Matchbook buys rival exchange Betdaq, bets big on UK racing

Matchbook has acquired the Betdaq brand from Irish tycoon Dermot Desmond's stable of assets, bringing to an end a betting exchange first launched in 2000, sold to Ladbrokes in 2013 and bought back from Entain in 2021. The deal, announced on 14 October for an undisclosed sum, was confirmed by Matchbook CEO Ronan McDonagh in an interview with EGR the following day.

Betdaq stopped taking bets on 21 October, with customers given until 4 November to withdraw remaining funds. The transaction is structured as a brand purchase rather than an acquisition of the underlying business, meaning no Betdaq customer accounts transfer automatically to Matchbook. The deal also hands Matchbook a controlling interest in Racecourse Data Technologies, the platform on-course bookmakers use to hedge positions into the exchange.

McDonagh told EGR that Matchbook has pursued an expansion strategy over the past seven or eight years, pushing into Brazil, Mexico and South Africa and filing a Designated Contract Market application for prediction markets in the US. He said the company remains committed to the UK and Irish markets even as other operators retreat. "When everybody else is pulling out of the UK market, we thought let's keep attacking it," he said.

Because exchange customers are difficult to target through conventional marketing, McDonagh said buying the Betdaq name offered a direct route to approach its user base, offering the same exchange product alongside additions such as multiples, bet builders and a wider range of leagues and matches. Matchbook has not set formal targets for how many Betdaq users it expects to convert, with McDonagh noting that many already held Matchbook accounts, framing the move as both reactivation and new acquisition.

On liquidity, McDonagh pointed to Betdaq's established relationships with on-course bookmakers as a significant factor behind the deal, alongside the customer migration. He said Matchbook has built its own on-course presence over the past four or five years and has increased its sponsorship activity in UK and Irish horseracing over the past 12 months.

McDonagh argued that pricing for regular punters in racing has worsened industry-wide as margins have risen elsewhere, while an exchange model keeps margins low by comparison. He said Matchbook has grown its horseracing business year on year even as he believes rivals have struggled. His message to on-course bookmakers transitioning away from Betdaq software was that the switch should bring minimal disruption, supported by a dedicated hotline and staff on course, with normal operations expected within a week or two.

Asked about the long-term outlook for the exchange model, McDonagh said he is more optimistic than he would have been five or six years ago, citing younger bettors in Brazil, some with backgrounds in crypto trading, taking to football trading in a way reminiscent of early Betfair users. He suggested renewed attention from platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, along with the approaching US midterm elections, is drawing interest back towards exchanges after what he described as a lost generation of UK users.

On the rise of US prediction markets, McDonagh credited regulation for much of their scale and said platforms such as Robinhood helped pave the way for Kalshi. He said the simplicity of a yes-no format may have an edge over the back-lay structure used by traditional exchanges, though he was sceptical punters would ever take to percentage-based pricing.