Although online betting sites are becoming increasingly homogenised and ‘samey’, there is still one key difference between them: the odds they provide.
Typically, at the head of popular betting markets, there’s only a point or two between bookmakers when it comes to their pricing.
But for those punters that like to bet on mid-range picks or outsiders, this is where the gulf in price from one bookmaker to the next can really manifest itself.
For context, if you wanted to back Mexico to win the 2026 World Cup, the odds offered by mainstream bookies range from 50/1 to 70/1 – in essence, that means that a punter that takes the best price would be £20 to the £1 better off than a counterpart that took the 50/1.
Odds Comparison or Bet Courier?
Odds comparison sites have existed for nearly as long as online betting has been around, but every now and again a new idea resurfaces – an odds comparison service through which you can directly place the bets. Bet Butler tried it in the 2010’s and now VOdds are trying it again.
VOdds claim to provide a one-stop shop for odds comparison. Punters can search for an event and betting market, such as World Cup Golden Boot or The Open Championship winner, find their selection and then browse the variety of prices that are available.
As noted already, these odds – especially for outright markets with plenty of runners – can be wildly different. So to see them compared side by side, with more than a dozen bookmakers displayed.
Odds aggregation and comparison is a vital tool for punters, but not a novel ideal. But these sites also offer another function: bet placement with a single click.
Rather than just showing live odds on screen, the site aims to provide punters with a gateway to placing bets without having to navigate away to the bookmakers’ site.
According to the marketing bumf pushed out through their affiliate program, this helps to create a more efficient sports betting experience, while also playing a crucial role in markets that are time sensitive or where new information – such as team news – is forcing prices to change quickly.
They continue that by being able to compare odds from a dozen or more bookies, before placing bets with a single tap, customers are to time their entry into the market seamlessly – hopefully maximising their value.
More and more punters are turning to data to help inform their bets. One of the other perks of odds aggregation services like VOdds and Oddschecker is that they offer real-time insights and market movement information – vital in identifying so-called ‘steamers’ and ‘drifters’.
On Oddschecker, this is displayed as blue and pink on the price grid: blue for shortening odds, pink for lengthening prices. With VOdds, users can track trends and create customisable alerts to help them stay up-to-date with the latest and most significant market movements.
Why Bet Butler Failed
So is VOdds just Bet Butler 2.0, and if so, will it follow the same path to failure?
The idea itself is actually quite sound. An odds comparison service that cuts down on the admin and lets you place bets faster should work, provided that the connected bookmakers are good and everything works as advised.
That’s where Bet Butler fell apart. Whilst the product was a good idea, there were numerous complaints of failed bet placement, poor customer service and financial mismanagement – one founder was later banned from running a business for 12 years after misleading investors in a separate £7m betting scheme.
The UKGC revoked Bet Butlers gambling license in 2014, and that was then end of the road.
It is entirely possible, therefore, that with a better product and management that VOdds could well succeed where Bet Butler failed. Although for UK punters there is a huge obstacle to overcome: it’s not UK licensed.
In fact, none of the bookmakers that it currently has on it’s register are licensed to accept bets from the UK. That is not to say that anything nefarious is going on, UK bettors simply cannot sign up with the bookmakers so cannot place bets through them, but it does mean that it’s not really available in the UK.
Whether the range of bookmakers will expand in the future is yet to be seen, but until UK licensed brands are incorporated, it has little value to the UK market (the legal one, at least).
