Matchbook Sportsbook Review

Matchbook sportsbook presents a novel idea in the online sportsbook arena. While we give them credit for taking a different, creative approach, that approach does not always work out so well in practice. The idea that Matchbook brings to the table is that unlike with other books you are not betting against the house. Instead the house plays the role of matchmaker, pairing you with bettors who want to take the opposite of what you want to bet on.

The good news with this approach is it that means there is a very small vig on every line. The bad news is that it is not always possible to find someone who wants to take the other side of your bet, or if there is someone who wants to take the other side, they may not want to take it for the amount you are looking for.

Visit the Matchbook Sportsbook website.

And that is the real rub. It is entirely too limiting for someone who wants to be able to bet regularly when they want to.

Deposits can be made easily by bank wire, Neteller, Moneybookers, or Instadebit. The same options are available for payouts.

Matchbook has maintained a clean reputation and has no history of payout problems. Being totally honest, they never should have a payout issue since their business model of matching bettors against one another means they are not taking on any risk themselves.

Matchbook's unique betting model tends to attract more of the sharps than the casual gamer who generally does not want to be bothered with any special rules or constraints. That betting model also means that there are no deposit bonuses or any kind of a VIP or loyalty program. The juice is low here and the house is not taking as much of the action, so there is no real incentive for them to offer those sort of things. 

Customer service is solid at Matchbook. Their setup and business model means you are likely rarely to have any kind of a service issue or need to contact them. Although, you may have questions when first placing a bet.

Placing a bet here is going to have a little bit of a learning curve, even for experienced players. Unlike traditional online betting engines where you can easily find exactly what you are looking for and place the bet you want, this is more of a wide open marketplace. We have seen some people compare it to trading in the stock market, and that is probably a pretty fair comparison. You have to see how much money is available on each bet and determine whether that fits the action you are looking for or if you will need to bet more in order to play.

If you cannot find a matching bet, you need to create a new order for your bet. Other players will then have the option to match your bet.

The tutorial guide that they present on their website is simple to follow and helpful.

Because of this style of betting, bets can only be made on their website.

The website is easy to use, but fairly vanilla. They do not provide any additional content, and if there are a few slow days of gaming, there really is nothing going on here.

The real drawback for most players is going to be the betting variety. Forget any kind of exotic prop bets. Most days you are only going to find action on the major events going on. For the most part, you will not find prop bets of any kind here.

Besides the lack of variety in events, you will not find anything like teasers or parlays here. They simply do not exist. Straight bets. That is it.

And of course there are the limits. The amount you can bet on any event is limited by the ability to find a matching offer. If you want to put $1,000 on a game, your ability to do so will be completely based on the willingness of another player at Matchbook willing to put $1,000 on the other side of the line.

It is a creative idea, and credit should be given to them for trying something new, but in the end, it just does not really feel like it works.