bookmaker rating
Up to £25 or £100 in Bet Credits For New Customers
Bet £10 get £30 in Free Bets + £10 games bonus + 10FS
£10 Risk Free First Bet with Promo Code YSKAMR
Money Back as A Bonus up to £40 if your first bet loses + £10 Casino bonus
Get £20 in Free Bets when you bet £5
Get Connected online with £20 in Free Bets
100% Matched Deposit Free Bet up to £30
Explore Esports and Get up to £10 in Free Bets
£20 Risk Free Exchange Bet
£20 Free Bet Backup Bet offer
Sports Welcome Offer - Bet £5 Get £30
Royal Ascot Welcome Offer - Bet £10 Get £40
Place £10 First Bet and Get £10 Free Bet
Bet £10 on Betdaq Virtuals and Get a £10 Free Bet
Get a 100% Welcome Bonus up to £50 for new bettors
Up to £10 money back as a FreeBet!
Claim up to £100 in Free Bets with Redbet Welcome Bonus
New Customer Exclusive - Bet £10 and Get £40 in Free Bets
Welcome Package of up to £250 on your first 4 deposits
100% Welcome Bonus up to £150 for New Players
Claim your 100% Welcome Bonus up to £100 now
£100 Welcome Bonus Gift for Your First Deposit
Dive into the world of sports betting with VBet Welcome Bonus: Bet £10 & Get £10 Free Bet
100% Bonus worth up to £200 for New Stakers
100% up to £25 + £10 Safety Bet
Stake £30 and Claim £30 in Free Bets and Free Spins
Place £10 on Sports to unlock £10 Bonus Credits
50 Fantasy Contests for £24.99 with Welcome Top Plan
50% Deposit Bonus with up to £50 in additional Contest Credits
Double your First Deposit up to £100
Smarkets review
Free Betting Tips from Stakers Community
All tipsStakersland is already home to one or two traveling flea markets but Smarkets has set up their own version with a unique outlook on the betting exchange setup.
If you think of how Uber pays their drivers to let you travel, Smarkets give stakers cash to trade and so they are turning the whole bookmaker business model on its head. In this sense, the Smarkets founder, Jason Tros, is not tormented by morality and simply uses the investors funds instead. Even though this is still a minus-profit company at the moment, they have been enjoying a 10% increase per year on their overall community and it has now reached a total of over 40.6K stakers. Smarkets is a British-based trading market and was set up to rival the likes of Betdaq and Matchbook, of which the latter recently lost their license and resulted in a huge boost to the Smarkets community. You might find a few onlookers trying to figure out what is available behind the virtual doors of Smarkets, but one thing is for sure and that is the British staker dominance. Due to their breakthrough concept and modern thinking, the focus of sports here is based on football with all the top leagues included such as the Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Serie A, and even the MLS enjoys some trading action, too. Elsewhere, it would not be unusual to find racing markets from Newmarket, York, and Chepstow being traded alongside cricket matches and current political events. Being a modern trading venue then you would have thought the up and coming esports would be popular here. But while there are markets for events on CS:GO, League of Legends, FIFA, and Dota, there is not much in terms of live in-play esports trading and this might not exactly be what the younger generation traders want to see missing from the esports markets.
Smarkets do not apply any winning limits to their exchange with the maximum payout confirmed in line with the trading volumes at the time when you place the bet. In terms of other limits relating to payouts, there is no maximum for most of the withdrawal methods except the PayPal option which has been capped at £5,500. According to the annual reports coming out of the Smarkets HQ, they maintain around £30 million in cash reserves and so they are sufficiently funded with enough liquidity to ensure all payouts to its staker members.
Smarkets is enjoying a growing community that stands at just over 40.6K and they are known to be bringing in a £5-10 profit per staker. A total of £4.5 billion has already been traded over the platform and there are currently no maximum limits set out by the Smarkets team.
