Before talking about Types of Online Bookmakers .. Let’s see what is a Bookmaker ? A bookmaker (or a bookie) is a business, a company that sets odds, accept bets and make the payments for the winning punters that are using their service. Bookies are operating in both online or in physical locations (street shops). A part of them are operating in both ecosystems. They are offering live betting and pre-match betting. Only a few of them are offering only one of those.
Types of Online Bookmakers – Why they differ ?
But following the needs of the bettors, the players who place the bets and risk their money, different companies decided to diversify their betting offer and their business model.
Some of them bookies, are targeting normal bettors, who are placing accumulators, and enjoy some offers from time to time. Some of the companies decided that they love to have only big bettors as their clients, who wants to wager big sums of money, and who don’t care about offers and free bets.
Some companies just create the platform and the environment for bettors to meet and to decide their own odds, to bet against each other, and the company just win a small, but surely percentage from the winner’s total return.
Some bookies are regulated , some are not
Some bookmakers are regulated by law, some of them have strong licences form authorities belonging to countries like UK, some of them decided to have licenses from countries or regions like Curacao or Cypru. Some of them decided to operate on Asian territory and they don’t report to anyone any details about their high rollers.
Another difference between them is the set of the margin . The margin in a betting market represent the pure profit of the bookie. A perfect bet will be on odd 2 (for 2-way markets , like in the coin example explained in value betting strategy article) . So , if 2 players bet against each other, one choose Over 2.5, and the other choose Under 2.5 .. the perfect odd will be 2 on both outcomes. But you will never see same odd 2 offered by same bookmaker on their website, on Over / Under 2.5 .
Like in example bellow , you will see odd 1.72 for Over 2.5, and 1.98 for Under 2.5. The difference (until odd 2) is the margin , which represent bookmaker’s cut, their profit. This way, in the long term, bookies never lose 🙂
In this article we will cover all categories and explain a few key differences about all of them, but we will create more explanatory articles with pro and cons, tips and tricks, for each and every one of them.
How Many Categories of Bookmakers Exist?
We split the bookmakers in 6 BIG categories. Each one have their own particularities, and a respected bettor who apply any of our explained betting strategies, should have accounts with bookmakers from each category.
Let’s start with the most known category :
Soft Bookmakers
A soft bookie is a company , a sportsbook that is targeting recreational punters, bettors. Like I said , they prefer having members that are mainly bet on accumulators and / or big games from the biggest leagues. Soft bookmakers concentrate on operating easy to use platforms for normal bettors, they give attractive bonuses and you can always see their aggressive commercials everywhere.
Their margin in betting lines is very high, usually 5-10 % , because this is how they are marking their profit. But they are looking for fun players who don’t care too much about bookmaker’s profits, or they don’t understand the concept of margin. Their customers usually prefer to get some bonuses or free bets from time to time.
Soft Bookmakers LOVE this type of bettors, so they try to avoid the bettors that are using specific strategies, like arbitrage betting or value betting, or bettors that are just hunting for easy bonuses.
Read more about SOFT bookmakers here : Recommendations, tips and tricks, pro and cons.
Sharp Bookmakers
A sharp bookie is is a company (a sportsbook) that is targeting professional bettors and high rollers, players that wager big amount of money.
Therefore, for obtaining their profit, sharp bookmakers don’t need to set their margins so high. They have LOW MARGINS, (sometimes just a few procent) thus.. they have higher odds. This means better outcomes for their members. On the other hand, their betting offer is less, they don’t add so many games from inferior leagues. Their offer in betting markets is also smaller, they don’t put tons of betting markets as soft bookies.
Sharp bookmakers adjust their offer much quickly, because of high amounts of money in their bets that they receive. This can lead to arbitrage situations between soft and sharp bookmakers, which we explained in detail in arbitrage strategy .
Account limitation non-existing
Another HUGE particularity of the sharp bookmakers is that they never limit accounts of bettors. In fact, one of the things Pinnacle is advertising is : “We welcome all arbitrage users”. And this is normal, because arbitrage and value bettors are the first who notice when something is wrong with a specific odd or a betting market. The action of betting on that odd will regulate that betting market, to the point when it will have the normal odd.
So, those types of online bookmakers I recommend for each bettor that is serious and wants to implement a betting strategy.
Read more about SHARP bookies here : Recommendations, tips and tricks, pro and cons.
Read more about how to use VPN when betting.
Betting Exchanges
It is maybe about 10 years when I first heard of a betting exchange, and from that day, I never stopped using them. In fact.. if you believe, I still have the same account. For 10 years. It is the ONLY one betting account that I kept more than 2 years.
Why ? The explanation stay exactly in the definition of a betting exchange. The exchange (like in a stock exchange) , a player don’t bet against a bookmaker, instead he bets against other members who use the same exchange. A betting exchange function like a marketplace, where the seller and the buyer will meet and decide the VALUE of a product. In our case.. THE VALUE of a bet !
