Sportingbet Review

Sportingbet specialises in offering a locally-focused online betting experience to customers with an emphasis on providing better value. In addition to operating a bookmaker service, Sportingbet has now included virtual sports betting, an online casino and live casino to its platform to give UK customers more choice.

Since it's creation in 1997, this brand has steadily expanded its brand out to other countries including South Africa, Australia and Spain. Since 2012, Sportingbet has been owned by GVC Holdings. It has a solid reputation among existing punters which is a good indication that it’s doing things right.

Sportingbet likes to play by the rules. All of its operations hold the correct licences for their jurisdictions with the UK-facing platform being licenced and regulated by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission. This guarantees a safe and fair online betting experience for all users.

Sportingbet focuses on the betting preferences of punters from each country that it operates in, which means the UK betting platform has a superb horse racing section. It covers all UK and Ireland races, plus several from other countries as well including the USA, Australia, New Zealand, France and South Africa.

The runners of each race have an expandable form guide and Time Form provides both a race winner tip and a 1-2-3 prediction. You have a standard set of betting markets, including win, each way, forecast and tricast, but sadly there’s no tote betting offered. 

Sportingbet is one of the most comprehensive online bookmakers when it comes to football betting. It offers more than 170 leagues from 50+ countries, as well as club tournaments such as the Champions League, Europa League and the AFC Champions Cup. There’s also a rich selection of international football markets from all over the world, too. 

If racing or football is not your thing, Sportingbet has stacks of other sports and markets worthy of your attention. Tennis betting is available on WTA, ITF, ATP and challenger events. There are also future markets for the Fed Cup, Davis Cup and next season’s Grand Slams. Basketball comes from more than 20 countries such as the USA, Spain, Greece, Germany, Australia and Lithuania. However, we found a varied range of market depth with many European games offering more betting options than fixtures from the NBA. 

Other sports that deserve a mention are ice hockey, volleyball, handball and rugby. Each has multiple leagues from numerous countries providing hundreds of fixtures and thousands of betting opportunities. Darts, snooker and cricket are also well supported at Sportingbet UK. Looking at the prices in comparison to two other known brands in the industry and Sportingbet didn’t set the world on fire. It lags behind either one or both of its competitors in the small sample we checked.

If live betting is your thing, then Sportingbet caters to your desires. It offers a plethora of in-play action ranging from football, tennis, cricket and rugby to basketball, NFL, ice hockey, table tennis and handball.

The number of markets varies depending on the sport and the magnitude of the event but on the whole is it pretty decent. For example, whilst researching this Sportingbet review there were football matches with 75 markets, tennis games with 40 and basketball and ice hockey events with 35. There’s also a healthy live streaming calendar with a host of events every day, highlighting in NBA basketball and top European football action among others.

Sportingbet delivers a polished platform that has seen several upgrades in its life. Today, it is among the most stylish, cutting-edge, user-friendly pieces of kit on the market. On both desktops and mobiles, its simple, clutter-free layout makes navigating your way through the various sections quick and easy. 

It has menus offering quick links to the top featured action plus a full index of all the sports and stats sections. The betslip is split into singles, multis and system bets, so you just have to click (or tap) the bet type you want, insert your stake and confirm the bet. The site is protected by state-of-the-art firewalls and it has SSL data encryption to provide a safe environment for all users

Over the years, Sportingbet has refined its platform and it continuously adds new tools and features for customers to enjoy. A few of the highlights are:

Several other leading online bookies offer this feature which is a sign of its popularity among punters. Build A Bet allows you to create an accumulator bet with markets from a single football match. For instance, you might want to bet on Man City to beat Man Utd but Lukaku to score the first goal. At half time the scores will be level, Sergio Aguero will score the last goal and there will be over 11.5 corners and under 4.5 bookings. Now, with Build A Bet, you can create your dream accumulator and win big within 90 minutes.

It goes without saying that Sportingbet offers cash out. This is a great tool as it allows punters to take control of their bets. You can hit cash out and take an early profit or cut and run on a bad choice. It is available across a range of sports for both single or accumulator bets.

Sportingbet provides livescore, statistics and results which are a set of tools developed by Sportsradar - a company that specialises in analytical sports data. You can use the statistics tool to sharpen up your knowledge before betting. The livescore information can be put to good use if you’re searching out some in-play betting opportunities and the results section is for checking how your previous bets got on. 

Sportingbet serves up a complete selection of virtual sports which includes football, tennis, horse racing, greyhounds, trotting, speedway and cycling. These events run round the clock so there is always something about to start. Each sport has a range of different betting markets just like the real thing. You can try them out for fun in demo mode to give you a taste before jumping in with real money.

It’s always nice to be rewarded for your loyalty and Sportingbet UK doesn’t disappoint with its revamped VIP Elite Clubs, Gold and Platinum. Among the perks are weekly deposit bonuses, exclusive racing and football promotions, dedicated account managers, monthly prize draws and same day bank transfers. Entry is invite only, so stay active with your account and you may receive the call.

Those looking for a more personalised online betting experience can grab the Sportingbet mobile app, which is available for iOS and Android devices. Users can enjoy pre-match and live betting plus a host of live streaming. You can use the cash out tool, Build A Bet and use any Sportingbet free bets you might have. 

The added advantage of the Sportingbet app is that you can customise the toolbar slider by choosing the icons that you want to see. You also get push notifications where you can track the action of your bets. 

There are plenty of banking options, so depositing and withdrawing funds from Sportingbet is totally hassle-free.

All withdrawal requests are reviewed by Sportingbet and this process can take up to three days - which is a touch slow in our opinion. Once your winnings have been released, you’ll receive them within the hour if using an e-wallet but withdrawals to credit cards and bank transfers will take a bit longer.

There is a decent help and FAQ section on the platform which deals with most questions. However, if you cannot find the answer you’re after, you can contact Sportingbet customer service via:

Live chat: can be launched from the ‘contact’ page

Email: built-in email form can also be found in the ‘contact’ section

Telephone: UK Freephone 0800 0280348