Two of the most popular mirror sites for Betfair and well-known betting exchanges are Orbit Exchange and FairExchange (also known as Fair999). Both exchanges are great alternatives, offering many advantages and features to punters. But what are the differences between these two and what details must players take into consideration before starting betting? Orbit exchange vs FairExchange. Keep reading to find out.
FairExchange started its operations in 2015, while OrbitX came 2 years later, in 2017. Both exchanges are powered by Betfair, which means that you will find similar odds and identical liquidity with the pioneering exchange. Even though OrbitX and Fair999 are two betting sites that are much more alike, there are still some significant differences between them.
The most obvious difference is their sites. While the similarities between Orbit and Betfair websites are quite obvious, FairExchange follows a simpler design, which makes its website a lot faster and quite easy to use. However, OrbitX has a more professional user interface and it’s better for punters with relevant experience.
Of course, both Orbit Exchange and FairExchange support laying an outcome, which means that you can bet on a result not to come. The vast majority of people who gamble on exchanges use lay bets as a means of trading with the odds and developing arbitrage strategies in order to guarantee profits.
The truth is that Orbit and Betfair have many similarities, although OrbitX operates entirely as a separate entity. OrbitX’s website looks a lot like Betfair’s, they share the same odds and the liquidity is also the same. So, why compare Fair999 with Orbit, a Betfair clone? Isn’t it a bit unfair?
Continue reading and in the coming paragraphs, you will see that Fair999 has also some great points that make it a very good exchange alternative that all the players worth checking out. We will compare the sports availability, the betting markets, the commissions and many more. So, keep reading to learn which betting exchange is the greatest Betfair alternative.
Availability of matches/Sports/Leagues
Starting with FairExchange, we can say that the sports available for betting on the platform are not as many as someone would expect. If we take a look carefully, we will see that the only sports the exchange offers are cricket, soccer, tennis, basketball, horse racing, and greyhound racing.
Even if it offers the most popular ones like soccer, tennis, and basketball, the fact that there are only six sports available for betting is kind of disappointing. The absence of sports like boxing, baseball, or motorsports is more than obvious. However, we will find a wide range of competitions in these sports offered where we can place our wagers.
In soccer, for example, we will find over 80 competitions, from the most widely known, like the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga, the Italian Serie A and the Spanish La Liga, to the less popular ones like the Brazilian Serie D and the Malaysian Super League. Almost all the leagues from around the world are covered.
In the other sports, FairExchange offers a significant number of choices in tennis, including most of the ATP and WTA tournaments. Additionally, smaller tournaments are also available, like the UTR for men and women. Basketball also has quite a variety of leagues, including the NBA, and European championships, but also competitions from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and New Zealand.
On the contrary, Orbit Exchange offers a vast number of sports to bet on. On their website, we will find over 25 sports available for betting. Except for the most common ones like soccer, tennis, basketball, cricket, and horse racing, the list goes on with American football, baseball, boxing, rugby, cycling, darts, MMA, motorsports, hockey, and many more.
Regarding soccer, the category includes competitions and leagues from over 55 countries. The number of matches from which we can choose to wager is truly huge and will satisfy all punters who search for a wide variety of games to place their bets on. It’s very unlikely to search for a match to bet on the Orbit exchange and can’t find it.
But the big difference between the Orbit Exchange and the FairExchange is all the other sports OrbitX has to offer. By comparing these two exchanges, we must say that OrbitX is clearly the winner because of the number of choices that it provides. Fair999 seems a little poor on this part.
Betting Markets
What about the betting markets and line options that are provided by these two platforms? To determine which of these two options is superior to the other, let’s look at an example from the English Premier League and compare it to the other options.
When FairExchange started its services, it provided very few basic markets for the players to bet on. But the company has progressed over the years and now provides its players with all the popular markets. To be more specific, FairExchange offers Match Odds (Winner or Draw), correct score, over/under 0.5 goals, over/under 2.5 goals, Asian Handicap, Goal Lines, and Both teams to Score.
These are the markets that are usually available in soccer matches, and they are also the markets we will find in Orbit. Betfair also offers the same types of markets, so we can say that the three platforms have these in common. There are no differences there regarding soccer.
In basketball, we will also find the same markets between FairExchange, Orbit and Betfair. These are the match odds (winner), handicaps, and total points of the match. In bigger games, like the NBA, we may find more markets available. But still, they would be the same across the platforms.
Of course, on all platforms, we will find special markets like the winner of a competition. Such markets are available for any sport, and especially for the most common ones like soccer, basketball, and tennis. Special markets are betting options that all three companies share, Fair999, Orbit, and Betfair. Additionally, due to the high liquidity available on all exchanges, you don’t have to worry if your bet is matched, at least for the most common ones.
