Bet365 review
The review and verdict below represent the subjective views of the reviewer
at the date of the review. Most likely this opinion will change over time, as bookmakers change their services from time to time. The verdicts
should not be regarded as a common views of
this bookmaker. Everybody must make up their own opinion about who they are
dealing with. Bettingadvice.com can not guarantee the correctness of the
informaton mentioned in the review.
[Open account] [Transactions] [Navigation]
[Design] [Graphics] [Bet
procedure] [Service] [Reliability]
[Odds] [Events on offer][Verdict]
Overview:
www.BET365.com is the online section of British bookmaking group Bet365 Limited. They have bookies shops in the U.K. pitches on the rails at many racecourses, and have customers from around the world.(so they claim!) They are affiliated to IBAS so we are able to bet with confidence with them, and they offer a free £20 bet for new accounts. So far so good, lets see how they rate.
Opening account:
Opening an account is easy, the usual details are required, however, when asked what language you want the site to be in, the only language on offer was English! Perhaps they intend to have other languages on offer in the future. You chose your own username and password, and you are then allocated a customer number for use with the telephone betting. Both accounts feed off the same funds, which is something I like. The usual preferences are asked for, for example, what format you want odds displayed in, and I received a 2004 diary similar to betfairs this year, a nice touch.
Our rating: 8/10
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Transactions:
Deposits can be with Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, bank wire, western union, Neteller and Firepay. Registering a card is easy, but only one card can be registered at any one time, to change this requires a phone call to customer service. Various currencies are offered, making their claim of having customers in 120 countries believable! Withdrawals for myself are back onto the Visa card registered which is a feature I like with the bookies I deal with, however, if you are changing your deposit/withdrawal method then all funds have to be withdrawn onto the original card then start again.
Our rating: 7/10
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Navigation:
Bet365 is not the fastest site to navigate, nor the easiest when first logging in. It uses a selection of sports on the left hand side, click to select your chosen sport, and then there is an array of ways to get to the bet you want, from using the drop-down boxes, or clicking on the particular event you want. It is something to get used to, and sometimes takes a bit of time to find the particular bet you want, especially in soccer where there are lots of different markets (see later). The drop-down boxes are quite frustrating, however, if you use bet365 a lot you will soon become familiar with the strange navigation. To get the full market on a certain match, point the cursor over the game, click and they appear.
Our rating: 5/10
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Design:
Design is simple, text easy to read, colours green, white and red. The homepage has a list of sports on offer, and also a top 10 of the most heavily bet choices, trying to get you to bet more on the short price odds-on bets!
Our rating: 7/10
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Graphics/speed:
No graphics to speak of at all, which generally makes the pages easier to read as nothing is cluttering the screen up
Our rating: 7/10
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Bet procedure:
A simple procedure, however, you are offered choices with ‘bet’ in text on them on some pages, and tick boxes on others. For the text boxes, click the box and the bet will then go into your betting slip. Often I have had to click the button, then check in my betting slip that the selection is in there, (I would have preferred a tick box method of selecting the individual selections throughout, then you can scroll up and down a coupon and see straight away what you have selected.) The click box method is used in the actual football coupons, but not when you are offered all the other markets on an individual match it is the text box. It is a small point, but one that is mildly annoying due to the inconsistency. Once the betting slip is brought up, the various different bets available are shown, as well as new features of bet365, the chance to lay selections. I have never used this feature, preferring betfair, but the option is there, and I will review this aspect of bookies in the near future. Once you have chosen your stakes, you are asked to confirm the bet and then it is placed
Our rating: 6/10
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Service:
All in English. Chose between decimal, dividend or American. All of the site is available before logging in. Customer service is very helpful, as are the telephone-betting operators. Both these are 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world, a useful dropdown guide gives you the appropriate telephone numbers to use from your country. Very good, would have been 9/10 if offering other languages.
Our rating: 8/10
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Reliability:
The site is a part of the bet365 Group Limited that owns the Provincial bet365 chain of Licensed betting offices in the UK and is affiliated to the Backhouse bet365 chain of Licensed betting offices. They have exclusive sites at all English cricket grounds, some football grounds and the usual horse and greyhound racing venues.
They can be found with advertising hoardings at televised English football games and are affiliated to IBAS (Independent Betting Arbitration Service) and agrees to abide by its decision on any dispute that may not be resolved to your satisfaction.
Payouts have always been quick and customer service good.
Our rating: 9/10
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Odds:
Mostly similar to other bookies for the majority of main bets, H/D/A, but in other sports, particularly tennis, they often have very good odds, usually cut quickly though. Where bet365 excel are the markets on offer, very often unavailable elsewhere.
Our rating: 7/10
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Events on offer:
All major football leagues, with win/draw/win, but other markets for football matches are numerous, especially the English premiership. As well as over/unders, correct scores, first/last goalscorer, first goalscorer combined with correct score, as well as a host of ‘novelty’ bets. Want to bet on a team missing a penalty? You should be able to find it at bet365. Live games offer in-running possibilities, as well as the H/D/A other markets are offered, such as next goalscorer. For the football punter, there is surely the bet you want here! Other sports offered appear numerous, from bowls to ice hockey to winter sports. I particularly rate the tennis service, all tournaments are offered, not just the big events. American sports are also well represented, I assume a large part of the overseas users are from North America judging by the number of markets on offer.
Our rating: 9/10
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Verdict:
Total score 73/100
A decent score for bet365! The range of markets offered is excellent, especially for football, with all the different combinations available, and plenty of novelty bets to keep you interested. Other sports are served very well, although odds on main events are in line with other bookies. Sometimes better odds will stand out, so bet365 are certainly worth checking out. The site navigation is not always the easiest, but is ok, and the general transactions procedure are equal to any other bookie. For a bookie that claims to be global, the customer service should perhaps provide operators in other languages. In conclusion, I regularly use bet365 and would recommend them to anyone, navigation can take some getting used to, but markets available make it worthwhile.
Get £20 FREE bet at Bet365 now !!
Review date:30.01.2004, by Simon Bell
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