Bookmaker margins this week: Betfair Exchange cheapest at -0.01%, SBO costliest at 14.53%
Every Monday we publish what bookmakers never advertise: the real margin they charged on 1X2 football markets, measured from our own odds snapshots — 2,763 matches priced in the last 30 days. The margin is the built-in fee you pay on every bet, and it varies more than most bettors imagine.
This week's ranking (top 10)
| # | Bookmaker | Avg. margin | Matches sampled |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Betfair Exchange | -0.01% | 801 |
| 2 | Matchbook | 1.26% | 901 |
| 3 | Coolbet | 5.04% | 1,205 |
| 4 | BetAnything | 5.16% | 399 |
| 5 | BetOnline.ag | 5.32% | 1,094 |
| 6 | Betfair | 5.41% | 2,266 |
| 7 | GTbets | 5.50% | 507 |
| 8 | Pinnacle (sharp benchmark) | 5.67% | 2,580 |
| 9 | Unibet (SE) | 6.36% | 1,322 |
| 10 | Everygame | 6.43% | 194 |
The cheapest book this week charges -0.01% on average; the costliest in our sample charges 14.53%. Same football, same markets — a bettor at the wrong book pays several times more for every single bet, before any question of picking skill arises. The full live table, with every bookmaker we track, is on the Bookmaker Margin Index.
Margins by league
| League | Market avg. | Cheapest book |
|---|---|---|
| Premier League | 5.44% | Matchbook (0.66%) |
| UEFA Champions League | 5.47% | 1xBet (1.76%) |
| La Liga | 5.65% | Betfair (1.15%) |
| Serie A | 5.82% | Betfair (1.68%) |
| Ligue 1 | 5.94% | 1xBet (1.87%) |
| Bundesliga | 5.98% | Matchbook (1.93%) |
| MLS | 6.03% | Betfair Exchange (0.00%) |
| UEFA Europa League | 6.05% | Betfair (2.29%) |
Small and exotic leagues consistently carry heavier margins — bookmakers price them lazily and charge you for their own uncertainty. If your betting lives in small leagues, your real cost per bet can be double what a Premier League bettor pays.
What we flagged this week
Across the last 7 days our forward test logged 256 matches, and 155 value flags were recorded live — a soft bookmaker priced above the devigged fair price. As always, most matches offered no value at all, and we said so on each page. Each match's first flag is recorded, with a sealed fingerprint, by the refresh that updates the prices the site shows, before kick-off, and is graded against the closing line whether we like the grade or not (track record).
How to read these numbers
The margin is computed per match as the sum of implied probabilities (1 divided by the odds) across home/draw/away, minus 100% — then averaged per bookmaker. Nobody pays for placement in this table and no affiliate deal reorders it. Method details: bookmaker margin & devigging; why the margin decides your long-run result: expected value.
This report is generated automatically from our odds database and published every Monday. Data: free API.