Betdaq Review

Betdaq is the world’s second largest betting exchange. It offers a simpler commission structure than the market leader, Betfair, but its liquidity is not as strong. Irish businessman Dermot Desmond founded Betdaq in 2000 and Ladbrokes purchased it for €30 million in 2013. It is now part of gaming empire Entain, which owns Ladbrokes, Coral, Bwin and various other brands. Alongside its betting exchange, Betdaq also offers a high-quality sportsbook and an online casino.

Betdaq customers can enjoy a variety of 0% commission specials, free bets, bonuses and promotions. This Betdaq review focuses on these bonuses, along with the sign-up process and the banking options. The BMR team will provide its verdict on the user experience, the strength of the sporting coverage, the quality of the odds, the wagering limits, the customer service and the mobile site. Read on to learn more about the Betdaq betting exchange and sportsbook.

Registering a Betdaq account is a quick and easy process:

• Visit betdaq.com and click “Join Now” at the top right of the screen.
• A new window will appear, asking for your title, name, date of birth and email address.
• You will be asked for your country. Only the United Kingdom, Ireland, Jersey and Gibraltar are available.
• Provide your address and phone number and county.
• Set up a password and click to complete the sign-up process.

A verification process will require you to upload documents that prove your identity and address, and then you can start using the betting exchange and sportsbook.

The user interface at Betdaq is very good. It features an attractive pink and grey colour scheme, with the text clearly displayed. There is a search function at the top right of the Betdaq website, which works well, and navigation is simple. You can easily switch between the betting exchange, sportsbook, casino and sports pools at the top of the site. The bet slip works well too. The pages advertise a lot of promotions, and they are pretty busy, but the intuitive design ensures that they do not feel cluttered.

There is a Betdaq Tips section, which features previous and betting tips on several sporting events each week, with a particular focus on horse racing and football. You can also sign up for Betdaq Pro, which offers an API feed. There are lots of free trading tools, such as Bet Angel and Geeks Toy, and you can also learn more about exchange betting via a series of video tutorials.

Betdaq has a mobile app that you can download from the Apple Store and Google Play. It does not appear to be available. The app has received poor user ratings on both stores, with many customers complaining about crashes, poor navigation, login issues and broken links.

The bugs have largely been fixed via a series of updates, but there is still a considerable amount of work to be done before the Betdaq app can compete with the Betfair mobile app. It might be a better idea to simply access the Betdaq website directly from your mobile browser rather than downloading the Betdaq mobile app. The BMR found that the mobile site worked very well when we tested it out for this Betdaq review.

Betdaq provides a wealth of sports betting options, because it offers a betting exchange and a standard sportsbook. The sportsbook is pretty similar to Ladbrokes, although it does not cover quite as many sports, while the betting exchange focuses heavily on horse racing.

Sports Covered

The Betdaq sportsbook lists the sports it covers in descending order of popularity on the left of the homepage:

• Horse Racing
• Soccer
• Greyhound Racing
• Cricket
• Golf
• Tennis
• American Football
• Basketball
• Baseball
• Darts
• Mixed Martial Arts
• Ice Hockey
• Rugby Union
• Rugby League
• Boxing
• Cycling
• Formula 1
• GAA (football and hurling)

There are also politics and special bets sections. The politics area is divided into UK and international politics betting. The Betdaq exchange covers the same sports as the sportsbook, although you will not find as many markets to choose from.

Depth of Sporting Coverage

The Betdaq sportsbook covers fewer sports than some of its rivals, but it covers them in excellent depth. You will find betting on obscure soccer leagues in Algeria, Bangladesh, Iran, Kenya and many other niche countries. There are friendlies and lots of lower league clashes to choose from. It covers cricket and rugby very well, so British punters should be pleased with the site, but it does not feature as many basketball, baseball and hockey leagues as some of its leading competitors.

Betdaq Betting Markets

Betdaq offers a modest range of betting options for customers to choose from. You will find many more options by visiting sister sites Ladbrokes or Coral. Betdaq does not yet have a bet builder. There are even fewer bet types available in the Betdaq exchange. It is not as liquid as betting exchanges like Betfair, so it is not as easy to get your back or lay bets matched. Betfair is certainly quicker to build up liquidity, but if you wait until roughly two hours before an event begins, you should find decent liquidity at the Betdaq exchange. Betdaq is a slightly strange proposition, as it offers a reasonably good betting exchange and a reasonably good sportsbook. However, you will find a better exchange at Betfair and a better sportsbook at Ladbrokes, so it is probably only worth signing up for a Betdaq account if you are a regular exchange bettor, as it sometimes offers better terms than Betfair.

Betdaq Live Betting

You can place in-play bets via the betting exchange or sportsbook at Betdaq. BMR found back and lay matches available on all sorts of niche live sporting events when conducting this Betdaq review. The sportsbook also provides a reasonably broad array of live betting options, with scores and stats to help you stay abreast of developments in the game. You can enjoy live streaming on all horse racing and some other sporting events, while the sportsbook offers full cash out or partial cash out. It is a very impressive live betting platform.

Other Betting Options

The Betdaq casino features a modest range of around 200 casino games. The game quality is pretty strong, with some of the world’s best software providers featured, but there is no live dealer section, which is a little strange. The layout is pretty basic, with no search function, and we could not find any casino bonuses.

The Betdaq casino feels like an afterthought, and it is in need of improvement. You will find a far better online casino at sister sites like Ladbrokes, which offers a wealth of live dealer games, all the latest slots and fantastic bonuses. We would advise you avoid the Betdaq casino and look elsewhere. One interesting section at Betdaq is sports pools, where you can enter syndicates on betting markets for big upcoming sporting events. That is a fun feature.

There are no official wagering limits at the Betdaq betting exchange. You just need to find another punter that will match the sort of bet you want to place. The maximum payout on the sportsbook is £1 million, which is the same as sister site Ladbrokes. This is one of the highest upper limits available, behind only Bet365 and William Hill.

Betdaq charges a 2% commission on all winning betting exchange wagers placed on horse racing, soccer, greyhounds, cricket and virtual sports. You can enjoy 0% commission on other sports. This commission structure is generally more appealing than those offered by rival betting exchanges. The sportsbook at Betdaq offers pretty average odds across the board, but you can often find great prices at the betting exchange.

The Betdaq users in our BMR Forum community have provided pretty good feedback about Betdaq. We received a few complaints about payouts and bonuses at Betdaq, but they were many years ago, and it has built up a strong reputation among bettors since then. Many serious betting exchange users have an account with both Betfair and Betdaq, and use them in tandem. They say Betdaq is a reliable site with good software and an appealing commission scheme, but some say they can find it hard to get bets matched at times. Overall, Betdaq has a strong reputation. It is licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, and it is part of a major, public traded company, so there should be no concerns around the reliability of its payouts.

The Betdaq customer service team is available 24/7 to help with any questions you may have. You can call the customer support representatives, speak to them via live chat, or email if it is a non-urgent request. The BMR team tested out the customer support during this Betdaq review, and we found that our questions were answered promptly. The representatives were knowledgeable about exchange betting in general and specific aspects of the company, and they were unfailingly polite and friendly.

If you’ve made it this far and are still not sure about giving Betdaq your business, check out the top rated sportsbooks suggested below, or visit the Bookmakers Review rating guide to search for another sportsbook.