The traveling Smarkets brand is attended by a growing community of 40.6K members who generate a gross gaming revenue in the form of commission, which is currently charged at £1 Million per month and works out to around £5-10 from each staker. There is no magic in the Smarkets model and overall growth, and as such, it is a bargain exchange funded by investors in order to keep the whole thing going. Therefore, it requires ongoing immediate revisions to sustain the severe market conditions of the UK betting market. Speaking of the trading volume, Smarkets had traded a total of £4.5 billion annually through its platform. Out of that total annual traded volume, Smarkets generated a gross gaming revenue of £12M in the form of commissions from winning deals. Having the cost of sales at £4.6 million and the administrative expenses of £16 million, the investors are left with that much-talked about net loss, which is currently calculated at 9 million pounds. Smarket’s major competitor within the same trading scale is Betdaq, who claim to handle in excess of £75 million worth of bets every week, charging 2% of the net winnings for most of their markets. According to our ticket sales office, the Betdaq marketplace is number three in the trading rankings, enjoyed by a passing community of 150,000 stakers. It is estimated that the Betdaq annual commission from its stakers stands at a more conventional £25-30 per staker a month with the global exchange commission charged at £4 million, and unlike Smarkets, Betdaq makes a gross gaming commission in excess of £50 million pounds. Flutter's PPB annual commission and gross gaming revenue from Betfair operation is estimated to £1 billion, and yes, they made it. According to their annual reports we can see that their profit for the year is around 10% and generates around £130 million with a final yield from each staker of £6, which is comparable to Smarkets. The most significant expenses are the cost of sales and marketing and these contribute as much as 60% to the total amount spent by Betfair.
Smarkets Offers
Not only Smarkets, but all of the existing Exchanges have found their home in the UK with only a little interest from stakers abroad. The main concept involves trading on sports, but most of the stakers still enjoy a bet or two to add a little excitement to their Stakersland journey.
United Kingdom | Brazil | Ireland | India | |
---|---|---|---|---|
monthly | 33K | 900 | 900 | 900 |
License |
Social Buzz
The only current social buzz profile available on Smarkets is the Trustpilot account and so there are no profiles on either of the LCB or Askgamblers sites. The good point here is that the Smarkets team do respond to stakers on the Trustpilot profile and this all started back in June 2018, and the average 2.5 rating has been consistent ever since. Moreover, the team provides stakers with unique responses and also explain the reasons why, referring you to the terms and conditions to help you further explain the decisions being made. The majority of the complaints in the reviews and comments are about account closures without acceptable reasons, a poor level of customers service, high commission rates, and voided bets. The minor issues include lengthy withdrawal procedures, breaching the responsible gaming policy, and breaching promotion rules.
There is no Askgamblers profile.
There is no LCB profile.
All stakers can send their complaints to the customer service team and the average resolution time is currently two days. For those looking to further their complaints then the official ADR is IBAS and it is this company that you will need to make contact with to solve any high-level disputes.
Conclusion
It may come as no surprise that a Smarkets team consisting of mainly technical developers does not offer much in the way of staker interaction. You may find some joy on Trustpilot with your commission and account issues, but that is about it.
The only active profile available is the Trustpilot site and while the Smarkets team do take the time to interact with their stakers with genuine responses and unique communication, the lack of action on both the LCB and Askgamblers is a surprise from this innovating team of developers. Yes, the developers themselves might not have the right customer service skills but it only takes a handful of people to cover all the sites. In doing so, their growing staker crowds would be kept in the loop with all the ongoing issues on the site and ultimately, they would then feel more of an important part of the Smarkets community. Not everything is going to plan on the Trustpilot profile though as 55% of the comments are negative, but at least the team are on call to try and appease those dissatisfied stakers.
Bonus clash
The only bonus Smarkets provides is a welcome offer in the form of a free bet reward upon losing your first bet. According to the Smarkets annual report, it has already issued bonuses to the total amount of £910,000 and that would mean, on average, they have already sent that bonus refund roughly 91,000 times to their staker community.
“I really enjoyed their welcome offer. It’s easy to get and the bonus reward is pretty good: once your bet is lost, you’ll receive a refund in bonus credits. Simple!”
“All that I can say about their welcome bonus is that it is decent. Yes, they do not provide any other campaigns, but still, it’s worth joining them to get that nice refund at the start.”
“I’m disappointed that there are no other promotions available here. I expected to find more than just a simple refund as a reward for the welcome offer.”
“Their welcome bonus is not the best one at Stakersland. After making an account, you expect to get something free, not a refund and totally not bonus credits. I am not recommending them.”
So, with only offer on the Smarkets board, some stakers might be feeling a little dejected but still, a free bet refund is a still a bonus. And so many stakers still sign up to claim the offer and to find out a little more about the Smarkets platform. Here is what that lone welcome offer looks like in detail:
promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
---|---|---|---|
Better profit with Smarkets £10 Welcome Bonus | Welcome Bonus | Sign up and make a deposit of £20 | Deposits made using Skrill, Neteller, PayPal or a virtual/prepaid card will not qualify for this promotion |
The one and only promotion available at Smarkets and to start making money, all you need to do is to open an account and make an initial deposit of least £20. The freebet of up to £10 is credited if your first bet is lost, and so, you are advised to wager just a half of your deposit with your first bet to make the most of this promotion.
