Oddschecker Review The Betting Odds Comparison Website

oddschecker reviewWhat is Oddschecker? If you put a large enough group of professional gamblers in a room, eventually they will disagree on something. Probably everything. This is because the nature of betting for a living is a dynamic and ever changing affair. Furthermore, people like to bet on what they know.

One person might ardently follow Tranmere Rovers and as a result, has a firm understanding of football in the lower leagues. On the other hand, some gamblers may rigorously research and break down a horse race.

The point I am trying to make is that there is no right or wrong way to operate as a professional gambler. It is important however to highlight one constant that almost any gambler will agree on which is that betting is all about the profit.

With bookmakers all online nowadays (and if you believe some of the more questionable corners of the internet, engaged in a shadowy cabal), it is inevitable that odds are going to become a more restricted thing.

Let’s start the review….

Product: Oddschecker website odds service.

What They Offer: An odds comparison website

Website: www.oddschecker.com  – please read the review first, because it took me ages 🙂

This is in part because bookies work on mathematical principles and numbers don’t lie, they don’t change. So one bookmaker and another are fundamentally going to come up with the same result. Nowadays though, they can also check that other bookmakers have reached the same conclusion.

They can also look at what the betting markets are saying and which way people are betting, not just with themselves, but across the board. This allows bookmakers to keep a very tight grip on their odds.

Why is all of this important though? Put simply, if you are placing a bet, you want to get the highest possible return. With the number of bookmakers online this is an almost impossible task to carry out manually.

A search for “online bookmaker uk” on Google returns over 1.2 million results and whilst not all of these are going to be bookmakers, it highlights how large the market is.

If you were manually trying to check each bookmaker, I would put a pretty hefty bet on your odds having changed with the first bookmaker by the time you had checked the last. So how do people ensure that they are getting the best odds? They use an odds comparison website, of which arguably the biggest and most well known is Oddschecker.

What is Oddschecker?

Oddschecker is a free to use website that constantly monitors what odds bookmakers and betting exchanges are offering on a given event.

Literally anybody can visit the website whereby you are instantly presented with a comprehensive list of all of the most popular bets as well as a list of “Big Event” bets (something that really helps to keep Oddschecker relevant as I will discuss later).

The company was founded in 1999 and was the first odds comparison website on the internet. Over the years it has grown substantially and now rests in the hands of BskyB. Whilst these are perhaps best known for their satellite TV service, BskyB already have a pretty big hand in the betting arena with Sky Bet.

This means that taking over Oddschecker wasn’t a massive jump for the group.

Of all the odds comparison websites on the market, I would probably say that Oddschecker is the easiest to use. It is also arguably the biggest with more bookmakers signed up with Oddschecker than any of the competition.

For those who perhaps aren’t familiar with what an odds comparison website is, it does pretty much what it says on the tin. It lists the odds that various different bookmakers are offering so that users can get the best possible odds.

Oddschecker covers a massive variety of sports, several of which I wasn’t aware were even things. This is something that is important to a number of gamblers as it can often be more productive to focus on a niche sport where you can often “know” more than the bookmakers.

 

oddschecker links

 

In terms of the operation, whilst anybody can go to Oddschecker and have a look to see what odds are available on a given day, in order to really get the most out of the site you should make an account. This is entirely free and opens up a host of additional options for users.

These include features such as allowing you to view your bets (both past and present), alter various settings such as whether odds are displayed as decimal or fraction and finally you can list what bookmakers you wish to use.

Whilst it may seem counter intuitive to not want access to every bookmaker, any professional will tell you how easy it is to have an account closed. When this happens, you don’t want to spend time comparing odds that aren’t available to you.

Which Bookies does Oddschecker Work With?

Oddschecker works with all of the major online bookmakers and several that I was not really familiar with as well. These are:

  • Bet365
  • Sky Bet
  • Bet Stars
  • Boyle Sports
  • Betfred
  • Sporting Bet
  • Bet Victor
  • Paddy Power
  • Stan James
  • com
  • Ladbrokes
  • Coral
  • William Gill
  • Winner
  • Betfair Sportsbook
  • Betway
  • Betbright
  • Net Bet
  • Race Bets
  • 32 Red
  • 10 Bet
  • Marathon Bet
  • 188 Bet
  • 888 Sport
  • Black Type

Odds are also taken from the following betting exchanges:

  • Betfair
  • Betdaq
  • Matchbook

As you can see, in terms of the selection of bookmakers, Oddschecker doesn’t really put a foot wrong and I would say that most gamblers will have an account with one or another of these bookmakers.

The inclusion of betting exchanges is an interesting one however I am rather disappointed to see that Smarkets is not available (although this is a reflection of the betting exchange rather than Oddschecker).

As well as listing all of the odds, Oddschecker also makes available information on whether or not there are offers from a bookmaker. This includes sign up offers and special offers, although Oddschecker does make a distinction between the two.

This is something that is particularly handy for those who are involved in matched betting and are looking for betting opportunities.

