, plus casino if you want, with the touch of a button, too. Lastly, the way you scroll left to right, and back again, to move between buy and sell markets is brilliant. See how it compares to the best betting apps in the UK.

Matchbook Football Betting

Matchbook nearly makes our best football betting sites in the UK but just misses out, and this is mainly down to the odds. You should know, that if betting on Matchbook Zero, you tend to only get Result markets – this isn’t a place for bet builders, weird accas and the like, this is just for simple bets and trying to squeeze as much value as possible. You’ll get all the usual selection of markets in the Exchange.

You can see in the chart below, in greater detail, why certain bookies rank among the top for football betting sites, and what Matchbook is up against.

Best football betting sites

Score by selected category (hover over chart for details).

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Bet Builder 

There is a bet builder at Matchbook, but it’s not the best. Again, here’s where you head for value, because there aren’t a tonne of options to add into bet builders. There are around ten different markets per game, but there’s lots of player markets (fouls, tackles etc.) missing. That said, the feature itself works really smoothly.

Bonuses

This isn’t too bad, with a generous sign up offer, some seasonal promotions and plenty of reminders about getting the best price for the vast majority of markets that Matchbook offers. What’s quite nice is that by using different codes, you can choose the welcome offer that best suits you (there are three different ones at the time of review) and so mould your betting experience to your own preference. On top of that there is also the chance to win cash as free bets every day through betting on multiples.

Cash Out

Matchbook was one of the pioneers of in-play cash out, and remains one of the best bookies in the county for the popular feature. This feature is available for various sports including football, rugby, tennis, cricket, and horse racing. 

Matchbook Horse Racing

Like its football output, this is the only other sport that you can use Matchbook Zero on, with zero commission on the very simplest of markets. There’s no forecast, tricast, place bets here, you just bet on the winner of a race at great odds. At the Exchange you’ll get more markets per race, with great odds. There is no official Best Odds Guaranteed, but Matchbook promise that you’ll get the best odds possible on 80% of all runners in the UK and Ireland.

See how they compare to our top 10 best betting sites for BOG.

Matchbook US Sports Betting

A full range of American sports is available. We’ll check out the major leagues, but also look into the sports further down the pyramid and, as well as around the world. 

American Football Betting

Lots of UK bookies don’t list the spread despite it being the most integral market in these sports, so it’s a big feather in the Matchbook cap that that, along with the total and moneyline are the three main markets here. At first it appears that there are no player markets, which is a surprise, but actually there are plenty, it’s just that you have to use the bet builder tool. It’s worth checking out our best NFL betting sites to see how Matchbook compares. 

Basketball Betting

The big downside to betting on basketball at Matchbook is that it is just the NBA that is offered. Most bookies who offer basketball have leagues all over the globe, on top of the NBA, but that’s not the case here and there isn’t even college basketball, either. The market depth is fine, but nothing to write home about. See how it compares to the best basketball betting sites according to OLBG.

Baseball Betting

Like basketball, there are no international leagues – I’m thinking mainly of Japan and South Korea in this regard – with a pure focus on Major League Baseball. There are result, spread and run line markets, plus some home run, hit and strikeout markets, also. See if it makes it into our top baseball betting sites in the country. 

Ice Hockey Betting

It’s rinse and repeat for ice hockey as it is with the other US sports, with a small, dedicated focus on the NHL, but nothing from anywhere else around the world. Generally, most other sportsbooks list a good many other leagues around the world, but that's not the case here. The number of markets per game is fine, but it’s not incredible.

Matchbook Greyhound Betting

Matchbook has a great greyhound section, with all UK and Irish meets listed, plus those running further afield, including Australia. This gives punters plenty of options and, as mentioned, you can live stream a lot of these races, even the Australian ones. The downside is that there is no Best Odds Guaranteed, which stops it making our best greyhound betting sites, but when your odds are so good already, how much of an issue is that?

Matchbook Darts Betting

By Matt Edgar, professional darts player – Compared to the very best darts betting sites in the country, Matchbook has some strengths and weaknesses. The number of markets for some upcoming Premier League matches is decent, but it’s the odds that are the real draw, of course. It would be remiss not to mention the fact that only the bigger competitions are listed here, with just the Premier League matches here, and no upcoming Modus Series fixtures.

Matchbook Snooker Betting

There is no snooker betting currently at the time of review.

Matchbook Rugby Betting (Union & League)

By Luke Bradshaw Lee - This doesn’t make it into OLBG’s best Rugby betting sites as one of the go-to options because there just aren't enough competitions or markets covered. You’ll obviously get amazing value on the best that you do make, but you limited by what bets you can make in the first place.