Conclusion
Smarkets is a loss making Exchange that only generates a meagre £5 from each staker a month, which is well below the average here at Stakersland. The welcome promotion is the limit in terms of what they are prepared to offer you during the first two months, and so you should not be expecting further rewards except the occasional offer or seasonal bonus further down the line. The one redeeming feature of the welcome offer is that the bonus conditions are transparent and easy to follow. There are no tricks or hidden terms to be made aware of and so if you lose your first bet, you get your money back as a bonus refund. The deal is enough for most British stakers to claim, even if it is just to find out a little more about the intriguing Smarkets concept.
Sports betting
Smarkets operate their own in-house betting exchange platform via a team of UK-based developers.
At Stakersland, we want you to enjoy the greatest possible betting entertainment and this requires us to make sure that all the bookmakers are set up with the right features and services. Our team of betting experts take their time to inspect all the betting technology to ensure the development teams are doing their best to keep their sportsbooks up to date, if they don’t, then we will let you know right here. So, read on as we uncover the technology layers at Smarkets.
The Smarkets platform and their exchange are developed in-house, and the management team are, strangely, putting a major focus on feeding the developers appropriately. The aim of making the business as a 'great place for engineers to work' is understandable. So, Alex and Helen, the two in-house cooks, deliver culinary dreams to the Smarkets staff on a daily basis. Something tells our tech inspectors that should these dreams come true then they may get a little less ambitious and stop working and coding altogether.
Hopefully, you have not already been tempted by the ‘Super markets’ investors, and so we can continue our investigation into the corners of the Smarkets infrastructure. The backend of Smarkets is based on C++ and this is developed from their offices in London where they have a large and free canteen available for all their hungry teams. The technology stack, to be exact, is C++ 17, Erlang, as well as bits of Python. Postgres is used as the main DBMS technology and Apache Kafka is also used for queuing. For the frontend, Smarkets is using React and Angular according to their official job listings.
Additionally, according to Glassdoor, the average salary of the software engineer here is £60,000 per annum and this is going as high as £120,000 for the senior positions. This would mean a total of £3,620 in your pocket a month should you start your career here, with the chance to move up to a £5,000 or 6,000 bracket if you step into those senior positions. This obviously makes the developers working for Smarkets happier (and less hungry) than if they would be working for profitable businesses such as Betfair and Paddy Power.
Sports
The major markets for Smarkets are the top tier football divisions from the UK and Europe which includes the Premier League, Championship, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, and even the MLS are all down as the frontrunners. The markets from the racing tracks of Newmarket, York, and Chepstow are being traded in the same manner as politics and cricket events. There are no geolocation settings and so stakers from Birmingham, Newcastle, and Southampton are all being offered identical markets and trading options.
Betting slip
The betting slip looks ominous with heavy lined controls and buttons to enter the stake amount up and down. If you could imagine an old bearing factory then most likely the control panel would have looked just like that. At Smarkets you can wager the outcomes with single options with a few alternatives available for multiple selections, don't forget though that we are testing the exchange. There are no custom features and highlights such as those available at places like Betfair.
In-play stats
In-play events are supported with live scores and so you can only learn the progress of the match. There is no widget, no head-to-head, nor any standings. They do however offer the trading volumes through the widget as well as having the procedures heavily instructed through their own blogs. Not even a link to Sportradar is added here and so should you consider yourself a recreational staker, there isn't really any place for informative decisions. You are expected to source your information elsewhere while betting at Smarkets.
Betting markets
The Smarkets exchange offers live in-play football events with up to 72 markets at the early stage and 47 markets before the event. For the tennis matches they provide up to 28 live markets and 19 pre-live markets. Ice hockey, for instance, offers around 45 live and 7 pre-match markets in any one event.
Margins
The sports betting margins found at Smarkets do seem to be in line with the market average. For something like football, you could expect pre-live margins of 1% and live events goes with 0.3%. For tennis, the betting margin range sits between the pre-live mark of 1% and 1.8% for in-play. In ice hockey you would likely find the margins of 6.4% while making bets before the game and 8.4% for ongoing games.