How Do I use Oddschecker?

Fundamentally, using Oddschecker is a cinch. You simply go the website, find the desired event that you wish to enter and click on it to bring up the odds that are available and the bookmakers that are offering them.

Clicking on the odds that you would like to accept will then bring up a betting slip which you can use to place your bet with the relevant bookmaker.

You can also choose to go to the bookmakers website and place the bet manually rather than using Oddschecker’s built in betting slip system.

How Does Oddschecker Work?

Oddschecker uses its own API in order to access the latest odds from bookmakers. For those who don’t know what an API is, it is a way of programming something so that it accesses the features and/or data from another company.

In the case of Oddschecker, the data that they want to access are the odds, however this isn’t all that the API can do. It can also be used to place bets through a 3rd part bookmaker and this is why something like Oddschecker is so useful.

As a gambler, you can simply log into your Oddschecker account, find what you want to bet on and place the bet all in one place. This essentially allows you to use Oddschecker as something of a betting hub, so long as you are OK with being somewhat restricted in terms of the bookmakers that you are able to use.

What Else Can I Use Oddschecker For?

As well as simply listing the odds that are available, there is a surprising amount that you can do with Oddschecker that would help some gamblers out. One of the most interesting things that Oddschecker offers is information on the most popular bets as well as the odds that have been taken up. All of this information is presented in a neat little pie chart which can be seen in the image below.

 

oddschecker how to use

 

What this allows you to do is, at a glance, see where people are putting their money. This is something that whilst not necessarily important to a gambler with an established system, may well be used by a trader.

The other thing that Oddschecker does rather well is it shows you what is happening to the odds, in real time. The best odds that are available on a given horse or outcome (in the screenshot below, it is a horse race) are always highlighted in bold and underlined.

This is what most people will look at, however this is also only a part of what Oddschecker can tell us.

 

oddschecker odds image

 

In the above screenshot you can see that there are 4 coloured boxes, each of which tells us something very important about the odds. Each column shows the odds that a given bookmaker have available on that particular outcome, this is important to know for reasons that I will explore below.

The pink boxes show that those odds are drifting or lengthening. This is generally an indicator that information has come to light that means that outcome is less likely to happen.

The blue boxes on the other hand are where odds are shortening. This means that generally speaking, something has occurred which suggests that a given outcome is more likely to happen. This is something that is important to consider when you are trying to get the best possible odds as it can dictate when to place your bet as well as where.

The other two types of box that you will see are white and orange. The white boxes are essentially neutral and mean that there is no strong feeling one way or another about the odds on that horse. The orange boxes indicate that the odds on that particular event are changing in real time.

It is important at this point to address something that can happen with Oddschecker and is the reason that whilst it can be helpful to see what the odds are doing, it is by no means definitive and that is bookies disagreeing.

When you get close to a race there are naturally more changes in odds as bookmakers start laying their bets and recalculating based on real time information.

This can mean that whilst some bookmakers may be shortening odds on an outcome, another may be lengthening them.

Your Oddschecker betting slip is a tool with many purposes and whilst I have touched upon using it simply to place a straight forward bet without going to the bookies website in questions, there is much more you can do.

One of the most touted features of the Oddschecker betting slip is the ability to build accumulator bets. This si something that many bookmakers offer and so in many regards, is a long way from anything new.

What is interesting about the approach that Oddschecker take to this is that they compare the odds that you would get on that accumulator and recommend the best. This means that you can massively increase your winnings without really taking on any extra risk.

 

oddschecker betting slip

 

As you can see in the above screenshot, Oddschecker takes all my bets and tells me that Betway is the best place to place my accumulator. It also includes the odds that are on offer overall as well as the odds on each game.

To give you an example of how powerful this tool is, I went to sky bet and for my hypothetical 7 fold football accumulator I would have been offered just 17.27. This is a loss of almost 3 points for me as a gambler on the exact same bet.

Oddschecker Market Reports

As well as the odds comparison side of things, Oddschecker can also be a useful analytics tool as the website has a whole section dedicated to marketing reports. For example, you can look at the top steamers and drifters in a variety of disciplines. These are the top bets that have drifted one way or the other. This is something that to those with the right approach to betting can be massively valuable.

There are a few other nifty things that you can use the Oddschecker market reports for that I will cover here. Firstly, there is the ability to sort events by the best “book”.

I won’t go into too much detail about what a book is as it is rather complicated, but suffice it to say that lower numbers are generally speaking better as they represent a “fairer bet” (at least in terms of realistic odds). By using the Oddschecker report, you can look at which races have the fairest odds.

You can also use the Oddschecker market reports to look at the odds variance on a given event. What this means is that it looks at the highest and the lowest odds available and calculates the difference as a percentage. This means that by looking at this figure on Oddschecker, users can essentially see which events bookies think have a “most likely” outcome.

Betting Outside of Sports

One of the most interesting things that I have found about Oddschecker is the odds that they cover outside of sport. Whilst it is important to highlight that these are niche markets, it is interesting to look at these for insight into the views of the general public.

