Are you considering Betdaq as your go-to betting platform? Our comprehensive Betdaq review covers everything you need to know about this popular exchange, from its user-friendly app and competitive commission rates to its in-play betting options, commission, liquidity, trading tools, apps and more…
Whether you’re a seasoned trader or new to betting exchanges, this review will help you decide if Betdaq is the right choice for you. Read on to discover all the features and benefits Betdaq offers, and see how it stacks up against competitors like Betfair.
What is Betdaq Exchange?
Betdaq is an exchange platform for sports traders and bettors. Founded in 2000 by Irish businessman Dermot Desmond, Betdaq was one of the early movers on the exchange betting scene.
Since then it was acquired by Ladbrokes in February 2013 and now forms part of the GVC Group who owns Ladbrokes Coral, Bwin, Sportingbet and many other smaller brands in the industry.
One of the main powerhouses in the betting industry these days, GVC has allowed Betdaq to go to a flat rate of 2% commission on all exchange bets.
We will discuss liquidity later, the main gripe bettors have with Betdaq is the level of liquidity. It appears there have been developments in this area recently though with in-running liquidity exceeding both Matchbook and Smarkets.
Betdaq’s Commission Rates & Calculation:
In 2018 Betdaq took the decision to offer 2% commission on all exchange bets, and thus far it seems to help liquidity. In the past, Betdaq has offered free credits, but making a long-term commitment to a flat rate of 2% is wise. It makes their exchange quite competitive for big events…
For example:
- If you had £50 at 4.0 on Betdaq you would win £147.05 after 2% commission is applied.
- If you strike the same bet on an alternate exchange you would win £142.85 with 5% applied.
It may not seem like a huge difference, but over the course of the year, it really adds up. Particularly if you’re placing lots of bets.
For bigger events like the Cheltenham festival, this is useful as you have the added liquidity to trade or bet against, but at a lower rate of commission. Unfortunately, I can’t say it’s an ideal alternative for the horse racing Sunday-Friday just yet.
Do Betdaq Have a Premium Charge?
If you’re unsure about what Premium Charge is, read this explanation here. As I write Betdaq does not have a public Premium Charge for winning customers. However, there’s a good chance there are alternative rates for some winning punters; possibly court-siders and people who run bots through their site.
Generally speaking though – winners are welcome…
Betdaq Exchange Reliability?
So the 2% commission gives you a little extra value for your money; but can you trust the Betdaq platform during peak strain?
In my opinion, you can. The stats say that Betdaq’s platform is more reliable than Betfair, Matchbook and Smarkets. Sure, outages will happen from time to time. However, Betdaq recently went over 500 days without an unplanned outage.
There’s a good chance this is because they have a lot less traffic than Betfair, but it’s impressive nonetheless. Betdaq say that they process 18 billion orders annually, so with all the extras that they have on their platform, going over 500 days without an outage has to be praised. All traders need stability and Betdaq delivers.
Liquidity on Betdaq…
Ok racing traders can trust the Betdaq platform, but can they get their business done?
The short answer is that it depends on your style of trading. Betdaq still has a long way to go to catch up with Betfair, but it is improving. Morning liquidity is still unsatisfactory but if you’re the type of trader that trades within five minutes of the off it would suit you better, especially on Saturdays and on the big ITV Racing cards.
Liquidity in-running on Betdaq would still have to be classed as ‘poor’ when compared to Betfair. However, as already stated – it is much better than Matchbook and Smarkets.
For Football traders, it appears that Betdaq has improved a lot both in pre-off and in-running. For popular events there’s nothing stopping you for getting your bets on at a fair price.
Outside of racing and football, Betdaq struggles a little. Those two sports are undoubtedly their ‘big two’ and that’s where they put most of their focus. With a football-free summer coming up it will be very interesting to see if Betdaq targets the Cricket World Cup. Especially when you consider Cricket is now Betfair’s number one sport – and that’s from Betfair themselves at my trading event in February.
Betdaq say they matched £65.3 million at Royal Ascot and £51.1 million over Glorious Goodwood and the Galway races. They have invested in sponsoring some big races like the Punchestown Champion Hurdle. They’ve also teamed up with Gavin Cromwell and Harry Whittington in a bid to attract more racing fans. On the football front they now sponsor Sunderland and Charlton so there’s lots of cash being spent. But will these brand pushes work?
Only time will tell…
What Are Betdaq’s Current Offers?
A flat rate of 2% commission is a nice touch for us traders, but will it attract new customers?
