Sportingbet Review & Bonus

In general we are very impressed with the Sportingbet website, particularly with the coverage of Football leagues,the amount of Football based bonuses and the live betting options. There is also a handy cash out service, efficient customer advisors and an App compatible with both Apple and Android devices.

We were a little disappointed with the apparent lack of live streaming, particularly around Horse Racing, and that they are also yet to offer up any E-Sports markets. The welcome bonus carries a decent reward, but to activate the maximum £50 bonus, you would have to deposit an initial £10 and then place 10 x £20 bets at odds of 1/2 or greater, all inside 14 days.

Football is recognised as the number one priority sport on Sportingbet, taking pride of place in the sports menu. You will always have access to the biggest upcoming matches via the Quick Links section on the left side.

In the mid page, you have the traditional setup of football highlights, followed by In-Play options and then a list of competitions and leagues, ordered by popularity on Sportingbet.

Matches will regularly feature 100+ betting markets, with all the options you would expect, including 1x2, Over/Under, Correct Score, Both Teams to Score, Double Chance, Draw No Bet and Handicaps.

We are also in favour of their coupon approach, which groups the biggest matches together for 'Today' and the 'Weekend'. The next step we'd like to see is to offer coupons for specific markets, particularly Both Teams to Score and the potentially lucrative, Match Result and Both Teams to Score.

We've been through the Football section, and you can bet on matches from each of the following countries:

• England
• Spain
• Italy
• France
• Germany
• Austria
• Switzerland
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• FYR Macedonia
• Iceland
• Israel
• Lithuania
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Portugal
• Scotland
• Slovenia
• Sweden
• Turkey
• Russia
• Ukraine
• Bulgaria
• Romania
• Greece
• Czech Republic
• Slovakia
• Brazil
• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Colombia
• Ecuador
• Mexico
• Peru
• USA
• Venezuela
• Guatemala
• Algeria
• Australia
• Bahrain
• China
• Egypt
• India
• Japan
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Vietnam

We’ve been through a lot of sites and can’t remember a range quite like that!

Horse racing

Sportingbet is recognised as one of the first ports of call for early prices on Ante Post Racing in the UK and Ireland. We've spent some time on the site and you have competitive odds, quick links to the next 5 UK races and a central slider guiding you towards racing for the day.

When you go to the Horse Racing page, you see a much more structured approach than on some bookmakers, with highlighted race venues and links to the full cards. Here we think you can benefit from offering up a short preview or showing the top 3 or 5 favourites with a call to action to see the full card.

We also feel that the lack of live streaming for Horse Racing is a big negative. Horse Racing is the most popular sport for day time flutters, and the excitement generated from seeing the race live will invariably convince a punter to seek that thrill and play again.

E-Sports

Sportingbet are not offering any E-Sports markets at the current time. Games such as League of Legends (LOL) and Counter Strike (CS) are getting more and more popular in the industry. Most of the biggest bookmakers are offering odds for these games, and lots of high profile European football teams are now striking partnership deals with leading E-Sports teams.

Sportingbet have put a lot of emphasis on their live betting section. Certainly the coverage of In-Play markets is impressive, covering everything from Football and Tennis to the likes of Snooker and Darts.

The whole idea behind live betting is that you get quick bet placement, and quick gratification for any successes. But also, Sportingbet are aware that the live bettor should be better equipped to win, with more statistics and information to support placement of their bet.

For Football in particular, they provide a Match Visual for each match with updates around the position of the ball and set pieces, alongside goals and time updates. The associated live odds are also generous enough to get you playing!

We also like the structure in place on the In-Play page, which allows you to add Favourite events, and sort display according to sport, start time and popularity. We would also make good use of the Live Betting calendar, which gives you an overview of all events in order of start time. You can also filter this according to sport.

Quite confusingly, there is a 'Streamed Events' filter, although customer support on Sportingbet seems unaware of it. You can click on a statistics icon for a high number of matches, but this Live Video service is quite selective.

If you navigate to In-Play, choose the calendar and filter streamed events, you can see a list of matches with video icons. Strangely enough, Sportingbet customer advisors seem unaware of this service. At the time of checking, most of the active streams are for Beach Volleyball, but there are upcoming video streams for both Football and Tennis. To the left side of the video, there is a clean display which includes the live score and odds for various In-Play markets.

Cash out on Sportingbet puts you in control of your bet, by allowing you to take a return on your bet before the market closes on your selection. So if you're bet is doing well and you want to safeguard your winnings before things go wrong, or if you want to minimise losses that are looking likely, cash out is the way to go.

Cash out is available for certain markets, which you can find on the Sportingbet website. You can choose to cash out your bet from the 'My Bets' area of your bet slip. The amount offered is reflective of the live odds for your chosen selections, and the probability of your bet going on to be successful.

Of course the cash out value that is being offered will fluctuate more for any In-Play selections. And you may not be able to cash out your live bet at all times; certain events such as goals and penalty awards will result in the temporary suspension of the market.

