Matchbook Review: Promo Code REBATE20, 20% Loss Rebate up to £1,000

Matchbook promo code

REBATE20 is horse.bet’s Matchbook promo code. Enter it when you open your account and Matchbook will give back 20% of your net losses on its Exchange markets over your first 30 calendar days, up to £1,000.

The offer is open to new UK customers aged 18 and over. Think of it as a safety net. If your first month on the exchange finishes in profit, there is nothing to rebate. If it finishes down, a fifth of that loss comes back as free bets, which must be used within seven days.

How to use the Matchbook bonus code REBATE20

1. Open Matchbook through the Claim button on this page.
2. Choose Join or Register to start a new account.
3. Find the Promo Code field on the registration form.
4. Type REBATE20 exactly as shown, in capitals.
5. Complete registration. The 30-day window starts from the day you register.
6. Back and lay on Matchbook Exchange markets as normal; if you finish the 30 days with a net loss on those markets, 20% of it is rebated, up to £1,000.

Matchbook joining offer: how the 20% loss rebate works

A loss rebate is the exchange version of an insurance policy on your first month. Matchbook adds up what you win and lose on its exchange markets over the 30 calendar days from registration. If the overall figure is a loss, you receive 20% of it back, up to £1,000. If you finish ahead, there is no rebate, and no need for one.

Take a racing punter who backs and lays through a busy month of jumps racing. Their losing markets cost £800 and their winning markets return £300 in profit, so the net loss across the 30 days is £500. With the promotional code REBATE20 on the account, 20% of that, £100, comes back. The same arithmetic applies whether the losses come from backing beaten favourites or laying horses that went on to win.

Only Matchbook Exchange markets count. Losses on multiples, Bet Builders, casino or any other Matchbook product are left out of the sum, so the offer suits singles on the exchange, racing included. Standard commission still applies to your winning markets during the period.

Beyond the welcome offer, Matchbook’s promotions are leaner than a bookmaker’s. As an exchange, you won’t find much in the way of Best Odds Guaranteed or enhanced odds, because the prices are set by other customers rather than by a trading team. What Matchbook competes on instead is the cost of betting, through its standard commission rate and the zero-commission Matchbook Zero product on racing.

You will also have to provide proof of identity and proof of address to complete your Matchbook registration, in line with UK Gambling Commission rules. Having those documents ready when you sign up means your account is verified before you start betting, rather than when you first ask for a withdrawal.

1. Register through our link and enter Promo Code REBATE20 at sign-up.
2. Note the date: the 30 calendar days are counted from registration.
3. Back and lay on exchange markets: only Matchbook Exchange losses count, not multiples, Bet Builders or casino.
4. Check your net position at day 30: if you are down overall, 20% of the net loss is rebated, up to £1,000.

Matchbook horse racing: back, lay and trade the markets

Matchbook covers British and Irish horse racing and greyhounds, with Australian greyhounds alongside, and runs win and place markets that you can back or lay before the off and in-play. The prices come from other customers, not a bookmaker, which is why the depth of each market matters. Our live odds panel shows Matchbook back prices on today’s races, and the full cards are on our today’s racing page.

Back and lay betting on racing

Backing a horse on Matchbook works as it does with a bookmaker: you win if it wins. Laying is the reverse. You act as the bookmaker, accepting another customer’s bet that the horse will win, and you collect their stake if it loses. Lay a horse at 4.0 for £10 and you win £10 if it is beaten but pay out £30 if it wins. Combining the two lets you trade a position as prices move, locking in a profit or cutting a loss before the race is over.

How to place a back or lay bet on a race

To choose a bet, open the horse racing or greyhound racing window and pick a race. You will see every available price to back (to win) and to lay (not to win) for each runner, along with the amount of money waiting to be matched at each price.

To back a horse, take the odds set by another Matchbook customer. You can enter your preferred stake, up to the maximum unmatched amount on offer, or enter the total profit you want from the bet, and Matchbook lists the selection on your betslip. Commission is taken only once the market is settled and only if you finish it in profit.

Fancy a horse not to win? Click on it and set your own lay odds, then enter either a stake or the maximum liability you are willing to lose. You can also ask for better odds than those currently available and wait for someone to take your bet. Open positions appear in your account under the Exposure tab, which shows how much you stand to lose on each market, and you can read full reports on all matched and unmatched bets.

Best Odds Guaranteed and each-way terms

There is no Best Odds Guaranteed on an exchange, because your bet is matched at the price you and another customer agreed, not against a starting price. Matchbook offers separate win and place markets rather than each-way bets, so you can back a horse to place on its own. Compare exchange and bookmaker prices before big races such as the Cheltenham Festival.