The short answer is no – because most exchange newbies don’t even understand how the commission works.
At the moment Betdaq has two offers and they are pretty different. For the guys who like free bets and aren’t really clued into exchange betting there’s a Bet £10, Get £10 Promo. Not the most generous offer when you look at but it caters for those they will attract from their Sunderland and Charlton partnerships.
While they also offer their Daqback special where you can get up to £1,000 commission back after your first month on the site. You will have to turn over quite a lot to get the full £1,000 but they seem to have all bases covered for the different customer types.
Using Betdaq and Trading Tools
One big advantage Betdaq has over Matchbook and Smarkets is that they have a good selection of trading tools. Having a trading tool is an absolute must for speed – this is no different on Betdaq. You will have to work a little harder to get your bets matched and orders in but the good news is that trading tools like Geekstoy and Gruss Betting Assistant are completely free on Betdaq.
The Betdaq desktop site is nice to use and easy to get around if you don’t like using the software. It’s layout is very similar to Betfair however several do miss the fact that you can’t have a ‘My Markets’ function – if there are a couple of markets that you’re interested in and want to keep them one click away, having the ‘My Markets’ section always saves time in the afternoon. Personally, I will always use software but I consider it a missed trick on their part.
Apart from that obvious negative, there are some nice little touches on the Betdaq desktop site. Racing replays are great for punters who want to study the form. Also, the live streams rarely have an issue and are pretty fast. There are also some nice little extras on the site too like ProForm Stats, Bet Finder and Football Stats which could help some punters. I’ll go into a bit more detail on them in a sec.
The Betdaq App
This is really one area that I feel the Betdaq brand could improve a lot with.
The App seems to be miles behind Betfair, Matchbook and SMarkets. The latter two could possibly overtake Betdaq in this department soon. The Betdaq App is a little slow and clunky to use, it just isn’t a smooth experience. It doesn’t offer a pin login which slows everything down for the average user. Navigation to each market could be better on the right hand side too.
For the casual punters, it doesn’t go into the same detail as Betfair with their drop-down information under each horse and it’s definitely easier to navigate the price history graphs on Betfair. All that being said, the Betdaq App overall isn’t that bad; it could just be so much better! Perhaps this is an area that they can improve in this year.
Helpful Extra’s With Betdaq
There are some hidden gems when using Betdaq. Bet Finder can be a fantastic tool, saving you time. You can also get free ProForm Stats (subscription is costy). ProForm have made some changes to the free Betdaq Stats this year and while it’s not as good as it once was, it’s still a nice feature to have.
For those of you who love football, you will see ‘Soccer Stats’ over each football market on Betdaq. Ok, it’s not for everyone but some punters like to know the card, corner and goal stats before kick-off.
You will find plenty of helpful information onbetdaq tips each day too. There’s a host of educational articles, including some wrote by none other than yours truly! You will also find the Betdaq XSP comparisons to the Industry SP on ITV Racing. It helps to see why exchange betting is so much better than betting with a bookmaker!
What Does The Future Hold For Betdaq?
Betdaq has indicated that they will be sticking to their flat rate 2% commission for the foreseeable future, so I can only see liquidity continuing to grow. With Cheltenham coming up, you should definitely take the chance to check out the site for yourself and see just how much they have improved in recent months.
Time will tell what route they go down with their sponsorships, with Sunderland and Charlton they could potentially get into the Championship next season. That will offer Betdaq a much bigger platform and no doubt more customers and increased liquidity.
It’s good to see the Betdaq brand getting out there, especially at Punchestown which is a major festival in Ireland.
I would like to see Betdaq invest more in their App to make it quicker and this is one area that they can certainly improve. We traders all love our software and desktops but you have to remember that for casual punters as we move away from computers, more and more punters will just want to use their phones and Betdaq must improve their App if they want to keep up. It all contributes to liquidity.
One has to wonder if Betdaq will follow Betfair’s path down the road to Premium Charge and a Sportsbook, but we haven’t heard anything yet. I don’t see them introducing extra charges. However I can see them introducing a Sportsbook, hopefully not but we’ll just have to wait and see how that goes.
Missed anything? Let me know what you think Betdaq should do next in the comments below!
12 thoughts on “Betdaq Review: Is This Betting Platform Right for You? | Commission Rates and More”
When l get to the stage of making large steady profits , hopefully BETDAQ will have better liquidity and still have the same commission structure. Spending all my spare time learning how to trade the horse’s pre race (over a year now) for the man (aka BETUNFAIR) to cream most of my profits doesn’t sit well with me.
