BetDEX Sportsbook Review

BetDEX is going to be a little different from the sportsbooks we’ve reviewed so far.

Rather than operating purely as a traditional sportsbook, BetDEX is built around a betting exchange where users can bet against each other, back or lay selections, and submit their own prices. It runs on the Solana-based Monaco Protocol and currently charges a 1% fee on net market profits.

There is plenty of industry experience behind it too. BetDEX was founded by former FanDuel executives, including FanDuel co-founder Nigel Eccles, and launched real-money betting in 2022.

For this review, we’re going beyond simply placing a bet. We’ll deposit our own funds, test the sportsbook and exchange experience, look closely at prices and liquidity, place real bets and complete a withdrawal.

BetDEX promises a different approach to crypto sports betting. We want to find out how well it works in practice.

Signing Up at BetDEX

Creating an account with BetDEX has to be one of the quickest signup processes we’ve encountered so far.

There are just two options: continue with Google, which we chose for simplicity, or sign up manually using an email address. If you choose email, BetDEX sends you a six-digit verification code. Enter the code and you’re in.

No lengthy registration form and no unnecessary steps. From clicking Sign Up to having an account ready to use, the whole process takes around 30 seconds tops!

Depositing at BetDEX

Getting funds into your BetDEX account is just as straightforward as the sign-up process. There are two ways to reach the deposit screen: click the blue Deposit button in the top-right corner, which is hard to miss, or click your balance or account avatar to open the deposit option.

There are currently just four cryptocurrencies available for deposits: USDC, USDT, BTC, and SOL. To keep our testing consistent across reviews, we deposited using USDT, our usual choice. Polygon, our preferred network for USDT deposits, wasn’t available, so we used the Solana network instead.

One nice touch for anyone less familiar with crypto is the deposit guidance provided directly on the page. BetDEX includes guides covering how to deposit crypto using Skrill, PayPal, Coinbase, Binance and OKX, which should make the process considerably less intimidating for newer crypto users.

Our deposit took around three minutes to arrive. That’s a little longer than some of our recent tests, but transfer times depend on the blockchain network rather than BetDEX alone. For a Solana deposit, we certainly weren’t left waiting long.

Sportsbook Experience at BetDEX

BetDEX operates differently from a conventional crypto sportsbook. At its core, it is a betting exchange, with the Sportsbook interface providing a simplified way to access many of the same markets without displaying the full exchange order book or requiring users to understand lay betting.

Sports coverage is relatively concentrated. During our testing, the main options included football, basketball, American football, tennis, baseball, MMA and chess. We don’t consider the smaller selection a major weakness for an exchange. Markets need sufficient activity to maintain useful liquidity, so concentrating on sports with genuine betting demand makes more sense than listing hundreds of events where getting a bet matched could prove difficult.

Football has considerably more depth. We found more than 1,300 upcoming football events listed, including major competitions such as La Liga, the Champions League and Bundesliga alongside lower-profile domestic leagues. Individual events can also contain several markets including match result, handicaps, totals and both teams to score, although the exact selection varies by event.

Understanding the BetDEX Interface

The main Sportsbook interface is relatively conventional, with major sports across the top, competitions and sports listed on the left, and markets displayed centrally. The Exchange view contains considerably more information.

Each exchange selection can display multiple back and lay prices together with the amount of liquidity available at each price. This gives experienced exchange bettors much greater visibility over the market, but players coming directly from traditional sportsbooks may initially find the number of figures on screen harder to interpret.

The important distinction is that you aren’t simply accepting odds offered by BetDEX. On the Exchange, you can accept an available price or submit an offer at a different price and wait for another participant to match it.

Testing a Lay Bet

We tested this by laying LASK Linz against Celtic. With the current back price at 1.95, we submitted a lay offer at 1.96 rather than simply accepting an existing price.

Our order was placed approximately eight hours before kick-off during off-peak hours. It therefore wasn’t surprising that the offer wasn’t immediately matched. This is one of the fundamental differences between an exchange and a conventional sportsbook: requesting a particular price does not guarantee that another bettor will provide the liquidity required to match it.

BetDEX’s bet slip handled the additional complexity well. Before placing the order, it displayed both our potential profit and our liability. The liability is the amount at risk if the selection being laid wins, making the financial exposure clear before an order is submitted.

Testing the Back Prices

We also backed Real Madrid at 1.34 to test a conventional back bet. At the time of our test, Sportsbet.io was also offering 1.34 on the same selection.

That particular comparison therefore produced no price advantage for BetDEX. One market isn’t enough to judge BetDEX’s overall pricing, especially because exchange prices can move with available liquidity, but it demonstrates an important point: using an exchange doesn’t automatically mean you will receive better odds than a sportsbook.

