Matched betting is a great way to make money online. Using this method we place quite a few back and lay bets each day. Therefore it’s important that we use the best companies to place our bets.
Smarkets are the younger and smaller betting exchange when you compare them to Betfair and Betdaq, eight years younger to be precise. They’re doing everything they can to catch up with the two older brothers and a website overhaul is one of those.
On the desktop version, they’ve been toying with a few ideas in the past few months and here at The Sure Bettor we like what seems to be the final design.
Before any of the recent changes, their homepage looked like the image below. A simple but efficient page. Everything was easy to find with all the main sports betting on the left-hand sidebar and the most popular markets on the right-hand sidebar.
The search bar at the top was an especially powerful tool. Type the sport, team or player and from the search dropdown section, you could even place your bet.
In all honesty, we didn’t think that there was much wrong with the way this version looked and functioned, however, the guys at Smarkets obviously did.
Who doesn’t mind a change once in a while though…
In the recent updates they’ve mainly altered the aesthetics sticking with the brilliant functionality of the original site which we’ve already highlighted.
Here is a screenshot of the most up to date homepage.
The guys at Smarkets have done a great job of streamlining the new site. It now runs a lot quicker than the old site, especially the search bar. Just start typing and the system shows you the most relevant search results almost instantly.
Below is a screenshot of the most recent sign-up page.
Overall the new site works in a very similar way to the original one with just the aesthetics and site speed being improved. We like the look and feel of the updated site and arguably the back and lay odds stand out more than in previous versions. All in all, a nice update.
And the Mobile App?
At long last Smarkets have launched a mobile application for iOS and Android. This makes matched betting much easier when we’re on the move.
We like the new app a lot, however, it’s obvious it’s still in the early versions. It’s still quite rough around the edges with a few glitches here and there. They’ve kept very similar aesthetics and a common feel to the new desktop version of the site.
I would advise that you use the mobile site rather than the app until it’s been updated a few more times. The mobile version of the site is very easy to use with a clear layout. Perfect for matched betting on the move.
Below are screenshots of the updated mobile site on the left and the new mobile app on the right. Here at The Sure Bettor we would like to see a larger font used for some of the pages on the app and an improved layout.
Overall we like what Smarkets have done with their updated site and the new app. They haven’t decided to change what was already working which is good to see. It’s still our preferred betting exchange to use for matched betting due to a brilliant platform and an industry-leading flat commission of just 2%.
What are your thoughts? Add them below and share with The Sure Bettor team.