This article was first published in the April 2014 Secret Betting Club Magazine (Issue #87) and has been published with permission on the Sportmarket website.
The Secret Betting Club is an independently run review service, with a focus on uncovering the best betting tipsters, systems and software to help everyday punters improve their betting.
You can find more details on their unique service by visiting http://www.secretbettingclub.com Please note that some terms regarding minimum stake per bet, turnover requirements and rules for deposits and withdrawals have changed since the article was published. For up-to-date information about current policies we refer to the FAQ section.
BET BROKER REVIEW: SPORTMARKET PRO REVIEWER: ROWAN DAY TIME SAVIN G SOFTWARE FOR THE BUSY PUNTE R
Sportmarket Pro
Have you ever asked yourself what are the most fundamentally important things that as serious punters, you must be able to do to give yourself the best chance possible of being successful? I would suggest that the ability to get your desired stake into the market, and securing the best price possible on each bet, would be very high up on any list you might draw up. If you can’t bet what you want to bet, and are not getting full value for each of your wagers, then quite simply any aspirations you have for your gambling are not going to be met.
When we find something that may help us to achieve our aims therefore, then it is very much worth having a closer look, and for the past few months I’ve been assessing the usefulness of the bet brokerage service, Sportmarket Pro.
Back in October, the Secret Betting Club placed another broker – Asian Connect – under the microscope (download SBC 86). The conclusions drawn from that review were that there was potential for punters to secure better prices on the bets they strike, especially when utilising the Asian Handicaps, but that there were areas of practicality that needed to be addressed before the service offered could be deemed 100% satisfactory. There was no odds comparison site covering each of the six Asian books covered for
example, and although not a fatal flaw, the ability to wager only in Euros was found to be an irritant for users based in the UK or the US.
The good news for users of Sportmarket Pro is that there is an odds comparison site for the bookmakers they can grant access to (see below for more detail on which books these are) and if you are a resident of the UK, you can bet in GBP Sterling. So immediately we can see that there are advantages to using Sportmarket Pro, but of course this is just scratching on the surface of what we need to know before we commit to making it a part of our punting armoury.
Above all else, we need to know that any funds we deposit with Sportmarket Pro are secure. We need to know that on a practical basis, whether or not using Sportmarket Pro is simple to do, and of course we must assess whether or not using the service provides us with an additional edge to our betting that is worth paying for. In other words, does it provide value for money?
These are the questions I aim to provide the answers for in this review. Who are Sportmarket Pro?
You may have read my initial preview of Sportmarket Pro in the last SBC magazine. Allow me to recap the main points about Sportmarket Pro and what it can offer to its clients.
Sportmarket Pro is a bet brokerage service that allows it’s user access to six Asian based books. These are Pinnacle, IBC, ISN, SBO, and SV. They also offer access to the football betting exchange, Matchbook. It is operated by a company called Ibramarket, first established in 2004, and offers a one-stop-shop for gamblers who play in the global football, basketball and tennis markets.
Sportmarket Pro can facilitate the placing of larger stakes into the market by betting with several of the books simultaneously. Odds are updated in real time and a client’s betting and transaction history is recorded and can be analysed by the client across a number of different parameters.
Who Should Consider Using Sportmarket Pro?
As Sportmarket Pro say themselves, “if you are a smaller player, enjoy betting on multiples or looking to take advantage of various bonus offers or free bets from sites looking for ‘recreational’ players, then the service is probably not for you”.
I guess a lot of you reading this will have left being a “recreational” player behind some time ago, and will have inevitably gone through the process of first having their stakes limited and then their accounts closed by the various high street bookmakers.
For sports betting, I’m sure that you, like me, will have been using the Asian bookmakers – Pinnacle, 12bet, 188bet and SBO Bet in particular – to place decent sized stakes on your bets. If you have indeed reached this stage with your betting operation, then using a broker like Sportmarket Pro should be something you give strong consideration to, particularly if you are still expanding your betting operation and raising stakes as you go. Even more so if you want to ensure that you are always getting the best available odds on your wagers and don’t have access to the huge books that are IBC and ISN. You know it’s not always Pinnacle that offer the highest odds in the Asian markets!