Event results
Unlike their rivals both from the UK and abroad, Smarkets do not bother to offer statistics, widgets, and sports related information for pre-match events. It is as if they simply do not care about the past events with no live score and results available for the past matches. And as such, you are on your own with only the trading numbers in front of you to guide you.
Sports | margins | live margins | markets | live markets |
---|---|---|---|---|
tennis | 1% | 1.8% | 19 | 28 |
football | 1% | 0.3% | 47 | 72 |
basketball | 1.6% | 3.38% | 43 | 37 |
ice hockey | 6.4% | 8.4% | 7 | 45 |
For all of the innovation and concept designs found at Smarkets, some might think perhaps other parts of the product might be affected, but no. We found that they do offer their staker traders value for money when it comes to the overall betting margins available. The football margin range is especially worth a mention with its low of 2.4% looking beneficial, although the high of 11.2% does mean that some care needs to be taken when placing your bets to ensure you are getting the right value.
Financial Limits
Let our team of finance experts guide you through the checks and processes at Smarkets. We double-check and validate all the financial records and procedures to ensure that you know what to expect when managing your Smarkets accounts. We recommend that you take the time to get yourself acquainted with our useful financial review below.
Payment Method Restrictions
Which payment methods are valid when claiming my bonuses?
Stakers who deposited by Skrill, Neteller, PayPal or a virtual/prepaid card will not qualify the Smarkets deposit bonus offers.
The Influence of Third Party Agencies
What checks are being made and do they use any third party agencies?
Smarkets may supply staker account information details to authorise credit reference agencies and identity verification companies to confirm your identity, payment card details, and other information as is stated in the terms and conditions. There are no specifics given about the agencies involved though, with only the overall directions given through both the general terms and their privacy policy.
Personal Data Transparency
Will they inform me about the automated checks being performed?
Smarkets states that, where possible, they will try to verify the accounts electronically by running the details provided when signing up against a number of official databases. There is no mention over the databases used, while we do suspect they will include GBG ID3.
Social Media Communication
Will my financial disputes and complaints be answered on the social media profiles?
Smarkets gives unique and complaint-related answers to all the reviews from their stakers on Trustpilot, including the finance-related ones as well. They do not, however, have public profiles on other popular betting and gaming forums such as Askgamblers and LCB.
Gambling Anonymously
Are my banking transactions with the bookmaker private?
The ‘Smarkets Malta Limited’ or ‘Smarkets’ names will appear on the bank statements of stakers when they make any transaction with the trading company.
Withdrawal Timeframe & Common Complaints
How fast are the withdrawals and what do stakers complain about the most?
According to the Smarkets terms and conditions and their withdrawal page, the team process all withdrawals within five working days. Apart from this general timeframe, the following withdrawal processing times are given on their official Payments page:
- Visa debit card, Solo / Maestro card, MasterCard / Eurocard take from 1-6 working days.
- Neteller, Skrill, Trustly, PayPal take from 1-2 working days.
- Open Banking takes 12 hours, bank transfers will take significantly longer which is from 5-10 working days.
Overall, stakers do complain about the long withdrawal times, but in most cases, payouts are not exceeding the provided timeframes anyway. Stakers also complain about the commissions charged on lost bets.
Player-Friendly Withdrawal Limits
What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal limits available?
The minimum withdrawal for Open Banking, Visa debit card, Neteller, and Skrill is defined as £10 minimum with a ‘no maximum’ rule. The Solo/Maestro card and MasterCard/Eurocard options are also capped at £10 for the minimum while there are limits to deposit amounts for some cards. Trustly is capped at a £40 minimum with another ‘no maximum’ limit, too. All the PayPal withdrawals are limited to £10 minimum with a maximum limit of £5,500. Finally, the bank transfer starts with £20 as the minimum and again there is no maximum limit defined.
Withdrawal Options & Additional Costs
What are my banking options when withdrawing my funds and do they add fees?
Smarkets offer withdrawals using Open Banking, Visa debit card, Neteller, Skrill, Solo/Maestro card, MasterCard/Eurocard, Trustly, PayPal, and Bank Transfer.
The bank transfer withdrawals are charged an additional £10 fee. Smarkets charge stakers with a 2% commission on net winnings in each market by default. Players can opt into a Pro-Tier of commission of 1% on winnings or losses per bet. Stakers who are making a net profit of over £25,000, or any currency equivalent, over the previous 12 calendar months may get switched over to the Select-Tier commission rate of 3% on winnings or losses per bet. Additionally, any gaming account deemed to be an inactive account (which is stated as no logins for 12+ months) will be charged an administrative fee equivalent to around £5 per month.
