Overtime Markets is a new AMM-based sportsbook built on Thales. It is decentralized and allows users to place bets directly from their crypto wallets – without signing up, without KYC or anything.
It runs on two networks – Optimism and Arbitrum – so you need a funded account on one of these crypto networks to bet on Overtime Markets. All bets have to be placed and settled with USD, but it’s up to you whether you want to use the coin USDC, sUSD, USDT or DAI.
We have tested the sportsbook as of September 2023. Here’s a full review + a guide on how to use Overtime Markets if you’re a beginner.
Go directly to Overtime Markets here – or continue reading our review below.
Contents
How Overtime Works
What makes Overtime Markets unique is that it runs on code. It is decentralized and that gives the user several advantages.
For example, you don’t have to give any personal information. There’s no KYC where you have to send in documents to the bookmaker. It is simply not a thing here, so you can bet anonymously. You don’t even have to make an account – just connect a crypto wallet and place bets.
It is also advantageous if you’re a winning player who is banned or limited from playing elsewhere. Overtime Markets has no way of giving you personal limits – since you could always start using a new wallet.
You also get instant payouts which is incredible. Usually, it can take days or weeks for regular bookies to pay you the money you have in your account. But on Overtime Markets, you get the profits paid out to your account every time you win a bet.
So this is definitely the future of betting and a great thing for users.
Are there any risks? Sure, it’s a new platform, but it does run on Thales which has been audited by experts. There’s always the risk of a code failure, so maybe test the waters before placing any huge amounts, and try not to use your primary crypto wallet. Use a hot wallet, one where you have funds just for betting, and where you don’t keep your main savings or investments. Not that there’s anything wrong with Overtime – we tried it and all seems good – but any approach within crypto should be cautious at first.
Promotions
There’s no welcome bonus, but Overtime brings something new to the table: Incentivized markets.
On some selected markets, mainly the big ones such as the Premier League, NFL or NBA games, you earn extra tokens for betting. Aside from your winnings, you would get a little extra in OP, ARB or Thales tokens.
If you’re a crypto investor, this is a way to earn these highly valued tokens. If you’re a sports bettor, you can exchange those extra funds for USD and just gain a little bonus from your bets.
The top markets are usually incentivized with an extra 1-2%, meaning you get a 1-2% larger payout when you bet these odds.
There’s a weekly leaderboard where the most active wallet addresses can earn extra OP tokens.
Odds and limits
The odds are fairly average when we look at spreads, totals, handicaps, and moneylines. The odds are provided by Pinnacle but the wig gets adjusted a bit.
The payback rate is typically around 95%. That’s good, but not great. It’s comparable to most soft bookies around the world, so if you’re a winning bettor, you should be able to win at Overtime Markets too – but don’t expect a wig as low as with the top Asian bookies or the European betting exchanges.
But there is one area where Overtime Markets really stands out: Player props.
With most bookies, the odds are low on player props, and your account gets slashed immediately if you win on these bets.
That’s not the case with Overtime Markets. They have just a 4% wig on player props, and you can never get banned from betting on them. That’s absolutely incredible, so if you’re an expert in player markets, Overtime will be the best sportsbook for you.
With no personal limits, there are only the market limits to take into account. You can usually place at least $6000 on a spread and at least $1000 on a player prop. That’s solid, and it makes Overtime Markets worth using.
So for spreads and main markets, Overtime is pretty average.
But for player props, it may be the best sportsbook in the world. Quite impressive.
Selection of sports
The main markets on Overtime are soccer, football and basketball. There’s generally a US focus, so you also find a lot of markets for baseball, hockey and MMA.
There’s some motorsport, golf, and tennis too. We’d like to see more markets in the future, but for now, Overtime Markets has gotten a really good start.
Customer service
There’s no regular customer service since it’s a decentralized crypto platform.
It’s important to note that – you don’t have access to a dedicated support staff, as you would with traditional bookies. You are dependent on the platform working, and if you place a bet by mistake, there’s nothing you can do to change it.
But there is a Discord group where you can chat with the community, and they are more than helpful. You can also browse the Overtime Docs for more information if you’re uncertain about anything.
Is Overtime Markets safe to use?
In our experience and testing so far, yes.
It may be even more safe than regular bookies since it runs on code. They can’t scam you, and you get your winnings paid to your account after each bet.
There’s always a risk of code failure, but since the code is audited, this risk appears very low. You can use Overtime Markets safely as it is right now.
The data feeds that determine the bets are from Chainlink. Since Chainlink is the top oracle solution in the world, that’s a really good sign and it should always be accurate.
Always make sure you’re on the right page: The official domain is overtimemarkets.xyz so always double-check that before you bet or sign a smart contract. You can support us by going there through our referral link.
How to use Overtime Markets
Here’s a quick guide on how to use Overtime Markets:
You need a funded crypto wallet. We recommend that you use a MetaMask wallet for this and go on the Optimism network. You need to have two coins on the Optimism network: Ethereum (ETH) which is used for fees. And then USDC, DAI, USDT, or sUSD (simply choose one of the four) which is the currency you will use to place your bets.
When you have money in your crypto wallet, specifically on either the Optimism or Arbitrum network – we recommend Optimism but you can choose yourself – you are ready to bet.
Go to Overtime Markets and connect your wallet. You can do this on the top right side of the page.
Then, select the market you want to bet on. It can be any game in their selection.
Before you make your first bet, you have to allow Overtime to access your funds. This is safe and you can determine the amount they are allowed to access. So if you allow them to access $5, you will be able to bet $5 – and they are unable to access any more than that. You can set the access limit higher if you want to avoid doing this process too often.
Then you place your bet, which is done by signing a digital contract with your wallet. It takes a few seconds and then your bet is placed. If you win, the money gets transferred automatically to your account. If you lose the bet, you won’t get funds back (obviously).
Do we recommend Overtime Markets?
Abso-f*cking-lutely. It’s incredible to finally have functional DeFi betting here, something we first requested back in 2020.
It really opens up the possibilities within the betting world, to the benefit of the user.
This could mean the end of personal limits and bookmaker scams. Rather than trusting a bookie, we can trust code, and we can avoid KYC which is something that has always been an unreasonable practice in the betting industry.
What we truly want in the long run is a big betting exchange that runs on crypto – imagine something like Betfair but with practically no fees. However, for now it’s nice to have a decentralized sportsbook with anonymity and no discrimination when it comes to stakes and limits.
Overall verdict: RECOMMENDED