Matchbook Cricket Betting

By James Banting - At the time I reviewed Matchbook’s tennis section there was a nice amount of competitions featured, probably more than other sports with this bookie. There are some Twenty20, IPL and international ODIs, all with great odds but a select few markets. The other downside is that there are no futures on upcoming competitions so I can’t bet any outright markets ahead of time.

Matchbook Tennis Betting

By James Banting - Unlike a lot of sports here, Matchbook’s tennis section features plenty of competitions, with minor matches from around the ATP and WTA tours. This is a fantastic place to come for in-play betting, because the speed and momentum shifts that you get in tennis, factored in with two types of bets per market, make swings huge, plus brilliant windows of value can pop up if you’re keeping your eye on the action. See if they make it into the top 10 tennis betting sites on OLBG.

Matchbook Golf Betting

By James Banting - There are no outrights here on anything that’s not in the next few days (as is generally the case at Matchbook), so you can’t place any bets on any of the majors at the moment. That means currently there are just two tournaments listed (both being played this weekend). For each tournament there are markets on the winner, top five finish and top 10 finish, but that’s where your betting options stop. 

That said, there is a golf-specific promotion where you’ll get your money back as a free bet if your pick leads at the end of any round but fails to go and win.

Matchbook Motorsports Betting

There is no motorsport betting currently at the time of review.

Matchbook Boxing Betting

There is no boxing betting currently at the time of review.

Political Betting

By Nigel Skinner - The politics betting at Matchbook is split into US and UK politics, but there’s nothing from any other country. That said, the markets offered within that are pretty good, with nine markets for the next General Election, plus odds on the next Conservative and Labour leaders. It’s pretty good overall, so check if it makes it into our best political betting sites.

Entertainment and Specials Betting

There is no entertainment betting currently at the time of review.

Casino

Matchbook offers casino and live casino. Both are easily accessible from the main menu at the top of the screen.

Matchbook Account Opening Process

A reassuringly easy process. At the top-right of the screen Matchbook has their “Join” button. Bettors just need to select this and follow the simple steps as guided through. You’ll be asked for the usual information – name, date of birth, address etc – and once complete be sent a verification email. Clicking this from your inbox will redirect you to the site, and then you’re free to get betting.

Navigation and user experience [desktop v mobile]

I mentioned earlier that Matchbook has a great app and the more I used Matchbook, the more I loved the app. If you’ve never done exchange betting before things can be a bit daunting, and obviously the ability to flick between this and fixed odds isn’t something that you can do on most other sportsbooks’ sites or apps. Matchbook does an excellent job of making what is a great deal of detail easily digestible, and I think it works even better on the app. The styling and graphics are definitely dated, but you could argue that it  fits in the business-like tone of Matchbook. Either way, from a product point of view, it’s exceptional.

Placing a bet

This section should only really highlight if there are issues, as the process is almost identical on every site. Within a few minutes of signing up to Matchbook I placed a couple of bets on different sports, one of which took advantage of the welcome offer, and I used their bet builder feature, which worked well. 

Managing your account

As mentioned above, the design really helps this along. On the desktop version, it’s stuff to the  left of the screen. On the app, it’s all at the bottom, with just the login at the top. I haven’t experienced any issues logging in, or finding customer service options, either. Overall, it feels like Matchbook has got this part nailed.

Responsible Gambling Features

You can set your deposit limit while you’re signing up; long before you’ve got close to actually making a bet. 

There is also a Settings tab at the bottom of the page, no matter what page you’re on, that allows you to make changes to limits, as well as odds formats, or odds change preferences/notifications.

There are the following measures within its functionality: 

• Deposit Limit

• Loss Limit

• Session Limit

• Wagering Limits

• Reality Check

• Time-Out

• Self-Exclusion

• Support Groups & Organisations

• Advice on Keeping in Control

• Parental Controls

• Self-Assessment

All are explained in further detail on their safer gambling page. As well as this, on the same page they list links to the likes of the National Gambling Helpline, Be Gamble Aware and the National Gambling Treatment Service.

Bookie Review Expert Contributing Team

Opinion, research and data collection for this review by

• James Banting (Horse Racing, Golf and Tennis)

• Nigel Skinner (Football and Politics), 

• Matt Edgar (Darts)

• Frank Monkhouse (Boxing)

• Andrew Powell (Horse Racing, Ice Hockey and Motor Sports)

• Jake Ashton (Entertainment and Specials)

🛂 Fact Checked - Sam Darkens - Commercial Manager

✍️ Written by - Luke Bradshaw Lee - Commercial Content Manager

✏️📚 - Steve Madgwick - Editor-In-Chief