Followers of NBA basketball should also consider using the Sportmarket Pro service. US Sports are increasingly coming under the spotlight as a potential betting medium for many serious bettors based in Europe due to the relative strength and size of the markets. Sportmarket Pro does provide access to all the major NBA and European basketball markets including the moneyline, Asian handicaps and
Unders/Overs and in doing so provide the same benefits to the Sportmarket Pro user in this sport as they do in football and tennis.
How Easy Is It To Open An Account?
Opening an account with Sportmarket Pro might at first appear an unnecessarily cumbersome procedure, but it really is a simple process once you get in to it. I would compare it a little to opening an account with say, SBO Bet. It may seem a bit of a fuss to send in ID documents, but really it’s no big deal and once it’s done, it’s done.
An account is opened by first registering with Sportmarket (www.sportmarket.com) and depositing funds there. This can be done either by bank transfer or by using one of the online wallets, Neteller or Skrill. Once this task has been completed, opening a Sportmarket Pro account is a simple matter of sending an email requesting a transfer, upon which an email containing your Sportmarket Pro login details will be sent in return, and away you go.
Please note that the minimum deposit is 500 Euros/£500. Monthly Charges
There is a monthly charge for using Sportmarket Pro of 25 Euro/£20 (which is inclusive of VAT). It should be noted however that this fee is waived should your betting turnover exceed 5,000 Euros/£4,000 in that month. Bearing in mind that this service is perhaps best suited to those playing at bigger stakes than those accepted on an on-going basis by the high street bookmakers, achieving this level of turnover should be a simple task.
Ultimately Sportmarket Pro make their money from the commission they charge for directing business towards the bookmaking companies they utilise, and so don’t need to charge a client a fee if that client is providing a certain level of betting turnover.
How Secure Is The Money You Deposit With Sportmarket Pro?
With the very recent problems as regards the likes of Bet Butler and Canbet, the issue of security of deposited funds when it comes to using companies like Sportmarket Pro is naturally at the forefront of everybody’s minds.
The first thing we should point out is that Sportmarket Pro is NOT a bookmaker and nor does its business model hold any similarities with that of a bookmaker. The company holds client funds in bank accounts, e-wallets and of course – and to a large extent – within the accounts of the bookmakers they utilise so that the client can bet with the books that they do. We can see therefore that through necessity, funds aren’t ring-fenced as such.
It is possible to conduct due diligence into the financial footing of Sportmarket Pro. They are a limited company incorporated in Malta and the company accounts are publically available. I believe that Sportmarket Pro is currently a profitable organisation. Here too is a statement from Per Hildebrand, Co-Owner:
“We are not a bookmaker and what separates us from most other brokers is that we do not take any positions on the bets and we only work with the most reputable bookmakers in the industry. This means that we make money regardless if a player wins or loses and that the results doesn't matter to us.
It could even be argued that it is safer to bet through us than with an individual bookmaker as we would pay clients even if a bookmaker owing us money went down if bets were placed through Sportmarket Pro as players should not need to worry what bookmaker the bet was placed with.”
How Good Is The Customer Service?
We asked a number of questions of Per, a co-owner of Sportmarket Pro, and he was always extremely courteous to deal with and happy to provide comprehensive answers.
When we transferred funds from Sportmarket to Sportmarket Pro, the process was smooth, hassle free, and quick (with a deposit I made on 2nd April, I instructed Moneybookers to make the payment at 4.05pm and received an email confirming my Sportmarket Pro account had been credited with that money at 5.08pm). We have no concerns at all about the levels of customer service shown to date, and in fact, a recent episode has highlighted how highly Sportmarket Pro value their customers. Allow us to explain… A new book was introduced to the Sportmarket Pro roster, the Asian book SingBet. Unfortunately it appears that for reasons known only to themselves, SingBet decided to void some winning bets. Determined that their customers shouldn’t suffer unfairly, Sportmarket Pro paid out on the voided winning bets out of their own pocket. This is obviously an extremely commendable course of action and
Sportmarket Pro are to be congratulated for putting the welfare of their clients at the top of their list of priorities.
