Matchbook completes Betdaq acquisition, keeps Betdaq trading until 21 October

Matchbook, which runs a peer-to-peer betting exchange and supplies market technology, has wrapped up its purchase of Betdaq, the exchange Dermot Desmond founded. No financial details of the deal were made public. Matchbook stressed that the move strengthens its liquidity and fits with the strategy it is pursuing.

Betdaq was set up in 2000, so it brings more than twenty years of know-how in its field, as Matchbook pointed out. According to Matchbook, combining the two businesses will merge “Betdaq’s heritage with Matchbook’s pricing, liquidity, and technology expertise” into what it described as a “single, deeper pool.” The company stated that tighter spreads, bigger fills and better prices are what customers stand to gain. Matchbook also linked the deal to worldwide expansion of the peer-to-peer model, a trend it said the fast-growing prediction markets sector has highlighted further.

Trading on the present Betdaq service, which EPS operates, is scheduled to continue until October 21, 2026, once the takeover is complete. Money can be taken out by customers through November 4, 2026, and their protection will continue in accordance with the responsibility commitments of Matchbook and Betdaq. The two firms stressed their commitment to an orderly transition. Betdaq’s official website carries further information on the key dates and on matters affecting customers.

Matchbook’s chief executive officer, Ronan McDonagh, addressed the Betdaq takeover, noting that the two firms pursue the same goal of giving customers better deals. That ethos, he said, is fully reflected in the transaction. He stated: "Our first priority through this transition is Betdaq’s customers: their funds are safe, their options are clear, and in one combined pool they should find better prices and deeper liquidity than either exchange could offer alone." He went on to say that all of the company’s efforts, this deal among them, aim at making the exchange first choice.

Matchbook is itself a veteran of the betting exchange space, with more than twenty years of offering such products. Deals with companies such as easyBet and ADI PredictStreet have recently widened its business. Since 2025, when it started to look for ways to accelerate its evolution, Matchbook had been eyeing a prediction market launch in the UK.