Work Out What an Exchange Keeps From Your Winnings

Where does the Betfair commission rate come from?

Your own exchange account is the authority. A preset fills the field only when a publisher has stated a number for a territory you can match to yours; otherwise the tool asks you to type one before it runs. For the wider picture of which exchanges exist and how brokers list them, the betting exchanges overview is the place to start.

Betfair's charges page (an archived copy, undated) states the mechanism: commission is your net winnings on a market multiplied by the Market Base Rate, then reduced by a discount for customers in most countries. A help article adds that the base rate is set by your country of residence. The discount goes in its own field, which you leave empty if your account shows none; the same page caps it at 20 percent until your identity is verified. Which Betfair company and which terms apply to you is a separate question, answered in the guide to Betfair access by country.

What the result is telling you

Take the plainest case first. A back bet of 100 at decimal odds of 2.50 has a gross profit of 150. At 2 percent the commission is 3.00 and the net odds are 2.47; at 5 percent it is 7.50 and the net odds are 2.425. Commission is the rate times the gross profit, so a longer price gives up more of its stated odds than a short one: at 5.00 and 2 percent the net odds are 4.92, the figure Smarkets' own bet calculator prints for that case.

Lay bets flip the exposure. Laying 50 at 4.00 risks 150 (the stake times odds minus 1) to win 50, and commission is charged only when you win: at 2 percent you keep 49, which makes the effective lay odds 4.0612 instead of 4.00. If the selection wins you lose the full 150 and pay nothing on top.

A discount changes the rate before anything else does. Betfair's own worked example has a net market win of 400, a base rate of 5 percent and a 40 percent discount: 400 x 5% x (1 - 40%) = 12, an effective rate of 3 percent.

To compare with a bookmaker, fill in the bookmaker price. A sportsbook price carries its margin inside the odds, while an exchange shows a raw price and takes its cut afterwards. Putting the two on one footing is the point of the next step.

Against a bookmaker at 2.00, an exchange has to show 2.0204 at 2 percent, 2.0309 at 3 percent and 2.0526 at 5 percent before the two match. Turned around, an exchange price of 2.05 against 2.00 holds up to a rate of 4.76 percent (1 - 1/1.05) and falls behind above it. Whether the gap to a real bookmaker is worth chasing is a question for the price parity check, which compares prices net of fees.

Betting exchange commission rates, one row per publisher

The table is built from the same list the tool reads, so a preset and its row cannot disagree. Each rate is what its publisher states for the territory shown, dated only when the source itself carries a date. An empty rate cell is a finding and stays empty on purpose.

Betdaq has two rates that depend on where you live: 2 percent for the UK, Ireland, Gibraltar and Jersey, 5 percent elsewhere. At odds of 3.00 that is net odds of 2.96 against 2.90. Other sites print Betdaq at 2, 3 or 5 percent, and its home page also shows time-limited promotions, which are not the default rate and are never preloaded. Betdaq writes "net market winnings" and is silent on the net-loss case.

Smarkets is the subtle one. Its own calculator gives 2 percent as its standard commission, and its fee page names tiers: Standard charges on net profit per market, while Pro and Select charge on winnings or losses per individual order that settles, and a Market Maker tier charges on lifetime profit and loss. The Pro and Select rates could not be read, so there is no preset for them, and an order-by-order tier does not match the net-market base the tool uses.

Matchbook's cell is empty because the published figures disagree: third-party pages print at least six incompatible rates, and the exchange's own site could not be read as text. Betfair Australia's rates belong to Betfair Australia alone; its commission page, modified 2025-03-24, describes commission taken from winnings and does not write down a market-level offset, which is why those presets start on each win.

When the price on screen is already net

A broker that lists an exchange can present commission in several ways, and each needs a different entry. BetInAsia (opens in a new tab) says that on its BLACK service the commission on exchange bets is already calculated in the offered price, so the rate to type is 0; typing 3 on top would charge it twice. The same article lists route rates: 3 percent for Betfair, 2.2 for Matchbook, 1.1 for Betdaq, 1 for Molly Exchange, 1.375 for Smarkets and 1.6 for Betdex. They describe BetInAsia's routes and are not the exchanges' own fees. The 1.375 for Smarkets sits below the 2 percent in its own calculator and the sources give no reason for the gap, so treat them as two publishers describing two routes. BetInAsia's own pages also disagree on fees and rollover, which is worth knowing before you rely on a figure from any one of them.

Sharp Exchange is a separate broker product with terms of its own, and the sources never call it a Betfair account. BetInAsia's article on it speaks of low commission on winning bets only and prints no figure. MadMarket's page states a flat 3 percent on winning bets and 0 on losing ones, and Sportmarket's FairExchange help article gives the same 3 percent on winning bets only. Whether losses elsewhere in the market offset a win stays open on all three, so the tool charges each winning bet on those presets. MadMarket is a recent operator with a licence entry dated February 2024 and no independent reviews, and its terms let it limit or void bets despite its slogan.

AsianConnect states 3 percent on OrbitX exchange on its sign-up page, dated as a whole page 2026-09-22, without saying how it is applied, so ask the broker before you deposit. Reviewers on forums and review sites describe delayed or frozen withdrawals there, from a small sample. MadMarket publishes no rate for the Betfair, Matchbook and Betdaq prices on its Edge platform and only mentions a commission tied to turnover, with no number.

Sportmarket (opens in a new tab) says it charges no commission and has built all such charges into its odds, so the price shown does not change at settlement. Enter 0 for a Pro price; FairExchange is a different product, which is why both statements stand. The cost sits elsewhere: by its help pages, each deposit must be turned over five times before you withdraw, or a fee of 2 to 5 percent can apply, and it can ask for proof of the source of funds. Deposit and withdrawal costs lie outside the tool; the broker fees breakdown covers them.

Does exchange commission come off the market or each bet?

The netting box is the biggest lever after the rate itself. Betfair's terms say commission is charged on net winnings in a market and that a net loss on a market pays none. Betdaq's wording points the same way, and the Standard tier at Smarkets describes commission on net profit per market only.

Enter odds of 2.00, a stake of 20, a rate of 5 percent and other bets of -10. The bet wins 20, the market nets 10, and the commission is 0.50; charged on the win alone it would be 1.00. Put -30 in the other bets and the market nets -10, which brings the commission to 0. Net losses stay untaxed.

A winning-bets-only product charges each win on its own, while a net-market exchange charges only what is left once your losing selections in the same market are subtracted. Two routes quoting the same 5 percent can therefore leave you with different commissions on the same trades, and an order-by-order tier shifts the answer again. If a broker confirms in writing that losses are offset, switch the box to the net of the market.

What the tool leaves out

It reads only what you type and the preset list. Exchange rounding rules are not published, so results are two-decimal estimates that can differ from a settled bet. Deposit costs, withdrawal costs and any forecast of profit are outside it; it prints arithmetic.

Betfair also publishes an Expert Fee for very profitable accounts, capped at 40 percent. It is text only here, with no field, and its thresholds are set out in the Betfair charges and fees section. Betfair Australia's commission page still refers to Premium Charges, which is one more reason to date every source.

Exchange betting is for adults, 18 and over, and the exchanges open to you depend on your country.