Betfair Exchange has the most users, but its most profitable customers can pay an Expert Fee of 20% or 40%, and its licensee settled with the Gambling Commission for £2 million in 2025. These licensed exchanges have clean records and simpler charges, or a different way to bet.
SafeBet.ai is reader-supported. When you sign up with an operator through a link on this page we may earn a
commission, at no extra cost to you. Partnerships can influence which operators we feature and the order in which
they appear. They don’t change the facts we report: every review follows our published methodology, cites official
sources, and only covers operators that are licensed or regulated where they operate. Read our editorial policy.
Advertising. SafeBet.ai may be paid by the operators shown when you register through our links. We only link to operators licensed by the Gambling Commission. 18+ only. Free, confidential help: the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, or block yourself from every licensed site with GAMSTOP.
Best Betfair Exchange alternatives
Checked
The best Betfair Exchange alternative for most people in the UK is Smarkets. Smarkets publishes every charge: 2% commission on net winnings, no Expert Fee, free deposits and withdrawals, and withdrawals processed within 6 hours.
No Expert Fee: Smarkets' most profitable customers move to a 3% commission tier instead.
Published payment terms: Smarkets lists every method's limits, charges no fees and processes withdrawals within 6 hours.
A clean record: we found no regulatory action against Smarkets' or Matchbook's operator on the Commission's register.
Yes/no markets: Matchbook Predictions prices outcomes as percentages, on sports and politics.
The best Betfair Exchange alternatives in the UK
Rank #1SM
Smarkets
Best overall
8.7 /10
Smarkets publishes every charge: 2% commission on net winnings, no Expert Fee, free deposits and withdrawals, and withdrawals processed within 6 hours. It has far fewer users than Betfair, but its politics markets, branded Smarkets Predictions, cover elections around the world.
Commission
2% of net winnings per market (Standard tier)
Markets
Sports, politics, current affairs & TV; trade out; API (£150 setup)
Politics markets
Yes, branded Smarkets Predictions
2% commission on net winnings, with every tier published, and no fees on deposits or withdrawals
Withdrawals processed within 6 hours, and paid straight away by open banking
Politics and current affairs markets, branded Smarkets Predictions
Matchbook runs an exchange with bet builders, multiples and live racing streams, and Matchbook Predictions for yes/no markets on sports and politics. We couldn't read its commission rates from outside the UK.
Commission
Not checked; "low commissions", says its app listing
Markets
Football, racing, darts, boxing & more; bet builder; racing streams; API free to start
Politics markets
Yes, in Matchbook Predictions (per its app listing)
Matchbook Predictions: yes/no markets on sports and politics, priced as percentages
No regulatory action on the Gambling Commission's register
Bet builders, multiples and live streams of every horse race and greyhound race
These aren’t in our top 3, but they can make sense in specific situations.
Spreadex
Not an exchange: Spreadex offers fixed-odds betting under a Gambling Commission licence (account 8835) and sports spread betting, where you can lose more than your stake, as a firm authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. The Commission fined it £2,022,000 on May 7, 2025 over anti-money laundering and customer-interaction failings between September 2022 and November 2023.
Why Polymarket and Kalshi aren't alternatives
Neither holds a Gambling Commission licence, and both keep UK users out: Polymarket lists the United Kingdom among the places where users can close positions but not open new ones, and Kalshi lists it among its restricted jurisdictions. Offering or advertising unlicensed gambling to people in Great Britain is a criminal offence.
Stick with Betfair Exchange if you want the most people on the other side of your bets and markets from racing's biggest festivals to election results, and you won't come near the £25,000 of gross profit over 52 active weeks that can trigger the Expert Fee.
Smarkets, for its published 2% commission, free payments and clean record, or Matchbook for yes/no prediction markets.
Is there an exchange without Betfair's Expert Fee?
Yes. Smarkets has no Expert Fee: customers with more than £25,000 of net profit over 12 months pay a 3% Select commission tier, charged on every settled bet. See our Smarkets vs Betfair Exchange comparison.
We’d like to use analytics (Google Analytics) and marketing (TikTok) cookies to improve SafeBet and measure our ads.
Nothing is tracked unless you accept. Read our cookie policy