Best bet365 odds API in 2026: how to choose a supplier
OddsRelay · · Updated · 4 min read
bet365 publishes no odds API, so the best bet365 odds API is the supplier whose bet365 prices you can check yourself before you sign. Each section below is one check, with the call that runs it where OddsRelay has one.
Whether an official API exists is covered in is there a bet365 API. This post starts after that answer.
Three kinds of supplier carry bet365
The options sort into three kinds. The table describes kinds of supplier, because the same kind can be run well or badly. For sourced pages on named providers, see the comparison pages.
| Kind of supplier | What you receive | Exchange lay side | What to verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw odds API or aggregator | Back prices per bookmaker | Usually absent, so you pair it yourself | bet365 depth on your markets |
| Enterprise data feed | Broad raw prices under a contract | Varies by contract | Terms, and what matching is left to you |
| Matched feed | Back prices paired with exchange lay | Included, with the money on offer | How the pairing and its gate behave |
The last column is the check that separates a good supplier of that kind from a poor one.
Book count is the wrong first question
A headline book count is the easiest figure to print and the least useful one for a bet365 buyer. A feed can list hundreds of books and still carry bet365 on a handful of markets. Start from the markets your product shows, then ask for bet365 on exactly those.
Ask for the market keys, the sports and the event window you need. A supplier that can only answer with a total has not answered the question.
Check bet365 is serving before you talk price
A supplier should show you, without a sales call, whether bet365 is serving right now. On OddsRelay that check is public: GET /v2/coverage needs no key and returns each product, venue and sport as live or interrupted_24h (an interruption in the last 24 hours, or no rows now). The coverage page reads the same data.
curl --compressed -s "https://api.oddsrelay.io/v2/coverage?region=uk"
Put the same question to every supplier you shortlist, and ask for an answer you can read without them.
Ask where the lay side comes from
A bet365 back price on its own is a number. For an oddsmatcher or a comparison tool it becomes useful once it sits beside an exchange lay price for the same selection, with the money available at that price. Decide early whether you want the supplier to do that pairing or whether you will build the matcher yourself. This one choice rules out whole kinds of supplier.
On OddsRelay's matched boards, bet365 back offers are paired against exchange lay from Betfair, Smarkets, Matchbook and BETDAQ, and liquidity-gated. The rating and qualifying loss are simple arithmetic on the pair, at your own commission rate, and the oddsmatcher widget shows them. The bet365 odds data guide walks through a matched bet365 row field by field.
// back from a bet365 offer, lay from an exchange offer on the same outcome const rating = (back / lay) * 100;
Whoever supplies the pair, ask which exchanges it draws on. A lay side from one exchange misses prices the others may be showing.
Make price age a number you can read
Speed claims in a proposal cannot be checked. The age of the prices in a response can. Ask every supplier where the response tells you how old each bet365 price is.
On OddsRelay every response carries the board's time in meta.processed_at. Matched boards add meta.last_seen, the last read per venue and sport, so now minus bet365's entry is an upper bound on a bet365 price's age. Raw carries a last_update per market, the time that market last changed. Every product on sale meets a maximum update time of 10–20 s. The freshness guide shows how to read each field.
Price a bet365-only call before you commit
If you want bet365 plus a few other books, check that a supplier charges for what you ask for. On OddsRelay a call's token price comes from the request, the board and its filters, and naming bookmakers narrows the price on the standard, dutching and raw boards. Add quote=true and the call is priced without spending anything.
curl --compressed -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $ODDSRELAY_KEY" \
"https://api.oddsrelay.io/v2/odds/standard?region=uk&bookmakers=bet365"e=true"
# {"cost": …, "remaining": …, "rate_card": "…"}The filters and tokens guide explains the rate card, and pricing lists the plans.
Read the API contract first
With no official spec, the field names, event ids and market keys are the supplier's own. OddsRelay's OpenAPI 3.1 contract is keyless at /v2/openapi.json, and the reference renders it. Treat any supplier's event ids as opaque, and match on teams and kick-off if you need a key that lasts for months.
bet365 is on every OddsRelay plan
OddsRelay is a matched feed with a raw board beside it, covering 140+ bookmakers, 60+ of them live in the UK & Ireland. The six matched boards and raw are on every plan as well, so plans differ only in tokens. The feed is built for pre-match prices and has no in-play product, so a product that needs in-play bet365 odds needs another supplier.
Run the checks on your own list
Request access to run the quote and freshness calls against your own markets. The quickstart gets the first call working.