BetInternet Sports Review

BetInternet Summary

BetInternet Features

• Long established online firm
• 24 hour manned telephone support
• Reasonable football promotions

Website

The BetInternet Sports page loads straight into the bookmaker – no fancy graphics or up bonuses and promotions. The website is responsive and stretches the whole width and length of the page which is unusual, as most bookmakers maintain their content in the centre of the page. It is somewhat of a no frills site – a grey, blue, navy and black theme with a smattering of colour for sliding graphics across the centre of the screen. The list of sports can be found on the left hand side of the page, the live in play events are listed in the middle, with the upcoming events and promotions on the right hand side. Standard fayre. Customers are able to flick between the bookmaker and different area at the site at the top of the page. All in all, an okay layout, not too flashy, but is easy to navigate around.

BetInternet do have a mobile website, however customers have to either Google ‘BetInternet Mobile’ or type in the mobile address manually – it does not automatically load when visiting the site whilst on the move. The mobile site serves a purpose with the sports, bet slip and account tabs easy to access and the pages for each sport loading quickly.

Languages

The website can be viewed in English or Chinese.

Markets

For an established firm, it has to be said that the number of different sports available to bet on is disappointing. Just 16 different disciplines are priced up and this compares poorly to BetVictor (30), PaddyPower (62) and Skybet (33).

BetInternet Sports do offer betting on horse racing –a sport that many smaller firms decline to involve themselves with. However, when clicking on the horse racing tab, unfortunately the only option for customers is to view the ante-post markets. They no longer offer betting on the majority of daily cards which is the bread and butter for most punters. BetInternet merely price up major races such as the 2000 Guineas and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. This is most likely to be a cost cutting strategy, where few traders are needed to manage the liabilities on the ante post markets. Customer services suggest that they offer selected races throughout the day but not full cards – a curious approach.

All of the main betting sports are covered; football, American football, basketball, tennis, golf, ice hockey etc. Seeing football at the top of the list of sports is no surprise, but seeing Asian Handicaps have a tab of its own directly beneath is interesting – perhaps suggestive of the betting preferences of most of BetInternet’s customers. There are no real niche sports, with handball being the most marginal discipline covered, but all in all BetInternet stick to the mainstream action.

The depth of the football markets are reasonable, with around 77 additional markets for most games. Customers can bet on all of the usual bets – total goals, first scorer, Asian handicap, goals minutes etc. and can also place bets on specials such as ‘either team to score 2 goals’ etc.

BetInternet adopt a policy of if there are no games for a particular league, then there are no markets available on the drop down list. For example, there is no access to any English Championship matches on a Saturday evening. This also means there is no betting for the league winners or the top scorer etc.

American Football is covered, but not extensively. Customers can strike bets on totals, the moneyline, 1^st half handicap and 1^st half totals. Many of the big firms do several different handicaps and a range of specials bets.

Overall, the number and depth of markets offered by BetInternet Sports has to be seen as disappointing.

Odds

To say that BetInternet’s odds were poor for English FA Cup games would be an understatement. Their matches were compiled to 110% books – if there were no inbuilt profit then the total of all the odds would equate to 100%. Most online bookmakers tend to compile their prices to create books in the range of 102.5-107.5%, so 110% is very high. The betting on the English Premier League, where more is known about the teams, is a little better – 105% for most matches. Certainly not market leading odds however.

Promotions

BetInternet have created a number of different promotions in order to try and entice and then retain custom.

The standard sign up bonu can be activated by entering the bonus code BETINT50 when first depositing. BetInternet will offer up to a 50% refund up to £25 on a customer’s first bet if it loses. The bet must be a single with odds of 1.80 or higher. This is an okay sign up promotion, but not fantastic, as punters are not guaranteed a free bet if their first selection actually wins.

There is a more lucrative bonus for tennis lovers, with participants who sign up and strike a bet on the ‘Next Game’ in play tennis market able to claim a free bet of up to £100 (50% of stake) if their fancy doesn’t oblige.

There are concessions on football matches which are more appealing. Customers can claim up to £50 back on selected matches when betting on correct score, winning margin, exact total goals etc. if a match finishes 0-0. There are also boosts returns on football accumulators which include 4 selections and up.

The sign up bonus is not overly generous, but the football promotions are reasonable and are in line with many of the major firms.

Payment Types

There are a reasonable number of options for funding a BetInternet account. The standard credit/debit card options are available in addition to a number of e-wallets and virtual visas.

An express bank transfer deposit method is also available.

Customer Services

It is refreshing to see BetInternet offer a 24 hour live chat feature. Queries are answered quickly and informatively. There is also a 24 hour manned telephone line (01624 652590) and an email service (info@betinternet.com) for online enquiries. For a relatively small firm, this level of customer service coverage has to be lauded.

Final Review

BetInternet have been around for over a decade, so it is disappointing that the firm have not done more to keep up with their peers who have also been in existence for a similar period of time. A small number of sports covered and uncompetitive odds are the big negatives, with the strong customer support and reasonable football promotions the positives.