When watching TV in the evening, it’s natural to see various supermarkets attempt to go one bigger and better than all others. In some cases, they promise to match the prices of the competition. In recent years, this idea has come to the betting world too. With this in mind, some bookmakers attempt to match the prices of all other services. For the eagle-eyed readers, you will have noticed our use of the word ‘some’.
Despite all the positives that price promises bring for customers, there’s one big problem that deters a handful of bookies – it’s expensive.
Due to the cost involved in running a price match system, you’ll find that there are different tiers in the industry.
Bookies that offer price match for specific sports, fixtures, or events
Bookies that offer price match as a promotion
Bookies that steer clear of price match completely
What’s Price Match?
Before we get too deep into price promises, let’s get back to basics. By definition, price match systems are designed to ensure that customers always get the best odds in the industry. For many years, bettors struggled to choose between bookmakers because they excelled in different areas when it came to odds. It was impossible to choose a single ‘best’ bookie for odds because they all had their different sports and events.
In this situation, nobody won. For customers, they needed several accounts just to get the best odds for any given sport. For bookies, they had to share customers with other services. With a price promise scheme, bookmakers are not only matching all other services but, in some cases, promising to beat them too.
Let’s say that you decide that West Ham will beat Crystal Palace in a Premier League game – the game is on Saturday, but you place the bet on Wednesday. When the game comes around, you notice that the odds are better on another website. Thanks to price matching, your chosen bookie will match the odds of this competitor (even if you took lower odds earlier in the week!).
BoyleSport’s offer Best Odds Guranteed on UK and Irish racing
As bettors, we highly recommend looking out for price match systems. Every year, new bookmakers enter the market, and it seems to get more and more competitive. Consequently, services feel compelled to secure the accounts of players by offering schemes like price match. How do you choose the right price match system?
Choosing a Price Match System/Promotion
Check the Type of System
Although you might not like to hear it, the first step to choosing a price match system is always to do your research. Earlier, we mentioned that bookmakers vary in the way that they offer this system. With research, you’ll learn how they all work and which ones best suit your betting style.
Firstly, you have the bookmakers that are yet to introduce a price promise. We would never encourage you to ignore a high-quality bookmaker, but you should keep this in mind. Whether for the cost or another reason, the bookie hasn’t committed to any form of price match and this means that you could get ‘odds envy’ from time to time.
Secondly, some bookmakers have compromised between offering a price match system and not. While they offer a price match on some events, sports, and occasions, the system doesn’t apply to everything else. If you join a platform like this, be sure to read the terms and conditions. You don’t want to make a bet thinking that price match applies only to then be disappointed when you learn the truth.
As an example, a bookmaker may offer a price match for horse racing, certain meetings, or specific events. Though some focus just on horse racing, you’ll find others that dip their toes into tennis, football, cricket, and other sports.
Thirdly, you’ll find some bookmakers that offer price match features as promotions. While the previous group tend to offer price promises permanently, this third group changes their price match promotions regularly. For instance, it might be for Wimbledon, a World Cup, Cheltenham Festival, or another sporting occasion. As expected, the price match promotion applies to all bets made on the competition itself. As soon as the competition ends, the promotion does the same.
Fourthly, you might be lucky enough to find a bookmaker that has a universal price match system, one that applies across all sports at all times. In truth, these are few and far between. At the moment, you’ll find that even the biggest names in the market belong to either the second or third group.
Check the List of Comparison Bookmakers
As the second consideration, read the small print on a price match promotion or system because they vary from one to the next. As an example, the bookmaker should list the comparison services. If they only price match against a couple of services, is it really worth your time? You could still find better odds elsewhere that aren’t matched.
On the other hand, if the bookie price matches against 12 different services, you can be certain that you’ll have the best odds going. We believe that price match promotions should go up against the leading brands in the niche. You would expect Bet365, for example, to compare against the following:
As the most popular services on the internet, bettors know that they really are getting the best odds and prices.
Read the Small Print
This is especially important when assessing the duration of price match promotions. You don’t want to sign up for a bookmaker and then find that the promotion is set to expire in a few hours. If the small print has an expiry date for the promotion, keep this in mind. Of course, those designed for a specific sporting event will end as soon as the event itself concludes (this isn’t to say that the offer won’t return for another upcoming event).
As well as expiry dates, you’ll also learn about how the price match system works from the small print. For example, you’ll learn the applicable markets and other details. Do you need to place the bet after a particular time? With horse racing, it’s common for bookies to give something akin to opening hours for the bet. They might say that the price match offer is available for all horse racing bets between 10am and the final race.
Meanwhile, other bookmakers will only run the offer for short stints; for instance, between 11am and 12pm or 6pm and 7pm. If you’re to get the most from the price match system, read the small print and follow the instructions.
Elsewhere, you could also see other limitations in the small print. Some offers will only cover Each Way and Outright markets. Again, you don’t want to bet on another market only to find that it’s not covered in the price match system.
Don’t Forget the Bookie Itself
Finally, far too many people place such a heavy emphasis on odds and prices that they forget the rest of the service. Just because a bookmaker offers a price match promotion, this doesn’t automatically make it a stronger offering than others in the market. When choosing a bookmaker, you still need to consider everything else.
Do they have good customer support? Do they cover lots of different sports? Do they allow plenty of banking methods for depositing and withdrawing? Do they have support for bettors and responsible gambling measures? Do they have a good mobile app?
Think about what makes a brilliant bookmaker and consider the price match promotion alongside all these other fantastic features. Price match and other promotions aren’t worth a thing if you dislike the website design, can’t bet on your favourite sport, or can’t deposit through your chosen method.
Summary
Do betting sites price match each other? Yes, but only to an extent. Most bookmakers that offer this type of feature limit it to certain sports, events, and even times of the day. You’re unlikely to find a bookie that price matches ALL markets against the competition.
When choosing between price match systems, you also need to pay attention to how it works. Who do they actually price match against? To get the most value from price matching, the platform should match all the other big names in the market.
In terms of the offer itself, a price match allows you to place a bet in advance of an event and feel confident that you won’t find better odds elsewhere. If another bookie does offer a generous price, the price match guarantee ensures that you’ll also enjoy this price. We recommend looking around at the very best price match systems to see how they compare. Soon enough, you’ll find a service that not only offers value with price match but that also meets your needs in every other area.
Search the market, find a price match offer for you, and never get odds envy again when talking with friends!
Carl Hughes is a leading expert on sports and casino betting. Carl began his career with a BSc in Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences from the University of Birmingham before working within the industry for some of the bigger names (GVC and Bet365) and has been praised as being "a leading sports betting commentator".
