Entain PLC, the owner of powerhouse UK wagering brands, including Ladbrokes and Coral, has actually now dropped its betting exchange Betdaq, which it sold back to Dermot Desmond recently.

A brief history of Betdaq

In 2000, Irish business person Dermot Desmond established the Global Betting Exchange (GBE) with a vision to produce a platform where punters might wager versus each other. From GBE, the sports betting exchange Betdaq was launched in 2001.

A couple of sponsorship offers, including one with Celtic FC and another with Kempton Park Racecourse, saw Betdaq securely establish itself as the second-largest online wagering exchange behind Betfair by 2013, albeit with just a 7% market share. Still, this was enough to lure wagering giant Ladbrokes to buy the Global Betting Exchange and its properties for EUR30m from Desmond in the very same year.

Despite being backed by Ladbrokes, Betdaq has never got on par with Flutter Entertainment's Betfair. It's tinkered with different promotions, such as providing 0% commission, however most have actually only resulted in a short-lived bump up in users, with absolutely nothing continual. Contributed to that, Betfair and Paddy Power formed a bulk merger, which included substantial marketing power to assist keep Betfair at the head of the pack.

What is a betting exchange?

Betting exchanges were implied to revolutionise the gaming industry, and while they need to a degree, we can't say they have actually toppled the big bookmakers, like some thought they might. In a nutshell, a betting exchange is a peer-to-peer betting platform. Punters wager against each other rather of betting versus a bookmaker.

This design of betting has pros and cons. The primary benefits are that the costs are normally better on an exchange due to the fact that there is no bookie's margin to consider; also, winning gamblers don't have their accounts limited - something that is known to happen if you're too effective versus a bookmaker.

The downside of exchanges is that they only flourish if adequate users are offering liquidity to the marketplaces. Additionally, they can be a little frustrating for beginners who do not understand how support and laying bets work.

What's Desmond's Plan?

For the time being, we can only speculate why Desmond has actually picked to turn the clock back and obtain Betdaq once again. Our feeling is that he's noticed a chance opening up in the market that he can benefit from. The for Betdaq is concealed, so we can't state if the price was merely too great to decline or not.

What we do know is that Betfair has faced increased criticism over its commission rates for both moderate wagerers and expert traders, such as Caen Berry. Essentially, Betfair is creaming off as much as possible from bettors who achieve success occasionally, along with taking from its big gamers who have actually made hundreds of thousands over the years. On top of this, there are now constraints as to just how much under 25s can win.

Whatever the reason, Desmond is handling a significant challenge if he wants Betdaq to seriously rival Betfair. Fortunately for punters is that it keeps competition healthy. No one wants a Betfair monopoly where they can continue to call all the shots. For that factor, we want Dermot and Betdaq all the finest.