Betfair Sports Betting Review

The Registration Process on Betfair is simple to say the least. You must submit necessary personal details to open a new account on the platform, including your first name, last name, date of birth, country, address, email address, and mobile number. You must choose a unique username, and choose a security question as well.

Unlike most popular bookmakers, Betfair displays its welcome offer during the registration process, and offers a Promo Code for the same as well. Once you have entered all details, submit the registration form. The welcome offer comes with a set of terms and conditions, and you must read through these terms to best use your welcome offer.

Once you have submitted your details you will be redirected to a screen during which Betfair conducts a check of identity, by confirming your name date of birth, and address.

If Betfair cannot find an identity match, you will be redirected to a screen where you must verify your account in order to deposit funds. You must click on the “Verify Now” option, and upload necessary documents to prove your identity and address.

Once your account has been successfully verified, you will be redirected to a screen where you can deposit funds, via the many methods at offer at Betfair. That being said, it is not compulsory to deposit funds immediately, and you can gauge the various betting markets and variants at offer at Betfair, before depositing funds with due respect to the same.

Once you are done with the registration process, as mentioned before, you will be redirected to the deposits page. You can choose to make a deposit at this point of time, or after looking through the various betting markets available to punt on. Once you have determined the amount of money you want to transfer to your Betfair account, click on the “My Account” tab, and choose the “Payments” option.

Click on the “Deposit” option, and choose one of the many deposit options available to you. On Betfair, you can choose to deposit funds via Credit or Debit Card, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, Paysafecard, Apple Pay, WebMoney, Qiwi, Direct Bank Transfer, and a Cheque, among other options. The minimum deposit amount via a Debit or Credit Card is £5, while a deposit fee of 1.5% is charged if you deposit funds via Credit Card.

The minimum deposit amount for Neteller is £12, while that of Skrill is £10. Both options come with no deposit fee charged. When depositing funds via PayPal, a minimum of £5 must be deposited, and a 2% deposit fee is charged. Paysafecard levies a 2.5% charge, while a minimum deposit amount of £5 is required. All of the above mentioned deposit methods lead to funds being deposited in your account instantly.

If you choose to deposit funds via a Direct Bank Transfer, or a Cheque, you must deposit a minimum of £10. No fees are levied, and it takes 2-5 banking days for the former, and 7-10 days for the latter to reflect in your Betfair account.

Once you have chosen your deposit option, you must enter your account details, and your Betfair password. Click on the “Deposit” option, and your funds will be transferred to your Betfair account, as per the time frame mentioned above.

You can make use of all the above mentioned options for withdrawals, except for Cheque. Bank transfers take 1-3 days, while withdrawing via options like PayPal, Skrill and Neteller takes up to 24 hours.

When you open Betfair’s website, this the first screen that you are directed to, after which you can click on the “Join Now” option if you are a new customer, or the “Learn More” option, or visit the website by clicking on Betfair’s logo at the top left of the bookmaker’s website. Betfair is offering an intriguing welcome offer, at the time of writing.

While the bet in the first picture pertains to Betfair’s Exchange, they are offering a welcome offer for their sports betting section as well. You can receive up to £100 in free bets, as can be seen on the right hand side of the registration form.

You must place 5 x £10 or more bets to receive £20 in free bets. You can repeat this up to 5 times, to receive up to £100 in free bets. That being said, the minimum odds for the same are ½. The welcome offer excludes Exchange bets. At the time of registration, you must enter the Promo Code – ZBBC01, to activate this offer.

At the time of writing, there are no several promotional offers in place for bettors on Betfair. You can win a free bet of up to £25 when you win a Football Same Game Multi, at odds of 4/1 or more. The free bet amount depends on your stake, and can match your stake up to £25. This free bet can be used on any sport and market, and is valid for use up to 7 days.

Cash Out bets and Exchange bets are excluded, while a maximum £25 free bet is available per week. At of the time of writing, if you sign up for Casino and Arcade, you will receive 30 free spins. That being said, for Casino, all winnings will be given in the form as cash, and the free spins will expire in 7 days.