Matchbook Zero and multiples

Matchbook Zero is the exchange’s zero-commission product for win bets on racing, available at any time. Matchbook also offers multiples and a Bet Builder for those who want more than a single, though neither counts towards the welcome rebate.

Streaming and racing features

Matchbook’s App Store description says every horse and greyhound race is streamed. Some independent reviewers and app users report a different experience, with little streaming found or pictures that freeze, and Matchbook does not publish the qualifying rules. Treat streaming as a bonus rather than a reason to join.

Big meetings and in-play racing

Matchbook prices up the major British and Irish fixtures, including the Cheltenham Festival, the Grand National, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood and the Derby at Epsom, and markets on international races such as the Breeders’ Cup, the Kentucky Derby and the Melbourne Cup. Ante-post markets on the big races are where the exchange’s keener prices tend to stand out against a bookmaker’s.

In-play betting is available on horse racing, so you can back or lay on selected races once the runners have set off. The event filter helps on busy afternoons: use the pin icon to keep the races and courses you are following at the top of the page.

Who can claim the Matchbook welcome bonus, and who cannot

Matchbook’s welcome terms are stricter on eligibility than most bookmakers’, largely because exchanges attract professional and matched bettors. These are the conditions Matchbook applies to its new-customer offers.

Code at registration only. The REBATE20 Matchbook bonus code has to go in when you open the account on matchbook.com or the official apps; it cannot be added afterwards. You must be 18 or over, and new to Matchbook: a previous account, or one linked to yours, disqualifies you.

Card deposits. Matchbook’s welcome terms count card deposits only. Skrill, Neteller and other e-wallets do not qualify, so fund the account by debit card even though the cashier accepts PayPal and Apple Pay for everyday use.

One per household. The limit is one offer per individual, household, address, email, payment source or shared computer. Anyone who arrives through matched-betting services such as OddsMonkey, Outplayed or Matchedbettingblog is excluded, as are on-course bookmakers.

One welcome offer only. Matchbook runs more than one new-customer deal, and you can take only one of them. Taking any welcome offer also rules you out of future 0% commission promotions, which matters if you were planning to wait for a commission-free deal later.

A worked example. Over your first 30 days you lose £600 net on racing win and place markets and a further £100 on a Bet Builder. The Bet Builder loss sits outside the calculation, so the rebate is 20% of £600, or £120. Had you finished the month £50 up on the exchange markets, there would be nothing to rebate.

Matchbook Zero and other offers for existing customers

Matchbook does not run the conveyor belt of free bets and boosts you find at a high-street bookmaker. Its main ongoing offer for regular customers is Matchbook Zero, which removes the cost of betting altogether on a capped set of bets.

Matchbook describes Zero as zero margin and zero commission on horse racing and football. The catch is the size: one bet per event, with a maximum payout of £200. In a race you can back or lay a single horse, and in a football match a single team, but there is no limit on how many events you bet on in a day. Racing markets open at 10am on the day of the meeting and football markets 48 hours before kick-off. It is open to new and existing account holders with no opt-in, and it sits apart from your main exchange activity, so Zero bets do not count towards the REBATE20 loss rebate.

For a racing punter who places one modest bet per race, that makes Zero a genuinely free way to bet at exchange prices. Anyone wanting to trade in and out of a position, or stake to win more than £200, will still use the main exchange at 2% commission. Matchbook also runs a separate welcome offer for customers moving across from Betdaq, with its own terms.

How the Matchbook betting exchange works

The Matchbook betting exchange lets customers bet against each other rather than against a traditional bookmaker. On any market you can either back a selection, betting that it will happen, or lay it, betting that it won’t. That flexibility is what draws traders and price-sensitive punters to an exchange.

Because you are betting against other users, you can often find better odds than a bookmaker offers. The prices are set by the customers themselves, which makes for a more competitive market, and Matchbook charges a small commission on net winnings instead of building a margin into every price.

A simple football example shows how it fits together. If you think Team A will win, you back them at odds offered by another user. If that user thinks Team A will not win, they have laid your bet. If Team A wins, you collect; if they draw or lose, the layer keeps your stake. In-play betting works on the same principle, letting you trade positions while the event is under way.

Matchbook sports betting: football, tennis and beyond

Racing is Matchbook’s strongest suit, but the exchange covers a broad spread of sport. Football markets run across the major leagues and international competitions, and tennis takes in the ATP and WTA tours as well as the Grand Slams.

Golf markets focus on the majors, and there are exchange markets on basketball, American football, baseball and cricket, including international matches and domestic tournaments such as the IPL. Boxing and MMA are covered for the big fights, along with special markets on politics and other non-sporting events.

