- Up To £100 Free Bet
- £10
- UK
- 1-3 days
- 2000
- http://www.betfair.com
New Customer Bonus & Promotions
Betfair are one of the biggest and most popular online sports betting companies around but if you haven’t ever bet with them, you will be eligible for their new customer promotion.
If you register a new account with the bookie today you can claim up to £100 worth of free bets once you start placing a qualifying sportsbook bets.
To trigger a £20 free bet you have to place 5x £10 (or larger) bets at min odds of 1.50. You can repeat this until £100 total in free bets is released. The free bets you receive will then remain valid for use, for a total of 30 days.
T&C's apply, 18+ new customers only.
Withdrawing
The of free bets triggered as part of Betfair’s welcome promotion are non-withdrawable and thus must be used to place sportsbook bets. The amount is able to be broken up and used on as many or as few different bets as a punter desires, but any and all winnings resulting from the use of the free bet funds will be exclusive of the initial free bet stake.
Those winnings, however, are paid as real entirely withdrawable cash which punters can choose to take out of their Betfair account immediately, if they so desire. What’s more, Betfair offer amongst the widest ranges of withdrawal options of any major bookmaker to help punters do so.
Visit Betfair & select the ‘Promotions’ tab to opt in and see all other promotions.
T&C's apply, 18+ new customers only.
Features
Markets
It’s fair to say that the Betfair sportsbook is simply jam-packed with different betting options. Betfair regularly price up loads of pre-event and in-play markets across an impressive array of competitions, tournaments and events. Those events and their betting markets cover the following impressively varied array of different sports:
- American Football
- Aussie Rules Football
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Bowls
- Boxing
- Cricket
- Cycling
- Darts
- E-Sports
- Floorball
- Football
- Gaelic Games
- Golf
- Greyhound Racing
- Handball
- Horse Racing
- Ice Hockey
- Mixed Martial Arts
- Motorsport
- Netball
- Rugby League
- Rugby Union
- Snooker
- Squash
- Table Tennis
- Tennis
- Volleyball
- Winter Sports
As well as providing markets covering that wide array of different sports, Betfair also make a lot of those markets eligible for in-play betting, cash out or both. A quick and easy way to tell whether a market is going to be eligible for either of those features is by looking out for Betfair’s handy little symbols, which are placed alongside the name of each market on their website. The cash out symbol depicts a yellow square with a slightly darker yellow circle at its centre. The in-play symbol, meanwhile, displays a stop watch image with the top right hand third of it shaded in grey.
In-Play Review of Betfair
Like most major bookmakers, Betfair have a section of their sportsbook website dedicated to in-play betting. Punters who head to that section will find a raft of different events for which the bookie offer in-play betting opportunities. Those events cover a huge variety of different sports and each event benefits from a really user-friendly and well-designed dashboard. To explain what we mean by that, let’s take a closer look at the in-play dashboard for a few popular sports for in-play betting.
Football In-Play
When a Betfair punter selects a football match from the bookmaker’s list of in-play events, they will be taken to that match’s in-play dashboard. Within that dashboard they will find all of the available in-play markets and their odds listed down the right hand side of the page. At the top left of the page, meanwhile, there are a range of handy features and graphics. Those include a live scoreboard showing the match score and time, and a pitch on which live updates from the match are continuously displayed.
Tennis In-Play
Tennis is unquestionably one of the most popular sports for in-play betting and fans of betting live on the action are sure to enjoy Betfair’s in-play dashboard. That dashboard includes all of the available in-play markets alongside a continuously updating live scoreboard to keep punters abreast of the situation of the game. What’s more, for those matches where a live stream is available, it is displayed beneath that live scoreboard as part and parcel of the dashboard.
Horse Racing In-Play
Naturally, via their betting exchange, Betfair offer in running betting on horse racing. The interface is always the trading screen with prices moving quickly as races unfold.
They also provide live streams for all UK and Irish horse races if a punters has bet at least £1 on the race. Streams are displayed on the same screen as the live odds so you can get a feel for what’s going on and how the market is moving. Do be aware though that the stream is often two or three seconds behind the market due to the broadcasting delay.
Visit Betfair & look for the play button icon to see all events which are available to view live.
Live Streaming
As we’ve already touched upon in a number of places, Betfair offer one of the most comprehensive live streaming services of any major online bookmaker. Unlike some betting sites which only stream one or two different sports, Betfair offer live action from all of the following:
- Horse Racing
- Greyhound Racing
- Football
- Tennis
- Cricket
- Basketball
- Volleyball
- Snooker
- Darts
- Ice Hockey
- Rugby League
- Bowls
- Handball
How to Access Streams
Exactly how to access the many live streams provided by Betfair differs according to which sport it is you want to watch.