SPORTMARKET PRO IN ACTION
Next, I will outline how Sportmarket Pro looks and feels when putting it to use as a user of their service. The ‘Trading’ Page
When you first log into your Sportmarket
and it is from here where you can start placing your bets.
You can see that at the top of the screen are the in
these live games are the matches kicking off later in the day, with each country listed alphabetically so that locating the match in which you are having a bet is a simple task. Alternatively you can use the scrollable menu located to the left, and by clicking on the desired lea
matches within that league to the top of the ‘Today’ screen.
In the top left-hand corner you can find your balance and profit and loss statement for the current or previous day’s betting, plus the value of your open bets
The ‘History’ Page
A very useful function that can also be found within the options listed along the top of the screen is a full history of your transactions, running balance with each individual book used, and from the ‘History’ tab, access to a download of your full betting history. Alternatively you can bring up a list of certain types of bet placed and filter by day/week/month/year.
Here, for example, is a summary of the bets I placed on the 4
Sportmarket Pro are to be congratulated for putting the welfare of their clients at the top of their list of CTION
Next, I will outline how Sportmarket Pro looks and feels when putting it to use as a user of their service.
When you first log into your Sportmarket Pro, you are welcome by what is known as the ‘Trading’ page and it is from here where you can start placing your bets.
You can see that at the top of the screen are the in-play markets for games that are currently live. Below matches kicking off later in the day, with each country listed alphabetically so that locating the match in which you are having a bet is a simple task. Alternatively you can use the scrollable menu located to the left, and by clicking on the desired league Sportmarket Pro will bring the matches within that league to the top of the ‘Today’ screen.
hand corner you can find your balance and profit and loss statement for the current or previous day’s betting, plus the value of your open bets.
A very useful function that can also be found within the options listed along the top of the screen is a full history of your transactions, running balance with each individual book used, and from the ‘History’ tab,
oad of your full betting history. Alternatively you can bring up a list of certain types of bet placed and filter by day/week/month/year.
Here, for example, is a summary of the bets I placed on the 4th April, across a number of sports.
Sportmarket Pro are to be congratulated for putting the welfare of their clients at the top of their list of
Next, I will outline how Sportmarket Pro looks and feels when putting it to use as a user of their service.
Pro, you are welcome by what is known as the ‘Trading’ page
play markets for games that are currently live. Below matches kicking off later in the day, with each country listed alphabetically so that locating the match in which you are having a bet is a simple task. Alternatively you can use the
gue Sportmarket Pro will bring the
hand corner you can find your balance and profit and loss statement for the current or
A very useful function that can also be found within the options listed along the top of the screen is a full history of your transactions, running balance with each individual book used, and from the ‘History’ tab,
oad of your full betting history. Alternatively you can bring up a list of certain types of
You can also see at the top of the screen the other filters (or combination of filters you can use to analyse your betting activity). This ability to break down and analyse your betting history is undoubtedly helpful when it comes to keeping a record of the bets you place. Certainly there is no excuse for not keeping a very close eye on your betting successes and failures!
Please note too that from the ‘History’ page you can keep a track of the number of bets you have placed, your turnover, and success levels within each type of market you have played. You can even break down your stats to see how your bets perform on each day of the week, month, or year. In essence, and without getting bogged down by describing all the options for analysis that are available, it’s sufficient to say that this tracking element provided by Sportmarket Pro is a very useful tool indeed.
The ‘Settings’ Page
One of the options you can see at the top of the screen is ‘Settings’. By editing your ‘Settings’ profile, you can limit the number of markets you see on the main trading screen and also access a number of other options such as whether or not you want to see a confirmation of your proposed bet before it is actually placed. In short, you can to an extent, tailor what you see on the ‘Trading’ page and the process for placing the bet.
