What Is A Betting Broker?

In many ways, the world of sports betting mirrors the financial world, with tiers of professional traders harnessing the betting industry to turn a profit.

Betting brokers are just one example of those traders, making money by acting as a middleman between customers placing bets and bookmakers (and also some exchange sites).

So what is the advantage to bettors of using a broker, and how does it work? Is it something the average sports bettor should look into? And what are the downsides?

In this article, we’ll go into everything you need to know before signing up with a betting broker, so that you know for sure whether it’s worth your while.

How Does A Betting Broker Work?

A betting broker - or betting agent - acts as a middleman between you and a bookmaker.

Through a single account with the broker, you can place bets with any bookie they offer, and the broker makes money by charging you commission on your stake.

Brokers tend to focus mostly on Asian bookies, which usually have a somewhat different business model to western bookmakers.

Asian bookmakers are what’s known as ‘sharp’ bookies, offering much more competitive odds than the typical British bookie (known as ‘soft’ bookies).

Sharp bookies have much lower margins on their odds, and aim to make their odds as close as possible to true probability, meaning that the customer gets much better value for money.

In contrast, soft bookies have a high margin on their odds, and focus more on promotions to draw in customers, rather than competitive value on the bets themselves.

Sharp bookies are also far more willing to accept profitable, winning customers than soft bookies, who will usually start gubbing or stake restricting any customers who are too successful.

For this reason, sharp Asian bookmakers are obvious choices for expert sports bettors, who have the knowledge and experience to consistently make money from their sports betting, usually through value betting tactics.

Betting agents make it much easier for these bettors to access sharp bookies and to place their bets.

The broker allows them to compare odds between the various bookies to find the very best value, and to place bets all from within one account, without having to navigate between a long list of bookie sites.

For an expert sports bettor, consistently profiting from their betting, it’s well worth the commission a betting broker charges for the sake of the ease of use and time saving aspects its service offers.

What Are The Benefits Of Using A Betting Broker?

Avoiding restrictions

One of the chief reasons to use a betting broker is to avoid the risk of a bookie placing restrictions on your account.

The biggest problem for sports bettors looking to make consistent profits is that most western bookies don’t look too kindly on any customers who make a success of their betting activity.

Consistent winning will inevitably result in a customer being stake restricted, meaning that they won’t be able to stake enough money to make any real profits anymore.

Asian sharp bookies are much less likely to restrict their customers, but customers from much of the world may not be able to access accounts with those bookies.

A betting broker therefore provides a means of access to those bookies - and the betting broker’s business model means that they really don’t care how much you win, as they earn their commission regardless.

Access to competitive odds

Generally speaking, it’s possible to access much better value odds from Asian sharp bookmakers than from British ones.

Professional bettors’ profits hinge on finding the very best value bets available - so it’s easy to see why they’d be keen to bet with these bookies.

Of course, betting exchange sites will also allow bettors to access highly competitive odds, and when betting at relatively low volumes using an exchange can be a solid strategy.

But even exchanges will start to impose some limitations for the most profitable bettors, asking for higher commission rates, or requiring the bettor to pay commission on all their bets, whether they’re wins or losses.

For bettors making serious money, betting brokers can be a much more satisfactory alternative.

As well as this, betting brokers make it a breeze to compare the odds available from various bookies, and to place bets from the same interface.

This saves the bettor valuable minutes in checking through different sites - and given the speed at which odds can move, that time saving can result in a significant amount of extra profit in the long run.

Even better, many betting brokers allow the bettor to set up a bet but require the software to wait to place it until it’s available at specified minimum odds.

This saves the bettor a lot of time in waiting around for the odds to improve; the technology does it all for them.

What Are The Drawbacks Of Using A Betting Broker?

While betting brokers do offer some major advantages to high volume sports bettors, there are also a number of downsides to balance those out.

The most significant of these are as follows:

Fewer sports to choose from

Betting brokers generally have a much more limited range of sports available than traditional bookies.

You’ll still be able to access the most popular sports, but it’s often impossible to branch out into more niche sports.