Away from the most popular football and racing markets, liquidity is the thing to watch. A market may be listed with keen prices but very little money available at them, so check the matched amount before committing a large stake.

Matchbook Insights, the betting podcast and its racing sponsorship

Matchbook Exchange doesn’t offer a massive range of bells and whistles, but it does provide plenty of reading on the day’s racing through its Matchbook Insights content, and its podcast is one of the best on the market.

The Matchbook Betting Podcast

Hosted by Daniel Hussey and Tom Stanley, with Stanley leading on horse racing, the Matchbook Betting Podcast looks ahead to the big Saturday races as well as the football weekend. It is no house organ: the Smart Betting Club’s readers voted it Best Betting Podcast in 2019 and again in 2020, and it publishes several episodes a week.

Race sponsorship

Matchbook made its name on the racecourse by backing Ascot’s Clarence House Chase from 2019, one of the jumps season’s best January cards, until BetMGM took over the raceday in 2024. Its racing money now goes largely to Punchestown, where in 2025 it launched the Matchbook 50/50 Graduation Bonus Series: a €50,000 bonus for the first horse to win one of twelve maiden hurdle and bumper qualifiers and then land a Grade 1 at the Punchestown Festival.

Matchbook commission and liquidity

Matchbook’s standard commission is 2% on net winnings in a market, charged only when you finish a market in profit. That is the headline number, and it compares well with the rates many exchange users pay. Matchbook Zero gives zero-commission win bets on racing on an ongoing basis, and new customers who join with REBATE20 get 20% of their net exchange losses back over their first 30 days, up to £1,000.

Liquidity is the counterweight. Matchbook does not publish matched volumes, but reviewers agree its markets are smaller than Betfair’s and can be thin outside the main British and Irish racing and football. Larger stakes, or lay bets on outsiders at low-grade meetings, may sit unmatched or move the price. It makes sense to hold accounts on Matchbook, Betfair and Smarkets, taking whichever shows the best matched price. Our betting exchange guide explains how they compare.

Matchbook app and payments

The Matchbook iPhone app holds a rating of 4.7 from 1,616 ratings on the UK App Store, and the Android version 4.5 on Google Play, though some Android users report stream freezes and location errors. The app lets you build a bet straight from today’s race card. See our betting apps guide for how it compares.

You can deposit by Visa or Mastercard debit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Skrill, Neteller or Paysafecard. Matchbook does not publish withdrawal times, and reviewers’ estimates vary widely, so complete identity checks early. Support is by live chat and by email at support@matchbook.com.

Matchbook offers apps for both platforms: UK and Irish customers can download the Android app from the Google Play Store, and the iPhone app is in the Apple App Store. The minimum deposit is £10. The payment line-up is basic compared with the big bookmakers, so check that your preferred method is available before you register.

Matchbook customer service and help centre

Matchbook’s support team can be reached through live chat or by email at support@matchbook.com. The help centre features FAQs and guides covering a range of topics, from registration and verification to how the exchange works, and is usually the quickest route to an answer.

Matchbook’s Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) feeds regularly list the latest offers, which is a handy way to keep track of promotions without logging in.

Is Matchbook safe and legit?

Matchbook is operated by Triplebet Limited, licensed by the UK Gambling Commission under account 39504. In February 2020 the Commission part-suspended Triplebet’s licence and Matchbook briefly closed all betting; it has since returned to full operation. The account offers deposit limits, loss limits, session and wagering limits, reality checks, time-outs and self-exclusion, alongside GAMSTOP.

Screenshots from the Matchbook app listing on the UK App Store.

Matchbook compared with Betfair and Smarkets

Terms checked on each operator’s own site. Read the full terms before you bet. More detail in our Betfair review, Smarkets review.

Matchbook pros and cons

Our verdict on Matchbook for racing

Matchbook is the exchange for punters who care about the margin. Its standard commission is 2% of net winnings, below what many racing bettors are used to paying, and new customers who register with REBATE20 get 20% of their net exchange losses back over their first 30 days, up to £1,000. Matchbook Zero adds zero-commission win bets on racing, and the iPhone app holds a rating of 4.7 from 1,616 ratings. For anyone who backs and lays British and Irish horses regularly, the savings add up.

The trade-off is liquidity. Matchbook is a smaller exchange than Betfair, and reviewers note that markets thin out away from the main British and Irish meetings, so a big lay on a midweek maiden may not be matched at the price you want. Streaming is promised in the app listing but reported as patchy by some users. A score of seven rewards the keen pricing while acknowledging the depth gap.

Matchbook exchange FAQs