Placing Bets
So we’ve seen some of what Sportmarket Pro can offer, but ultimately of course, the most important aspect of the service to us punters is the usability of the trading interface and whether or not it can provide us with an additional edge.
Below is an example of what the user sees when trying to place a bet on the Asian handicaps, taken from a recent match:
This is the -0.5 Asian Handicap line and from the screenshot we can see the bookmakers offering prices, what the prices are, and the limits available. The bookmakers are abbreviated (PIN for example is Pinnacle) with odds ranging from 1.980 with SBOBet to a best 2.030 with Pinnacle).
To place a bet, you simply input your stake in the relevant box and select with bookmaker you want. After hitting ‘Place Order’ you’ll see how the placing of the bet is progressing before finally being notified that the order has been placed successfully. And that’s it. A simple, easy and quick process.
If it is a different line you want, you can easily click on the relevant one listed at the top of the box. Simples!
THE ADVANTAGES OF USING SPORTMARKET PRO
As we have outlined above, the actual getting to grips with using Sportmarket Pro is an easy process with a functional and intuitive setup, which makes placing bets with them relatively straightforward.
How though does the Sportmarket Pro compare than to placing your bet directly with the bookmakers themselves? Here is my take on a few key topics to help explain...
Obtaining Better Odds?
The first thing I examined is whether or not Sportmarket Pro allows access to better odds than can be attained by using an odds comparison site such as Oddsportal and going directly to the book offering the highest price.
Undoubtedly there are occasions when it is possible to gain marginally greater odds, usually via a book such as IBC or Matchbook, companies whose markets can’t be seen via Oddsportal. However, the majority of the time I have found that the best price on offer via Sportmarket Pro is the same as the best price you can find being offered by one of the big four Asian books on Oddsportal (i.e. 12bet, 188bet, Pinnacle and SBO). What this means of course is that you are in a no-lose situation, gaining marginally better odds via Sportmarket Pro on some bets but never getting less than the highest price available via Oddsportal.
A Valuable Time-Saver
Without wanting to overstate any advantage that using Sportmarket Pro can provide in terms of the size of the odds attainable, an important factor that any serious bettor ought to take into account is the amount of time using this service can save in placing bets. This is particularly advantageous if following a service that has an impact on the market when it releases their selections.
When using a site such as Oddsportal, it takes time if trying to place numerous bets that have come through from your tipster, to locate the market, see which book is offering the best price, go to the relevant bookmaker, find the relevant team and then, finally, be able to place your bet. I don’t know about you, but often I go through this rigmarole only to find at the end of the process that the odds have dropped and after a return to the Oddsportal site, another book is now offering the best price!
With SportmarketPro, two clicks – one to open the relevant market, the other to place the bet – and you’re done. When you open the relevant market you can immediately see the prices offered by a number of big Asian books and secure the best price available, to larger limits, very, very quickly. This allows you to move on to the next bet far more rapidly than you can by using the comparison site method, and thus secure better odds than you would otherwise do.
Those of you reading the review of Club GOWI further on in this month's SBC Magazine, will be aware of the shift in odds in certain markets that take place when they advise a bet. If you are therefore planning to follow a service like this the instant they release a bet, then a service like Sportmarket Pro could be essential.
So in conclusion then, when it comes to securing better odds, Sportmarket Pro can essentially provide it’s users with an advantage by virtue of it facilitating the process of placing numerous bets far more quickly than someone who is using an odds comparison website. And it is in this respect that we believe Sportmarket Pro has a considerable edge over the Asian Connect brokerage service. The ability to compare the Asian markets so quickly and with one click of the mouse cannot be underestimated in its usefulness to the bettor.
Increased Betting Limits
This may not be a great advantage to many, but if your betting operation has got to the stage where even the larger limits imposed on stakes by Pinnacle and SBOBet are becoming a hindrance, then Sportmarket Pro provides an answer. By spreading your stake across a number of Asian books, more money can be placed into the market, although naturally this will mean compromising just a little on the odds secured.