Mike
Hi Mike,
Indeed I know lots are keen on moving over there but there just isn’t the genuine fill on the daily bread and butter stuff yet. The lower commission is a great way to be extra competitive though, although in reality I doubt it’s a fast process to create any kind of landslide. Obviously the worst case would be several exchanges with weak liquidity too which isn’t ideal.
Caan
I just returned to give bet trading on Betfair another chance afte more than a year, lost some money, so I was cautious and observed several markets forst without placing any bets and sooner than I would anticipate and without being forewarned, I was flagged as abusing site for commertial pusposes and my account was irretrievably closed. It is a shame, as I really looked forward to dip into some tennis trading, I tryed to reason with them in this manner, but to no avail. Now Im considering to try another exchange and actually Betdaq looks the best in terms of my markets of interest (in-play tennis) – but still, it is pitifull, I looked into it and on average the amount of money matched per event is several tenfold to over hundredfold lower, and while it still is an opportunity, given my current betting unit size, if I actually make it to work, with current liquidity it will be restricting soon. Do you think the liquidity in the said markets could be prone to vastly improve, or is there any Betfair alternative to date in terms of in-play tennis trading?
I don’t think think there’s anything comparable to be honest. Not liquidity wise. Surprised they wouldn’t look into reopening you… could be worth contacting them again.
Pretty much similar to the lad above, Betfair permanently banned my account also, although for a different reason. They banned my account in 2018 for a dispute I had with Paddy Power in 2014 (before the companies even merged!), where they claim themselves that any business conducted before the merge stay independent but in my case they backtrack on this, and no matter how much I appeal, the requests to see sense fall on deaf ears.
That leads me to Betdaq. I want to take on in-play football (which I was somewhat successful at on Betfair), but one major issue I see which can be the cause of low liquidity is the lack of markets on certain games. See, regardless of the in-play event, Betfair give the wide range of markets. Over/Under 0.5/1.5/2.5/3.5/4.5/5.5, yet Betdaq only offer O/U 2.5 unless its a big or televised game. I never understood this. Betdaq aren’t playing against you, so why restrict the markets like this? Why limit what people can trade on? They have the technology available (ie the markets exist as they use them for big games, and they already live the live score feed).
Its simple business. The wider range of products you offer, the wider audience you appeal to. You restrict the available markets, you are shooting yourself right in the foot.
But if you suffer liquidity, adding more markets means liquidity is further spread and inevitably even weaker on the whole. I’d assume this is why.
Must be a purge going on had my PP account closed, apparently, I had requested closure, I am not aware of that, the knock-on effect, of course, is Betfair being closed. Seriously thinking of trying Betdaq, the big plus is that Geeks Toy is free, I previously used something else. Nothing to lose I guess.
Worth a go! Not sure their API and info is as good n balance but a cheaper option.
I was horribly burned by betfair commissions + premium charge in 2016. For the year my gross profit was close to 0, and my post premium and commission was -20000 pounds. (Yes my betting style was unwise and volatile…) Premium accounted for 12k for the year (calculated f**king weekly), even though i was 0 profit for the year. Bet”fair” my ass. So I never returned. I play betdaq exclusively since for cricket mainly. You will usually pay up to +-2c per bet due to lower liquidity but my stack has gone up fourfold since 2017 (unfortunately a much lower stack since the 2016 debacle!) – the lower commission *really* adds up.
Can’t blame you for that at all. You know you’ll likely have some allowance if you’re no longer a bet winner on PC though?
Have heard that some accounts have a higher % with Daq too, although they haven’t me. Apparently they will contact you independently first if you qualify.
It’s downright criminal how they advertise premium as only impacting a fraction of long term winners which is utter rubbish. The key is that premium charge is calculated on *weekly* performance yet not netted out for down weeks. Imagine the govt taxing a retail firm for their gross sales over Christmas and not subtracting the cost if goods sold because they were purchased a week earlier. The cost of goods sold doesn’t enter as a negative. Becomes even more of an issue when cricket bets are settled once every 5 days (for test matches). I truly believe eventually it will be banned by authorities but that will take years to be regulated. It might actually backfire on betfair if the regs then start getting strict on online sports betting as a byproduct. But then whatever banking exec that came up with this crap has already had their promotion to a different board and will be long gone.
Betfair introduced £250,000 lifetime profit with a commission of 60% this was introduced 10 years ago and has never been increased, money depreciates by 50% every 10 years that gives you now the lifetime equivalent of £125,000 I wonder why they never increased the 250k top line with inflation