Work Out What You Keep After Commission on a Betting Exchange
A slice of each winning market is taken as commission. Set the size of the slice yourself and see what is left.
On a betting exchange, commission is taken from your net profit in a market, never from your stake. Orbit Exchange's betslip puts it in one line: "A commission is charged on net profit from each market". A market that ends in a loss has no profit, so it carries no commission. The rate depends on the route you take into the exchange. AsianConnect, MadMarket and Sportmarket each state 3% for their exchange tool, and BetInAsia puts its commission in words, quoted below. The calculator takes whichever rate you type.
What the charge is taken on
The base comes first. The rate comes second.
Back £50 at 2.60 and win, and the profit is £80. At 3%, £2.40 of it is the charge and £77.60 is yours. Your 2.60 now pays like 2.552, so 2.552 is the number to set against a bookmaker's price, not 2.60.
The 3% is a sample rate. What it is taken from is a separate question, and Orbit's own screen answers it. The betslip message reads "A commission is charged on net profit from each market". The tooltip for net profit reads "The amount that you win minus the charge." The betslip calls the deduction a Charge and says it is paid only after your bet is settled.
A stake is never charged, and neither is a loss. Net is the word to watch. With a back and a lay in one market the two results are added first and the charge falls once on what is left (the third panel and the second short answer work one through). How the two sides get matched is on the matching walk-through, and what Orbit Exchange is shows the screen these lines come from.
Fifty pounds at 2.60, worked through
Stake £50.00 at 2.60. Profit before commission: 50 × 1.60 = £80.00. Commission at 3%: £2.40. Profit after commission: £77.60. Effective odds: 1 + 77.60 / 50 = 2.552.
If the bet loses, the £50.00 stake is gone and the commission is £0.00. There was no profit to charge on.
AsianConnect prints its rate where you add the product. The OrbitX card in the Add bookie list shows it beside the minimum deposit.
Put your own rate in
Three small sums on one rate. Overwrite the rate first.
The calculator on the exchange betting guide starts from a side, a stake and odds. This one starts from the rate. It opens on the £50 at 2.60 above, shows the same bet at a run of other rates so you can see what one point of commission is worth, and finds the exchange odds that pay what a bookmaker's price pays. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Commission calculator
Commission comes off the net profit of a market. Enter your own rate and see the price you keep, the exchange odds that match a bookmaker price, and what a back followed by a lay leaves.
Price you keep
Commission is charged on the net profit of a market, never on a stake or on a loss. A winning back bet pays stake x (odds - 1) before commission.
Example shown: a stake of £50.00 at 2.60 with 3% commission. Replace the rate with your own.
The steps from 0% to 5% only show how the price moves with the rate. They are not quoted rates.
Exchange odds that match a bookmaker price
Commission takes a slice of the profit, so exchange odds have to sit above a bookmaker price to leave the same effective odds. This uses the commission rate you entered in Price you keep.
Example shown: a bookmaker price of 2.40 with 3% commission.
At these exchange odds and 3% commission, a winning back bet keeps effective odds equal to the bookmaker price, 2.400.
Back, then lay on the same selection
Back one price, then lay another on the same selection. Commission is charged once, on the net profit of the market, for the outcome that happens, and only when that result is a profit. Prices move and a leg can stay unmatched, so read the figures as arithmetic. This uses the commission rate you entered in Price you keep.
Commission is taken on the market result, not on each bet.
Example shown: back £200.00 at 3.20, then lay £230.00 at 2.80, with 3% commission.
One point of commission is worth one hundredth of the gross profit: £0.80 on the £80 above, whatever the rate you start from. The second panel is for the moment you are choosing between a bookmaker and the exchange. A bookmaker's 2.40 needs 2.443 on the exchange at 3% to leave you the same effective odds, and the gap widens as the rate rises. The odds comparison guide covers the comparing itself. The third panel takes a back and a lay on one selection and charges once, on the market.