In fact, chances are that when you hear on the news that “odds have been slashed”, it has come from somewhere like, if not actually, Oddschecker.

This can be interesting for those who like to bet outside of the usual field. For example, Oddschecker tells me that the bookies favourite to be Prime Minister after a General Election is Theresa May. That the next pope favoured by bookies is Cardinal Luis Antontio Tagle.

It also tells me that Daenerys Targarayen is the favourite to rule the fictional land of Westeros once Game of Thrones ends. It is an eclectic mix of bets to say the least.

 

big brother

 

The point that I am raising here however is that Oddschecker is something that isn’t just about traditional betting. There is something here for most people with an interest in betting, no matter what they like to bet on.

How does Oddschecker Compare to the Competition?

During my research into Oddschecker, I have found that whilst there is some competition out there, it is generally not as well executed. The fact is that of the examples that I looked at, there were two recurring themes.

The first was that the websites were badly designed. They were cumbersome and made finding the event I was looking for rather difficult. It is also worth noting that several of these websites offered no real comparison as such, simply the “best” odds that are on offer.

Whilst there were other odds comparison websites that were more familiar to Oddschecker, these were of a noticeably lesser quality. There were less bookmakers and betting exchanges listed and when you are considering an odds comparison site, this kind of variety is key.

How Much More Money Can I Really Make?

Now to somebody who bets casually, you might be wondering why getting the best possible odds is such a big deal and mostly, it comes down to volume. Professional gamblers will generally place an average of at least 2-3 bets per day.

Some will place hundreds of bets per day. When you start to calculate over the number of bets placed, the additional profits can be huge.

To take today as an example, I am going to look at the difference between the total best odds for a “favourite” win, an “outsider” win and a draw for tonight’s football. This means 9 games, 8 of which are Premier League.

Favourites Win – Best possible return: 15.34. Worst possible return: 14.57

Draw – Best Possible Return: 41.25. Worst possible return: 37.48

Outsider Win – Best Possible Return: 68.6. Worst possible return: 55.35

As you can clearly see, there is quite a significant difference in the total profit made, even in the case of “favourites”. Whilst it might work out at just 0.77 points, and this may be an “ideal scenario”, by using Oddschecker you could have made 281.05 points of profit in your betting, all with no extra work involved aside from checking a website.

Oddschecker is an Affiliate Site

The bottom line is, that although Oddschecker offers a hell of a lot of features for free, they are an affiliate site, and get paid commissions by people clicking on their featured advertisements, usually from bookmakers, and the likes, so there is no altruism involved here, they are a business and make money from their readers, and readership.

Conclusion on Oddschecker

Whilst Oddschecker is not the only odds comparison website online, it is arguably the biggest and in many respects, as a result of this, the best. In fact, there is only really one aspect of Oddschecker that springs to mind and that is the possibility that you may get marginally better odds through a bookie that isn’t with them.

The beauty of Oddschecker is that it is entirely free. It is free to look at in the morning and it is free to register and read their market reports. It is free to see what odds are doing in real time and these are all things that to me at least, are important or useful. This makes it (for my money) one of the best tools online for a gambler.

The only criticism that I have really seen when it comes to Oddschecker is that there is a lot of advertising from bookies, and I will agree. As I’m typing this I can see 6 adverts for bookmakers on just one page.

The fact is though that a lot of the “adverts” for bookmakers come with extra offers, for example at the moment I can see an advert for bookmaker Bet on Brazil (who I haven’t ever heard of before now) offering 50/1 on United and Newcastle to win (both massively favoured) plus your original odds.

Aside from the fact that a company has to make money, they are doing so in a fashion that benefits their userbase as well.

I think that my final thoughts on Oddschecker is that it is exactly the kind of thing that you just don’t see online very often. It is free, and it is very efficient in terms of what it does. Given that it means making you more money, I don’t see a problem with a few adverts.

The fact is that Oddschecker is the longest standing and most complete odds comparison website online, and whilst there will always be some contrarian saying otherwise in a betting forum, I would probably say that they are just wrong, and probably jealous of their success 🙂

 

 

 

 

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6 Comments

  • Jmb says:

    Why does oddschecker keep freezing? It has deteriorated so much

    • Daniel says:

      Hello Jmb, I must say I have not noticed any freezing maybe it is a server load issue or something similar due to so many visitors.

      Best Wishes,

      Dan

  • martin says:

    anybody else notice that the pie charts have disappeared in the last 2 or 3 days at oddschecker . specifically horse racing

    april 12 2017

  • Sumeet says:

    How to use oddschecker help me

  • Mr D says:

    I find oddcheckers odds have changed by the time you click on them.
    Any advise ?

  • Ala says:

    You can’t do anything with that, as they use a third party company to make “real-time odds” appear on the web. In reality, the best what you can do is to bet on a bookmaker web directly to cath the best odds and place your bet. Oddschecker do that real-time update, but it nothing more than marketing

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