Cash out is available on the following sports:

• Football
• Tennis
• Basketball
• Cricket
• Rugby Union
• Rugby League
• Snooker
• Darts
• Ice Hockey
• Handball
• Baseball
• US Football
• NHL Hockey

You should also be aware of certain terms and conditions:

• The cash out offer may be subject to a time delay, particularly for live matches.
• Cash out offers are not guaranteed, as the market may have a suspension or price change during the acceptance process.
• Where there has been a successful cash out, the bet settlement is final and money will be returned to your account.
• The final result of the matches you bet on will have no impact on the cashout figure you already agreed.
• Cashed out bets will not count towards the rollover requirement on Sportingbet bonuses, including the welcome offer.

Sportingbet Website

The Sportingbet website has a pretty simple design, with most of the main navigation focused towards the top of the page. Their presentation on special bets and today's racing at the top of the page is clear enough, without being intrusive to the user experience.

We are big fans of the Quick Links menu, which gives you direct access to certain matches and sporting events. You also have a popular bets menu, which is designed to 'hook' the more recreational punter for a quick bet.

For the more savvy bettors, there are statistics available, although not for all matches. In general, the presence of statistics and match visuals to guide your bets is much more comprehensive within the In-Play betting page.

The In-Play page also gives you more scope for personalising your experience, for example by adding favourite events and searching for matches by popularity. You can even use the Live betting calendar to plan ahead for your next In-Play bet!

Sportingbet Mobile

You can access Sportingbet from anywhere, straight from your pocket. The mobile navigation is pretty slick, with logical navigation between the 3 major sections: Sports, In-Play & Casino. You can scroll through the sporting icons across the centre of the screen, which in some ways shows less segregation between the main sports and 'other sports' than on the desktop version.

It's also clear that they've put the work in to create an App that stands out in the industry. The sports app is available for download, and compatible with iOS 7.0+ and Android OS 4.0. It also includes a quick bet feature and touch ID login for greater user experience.

Download for iOS

Download for Android

Football Acca Insurance

Place an accumulator including 5 or more Football selections on Sportingbet, and you will get your stake refunded as a free bet if one of those lets you down, up to a maximum of £25!

There are a few rules to be aware of:

• Each selection as part of your accumulator must be placed at odds of 1/2 (1.50) or greater.
• The minimum qualifying stake is £5, up to a maximum of £25.
• The offer only applies to the 1X2 (win-lose-draw) market after 90 minutes.
• Each leg of the accumulator must be settled on the same day to qualify.
• Any bets that you cash out will then not qualify for the refund bonus.
• If any of your matches are postponed or abandoned, then the offer may still stand unless it reduces the total number of selections to less than 5.
• A maximum of 4 x £25 free bets can be earned over a 24 hour period, with refunds given within 48 hours of the final part of your accumulator being settled.
• Stakes will not be returned on winning bets placed with free bets. You cannot partially redeem the tokens and you will only be paid out the profit.

25% Acca Bonus

Place an accumulator including 5 or more Football selections on Sportingbet, and you will earn a bonus of 25% extra bonus if you win!

• The maximum stake per bet is £500, with the maximum bonus set as £1,000.
• The 25% will be paid as cash into your account within 48 hours of the final part of your accumulator being settled.
• Each selection as part of your accumulator must be placed at odds of 1/2 (1.50) or greater.
• The minimum qualifying stake is £5.
• The offer only applies to the 1X2 (win-lose-draw) market after 90 minutes.
• Any bets that you cash out will then not qualify for the extra bonus.
• If any of your matches are postponed or abandoned, then the offer may still stand unless it reduces the total number of selections to less than 5.

More than 25,000 Twitter users are following the betting and banter from Sportingbet UK. That represents decent visibility in the industry, but there is a need to grow this number and communicate to a wider audience.

A lot of their posts focus on money back racing specials and enhanced accas. But you also have the more light hearted posts that are crucial to capture and entertain your followers.

Sportingbet's Facebook page has more than 15,200 likes, and focuses much more on video previews for big sporting events. However, at the time of checking they have gone 3 months without a single post. With the importance placed on social media and content marketing today, this is far too long.

The Sportingbet UK YouTube channel has over 150 videos, and total video views approaching 200,000. The channel itself has been active for just over 6 years.

The Live Chat on Sportingbet is certainly efficient. We have tried this on a number of occasions and got through with just a minimal queue each time. There is also the easy option to save the chat, which is useful if you obtained certain information you didn't know before. Once you leave the chat, you will be asked to give feedback which is understandable and positive in some ways to improve customer service standards.

If you're not yet on the Live Chat bandwagon, there are a number of other options available to you. This includes an extensive FAQ section and a range of help numbers according to where you are based. The UK free phone number is 0800 0280348.

Finally you can click to generate an email form from the website. You just have to enter your email address, Sportingbet username, name, query type and specific question. They will also encourage you to attach a file or screenshot to help them to locate your problem quicker.

Sportingbet is a UK based operator with a focus on Football and Horse Racing. They have an extensive sports coverage, cash out service and a strong sports app. We are also attracted by the potential to make £50 in bonus money in 3 stages!