Sportingbet is a licensed bookmaker with offices in Darwin and Sydney, Australia. The Australian service was created by the UK-based Sportingbet Group in 2003, which has been operating since 1998. Centrebet was acquired by the Sportingbet Group in 2011, followed by Sportingbet and Centrebet sharing markets and odds but distinct bonuses.
Sportingbet is one of the most recognized brands in Australian bookmaking, thanks to its television advertising and event sponsorships. In March 2014, it introduced Shane Warne as its newest ambassador.
The following is a detailed analysis of the betting firm Sportingbet. This article covers the history, characteristics, user interface, sports and racing markets, as well as pros and drawbacks of the service. Please keep in mind that this assessment is only applicable to the Australian site of Sportingbet; it does not apply to the European service.
This review is part of our comprehensive Bookmaker Reviews section. The Betting Agencies page has information and reviews on other sports betting companies suitable for Australians. These details are updated on a regular basis to keep them current.
Sportingbet Welcome Package
Sportingbet recognizes the competitive aspect of online gambling, which is why they provide a fantastic welcome package to new customers. There are a variety of welcome bonus programs, although some have rollover conditions that may be as high as 6x.
Sportingbet Welcome Bonus
You may make a first deposit of R5,000 or more and earn a 200% match up to R2000. The bonus is accessible immediately after your initial deposit is made. Only new players are eligible for the welcome bonus.
How to claim Sportingbet Welcome Bonus
- To obtain the Sportingbet Welcome Bonus, follow these simple procedures.
- Open a new account at Sportingbet by going to the Sign Up tab at the top of the page and following the on-screen instructions.
- In order to take part in this promotion, the new player must make a successful first deposit within 30 days of registration.
- A bonus of R200 will be given to the player by Sportingbet, based on his or her initial deposit amount up to R2000.
- Bonuses are immediately available after a successful deposit.
Sportingbet Welcome Bonus Terms and Conditions
- This first deposit bonus of up to £1000 is only available to new customers who have never gambled with Sportingbet before.
- Before being withdrawn, bonus and deposit funds must be wagered three times at odds of 1.5 (1/2) or higher.
- To qualify for the bonus you must make a minimum deposit of R50
- The offer will run for a fixed period only, and players must use their Bonus within 30 days of receiving it.
- Bonuses not used within 30 days will be forfeited
Sportingbet Promotions
Promotions are the one element that sets various bookmakers apart. Promotions allow gamblers to enhance their earnings by meeting certain wagering and bonus requirements.
There are several different promotional offers accessible through Sportsbet, including their flagship welcome bonus offer, which is a risk-free first bet up to R2000 that may be lost and returned as a free bet if it loses.
Other than welcome bonuses, Sportingbet offers a number of other discounts, including Cashback for a loss by 1 leg in a multi-selection bet, build a bet on accumulators, money back on losing tennis accumulators, the EPL predictor, and others.
How to Register at Sportingbet?
Sportingbet’s registration is straightforward and need-to-know; it’s also necessary if you want to use its betting services.
- Using your web browser, visit the Sportingbet website.
- To access the Sportingbet site, go to the homepage and click the register button.
- Choose a memorable password and confirm your email address. Select your country, currency, and login method.
- After you click “Create Account,” enter your personal information in the boxes provided when prompted.
- You may then proceed to deposit your money using one of the provided payment options.
- Alternatively, you may go to the cashier on your next visit and skip your account’s funding by clicking the Sportingbet login.
Betting Interface and Website Layout
Overall, we appreciate the interface’s succinct display of odds, easy navigation, and betting slip feature.
Since we initially evaluated it, the Sportingbet interface has had several makeovers. The most recent overhaul was completed in March 2014, and it’s resulted in a clearer, simpler design with more prominent odds than previous versions.
By organizing the list of sports according to popularity, rather than alphabetically, Sportsbet has followed the lead of Luxbet and its parent company William Hill by utilizing a horizontal menu. When you click on the ‘All Sports’ link, you see all of them. The various sports are arranged in order from most popular to least popular, which is perplexing at first but we appreciate that the organized sports are listed from left to right as opposed to top down as with Luxbet.
On the left side, instead of a list of sports, there are a few tiny fast links to other pages. The subcategories have been moved down below the sports navigation panel, and a succinct listing of odds is presented below. When you click on a sport, all available odds for that event are shown alongside a list of other fixtures for the corresponding round.
The betting slip is not automatically shown when you choose a bet, as it was in previous versions. Instead, when you make a betting selection, a yellow number appears over the Bet slip link to show how many items are in your slip. After you click on the Bet Slip link, the betting slip is shown above the odds rather than next to them. To add more bets, you must again close the betting slip; however, this method allows for additional space for market and odds display.
The betting slip is extremely useful since it allows you to combine single and multi bets. A toggle symbol next to each separate selection allows you to pick which items should be included in the multistake, with a comprehensive range of exotic multistake options such as Trixie, Patent, and Yankee provided. As you enter stake amounts, the total amount wagered as well as expected returns are instantly shown.
Sportingbet Features
In an era of increasing competition among bookmakers, the most distinguishing feature may be characteristics that give a competitive advantage over others. The following are some of the more endearing features from this bookie:
- The build a bet feature – The principle of this is to pick a number of markets in order to generate one bet with significantly higher odds. For example, this might include betting on a team to win, a certain player to score, the number of cards that will be drawn. etc. This feature appeals to us and presents players with many significant opportunities for profit.