You did saw that screenshot above at a soft bookie (bwin) with odd 1.72 for Over 2.5, and maybe 1.98 for Under 2.5 ? Here are the betting exchange (betfair) true odds, for the same game, and same betting market :
Its is worth betting ?
Why betting at bwin Over 2.5 for 1.72 odd, when I can bet on Exchange , same amount of money for odd 1.86 ? Even if I take out the betting exchange tax (3% in my case) , if I bet 100 euros, I will win pure profit of 83.4 euros, while at Bwin, I will have a winning of 72 euros. That will means that if I bet on a exchange, I will win with 12% more money. In the long term, this will add up, so more money for me .
At betting exchanges you can find the perfect odd like I wrote in beginning of the article, Odd 2 for Over 2.5 will meet odd 2 for Under 2.5 . The arbitrage of that betting line will always be 0.
Then, how owners of a betting exchange will make money ? Don’t worry, they ALWAYS win ! They take a small percentage (1-5%) from the bettor who won the bet. That percentage can drop depending on the bettors activity, so High Rollers pay less.
Because you bet against another player from the platform, and Betting exchanges make money NO MATTER who’s winning the match.. THEY DON’T LIMIT ACCOUNTS !
Betting Brokers
First contact with a Betting Broker I had when my UK Pinnacle account was closed because UK Government decided Pinnacle should not operate in UK anymore.
Like all serious bettors , high-rollers, I had to find a solution. And then I discovered that a different type of bookmakers exists out there : The Betting Brokers or Betting Agents.
A Betting Broker / Bet Agent is a company that intermediate bettors and other bookmakers, usually sharp bookmakers, asian bookmakers, exchanges. The advantage here is that the bettor DO NOT have to open accounts with every bookmaker present on the Betting broker’s platform.
Those types of online bookmakers is most suited to high rollers, and people that don’t want to work with soft bookies that limits accounts. Betting Brokers usually don’t give bonuses (some of them have bonuses for new members, but with hard conditions), and they don’t like betting-for-fun bettors, and try sometimes to not receive those on their platform, by imposing MINIMUM amount of money to deposit.
Majority of betting brokers offer access to best odds on the market, skype betting and access to their platform where you can bet with 1 click at more bookmakers in the same time. This is what any high-roller is looking for.
Read more about Betting Brokers here : Recommendations, tips and tricks, pro and cons.
Asian Bookmakers
In the last decades, asian betting market grow exponentially . Huge betting companies appeared and grow in markets from China, Macau, Hong Kong or other territories. But over time, The asian bookmakers developed some differences from those classic, european bookmakers. This included the odd format and the betting markets.
Majority of european style bookies “borrowed” asian lines from asian bookmakers, like “asian handicap lines” or “asian under / over”, because a lot of bettors prefer now those markets.
A lot of asian bookmakers fell into the sharp bookies category, but not all. But huge majority of asian bookmakers love high-rollers so they don’t limit accounts. That’s why they are much respected by experienced bettors, because they offer better odds than classic european bookies , and offer a better betting experience to normal bettors by not limiting accounts.
The bad thing is majority of those asian bookmakers you can access with using a VPN or with a BETTING BROKER (described in detail here)
Read more about Asian Bookies here : Recommendations, tips and tricks, pro and cons.
Well, that being said, we finally get to the last category :
Crypto Bookmakers
Those represent a newer types of online bookmakers . As the name of the category suggest, A crypto bookmarker is an online platform that allows bettors to deposit and placing bets using cryptocurrencies.
These bookmakers leverage blockchain technology to provide secure and transparent betting experiences, offering diverse betting options such as sports games, casino games, and even esports.
Crypto bookmakers have become popular among those seeking a modern approach to online gambling, but only a part of the crypto bookies are in fact blockchain bookmakers and you can wager in cryptocurrencies. The others are just normal soft-bookmakers that only allow you to deposit using Crypto wallets.
Personally, we didn’t used or tested too many of those crypto bookmakers on the market, so we cannot give an inside and based-on-experience opinion about bettor experience with them, about how fast (or IF) they limit accounts, etc.
Read more about Crypto Bookies here : Recommendations, tips and tricks, pro and cons.
Final saying about Types of Online Bookmakers
If you read it all, now you know how many types of online bookies exists and what are the MAIN differences between them. Bookmakers are splitted themselves depending on who are their targeted customers. A part of bookmakers prefer having recreational punters that usually bet on accumulators or placing bets with no advanced research.
Another part of bookmakers sees the value of their business in volume. They let members bet high amounts of money and in exchange they offer better odds. Some of companies just build platform for bettors to meet and do the betting and trading bets between them. Other bookies offer crypto betting possibilities, and so on.
No category of bookmakers is perfect , each one have pro and cons, which I explain in detail in articles for each category :
Soft Bookmakers – Fully Explained
Sharp Bookmakers – No More Limited Accounts
Betting Exchanges – Detailed Explanation
Betting Brokers – Become a High-Roller
Asian Bookmakers – Another side of betting
Crypto Bookmakers – The Future Of Betting
