Betmate Review

As a matched bettor, I’ve visited hundreds of betting and gambling websites. Most bookmakers operate on the same basic model: They offer odds (in their favour) on a specific outcome and encourage players to stake as much as possible. Most betting sites are carbon copies of one another with slight variations on available markets and bonuses.

When someone comes along and does things differently, it gets my attention.

One of those is Betmate.

Unlike a traditional bookmaker, Betmate aims to provide a fun, social experience. Instead of competing against Betmate, their app allows you to compete with other users in a ‘pot’ for a small entry fee. Pots are each based on a familiar game, such as selecting the correct winners for football matches (acca style) or assembling the best fantasy football team for a round of fixtures (my favourite!). The pot then pays out to the users who rank the highest. Based on the game, that could be the most results predicted correctly or the most points earned by your fantasy team.

Can I use Betmate for matched betting?

Because Betmate uses a ranking system rather than odds, you can’t match outcomes at a betting exchange. Therefore, you can’t take advantage of their promotions via matched betting.

So why am I writing about Betmate? Simply because it’s fun to play.

Have you ever played ‘Fantasy Premier League’ or put an accumulator on the weekend’s football fixtures to make things more interesting? If so, you’re the kind of person it will appeal to. Don’t view it as a way to earn money; instead, enjoy the competition it breeds between your friends or colleagues. You may even be able to take some money from them in the process!

Social betting

It’s this social aspect that elevates Betmate. You can set up private invite-only pots with your friends and set the entry fee, game type, and number of winners. Then, when the matches are underway, watch your rankings change in real time. You’re not competing with a faceless corporation but with people you know, with true rivalries.

Everything Betmate does focuses on the social experience and keeping things fun. It even extends to limiting the entry fees for pots. The entry fees for public pots vary between £3, £5 and £10. While the larger public pots might have high payouts should you rank well, they’re not designed to encourage you to place huge stakes. If you’re looking for high levels of boom and bust, you’re better off at a traditional bookmaker. Betmate tries to keep things sensible so the rivalries stay fun.

As you might imagine, Betmate is relatively new (founded in 2020, with a gambling license granted in 2021) but with a steadily growing user base. It has all the relevant licensing and gambling controls you’d expect, with options to self-exclude, limit deposits, etc. As always, bet responsibly and know your limits.

It’s all wrapped up in a slick app that does an excellent job of showing you the information you need.

Pot types

Betmate has several different pots with varying games and options. I’ll explain each one below, but the best way to learn more is to open a Betmate account and explore for yourself. If you download the app via this link and enter the promo code ‘MBB20‘ when registering, you’ll get a ‘Bet £10, Get £20’ welcome offer exclusive to Matched Betting Blog users.

Private pots

As you would imagine, private pots are invite-only pots created by yourself or a friend. You select the entry fee (from as little as £1 and upwards) and positions paid (winner takes all or spread the winnings over the top 3 or 5 places). You also select the game type from Fantasy, Survivor, Full Time Result, Both Teams To Score, and Goalscorer. I’ll go through those in more detail later.

When choosing the ‘Survivor’ game type, you can also set up an ‘Organiser’s Percentage’. Usually, all the money paid into a private pot gets paid out to the winners. With the organiser’s percentage enabled, you can set aside a percentage of the total pot. Suppose you’re setting up your pot for a sports team or social club. It’s an excellent way of setting aside money for a night out, new equipment or anything else that will benefit the group.

Public pots

Public pots are similar to private pots, with the same games and setup options. The main difference is that the Betmate team sets them up; anyone can join. It usually means you get more people in them and a larger payout for ranking in the top positions.

Unlike private pots, public pots can also have a ‘guaranteed’ prize fund. Sometimes, this can work in your favour when there’s a small number of entries into a large prize pot. If the opposite happens, and a pot gets a lot of entries, an ‘overdrive’ feature kicks in. When a pot goes into overdrive mode, the prize pot automatically increases as it reaches different thresholds of entries. This way, Betmate never takes an unfairly large cut from an oversubscribed pot.

On the topic of Betmate’s cut, they never keep a percentage of private pots. So when you play with friends, the overall amount of money remains the same – it just ends up being owned by different people.

Some public pots also have a ‘jackpot’, an additional bonus on top of the leaderboard winnings. Usually, this is for getting something 100% correct – like correctly guessing all the results in a set of fixtures.

I actually managed to bag £120 using a £5 free bet I had to use on a public pot! See the screenshot above for my winning fantasy team and leaderboard.

Game types

Betmate offers a variety of game types that will be familiar to people who have placed bets before. These include picking the correct outcomes from a set of fixtures for full-time results, both teams to score, or anytime goalscorers. It’s like an accumulator but without the need to get every selection correct to win. Players are ranked based on how many selections they guess correctly, so you just need to beat the people you’re competing with. Even if you come up just short of top-spot, you may still win one of the lesser prizes.

‘Builder‘ is Betmate’s take on the traditional ‘Bet Builder’ offered by sportsbooks, where you predict various markets within a selection of fixtures. Each correct prediction corresponds with a number of points, which are then used to rank all competitors in the pot.

A ‘Survivor‘ game asks you to pick a winning team each week. If your selected team draws or loses, you get knocked out. Once you’ve picked a team, you cannot pick them again. The winner is the last player standing.

However, my favourite is ‘Fantasy‘ – Betmate’s take on Fantasy Football. Unlike the official Premier League version, there is no budget, and the game only lasts for one round of fixtures. There are some restrictions, like how many players you can have from the same team, but generally, the setup is to make your team selection quick and easy. You won’t need to spend hours poring over form and tactics, only for your friends to be out of sight after the first few game weeks. Have you had a shocker? No problem. Set up another pot for the next round of fixtures.

The scoring for fantasy is slightly different from what you might be used to, but I think for the better. You only need to select seven players instead of the typical eleven, so you don’t need to agonise over so many selections. Which also has the added benefit of making each selection more meaningful.

By making the points for goals and assists closer together and rewarding tackles, interceptions and saves, you can get a good haul from different players, not just superstar strikers. A better balance across your team makes for a fairer, more exciting game.

There are a few more details, but the general scoring is as follows:

• Goalkeepers score a point per save.
• All players score a point per tackle and interception.
• Assists (4 pts) are almost worth the same points as a goal (5 pts).
• A captain’s score is boosted x2.
• A vice-captain’s score is boosted x1.5.
• There are points for game time, clean sheets, and penalty saves.
• Negative points for goals conceded, cards, own goals, and penalty misses.

For all games, the leaderboard is updated in real time thanks to data from Opta, creating great competition. WhatsApp messages will fly back and forth as you jostle for position.

Give it a try!

As I’ve said, you won’t make any guaranteed profit from Betmate, but it is great fun!

As a bonus, all new users get free entry into a survivor pot with a prize of £500! That’s a hefty payout for a risk-free game. You could have a decent chance of winning based on the number of entries that week. Plus, for every friend you refer, you both get another entry into the free £500 prize pot. Usually, the free prize pot uses the weekend Premier League matches, but it will change based on the fixtures that week.

Be sure to opt-in to receive news and offers by email or push notification. You’ll receive further free bets and bonuses when you trigger specific criteria, or Betmate runs a seasonal campaign!

Join Betmate today

Join Betmate