Say you back £1,200 at 2.60 once a week. A win is £1,920.00 of profit, £57.60 of commission at 3% and £1,862.40 kept. The same rate on £50 is £2.40. The percentage is the same on both; the money is not. I would run the sum for your usual stake before the account is open, not after the first win. Whether a stake that size fits is another question, and the page on stakes and caps takes it up. The other calculators on the site are on the tools page.
The commission rate each route states
Four brokers open Orbit Exchange, under three tool names. Their wording is quoted as they write it.
A rate quoted for "Orbit" with no route named is a rate with no owner. Here each one has a name. A broker account also opens places beside Orbit, which the broker overview explains.
- AsianConnect, with OrbitX. Its sign-up page writes "3% commission charge on exchange." for OrbitX, and the Add bookie list in My Bookie Accounts shows the same 3% on the OrbitX card.
- BetInAsia, with Sharp Exchange. BetInAsia writes "industry low commissions with no premium charges" on its home page. That is its wording for the charge.
- MadMarket, with Sharp Exchange. MadMarket writes "flat 3% commission on winning bets only and 0% commission on losing bets".
- Sportmarket, with FairExchange. Sportmarket writes that a 3% commission applies, "but only on winning bets".
The 3% above is each broker's rate for its own route; yours is whatever you type into the calculator. MadMarket and Sportmarket write "winning bets" where Orbit's screen writes net profit from each market. For one bet on its own the two are the same sum, and the short answers below take up the difference.
I would not pick a route on the percentage. When three of four write the same figure, it separates nothing. Comparing the four brokers shows where the routes do differ: the first deposit, the ID checks and the places each account opens. The routes into Orbit Exchange lays the four ways in side by side, and the sign-up guide follows an account from form to login. How a cost like this sets the win rate a bet needs is on the page on break-even and costs.
What the calculator leaves out
Commission, and nothing else
The calculator works out commission and stops there. It leaves out fees for depositing or withdrawing, which belong to the deposits and withdrawals page. It leaves out currency conversion, the gap between the price you wanted and the price you were matched at, and any part of a bet that stays unmatched, which is not yet a bet.
Money is rounded to two decimals, as Orbit's published exchange rules round gains, losses and commission charges (3.335 becomes 3.34). The single-bet figures assume the bet wins. In the third panel a back and a lay can leave a profit whichever way the selection goes, and the outcome that happens carries the charge. A lower rate does not make a bet win.
Still choosing a route? Start again from the ORB Access home page. Weighing the exchange as a whole? The Orbit Exchange review sets out what the exchange's own text says, and the two exchanges side by side sets it against a second exchange.
Short answers
What is the commission on Orbit Exchange?
A percentage of your net profit in a market, set by the route you open the exchange through. Orbit's betslip reads "A commission is charged on net profit from each market". The section on the four routes gives what each broker writes, and the calculator takes whichever rate you type.
Is it charged on net winnings or on every winning bet?
MadMarket and Sportmarket write "winning bets". Orbit's screen writes net profit from each market. For one bet on its own the two are the same sum. They part when you hold both sides of a market.
Take a back of £200 at 3.20 and a lay of £230 at 2.80 on the same selection (the calculator's third panel opens on them). If the selection wins, the back makes £440.00 and the lay costs £414.00, so the market's net profit is £26.00 and 3% of it is £0.78. Charged on the winning back alone, 3% would be £13.20. The base on Orbit's screen is the market's net profit, so the sum is £0.78.
Is there a premium charge on Orbit?
A premium charge is an extra charge that some exchanges add on top of commission for their most successful customers. BetInAsia writes "industry low commissions with no premium charges" on its home page. That is BetInAsia's own wording, and this page carries it no further. The commission is the part that can be worked out, and the calculator does that.
Is there commission on losing bets?
No profit, no commission. Orbit's betslip charges net profit from each market, so a market that ends in a loss has nothing to charge on. MadMarket writes "0% commission on losing bets" for Sharp Exchange, and Sportmarket writes that its 3% applies "only on winning bets". For a lay, the selection winning is the loss: you pay the liability, and no commission is taken on it.