Regulatory Check Transparency
Are they clear about the Source of Funds and Source of Wealth procedures?
The Smarkets terms and conditions say that they can make any queries regarding the source of funds of their staker members. Account activity can be terminated in the case that satisfactory evidence for the Source of Funds is not provided. According to the helpdesk, your support documents need to prove the source and value of the funds that you use to trade. These are individual cases but more often than not, the common documents will suffice such as pay slips, dividends, pensions, and bank statements clearly showing consistent incoming funds from an official source.
Conclusion
Smarkets provides flexibility in withdrawing funds from your account with a wide range of payment methods available. The Trustly minimum withdrawal amount is higher than average, but the rest are well adjusted to suit most staker preferences as well, however, the only low upper limit is the £/€5,500 via PayPal. Thankfully, there are no processing fees on withdrawals (except with the bank transfer option). However, by positioning themselves as a betting exchange platform, Smarkets are charging stakers on both winning and losing bets with commission, which at times can be lifted up to as high as 3%. However, what is appreciated is the overall transparency in relation to all the commissions being charged and the verification procedures that are being carried out as well.
Customer Support
The Smarkets customer support team is not quite up to the level of expertise as their developer teammates. In a nutshell, you can expect replies without detail and many links to the help section to find your own solutions. You will not find any luck with getting answers on the technical questions regarding sports betting either. The Smarkets support team, if you wish to try them, can be contacted via the 24/7 live chat, the email option, or via the phone although the lines are only open from 9 am to 12 am. Alternatively, the team will also receive messages through the post and via their Twitter account, too. As to be expected though, there is no clear SLA available in relation to the customer support service. Therefore, we will resort to our testing experts, so read on to find out how they got on as they quizzed the Smarkets support agents with questions about bonuses, technical requests, and much more.
Support Speed & Resolution
How fast do they reply to my general queries?
The Smarkets live chat starts in about one minute and the average response time is 2-3 minutes, however, the replies are often short or/and generic.
Live Chat Access
Is the online live chat tool available on the site?
There is no live chat available for unregistered stakers and they do not provide bonuses over email. It takes them about five minutes to get back to you via email when you are a registered staker member. Unregistered stakers will be lucky to get a reply in under 20 minutes, with it taking up to 30 minutes on most occasions.
Support Team Competency
How quickly will the support team reply to complex queries?
It takes the support agents up to two minutes to get back to you with an answer on complex queries via live chat, often these replies will include generic templates and several links as a reply.
Level of Technical Expertise
Are the support agents sufficiently trained to answer technical queries based on odds, margins, and markets?
The chat representatives did not provide us with any technical sports betting information, we were just given links to work out our own solutions. The email requests on sports related technical queries were not replied to either. It is surprising to see such a lack of team spirit when it comes to business development and growth, despite all the efforts from the customer-centric CEO.
Unregistered Staker Support
Will the customer service team interact with unregistered stakers and will I get a free bet?
They refused to provide a ‘no deposit’ free bet as a non-member and their advice was to just claim their welcome offer. We found many short and generic replies and they do not seem to care too much of similar freebies from the other side when registered either.
Professional & Friendly Service
What type of response will I get when requesting a bonus from the service team?
Their responses in relation to bonus requests were again noticeably short and generic. The agents simply refused to provide any explanation on the bonus queries whatsoever and so we were left with, well, no bonus.
Customer Service Knowledge
Will the agents provide the correct information about payment limits when compared to the terms and conditions on the website?
The chat agents provided us with several links but there were no additional comments in regard to the withdrawal and deposit limits available. We were told to check the financial information on the site to find our answers.
Willingness to Help Out
Will the support representatives help me navigate around their website?
According to the support representatives at Smarkets, all the available features, tools, and events may be found on the site. However, they did not provide any directions to make it easier for us or to even lead us in the right direction.
Tolerance Levels
Does the support team have a high tolerance level for repeated bonus requests?
After our repeated bonus requests, the support agents’ responses became shorter and more impersonal and was often teetering on the verge of rudeness. They do not reply to repeated bonus requests via email, full stop.
Onsite Support Efficiency
How efficient is their onsite Helpdesk compared to the competition?
