Betfair Review

Founded in 2000 by Andrew Black and Edward Wray, Betfair quickly established itself on the sports betting scene in the UK. At the time, Exchange betting was a pioneering product, allowing punters to both back and lay selections and choose their own odds. 

Betfair grew rapidly and soon established itself as the world’s largest sports betting exchange. In May 2012, the Betfair sportsbook was launched as a direct competitor to traditional bookmakers. A few years later, Betfair merged with the Irish bookmaking giant Paddy Power. Given as Paddy Power at the time was the slightly bigger company, the deal was structured as a takeover. The new name for this betting and gambling behemoth is Paddy Power Betfair.

You can sign up using our exclusive Betfair bonus code. Place 5 x £10 Sportsbook bets (Min odds of 2.0 (Evs) and get money back as cash if any lose.

Betfair sportsbook is a delight for horse racing punters. Bettors can place bets on all UK and Ireland meetings, in addition to cards from other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France and the USA. There are even markets for races from South Korea, India, Chile and Mauritius. That is how comprehensive it is. 

The betting markets you'll find here are rather standard. You have win and each-way with best odds guaranteed on all UK races plus tote betting pools for the UK, USA and South Africa. The form guides are not as complete as several other bookmakers’ provide. Stats on the runners can be viewed by moving your mouse over its name. There is also Time Form with a 1-2-3 prediction and a brief comment as to the reasoning behind the prediction. 

With another 29 sports, the action is non-stop at Betfair sportsbook. Football is naturally the biggest sports betting markets. Betfair also comprehensively covers other major European sports like tennis, golf, boxing and much much more.

Baseball coverage is courtesy of the MLB, Japan and South Korea. 15 different basketball leagues are covered, rugby has multiple cups, leagues and matches. Basically, as a sports bettor, everything you want can be found at Betfair. It also keeps a decent amount of market depth throughout all of these sports. Some matches deliver more than others, but on average, Betfair sportsbook is one of the pack leaders when it comes to choice of markets.

You get good value for money too, as Betfair’s odds are certainly competitive. You also have the option to check out the prices on the exchange. If you can get a bit more value, then it’s a win-win. However, if you want to build accumulator bets you cannot mix selections from both sides.

Football, rugby, cricket, golf, tennis and esports are just a few of the sports you can bet on in-play at Betfair sportsbook. Just like the pre-match markets, you’ll find above average market depth across the board in their in-place section. A standard football match, for instance Veracruz V Necaxa from the Mexican Liga MX has over 100 betting opportunities, and recently Betfair has introduced Same Game Multi which is available on all football matches - both pre-match and in-play.

Betfair's live betting interface is clean and tidy. It uses a simple layout, making it is easy to use on desktops and mobile devices. There is a cool match visualisation viewer complete with an array of stats. Betfair also offers 1,000s of live events you can watch direct on its platform, too.

Not much has changed down the years in terms of the website design, but the Betfair website still works perfectly well. Despite there being a lot crammed into this platform (sportsbook, exchange, poker, casino, etc), navigation is surprisingly easy. The main header menu lists all of the different products and then each one of those has its own sub-menu. There are also featured matches and quick links to special events and popular leagues.

The pre-match betting interface uses a drop-down menu so you can pick your favourite and get an overview of the odds for all the listed fixtures. This saves you having to go in and out of pages to compare prices. Placing a bet on any device is quick and easy. You get offered Acca Edge automatically when you add your third selection to an accumulator bet.

Betfair has always been known for innovation with its products, so expect nothing less than a feature-rich, promotion-packed betting site. This is a taste of what it has to offer:

Without question, the biggest and best feature of the Betfair sportsbook is that you also have access to the Betfair Exchange. One account. One wallet. Two stunning betting products.

This automatically gives you an edge because you can compare prices on both sides. Quite often you get superior odds on the exchange; however, that comes with a caveat, as you need to pay commission on winning Exchange wagers. Nevertheless, the prices are still favourable (most of the time). Several other benefits can be sought from both products working in tandem. These make Betfair an all-round very good proposition to consider.

Betfair invented Cash Out for its sports betting exchange, and its popularity rapidly blossomed. Now, nearly all online bookmakers offer this amazing feature.

For those who are unfamiliar, here's a quick guide. Cash Out means you can guarantee a profit or cut a losing bet before the final result. Essentially, it’s up to you when to call it a day. Betfair provides both full and partial Cash Out on a range of sports including football, horse racing and tennis.

The world’s biggest sports jackpots are found at Betfair courtesy of Colossus Bets. There are a variety of different competitions you can enter ranging from Pick 10 BTTS football matches to Pick 7 NFL Points Margins or Pick 6 Winners from selected horse race meetings. 

You can either play individually, or join a syndicate and play as part of a team. This method reduces your stake but you only get a percentage of the winnings as well. The main jackpot is The Colossus and that pays out a massive £/€5,000,000.

This is a new feature available at Betfair and perfect for bettors who like placing accumulators. Essentially, Cash Out is an insurance tool in case one of your selections lets you down so you get your stake back. When you build an accumulator (known as an ‘acca’), from the third selection and above, you will be offered Acca Edge. This calculates a new set of odds that would be applied if you accept the ‘Edge’. 

For example: three selections on your bet slip total a 10/1 treble. The Acca Edge will appear with a new price such as 8/1 with the ‘Edge’. The choice is yours which you want. Taking the Edge means less winnings but a little security. 

If you like to place your horse racing bets while you're out and about, the Betfair sportsbook app is right for you. It’s loaded with all of the same amazing features that you get on the desktop. These include: Same Game Multi, Acca Edge, Each-way Edge, Cash Out and over 100,000 live events streamed every year.

There are a few other things which make having the Betfair app worthwhile. Customised live match alerts help keep you in the know at all times. A simple bet tracker function and the app offers 2-tap betting on racing markets. The sportsbook app is available for iOS and Android devices. It has a 4.6 out of 5 rating in the App store, which is a measure of its quality.

Betfair offers customers a decent range of payment methods. They include:

Withdrawal processing is done within 24 hours, so you will get your money on the same day if using an e-wallet.

If you run into any problems and need to speak with Betfair customer service, these are the options open to you. There’s also a comprehensive FAQ which deals with most queries, too.

Live chat: available to registered users

Email: contact form in help centre

Telephone: UK - 0344-871-0000. Ireland - 1800-944-000. Rest of World - 0044 203-059-8888  (7.30am to 12.30am)

Social Media: you can use Twitter - @BetfairCS or message them on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Betfair/