Definition
What is market making in betting?
Last updated
Definition
Market making is the practice of posting both sides of a market — bid and ask — and earning the spread (or losing on adverse selection). Bookmakers are market makers by definition; some sharp operators market-make on exchanges like Smarkets or Betfair.
Most retail bettors take prices; market makers post them. The bookmaker's vig is the spread they earn on average across all bettors. Sharp operators sometimes market-make on betting exchanges where they post offers and earn the back-lay spread, but the risk of adverse selection (sharps hitting your offers) is real. Glitch Edge does not market-make — the platform takes prices on Cloudbet and Polymarket.
Bookmaker vs exchange
- Bookmaker (Pinnacle, Cloudbet): posts both sides, accepts your bet, earns spread
- Exchange (Betfair, Smarkets): matches your bid against another user’s ask, takes commission
Why not market-make on Glitch Edge?
Market-making is a different operating model. It needs continuous inventory management, adverse-selection modeling, and high uptime. Glitch Edge is built for price-takers running value strategies, not market makers running spread strategies.