Live betting
As it is natural, both platforms offer in-play modes and live-to-bet. Most of the sports and betting markets we mentioned before are also available to punters who want to bet live. However, here we find some significant differences between the betting exchanges. At Fair999, our bets are accepted faster most of the time, which is very important when you bet during a live match.
On the other hand, a big advantage for Orbit exchange is the cash-out button, something that the Fair999 platform lacks. If you want to increase your profit and take advantage of every aspect of a live match, the cash out feature is necessary and must be used in many cases. This is a big plus for the OrbitX platform.
Although live betting focuses on the higher leagues most of the time, this does not mean that you won’t be able to find matches from lower competitions. If, on the other hand, your wagers are placed on games from lower divisions, there may be a momentary pause in the coverage of certain competitions.
The good thing about both exchanges is that they offer all the matches available for live betting. At least soccer, basketball, and tennis matches are all offered for betting in-play. However, as we said before, Orbit has Betfair’s variety of sports and they are all available for wagering live. So, Orbit Exchange has more options in the live section.
Commission/Odds/Stakes
Speaking of odds, we must mention that the values are about the same as on Betfair. Since we are talking about exchanges, the odds are quite higher than the ones of a typical sportsbook. It’s a very big advantage that both platforms offer. Moreover, both sites prefer to show the odds available in the European decimal format, which might confuse some punters at first, but it’s something you can easily get familiar with.
The odds you will find on both sites are identical since we are talking about betting exchanges that are both powered by Betfair. But if we compare the odds of Fair999 and Orbit with Betfair’s sportsbook, we will see that the odds of the exchanges are a lot better. This is very common for the betting exchanges, as in these cases you don’t go up against the bookmaker but you bet against another player.
Regarding the commissions, Orbit Exchange has a smaller fee of 3%, compared to Fair999, where the commission is as high as 4%. The difference is small, but it gives us better value to wager on Orbit Exchange. Nevertheless, both platforms beat Betfair in this area as the commission on the pioneering exchange can be anywhere from 5% to 7%, depending on the country you live in. We should also make it clear that the commission applies to your winnings only, in all exchanges.
Finally, there is also a big difference in the minimum stake acceptable between Orbit Exchange and Fair999. While in OrbitX the minimum stake is 7 euros, in Fair Exchange it is only 1 euro. That makes it easier for punters to test the platform without being forced to bet large amounts of money or try strategies that require them to start with low stakes.
The maximum stakes, however, shouldn’t concern any punter for any of the three exchanges. Fair999, Orbit, and Betfair follow an arbitrage-friendly philosophy to attract professional punters who wager high stakes. Therefore, practically speaking, there is no maximum limit for your bets.
Since the betting exchanges are being paid from their commission on players’ winnings, they don’t care about the maximum stakes. The higher the stakes, the more they will get paid. That’s why exchanges like Fair999, Orbit, and Betfair encourage arbitrage, trading, and similar strategies for sure winnings.
Payments
Talking about payments, we must refer to how you can access both exchanges if you want to use them. None of the betting exchanges is accepting players directly from their sites. Instead, you can gain access by creating an account through a betting broker like Brokerstorm.com, which will give you many options regarding the funding of your betting account.
Since you use a broker to bet, the payment methods available are plenty. You can use e-wallets like Skrill, Neteller, or Ecopayz. Additionally, the bank transfer option is also supported, as well as more specialised ways like cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. When you want to withdraw your winnings, you can do so using the same procedures. However, there might be some fees that apply to your withdrawals, depending on the broker you choose.
For example, if you have an account with Brokerstorm.com, then there are no fees charged on your deposits and the same applies to your first withdrawal each month. Nevertheless, the next withdrawals during the month will have a fee of 1.5% on your winnings. This refers to Fair999, Orbit, and Betfair as well.
There are maximums and minimums for deposits and withdrawals that must be adhered to when using Brokerstorm.com, as well as any other broker. If you want to add money to your account balance or take money out of your account, the maximum amount you can do either is limited to 50 euros, regardless of which option you choose.
To sum up, both exchanges are great choices and ideal alternatives for Betfair. They have some differences between them, like the smaller commission for OrbitX as well as the cash-out feature that Fair999 is missing. On the other hand, Fair Exchange has a lower minimum stake limit and faster bet acceptance, which makes it a good choice for live betting options.
Nevertheless, we are talking about two excellent exchanges that offer high odds, a vast variety of sports and a wide range of betting markets for the players to choose from. Whichever platform you decide to use for your bets, you have to create an account through a broker like Brokerstorm.com and gain access from there, in order to benefit from both exchanges’ features.