Horse & Greyhound Racing Streams
Live streams of UK and Irish horse and greyhound races hosted by Betfair are available to view for all punters who have placed a bet worth at least £1 on the race they wish to watch. The streams appear at the top of the race’s page on the Betfair website and can also be viewed within the ‘cash out’ area of the site.
Other Sports Streams
Streams of sports other than horse racing or greyhound racing are available to all Betfair punters with a funded sportsbook account, subject to any particular geographical restrictions placed upon the broadcasting of the event itself. Available streams are embedded within the main in-play dashboard of the events for which live streaming is available.
Visit Betfair.com and look for the play icon to see what’s showing now.
Geo restrictions apply, bet & watch.
Deposit & Withdrawal Options
| Method | Min Deposit | Withdraw | Min Withdraw |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mastercard | £5 | Yes | £1 |
| Visa | £5 | Yes | £1 |
| Maestro | £5 | Yes | £1 |
| Visa Electron | £5 | Yes | £1 |
| Switch | £5 | Yes | £1 |
| Solo | £5 | Yes | £1 |
| PayPal | £5 | Yes | £5 |
| Skrill | £10 | Yes | £10 |
| Neteller | £12 | Yes | £12 |
| PaySafeCard | £5 | No | N/A |
| Bank Transfer | £10 | Yes | £10 |
Betfair History
2000
In June in the year 2000, Betfair was founded by Andrew Black and Edward Wray.
2006
In April 2006, the SoftBank Group purchased 23% of Betfair, valuing the company at £1.5 billion. In December, Betfair purchased horse racing publishing company Timeform.
2007
Betfair launched their Betfair Radio Service, which ultimately became Timeform Radio and continues to broadcast horse races and results.
2012
Betfair launched their sportsbook in order to more directly compete with fixed odds bookmakers, having previously only operated their betting exchange.
2016
Paddy Power and Betfair agree to a merger, which is structured as a takeover of Betfair by the Irish company. The resulting entity, named Paddy Power Betfair, came into being on February 2nd.
Bad Reviews & Complaints
Betfair are a massive online betting company with a huge number of customers from all over the world. As such, there is no shortage of customer reviews available to read through channels such as Trust Pilot, the App Store and the Play Store.
Overall, Betfair rates reasonably well on such sites by there are of course some bad reviews and customer complaints. We’ve taken a closer look at these to see which gripes can be largely disregarded and whether there are any genuine and recurring issues.
Questionable Complaints
A number of complaints from Betfair customers regard their displeasure at having to verify their identities in order to withdraw funds. Whilst the process can obviously take some time and effort, it is a legal requirement for bookmakers to verify that no underage punters are using their sites and that no other criminal activity is taking place.
Where such complaints do possibly have grounds, however, are if they report Betfair dealing with genuine attempts from punters to verify their IDs in a less than helpful manner. Unfortunately, there are enough of these such reviews to suggest that there may sometimes be a genuine issue with Betfair’s verification process.
Reasonable Concerns
Speaking of genuine issues, there are also a handful of criticisms levelled at Betfair which recur enough in negative reviews to give punters cause for concern.
A number of reviews of Betfair’s mobile apps, for instance, mention regular glitches and failures which Betfair also recognise in their replies to the reviews. A number of customer complaints, too, regard the comparatively short odds and few promotions which Betfair offer in comparison to some other bookmakers. Those, however, are relatively minor issues in the grand scheme of things.
Betfair Review – Our Rating
- Great Range of Markets. Betfair cover pretty much every sport under the sun and have loads of in-play and pre-event markets.
- Comprehensive Live Streaming. Live video of a huge range of different sports is available to watch by almost all Betfair customers.
- Good Welcome Promotion. Bet £10 get £30 new customer offer is easy to understand and is subject to very few restrictions and limitations.
- Outstanding In-Play. Betfair offer one of the widest selections of in-play markets and have great in-play dashboards for all sports.
- Great Virtual Sports. Betting opportunities are provided for virtual sports as diverse and varied as cycling, football, horse racing and many more.
- Fewer Ongoing Promotions. Betfair run a reasonable selection of ongoing promotions but certainly not as many as some major competitors.
- Unreliable Apps. A number of Betfair customers complain that downloaded mobile apps are prone to crashes and to freezing.
After branching out from their betting exchange to also offer a sportsbook, Betfair have grown to become one of the most popular betting sites around. That popularity is for good reason, too, as the bookmaker offer a great range of markets, an excellent in-play betting service and one of the best live streaming offerings of any major bookmaker. Virtual sports are also well catered for and whilst the company run slightly fewer promotions than some competitors, those they do run are interesting and potentially beneficial. Star Rating 4.5 out of 5.0.
T&C's apply, 18+ new customers only.