There is not much guidance when it comes to details and information available on the Smarkets site. The terms and conditions are limited and contain only the basic directions. There is much to do here, and we are uncertain that another decade of development for this team of 100 would solve the obvious flaws on display.
Conclusion
The Smarkets agents communicate in an impersonal manner and their replies both over chat and via email are short and uninformative. Annoyingly, the chat representatives are replying with links a lot of the time and so you are left to do all the work yourself. Take note that they do not provide any ‘no deposit’ free bets, so you can save yourself some time if you were thinking of getting any freebies. There is simply no personal attention, nor do they seem to care about the outcome of the chat that they are handling. There is obviously no team spirit when it comes to their end stakers and the customer service that they are providing. We can see that there is an obvious lack of training as well, and you can easily irritate the agent and feel the anger and indignation from the other side in just a few lines of communication. There is a big question as to why they are still being used and have not already been replaced with the ever-friendly, and in this case, much more helpful chat bot.
Conclusion
The Smarkets agents communicate in an impersonal manner and their replies both over chat and via email are short and uninformative. Annoyingly, the chat representatives are replying with links a lot of the time and so you are left to do all the work yourself. Take note that they do not provide any ‘no deposit’ free bets, so you can save yourself some time if you were thinking of getting any freebies. There is simply no personal attention, nor do they seem to care about the outcome of the chat that they are handling. There is obviously no team spirit when it comes to their end stakers and the customer service that they are providing. We can see that there is an obvious lack of training as well, and you can easily irritate the agent and feel the anger and indignation from the other side in just a few lines of communication. There is a big question as to why they are still being used and have not already been replaced with the ever-friendly, and in this case, much more helpful chat bot.
Try reading the quick Smarkets FAQ below if you ever want to escalate your disputes further, or if you just want to discuss the general betting services available on the site:
Are you able to complain with Smarkets?
A complaint can be raised with the support team and it should be escalated to management and resolved within two working days.
Where to complain if they refuse the withdrawal?
According to the terms and conditions, stakers may submit a dispute to IBAS, who are the official ADR of Smarkets.
How do stakers rate the Smarkets customer service?
Stakers complain about the support team being rude and not dealing with financial requests. There are also positive reviews about the customer support handling betting issues quickly though, so it can be a mixed experience.
Up or down
The calling card of 'super markets' that pulls you into the Smarkets trading cyberspace is near enough a constant service as it comes with a 99.84% uptime for all its members. Only a few of you might be ignored at the entrance day or night due to a small slipup with the virtual doors. During the course of our testing, we had noticed only a few minor technical issues which is a solid sign that their team of developers are on to a good thing. Following the initial uptime test, we then moved on with the Google Page Speed Insights, but those results were not as good, as you would expect from a team of 100 dedicated developers. The desktop scored 58 out of 100 and the mobile platform sank to 30 out of 100.
TECHNOLOGY
The programming languages used to develop the backend are C++ 17, Erlang, and some bits of Python, and this approach is one of a kind at Stakersland. The frontend is developed using React, which is optimised with the volume of the bundle at 1.3 MB, and this puts it in line with both the Paddy Power and Betfair releases. Smarkets also uses Server Side Rendering, which means that the server has node.js working with the react application, but this could potentially be a source of bottlenecks in the future.
DATA CENTER
The Smarkets team is based on the Ubuntu platform according to job listings and operates in AWS and Kubernetes environments. The servers are protected by Cloudflare for either the http or websocket connections. This, however, does not protect them from sophisticated DDOS attacks due to the Node.js being used for the server-side rendering, as such, this could easily get overloaded despite the clustered solution they are most likely using. There is further room for development here and to improve the overall security tactics as well.
SSL CERTIFICATE
The cost of the SSL certificate that Smarkets is using is zero. The business is using a default certificate available for Cloudflare customers using the standard SHA-256 encryption algorithm. The Stakersland security experts recommend that they reconsider this approach and opt for an EV-signed certificate. This would require the website to establish an official identity, as well as the green status lights offering extra authenticity for their member stakers.
