Not so smarket

Don't know if you've been following the thread on the Betangel forum about Smarkets recently. If any of you have ever used Smarkets, then it may be worth your while doing so. it's here: Smarkets begins closing successful accounts.

Smarkets are a betting exchange that's been around since 2008, they have a flat 2% commission fee and have passed 100 million in trading volume. Small fry compared to Betfair, of course, but it's progress isn't it? Or so it would seem.

For it now appears that Smarkets have taken the dubious decision to start closing profitable accounts - or should I say profitable accounts that don't quite fit the profile they require from their customers. So if you have a particular style of trading that doesn't help Smarket's small number of market makers, then it looks like you'll be asked to leave the premises.

And surely this is the death knell for Smarkets? A betting exchange is a betting exchange. Smarkets, Betfair and Betdaq can change the window-dressing, apply different commission structure and do their best to attract a certain type of bettor/trader. But to actively close accounts they don't like is the antithesis of a betting exchange and will surely send current and potential customers away in droves. A shockingly bad move.

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So what a cracking set of Christmas football fixtures we've had so far. Amazing stuff, with goals flying in all over the place. Peter Webb, from Betangel has reminded us, however, that we shouldn't be fooled into thinking that this will continue. The average number of goals may be creeping-up, but it's certainly not shooting-up. See Peter's blog post here: Goal Fest.

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Well, after a horrible day traipsing round the shops yesterday, I managed to miss every trading opportunity going. I did catch all the matches on Match Of The Day in the evening, but can't help feeling it would have been good fun to trade it all.

Today, the Everton v Chelsea match went well, with no real issues. Missed the first two goals in the QPR v Liverpool match, but did jump on after that. How bad were QPR? Terrible. I layed Liverpool at 0-3 hoping for some small fightback from QPR, but they had nothing. Powder-puff stuff and surely they will be relegated now.
 

Football: £156.66 | Tote: |  Total P&L:  £156.66 

 
Football Showing 1 - 8 of 8 markets

Market Start time Settled date Profit/loss (£)
Football / QPR v Liverpool : Correct Score 30-Dec-12 16:00  30-Dec-12 17:50  29.91
Football / QPR v Liverpool : Over/Under 3.5 Goals 30-Dec-12 16:00  30-Dec-12 17:50  13.18
Football / QPR v Liverpool : Match Odds 30-Dec-12 16:00  30-Dec-12 17:50  -4.00
Football / QPR v Liverpool : Over/Under 4.5 Goals 30-Dec-12 16:00  30-Dec-12 17:49  14.28
Football / QPR v Liverpool : Over/Under 2.5 Goals 30-Dec-12 16:00  30-Dec-12 16:27  5.44
Football / Everton v Chelsea : Correct Score 30-Dec-12 13:30  30-Dec-12 15:27  77.54
Football / Everton v Chelsea : Over/Under 3.5 Goals 30-Dec-12 13:30  30-Dec-12 15:27  4.72
Football / Everton v Chelsea : Over/Under 2.5 Goals 30-Dec-12 13:30  30-Dec-12 15:04  15.59