Fewer payment methods available

This probably won’t trouble you if you only ever deposit via card anyway, but betting brokers generally have quite a limited range of payment methods available.

Matched Betting isn’t possible

Unfortunately, you can’t make money from Matched Betting while using a betting broker - profitable offers simply won’t be available to you.

Geographical restrictions

Crucially for UK-based bettors, many betting brokers don’t offer a service to a number of countries.

For a number of brokers, you simply won’t be able to sign up at all. There are some available to UK customers, but the available options are somewhat limited.

Turnover requirements

Betting brokers tend to cater to high volume customers, and they may therefore require you to stake a certain amount of money per month, or to wager your deposits a certain number of times, to avoid paying additional fees or to continue to use their services.

Limited withdrawals

Many betting brokers limit the number of withdrawals customers can make free of charge.

Their services are designed to be used on an ongoing basis, so they expect you to leave a significant amount of money in your account.

You can usually withdraw free of charge once per month, but that does mean that you’ll need to be confident you won’t need urgent access to any of the funds you might have tied up in a broker account.

No promotions

Betting brokers tend to focus on sports betting at a very basic level, meaning that you aren’t likely to encounter much in the way of promotions or bonuses. The value to the customer comes in the form of the odds they see.

Potentially less secure

As a betting broker is acting as a third party broker, they are not necessarily directly offering betting services themselves, so may not have a UK gambling licence.

Because of this, it won’t necessarily meet UK requirements for gambling operators, and your funds may not be as secure as they would with a UK licensed bookie.

Which Are The Best Betting Brokers Available?

If you’re based in the UK, your main challenge will be tracking down a betting broker willing to accept your custom; many of the most popular ones don’t accept customers from the UK.

The most reputable betting brokers with at least some services available to customers in the UK are as follows:

• BetInAsia. One of the most recommended betting brokers - but unfortunately customers from the UK cannot access BetInAsia Black, their main brokerage service. However, UK-based customers can still access their Sharp Exchange, which is powered by Betfair.

• VOdds. Based in Malta, VOdds accepts customers from far more countries than many betting brokers, including the UK. As well as a range of sportsbooks, they also offer both Matchbook and Betfair, as well as operating their own exchange.

• Premium Tradings. Premium Tradings is licensed in Curacao, and is much less restrictive when it comes to geographic location than many other betting brokers. They do, however, have high minimum deposits and withdrawals, high turnover requirements, and they charge commission based on your deposits, not your stakes.

Is It Worth My While To Use A Betting Broker?

Betting brokers are designed for professional sports bettors, and consequently, they’re only really worthwhile for high volume, expert bettors who are making too much in profit to avoid being restricted by traditional bookies.

If you’re making a serious living from sports betting, then it’s certainly worth your while looking into betting brokers as a way to continue and maximise your profits.

For recreational bettors, however, the disadvantages are likely to outweigh the benefits. Instead, we’d recommend casual sports bettors looking to increase their profits to give Matched Betting a go.

Matched Betting involves placing bets both for and against a certain outcome to earn free bets, which allow you to make a profit regardless of the result - meaning that you can make reliable, guaranteed profits, so long as you follow the instructions correctly.

Most offers run along the lines of ‘Bet £10 and get a £10 free bet’. By matching the first bet, you break even - and you’re then able to make a profit on the free bet.

To find out more, take a look at our beginner’s guide to Matched Betting.

Alternatively, if you already know roughly how it works and want to get started, sign up here for our free trial and gain access to bookie offers worth over £850 in profit.

Summary

For expert sports bettors making a living from their gambling, betting brokers can be a huge boon, allowing them access to the best possible odds while reducing or eliminating the risk of account restrictions.

However, the more casual sports bettor isn’t likely to gain enough from using a betting broker to make up for the downsides - and that’s if they can even find a broker that operates in their country.

Realistically, most recreational bettors are likely to be more profitable if they try their hand at Matched Betting.

If you’re keen to get the most value from sports betting, sign up for our free Matched Betting trial to start making profits today.