Our first impression after viewing the Smarkets ‘food kitchen/careers site’ with their confident American manager has changed quite a bit after we completed our in-depth testing. It seems that everything that was downloaded to our browsers was only part of the truth. There is still a lot to be done and those flaws start from the absence of the betting widget to the optimisation of the mobile exchange. It looks like that the famous Smarkets startup very nearly kicked off into the Stakersland mainstream, but somewhere along the line it lost its spirit and that has now trickled down into the technical team, too. There is still a lot of work to do for this big team of hungry developers!
countries where Smarkets is licensed
The Smarkets headquarters are based in the UK (London), Malta, and all the over the Atlantic in Los Angeles, USA. The trading exchange currently holds two licenses under the UKGC and the MGA which allows them to operate in the field of Betting Intermediary across the Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. At the time of writing, the Smarkets team were looking to expand with a total of 22 open positions available at the London office, and at no point during our research on the brand did we come across any sanctions or other related actions recorded against the Smarkets name.
Smarkets is currently operating under the UKGC and MGA betting licenses. As well as the UK and Irish stakers, there is a long list of countries that can freely access their exchange platform including a small group of Indian and Italian stakers.
If we look into the history of Smarkets then we can actually trace back the roots to 2008 when the US native and founder, Jason Tros, created a ‘great place for engineers to work’ with a special initiative to feed his employees through their very own private canteen. But, we digress, it is the betting that we are concerned about here and unlike many of their rivals on the UK scene where brand power is everything, Mr Tros has always focused on the idea of technical innovation first and foremost. In fact, he has tried to remove himself and his company from the typical bookmaker business plan. The end result, however, is that he is currently generating a minus profit annually. Not great reading for investors, true, but this is a long game for Smarkets and their staker community is growing every year and they are dreaming big and looking to create something the size of Betfair in the future. There is a lot of work to be done yet, but on the whole, the Smarkets team are on the right track.
Questions
What documents do Smarkets require for account verification?
For the age and identity verification, Smarkets will ask all stakers to provide a passport, driving licence, or national id card. And to verify the staker address, you will need to provide at least one document from the following list: a bank, building society or credit union statement (dated within the last three months), a utility bill (dated within the last three months, and no mobile phone bills are being accepted), a local authority tax bill/council tax bill (within the current year), a tax bill (within the current year), or a residency certificate issued by the local government authority (this needs to be dated within the last three months). Source of Wealth checks will also demand that you hand over sufficient evidence that supports the value of the money you are trading with and due to each case being dealt with individually, the exact process cannot be determined. However, several documents will be accepted, and these include pay slips, pensions, bank statements showing consistent income values from an official source, and anything else that supports your personal affordability.
How long does it take them to settle the bets and payout?
Smarkets bets are settled immediately in most cases. In some exceptional occasions (a stewards enquiry in horse racing, for example), bet settlement might be delayed slightly. We were unable to trace the links to Sportradar, Betgenius, Opta, or Stats Perform and as such it could be that none of them are being used. The results for most of the minor leagues might be significantly delayed or where internet scores from popular platforms are being used, the settlement may get further rolled back. Either way, there is more clarity needed as customer care is not really aware of how the settlements are being handled.
How to request a withdrawal and how long it may take?
All withdrawals are being processed within five working days and apart from this general timeframe, there are some more accurate details being offered up on the official Payments page. Such as the Visa, Solo, Maestro, Mastercard, and Eurocard options are taking between one and six days. E-wallets like PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, and Trustly are quicker with one to two day timeframes. Open Banking takes 12 hours and traditional bank transfers take a lot longer with anywhere from 5 to 10 days for the transaction to complete.
Are multiple accounts allowed?
Smarkets warn that stakers can only open one account with them. The team may refuse to open an account or close an existing account when, for example, the account in question is traced to the same address, IP address, or computer. Smarkets may also freeze any winnings on such accounts.
Is it safe to open an account with Smarkets?
Smarkets is a licensed betting exchange company which is regulated by the gaming authorities of Malta and the UK, two of the top gambling authorities in the world. There were no official records of regulation breaches and only a few complaints about accounts being closed. Most complaints were connected with the commissions they charge or slow payouts which, in our eyes, is not something that should stop you from opening an account here. It has been shown that the company has around £30 million in cash reserves and so there is more than enough money to balance out any big bet winners.
VPN Usage - legal or not?
It is not prohibited to use VPN while browsing the Smarkets website. However, the terms and conditions do warn their punters that using third-party applications, including VPN, to connect to Smarkets may not display full information about their account or their ongoing betting activity.
50% of the reviews have been marked as ‘bad’ with only one star, and 5% as ‘poor’ with two stars. There is a long list of staker complaints such as the reasons mentioned above with the main issue being accounts getting closed without any suitable reasons being provided.