For Arcade, the free spins are available on Daily Jackpot Games, and are available on spins valued at £0.1 each. The spins must be redeemed within a period of 7 days, as is the case with the bonus at offer for new Casino customers. There are several other amazing promotional offers, at the time of writing.

VIP Program

While Betfair does not provide for a VIP Program or a Loyalty Program per say, they offer bonuses and monthly perks when you bet on the Betfair Exchange. You must click on “My Account”, followed by “My Betfair Rewards”, and choose a package which suits you best. If you bet in the minimum number of markets, as required according to your package, you will receive bonuses, which will be credited to your account on the first working day of each month.

Unfortunately, there is no Reward system for betting on Sports, and other markets like Entertainment, and Current Affairs. Among Betfair’s other products though, you can enjoy cash rewards if you opt to participate in Casino, Bingo, or Poker. There are 3 VIP levels for Poker – Bronze, Gold, and Diamond, 3 VIP levels for Casino – Gold, Platinum, and Diamond, and 5 VIP levels for Bingo.

If you play Poker, Bingo or Casino, you are automatically a part of the lowest ranked VIP level, and you can rise the ranks, or fall, as per your performance. You are rewarded accordingly.

At the time of writing, Betfair offers 31 sports to punt on, and thousands of betting markets. The selections at offer are huge, and Betfair is particularly renowned for the odds they offer on football. The bookmaker offers odds on sports like Football, Cricket, Baseball, Ice Hockey, Winter Sports and Badminton, among other sports.

Betfair offers a variety of different minimum and maximum bet limits, as per your selection, and the odds that you are backing. You must always check the terms and conditions of a particular selection, before placing a bet.

The maximum pay out cap on the other hand, is quite high when it comes to Betfair, and varies from sport to sport. While Football and Horse Racing are capped at £1 million, Tennis is capped at £200,000, and Cricket, at £100,000, among other sports.

You must perform your due diligence before placing a bet, explore the variety of betting markets at offer, and compare the odds offered by several different bookmakers. You must practise safe betting to ensure that you do not spend your hard earned money unwisely, or bet more often than is healthy.

That being said, each bookmaker operates around a bookmaker margin. A bookmaker margin exceeds a 100% market, and is the margin above which an ideal market lays. Bookmakers earn profits off these margins, and anything under 110% indicated a good bookmaker.

According to Betfair, they offer the Lowest Odds Overround for pre-match offers in the Champions League, since the 1^st of March, 2017.

To determine how good the odds on offer at Betfair are, we calculated the Odds Overround, by adding the probability percentages of the all the possible betting outcomes, for 2 games in the English Football League Cup.

The more active and competitive a market is, the nearer will be the Odds Overround to 100%. The odds overround were found to be 104.8, and 106.9 respectively. These are competitive odds, considering the competition out there, and make Betfair worth punting on.

To put it into perspective, taking into consideration the first match, the odds overround were for a fixture between Manchester United and Manchester City, for which all the top bookmakers will be offering competitive odds to attract bettors.

Esports

Esports are extremely popular among the younger generation, and quite a few talented gamers have made a career out of playing Esports at the highest level. Betfair does not disappoint when it comes to offering odds on a couple popular Esports. The betting limit/maximum stake for Esports stands at £10,000 for all markets.

At the time of writing, Betfair offers odds on the League of Legends, in the form of China’s LPL Spring Split Tournament. There are several different betting variants at offer for matches contested in this competition.

Betfair has also forayed into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and offers several betting variants on matches contested between teams, playing this game. The minimum allowed age to bet on the platform is 18 years, as is the case with all other betting variants on Betfair. We expect the bookmaker to offer more Esports in time of come.

Other Specials

As is the case with the best bookmakers out there, Betfair offers several markets for Specials like Current Affairs and Entertainment. At the time of writing, there are several betting variants available on Pope Specials. You can place on outright bet on the Next Pope after Francis I and the Papal Name of Next Pope. You can also choose to place an outright bet on the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2020, of which Greta Thunberg is the favourite, at odds of 5/6.

Betfair offers for a variety of different maximum bet limits, as per your selection, and the odds that you are backing. You must always check the terms and conditions of a particular selection, before placing a bet.

