Betfair Sportsbook Review
The Betfair brand is now one of the spearheads of the online betting scene and a customer base to boast resulting in the company being one of the largest online betting portals worldwide.
Sports betting and gaming offers
If you register anew account today with Betfair then you will become eligible to take advantage of their generous £25 free bet. The offer is basically a 100% match deal where you can deposit between £10 and £25, depending on your deposit your account will become available for a free bet. The free bet will be based on your first bet and if you happen to lose that bet then Betfair will credit your account with the equivalent free bet.
On top of this sportsbook offer the same account can make casino and poker bonuses eligible to that same betting account. Their casino bonus will allow you to gain up £200 of casino chips depending on your deposit. It’s worth noting at this point that the casino, poker and sportsbook all work under separate wallets meaning the money for each is kept separate, but easily interchangeable. Registering to play poker at Betfair allows you to take part in their $2500 welcome freeroll.
Interface and features
The most obvious place to start with a site like Betfair is the fact that it works like no other betting site. It’s essentially an exchange meaning you bet against fellow punters, rather than the betting site itself – hence better odds – giving you the option of either backing or laying a result. Whilst these sorts of features may put off a few punters new to online betting, the concept is actually very simple and the site is set out so well that it’s hard to go wrong. Incorporated into the site are numbers of walkthrough guides explaining every step for people unsure of betting exchanges.
As the site is a betting exchange it gives you so much more flexibility than other sportsbooks. You can see the lines set by other punters for yourself and then can make the decision whether to back at the right price or lay if that seems a better option. As there are two options this then opens the door for a whole host of betting strategies that can be manipulated by taking advantage of these features.
Betfair also offer one of the largest online streaming portals. The channel includes a host of sports from around the world but the key feature comes in the form of each stream being integrated into that specific betting market. If you decide that you simply want to watch the stream then you can open the pop-out window to simply enjoy that specific game, match or race.
The largest part of their site, without question comes from their live betting portal. There are so many markets all available to bet on as each event takes place that it simply blows other bookmakers out of the water. The main reason is basically that Betfair don’t need their own employees to monitor and set lines, the punters do this for them. This takes a lot of the man power out of setting markets and adjusting to each situation in any sports market.
Possibly the highlight of the site comes from the extra information Betfair have available to their punters. Things such as the Betfair forum, bet checker, time form, football results and match ups, sporting head to heads and so much more. The information is there for you to take advantage of and we have yet to another betting platform offer such in depth information.
- New Account Bonus: 100% / £100
- Bet against other players, not the house
- Mobile app, Web, Phone in bets
Betfair’s Sports and markets
There are few that rival Betfair when it comes to the amount of sports and markets for each sport on offer. Whilst 30+ sports may be somewhat of an industry standard for the larger corporations, the markets for each sport simply won’t be matched anywhere. Taking football as our example, Betfair offer markets from over 30 different footballing nations around the world, some of the more obscure come in the form of Icelandic, Polish, Qatari, Saudi Arabian and Ukrainian.
The beauty of Betfair means that they simply have to open the markets and then if people want to set lines then they can do. It results in no extra effort for them other than simply offering a service in the first place.
Betfair Cashier
Their cashier is concise as any other major betting site with a host of deposit and withdrawal option including Visa, credit/debit cards, MasterCard, PayPal, Neteller Moneybookers and many more. One thing that is worth noting is that to withdraw you must use your chosen deposit method until the amount of deposits has been covered. Even then you may be required to contact Betfair’s accounts team to verify a few security checks on your account.
Unfortunately their support team leave a little to be desired. There are no live chat features [ which we think should be a necessity in this day and age ] and the response time on a query takes around 48 hours, again not the best. They do however offer a 24 hour telephone number for UK customers.
BETGBP Betfair Verdict
You only need to look at how many professional sports bettors use Betfair as to how good the software and versatility of the site is. The market coverage is simply staggering and the fact that they offer odds at around 20% higher than the majority of leading bookmakers make the site a no brainer for most.
There is a downside to the site and that comes in the form of them taking 5% commission from your bets. It seems a small number and to most won’t be significant but people betting high quantities will soon see difference.
Nevertheless, Betfair’s site is pretty much flawless from top to bottom and without question is a site that you should have in your betting portfolio.