We’ll update our results once both bets have settled, including whether our LASK Linz lay order was successfully matched.

Sports Available at BetDEX

BetDEX offers a smaller sports selection than most traditional sportsbooks, but given how an exchange works, that makes sense. Exchange markets need bettors willing to take both sides of a position, so spreading liquidity across hundreds of low demand sports would potentially leave users with plenty of markets but very little chance of getting a bet matched.

At the time of our testing, the main sports available included:

• Football
• American Football
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Tennis
• MMA
• Chess

Football is comfortably the deepest area of the site. We found more than 1,300 upcoming football events listed, ranging from the Champions League, La Liga and Bundesliga to much smaller domestic competitions. Individual matches can include markets such as Full Time Result, Handicap, Total Goals and Both Teams to Score, although availability varies depending on the event.

American Football and tennis also had substantial coverage during our visit, while baseball, basketball, MMA and chess had fewer events available. Chess was a particularly interesting inclusion and suggests BetDEX is willing to offer less conventional sports when there is sufficient demand to support a market.

The selection will look limited next to a large sportsbook offering dozens of sports, but raw numbers are less important on an exchange. For BetDEX, the bigger questions are whether the events you want to bet on are available and whether there is enough liquidity to get your bet matched at a competitive price.

Mobile Experience

BetDEX does not currently offer a dedicated iOS or Android app, so mobile betting is handled through the BetDEX website. Its own documentation directs players to BetDEX.com to access the exchange, and we could find no official native app during our research.

The mobile site provides access to the same core exchange features available on desktop, including browsing markets, placing bets and managing existing positions. The My Bets section also separates active and settled bets, making it possible to keep track of open orders and completed wagers from your phone.

Mobile usability is more important for BetDEX than it is for a conventional sportsbook because the Exchange interface has considerably more information to display. Back and lay prices, available liquidity and multiple price levels all need to fit onto a much smaller screen. Players using the simpler Sportsbook view should therefore find mobile navigation more familiar, while using the full Exchange naturally requires a little more screen space.

We would still like to see BetDEX release a dedicated app, particularly for regular exchange bettors who want quick access to open positions and changing markets. For now, however, there is no app download required and the platform can be accessed directly through a mobile browser

Customer Support

BetDEX provides customer support through live chat, beginning with an automated assistant before giving users the option to speak with a human agent. We tested both during our review.

The AI bot wasn’t as capable as some we’ve encountered elsewhere. When we asked for the minimum deposit amounts, it misunderstood the question and instead provided information about depositing through Skrill. On the positive side, getting past the bot was easy. We simply asked to speak to a real person, entered our name and email address, and were transferred to a support agent.

The human support experience was considerably better. We asked for the minimum and maximum deposit and withdrawal limits, and the agent responded directly, telling us that BetDEX does not impose deposit or withdrawal limits and that the minimum bet is $1. They also provided links to the relevant BetDEX documentation when we asked where this information could be found.

There was a slightly confusing moment towards the end when the chat repeatedly displayed “Transferring now” despite us already speaking with an agent. After asking what was happening, the agent returned and provided the additional information we needed.

Overall, the automated support could certainly be improved, but reaching a human was straightforward and the agent was helpful once connected. For us, that’s ultimately the more important part of the customer support experience.

Safety, Licensing and Ownership

BetDEX operates under two licensing arrangements, with the applicable licence depending on the player’s jurisdiction. BetDEX Labs Inc. holds an Irish Remote Betting Intermediary’s Licence, number 1020267, while Stucktaymore Limited, a subsidiary of BetDEX Labs Inc., operates under Anjouan licence ALSI-092404022-FI2. BetDEX explains the two arrangements in its Terms of Service.

We independently checked the regulatory records rather than relying solely on information provided by BetDEX. The Irish Revenue licence register lists BetDEX Labs Inc. under licence 1020267 as a Remote Betting Intermediary, while the Anjouan Gaming Authority licence register lists Stucktaymore Limited’s licence as valid and specifically includes betdex.com among its authorised domains.

Ownership is also relatively transparent. The company was established in 2021 by Nigel Eccles, Varun Sudhakar and Stuart Tonner, all with previous FanDuel experience. Eccles was a FanDuel co-founder, while BetDEX says its wider team brings experience from Betfair, BETDAQ and FanDuel. More information about the founders and company can be found on the BetDEX Labs company background page.

Identity verification can be required depending on the player and jurisdiction, while BetDEX’s terms also contain measures covering fraud, collusion and other criminal activity. Access is restricted in certain jurisdictions, so players should confirm their eligibility before registering.

Overall, we found BetDEX refreshingly straightforward to investigate. Its ownership is clear, experienced betting industry figures are behind the operation and, importantly, we were able to independently verify both of the licensing arrangements stated by BetDEX.