In the entertainment sector, there are several betting variants available for the Oscars 2020, and Dancing on Ice 2020. You can choose to place an outright bet on BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020, and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me out of Here! At the time of writing, Joaquin Phoenix won the Best Actor Award at the 77^th Golden Globe Awards, and is favourite to win the Best Actor Award at the Oscars 2020, with odds of 1/9.

Cash Out and Bet Builder

Much like most popular bookmakers, Betfair offers a cash out option for punters. Betfair gives you the option to retrieve a portion of your winnings before a placed bet has finished. The winnings that you obtain could be greater than, or lesser than the placed stake amount. This depends on the cash out time, and the current probability of winning the bet, at the time of cashing out.

Betfair also offers an option to accumulate several Single Bets into an Accumulator Bet, via the bet builder feature. This allows you to build a bet according to your need, or wish. This in turn means that you must win all individual bets to win the custom built bet. This is an exciting feature, as it essentially means that you can create an infinite number of different bets.

To make use of Betfair’s in play matches option, you must navigate to the ‘In-Play’ tab, present on the second navigation bar, at the top of the platform’s websites. Click on the “In-Play” option, and enjoy non-stop action, and a wide array of betting markets to punt on. There is a cash out option for in-play betting as well, along with the much-needed provision of fast settlement of in-play bets.

As soon as you click on the “In-Play” tab, you will be directed to a screen which will display all sports, which are currently in action, or have taken place in due course of the day. If you scroll down, you will come across a list of fixtures were are to take place in due course of the day.

At the time of writing, Betfair offers a live streaming option for several sports, including Football, Tennis, Greyhound Racing, and Horse Racing among others. While you can stream Tennis and Football matches for free, you must place a bet on a Greyhound and Horse Race, in order to enjoy Betfair’s live streaming facility for these two sports.

Betfair offers one of the largest betting markets to stream live sports. You can watch over 100,000 live events each year, at the time of writing, including live matches streamed in Basketball, Baseball, and Cricket among others.

Betfair is regulated and licensed by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission for customers in the United Kingdom, and under the Malta Gaming Authority for other customers, under the Licence Number MGA/CRP/131/2006, which was issued on the 1^st of August, 2018.

At the time of writing, Betfair is legal in over 40 countries, including Egypt, and South Africa, and 9 countries have a license. The countries which have a licence are:

While Betfair has had some controversies in the past, they are not linked to any criminal behaviour, nor are they subject to possible threat via hackers. Your personal information, and stored funds are secure on the Betfair online betting platform.

Betfair offers several options to regulate your gambling activity, including a Responsible Gambling Section, and a dedicated Gambling Care Centre, called “GamCare”. They offer options to call customer representatives, live chat and group chat sections, as well as an online message board forum which is available 24/7.

All 4 options enable bettors to contact customer support representatives in case they are over-indulging themselves on the betting platform, and are seeking help for the same. You must not waste away your hard-earned money, and bet responsibly. The bookmaker has all necessary means to pay back all bettors, in case they ever go bankrupt.

To ensure this, Betfair separates all winnings from the costs it takes to operate. As for the variety of virtual games, and products at offer on Betfair, all results are generated in due course of a random number generation procedure. The platform has no control over the possibility of you winning, or losing a virtual game, or a bet placed on any of its other products.

Betfair is a reliable, and secure platform to say the least, and has no concerns with respect to the security it offers its customers.

Betfair offers several options to contact customer support representatives, including Facebook, Twitter, Free Phone Call, Email, and Live Chat.

You can easily contact a customer support representative through Facebook, or Twitter, and expect an instant reply. The Live Chat option too, evokes an instant reply, as Betfair places high priority on customer satisfaction.

You can choose to send an email to [email protected] as well, if you want to receive a formal response. You should receive a reply within 2 hours of sending across an email. If you want to talk to a customer support representative over call, call Betfair at +44-203-059-8888.

As mentioned before, Betfair offers several options to regulate your gambling activity, including a Responsible Gambling Section, and a dedicated Gambling Care Centre, called “GamCare”. Betfair is not limited to just addressing your betting-related queries, but has gone out of their way to offer customer support service for responsible betting as well.

