Overview
Betfair is one of the world’s largest online betting sites. It is headquartered in the UK but works under a Gibraltar license. It has over 4 million
customers and excels in the area of exchange betting. Instead of betting your money on a result against the bookkeeper, instead, you bet against other bettors.
They do offer traditional sports book betting, but it seems that the majority of their business comes from the use of their exchange betting. Exchange betting offers choices to ‘back’ a team as you would in regular terms, or ‘lay’ if you think a selection won’t win. If you’re a little unfamiliar the intricacies of exchange betting, there are guides available on Betfair’s website which are perfect for novice bettors. While it is not surprising that a company specialising in exchange betting would offer a guide, it is still nice that they have it out there for their users.
Betting Bonuses
Betfair offers an incredibly enticing sign up feature for their sports betting. There are very few requirements, one of which is that the minimum odds must be 1/5. Meet that requirement, and you will be given £30 worth of free bets when you bet your first £10 upon sign-up and when you use the code ZSK200.
These bets come in three batches of £10, though you can only use them on singles. It also features an affiliates program. Should you manage to entice friends into signing up for the same offer, you can earn an additional £/€25 free bet with the ‘Refer and Earn’ reward scheme.
Betfair also seems to have a lot of random sign up offers come up on a pretty regular basis. They are worth following on Twitter to hear about promotions and specials deals.
They do not seem to have a loyalty program, but the generous sign-up bonus along with the affiliate program may be enough for certain users.
Advantages
Betfair excels in the sports betting department. They offer the often untapped market of exchange betting as well as traditional sports book betting which is perfect for folks who want to focus on that market.
The website is sleek, although not the best site available. The colour scheme is a bit disconcerting as yellow and black seem to be the colours of choice, but the website also has blue sections. The layout allows easy navigation. There are a casino, slot machines and an arcade for you to sink your teeth into, but the variety isn’t there as Betfair focuses on sports betting. If variety is your aim, Betfair may not be the site for you.
In the contact department, Betfair seems to fair alright. They offer a pretty extensive contact us page with several different options to answer your queries, seven days a week telephone support from 7:30 am to 12:30 am as well as live chat and email. They even, oddly enough, offer their address if you want to write to them which is almost unheard of with online websites.