Matchbook introduce 60% commission charges

Betting exchange Matchbook.com have updated their terms to include a staggering 60% commission rate on net profits each month.

Matched bettors, traders and punters have been left both furious and disgusted by the new charges with many voicing their opinion across social media and forums.

Matchbook brand themselves as a low-cost betting exchange and offer customers an attractive 1.5% charge across all bets or 0.75% if the offer is posted by yourself. However, the introduction of these new charges goes against their good-value image and is causing a stir in the betting world.

What are the new commission fees?

The new charges aren’t applicable to everyone and only affect users who either have a cumulative betting volume of $1,000,000 or more or have accumulated $20,000 of betting profits. ‘Betting Profits’ refer to a customer’s lifetime profits and so more users than you may expect are likely to be affected.

Matched bettors may be concerned as they aim to lose their bets on the bookmaker and win on the exchange. This has always been considered best practice so that you are not taking money from the bookmaker and may be less likely to have your accounts restricted or closed. However, it seems now that there are consequences to winning your bets on the exchange also.

$20,000, which at today’s exchange rate works out as just over £15,000, isn’t a huge amount and many matched bettors, traders and punters will exceed that amount in winnings in a short space of time on the exchanges, meaning any further bets may be applicable to the new charges.

Here are the terms as taken from the Matchbook website:

Customers who meet or exceed the Thresholds (as defined below) may be charged one or a combination of the MB Rates which only apply to the Exchange and they are as follows:

1. Commission rate up to 3.5% per bet (“Transactional Rate”); or

2. Commission rate up to 5% of Gross Profit per market (“Market Commission Rate”); and/or

3. Revenue share commission rate up to 60% of Net Profits per calendar month (“Revenue Share”).

 (which shall severally and jointly be referred to as the “MB Rates”)

The thresholds are as follows:

1. $1,000,000 (one million US Dollars) of Betting Volume; and/or

2. $20,000 (twenty thousand US Dollars) of Betting Profits

(which shall severally and jointly be referred to as the “Thresholds”).

The and/or conditions do not make it clear what users will actually be charged once exceeding these thresholds but they are sure to put a lot of new & existing customers off.

It’s worrying that Matchbook have decided to leave these terms out of their ‘Commission FAQ’s’ section which highlights the standard commission rates and how the commission structure works. Instead, the terms are  3/4 the way down the page in the Terms & Conditions of the ‘Rules & Regulations’ section. The majority of new and existing users will consider the information in the ‘Commission FAQ’s’ section to be sufficient and will be oblivious to these potential charges.

If you’re looking for an alternative to Matchbook, Smarkets are a good option and charge 2% commission on winning bets.