Fairlay is a Bitcoin Prediction Market, Bitcoin Betting Exchange and Cryptocurrency Exchange established in 2013 by a German team. Since then Fairlay moved to Costa Rica and the team grew more global. The concept of combining tiny fees, anonymous accounts and instant payouts made it quickly the home of professional and advanced bettors in the Crypto space. The annual volume is currently around 500 million USD.
Because Fairlay is an exchange rather than a book maker and market makers compete with each other, Fairlay has the best odds and lowest spreads in the industry. Creating an account is simple and can be done with one click.
Betting Markets
So, betting markets, where to start? Well the entire layout of the Fairlay Sportsbook is not user friendly, indeed there is no traditional Sports book layout or list of Sports and Events, everything is generated by users, for users. Having said that, there are still a surprising number of markets around considering how nice this type of exchange betting is, with sports, politics, currency and even current affairs. Sadly, for an exchange, the odds gap between buy and sell is considerably larger than the major exchanges available today, and its worth checking whether this evens out the reduced commission by using this site for your betting experience. More than 90% of Fairlay’s markets have a base commission of 0.25%. Only politics, news and bitcoin bets have 2%.
Live Betting
Live Betting is available on the Fairly website, but still in beta.
Usability of the Site
So put simply, Fairlay is not easy to use for someone who isn’t highly versed in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency wallets and the core concepts behind its inception and growing adoption. In essence, one must understand how transactions take place, how to deposit and withdraw Bitcoin and be comfortable doing this across the site. Aside from this, the site in general is not the easiest to navigate, and could definitely do with a revamp and upgrade with a bigger focus on user-focused design and layout. On the plus side, Fairlay does a reasonable job of explaining how to place bets, what happens once a market settles, how your winnings are calculated and how payments are made. There’s an active forum that is easy to navigate through from the site, along with 24/7 Live Chat, email support and considerable FAQs. In line with the transparent nature of Bitcoin, the code and API are all available to view and has been thoroughly reviewed by existing members of the BTC community.
Conclusion
To conclude, Fairlay is not for the faint of heart. Customers who are well versed in cryptocurrencies should have no problem grasping the nature of each transaction, for the majority of sports bettors however, this is likely to be an obstacle to enjoyment that most people will decide to walk away from. Further to this, the nature of Bitcoin as an unstable currency is such that once you deposit an amount into the system, the value of this is fiat currency like US dollar could fluctuate massively over very short periods. Perhaps it is better to stick with more stable currencies for the time being, although this is at the sports bettor’s discretion.
Advantages:
- Anonymous;
- One of the largest bitcoin-only prediction markets and betting exchange;
- The odds fluctuate based on how people vote;
- A plethora of trading events, provably best odds;
- Quite high limits for major sports;
- More than 90% of markets have a base commission only 0.25%;
- You can create your own event;
- Works well on all mobile devices;
- Quick customer support team;
- They have a forum.
Disadvantages:
- No promotions;
- A limited number of bet types; (No parlays)
- Low market liquidity, particularly during in-play betting;
- Not very convenient site navigation;
- Only accepts cryptocurrency