WHAT TO BE WARY OF WITH SPORTMARKET PRO
So that's the upside of using Sportmarket Pro, but what potential issues or problems are there? Here is a rundown of all concerns you might want to be aware of prior to using...
Be Careful If Betting ‘In-Play’.
It does seem that having an in-play bet accepted when using Sportmarket Pro can take a little longer than when placing an in-play bet directly with the bookmaker. This is something to be aware of because there is potential for your bet to lose when really it should have been a winner.
One user recounted his experience to me whereby he wanted to place an in-play bet on Zenit
St.Petersburg at -0.5 on the handicap. With the score at 0-0, a 1-0 win for Zenit would mean a winning bet. Should the same bet be placed on Zenit at 1-0 up, and no more goals are scored, that bet is a loser.
The user clicked for his bet to be placed with the score at 0-0, but during the time it took for the wager to be accepted, Zenit scored. Thus the bet was accepted with the score at 1-0 and the SportmarketPro user lost his stake.
We put this point to Per at Sportmarket who disagreed and stated..."We believe that the software is even stronger for live betting as it updates as soon as odds changes are made on the sites, whereas keeping 3-4 sites open often means a delay between refreshes of 15-20 seconds. This means that with Sportmarket Pro you often get a better odds live simply because you are unaware if some of your bookies have raised the odds."
Of course this can happen when placing these type of bets directly with the bookmaker, but it does seem that the time between striking the bet and having it accepted is often a little longer via Sportmarket Pro, and with in-play betting, speed is of the essence.
Limited Sports Availability
It should be noted that at this moment in time, the only sports serviced by SportmarketPro are football, tennis and basketball. With an increasing interest amongst the betting fraternity in US Sports such as ice hockey and baseball, it would be nice to see SportmarketPro cater for those betting in these markets. Not Optimised For Mobile & Tablet
Another point to be aware of is that the Sportmarket Pro site is not yet optimised for use via your mobile phone or tablet - a situation we are told will be changing with the release of a mobile version before the World Cup.
CONCLUSION
In today's modern betting world, in which it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep bookmaker accounts open and viable, more and more educated betting investors are moving towards football and US sports to provide their betting medium. Frankly, they are left with little choice. It is only by betting with Pinnacle, SBO and the like that they are able to play with larger stakes and enjoy success without fretting about imminent account restrictions and closures.
Sportmarket Pro has identified a niche, and by operating within it, provides the serious bettor with a valuable resource. It is, as far as we know, the first European-based bet brokerage service to combine the invaluable tool of an odds comparison site for the major Asian books, some of which aren’t available through the usual channels, with the facility to place big stakes into the markets.
You don’t have to be a ‘big-player’ to enjoy the benefits that Sportmarket Pro provide, however. If a chunk of your betting turnover is directed towards Asian Handicap betting and football, tennis, or basketball, then Sportmarket Pro is a tool that you really can use to your advantage. There is no down side to having access to more of the big Asian books, and with built in facilities that allow a close tracking of your betting history and other analytical tools, we believe that Sportmarket Pro has more to offer than other bet brokerage services currently in operation.
The only caveat is the relative lack of security of money deposited with Sportmarket Pro. Funds deposited with them are not ring-fenced as they are with most major bookmakers and that in itself presents a risk, regardless of how well-run the Sportmarket Pro service is run.
We must make clear that we have experienced no problems in terms of withdrawals, nor have we heard of others experiencing problems. Nonetheless, it is always wise to take a cautious approach, just as we believe it is sensible to take a cautious approach with money held directly in bookmaker accounts. Keep balances from ballooning by making regular withdrawals. By doing so, you can easily minimise the risk of anything untoward happening, but also enjoy and take advantage of the many positives that SportmarketPro can provide your betting operation.
In summary, we are happy to provide a recommendation to use Sportmarket Pro for medium to big players in the respective football, basketball and tennis markets. The practical advantages of using their service is great for anyone who places a lot of bets. Simply be aware and mindful of the funds security topics we outline above and be sensible with funds invested.