They offer options to call customer representatives, live chat and group chat sections, as well as an online message board forum which is available 24/7. All 4 options enable bettors to contact customer support representatives in case they are over-indulging themselves on the betting platform, and are seeking help for the same.

Betfair comes with a simplistic design, comprising of a sassy mix of yellow and black. The platform colour combination is pleasing to the eye, as is the general ease of navigation. Popular betting markets are displayed on the left hand side of the platform, wherein a quick link to Betfair’s in-play feature exists as well.

At the top of the platform’s website, exist options to navigate to the various sports betting variants at offer on Betfair, as well the other products it provides for, including Casino, Live Casino, Bingo, and Arcade among others. To deposit and withdraw funds, you must click on the “My Account” tab, present on the top right hand site of the betting platform.

All popular in-play offers, and pre-match offers, are displayed at the centre of the platform’s home screen, and your current bet slip is present on the right hand side of the platform. All you have to do is click on a betting market of your choice, and all available betting variants will be displayed at the centre of your screen.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the platform’s website, you will see a section called “Responsible Gambling”. Click on the tab to take help if you are over-indulging on the platform, and need help for a gambling addiction, or any other gambling-related mental problem that you are facing.

Towards the bottom of the platform’s website exist the various licences Betfair holds, as well as insights into the betting partners it is in collaboration with.

Betfair offers mobile applications for Android and Apple users, and offers 2 different applications – Betfair Sportsbook App, and Betfair Exchange App. Betfair’s Sportsbook is excellent, streamlined, and extremely easy to use. You can track and place bets of choice on the go, built the bet you want, by accumulating different betting variants, and bet in-play.

You can also watch live streams of the sports available at Betfair, including football, tennis, horse racing, and greyhound racing, including watching highlights of matches that have taken place, on the Betfair Sportsbook App. You can make use of the Each Way Edge feature, by adding or removing places in order to create a better chance of winning a placed bet.

The opening screen of the app displays the various betting variants on offer at Betfair, at the top of the app, on a slide basis. Popular markets are displayed at the centre of the screen, while promotional offers are sandwiched in between the two. The same welcome offer is available for new Betfair customers, at the time of writing.

Betfair is extremely popular for its Betting Exchange, Sporting, Current Affairs and Entertainment markets. That being said, Betfair offers a plethora of other products, including Casino, Live Casino, Poker, Exchange Games, Arcade, Vegas Slots, Macau, Bingo, Football Jackpots, and Virtual Sports.

Justice League and Giant Grizzly are among our favourite Virtual Sports. Each Virtual Sport comes with a dedicated storyline, good graphics, and guaranteed entertainment. Betfair offers a variety of welcome offers and promotional offers for Casino, Live Casino, Poker, Bingo, and Arcade. This ensures that customers stay tuned to latest developments in these spheres.

At of the time of writing, if you sign up for Casino and Arcade, you will receive 30 free spins. That being said, for Casino, all winnings will be given in the form as cash, and the free spins will expire in 7 days. For Arcade, the free spins are available on Daily Jackpot Games, and are available on spins valued at £0.1 each. The spins must be redeemed within a period of 7 days, as is the case with the bonus at offer for new Casino customers.

Betfair is an excellent betting platform, which provides for a wide array of features. While there was never no doubting the platform, given its standing in the market, and its obvious quality, the question to be addressed, was whether Betfair is an ideal platform for you, and among the best out there.

The answer to this question is quite simple. Betfair could quite possibly be among the best bookmakers in the world, if not the best. They offer all the features an ideal punter seeks, a vast selection of markets to choose from, and several wonderful promotional offers.

You can choose to punt on Sports, Entertainment, Current Affairs, or the other products Betfair provides for. Their customer service is spot on, as is there facility of providing for live streaming in several different sports.

While Betfair is the biggest, and best Online Betting Exchange in the world, with a good Reward System for punters who make use of its Exchange, it does not offer a VIP program for Sportsbook bettors, which is a shame given its 5 Star jurisdiction in all other sectors of play.

Nevertheless, Betfair is secure, easy to use, and pleasing to the eye and mind. It is among the best, and an option worth exploring, if you want to venture into the world of betting.