- Cashout feature – With many major international bookies adding it, and a few local bookies offering it, Payout has quickly grown in popularity. This feature from Sportingbet allows punters to pay out their bets before the end of a match or a leg of a multi- bet ticket. All markets with this function are clearly marked ahead of time, and it is only accessible for those pre-specified matches.
Sportingbet Live Roulette
One of the more interesting Sportingbet features is live roulette, which makes them one of only a few bookmakers licensed to provide casino games in South Africa. This entails playing a variety of roulette variants broadcast from a number of casinos across the world.
To play live roulette from both casinos, go to the “live games” section on each casino’s home page. The players are then taken to the live games area, where they may pick their favorite roulette game from five options. The following are some of the various types of roulette available for play:
- Dragonara Roulette – This is a live stream from the land-based Dragonara Casino in Malta, which is based on a European variant of roulette. The wheel has numerals ranging from 0 to 36, and the rules are similar to those found across Europe. Stakes vary depending on where you bet, starting at R5 and going up to R20, 000. Players can wager anything from R5 to R20,000 on this game, with or without accurate forecastting of the ball’s landing position. Chips are available in denominations of 1, 5, 25, 100, 500 and 1000 but only amounts less than the account balance may be wagered.
- Resorts Atlantic City Roulette– Roulette de Casino is a game of chance in which players bet on the color of a spinning wheel. The house advantage is higher than in classic roulette since this version was developed by Americans. It has wheel numbers ranging from 0 to 36, as well as a double zero. What this means is that, like with any other American variant of roulette, the house edge is greater. Depending on the type of bets chosen, players may wager between R15 and R20,000; this compares to the old minimum bet of R10. The pay-out odds and maximum allowable bets are shown in the table below. A racetrack for adjacent bets only is available because no specific bets are offered.
- Grand Casino Roulette – The Casino Royale Roulette variant is yet another European style game with the numbers 0 to 36. The game has comparable stake alternatives (R5-R20,000) as other European casino variants available on Sportingbet/World Sports betting sites. A racetrack for making fast special bets is accessible.
- Casino Malta Roulette – Again, this is a roulette variant that originated in Europe. Because it’s a European roulette variation, the odds and regulations are comparable to those of other similar variants. The sole significant difference between this version of roulette and the one described previously is that the minimum bet must be R10 instead of R20,000. This version of roulette aims to make life easier by providing a racetrack for fast bets.
- Hippodrome Casino – This European variant has a single zero and is based on a real match from the Hippodrome Casino in London. Depending on the wager selected, stakes ranging from R5 to R20,000 may be wagered. The winning chances are comparable to other single-zero casinos. We also appreciate that there’s a racetrack where extra bets can be placed, as well as the option to save bets, which speeds up the betting process during these live games.
Bookmaker Margin
In our most recent bookmaker margin survey, Sportingbet had a bookmaker margin of 4.8 percent, which was lower than the overall average of 5.1%. The lower the margin, from a punter’s perspective, the better. Note that both Sportingbet and Centrebet have similar odds.
Sports Markets
Sportingbet has a strong range of sports markets and a decent breadth of betting alternatives. Australian sports are its main strength, with popular teams such as the NRL, AFL, and Super Rugby being well represented. International bettors will like the comprehensive coverage of international sports offered by this site. At the time of writing, betting on domestic Italian, German, French, and Spanish basketball games was accessible. The Olympics, major international sports competitions such as the National Football League and National Hockey League, cycling, golf, motor racing, surfing, and tennis are all well catered to. Because football (soccer) is so popular among bookmakers across the world, it is also heavily bet on. Entertainment and political betting are available as well. The betting competition meets the needs of the vast majority of Australian gamblers.
Horse Racing
Sportingbet has a strong racing lineup that includes horse, harness, and greyhound races across Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Hong Kong and France’s certain races are also covered. Win/Place, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta (Multi), First 4 (Super Exotic), multi-event betting is available. Horse races have fixed odds as well as best fluc odds; harness events feature tote betting; greyhound matches offer tote betting.
The race betting interface is fantastic. The stock basic first racing card is available, but when you pick a race, the short list of future races to the left of the odds changes to a more detailed one. This allows you to view multiple races at once by switching this option on. As new races are chosen, the markets for them are stacked on top of each other. This makes searching for different options very quick and easy.
The odds changes for each runner and the track conditions for each race are displayed. A “Sullo says” box, which provides trader comments on most horse races, is a new innovative feature of the racing service.
Sportingbet Odds
You couldn’t have become as reputable and popular as Sportingbet without providing outstanding sporting odds. The site provides excellent prices that regularly outperform the competition, particularly for well-known markets such as football. On average, the site takes a 5% margin on sports bets, implying a standard 95 percent RTP rate.
In the table below, we’ve compiled a summary of the most important Sportingbet odds. There aren’t any major differences in the lowest and highest odds for the most popular sports, although there does appear to be a greater variance in markets with less liquidity.
The live betting odds at Sportingbet are just as competitive as the regular odds, and we’ve discovered that this site can be one of the most liberal bookies for live betting on both tennis and football. It’s worth noting, however, that odds may fluctuate; especially live odds — so don’t spend too much time if you want to get a good bargain.
Sportingbet In-Play Betting
Sportingbet provides live in-play betting on a variety of sports, such as soccer, tennis, and rugby. Each event has a wealth of markets and the option to check which ones are currently being streamed online.
You may also choose your favorite events to track with just the click of a button, ensuring that you can stay up to date on all the action. Unlike other South African gambling site owners, Sportingbet does not employ complex graphics, allowing the site to execute rapidly.
Sportingbet Live Streaming
Sportingbet has been adding live streaming content to its portfolio on a regular basis. To witness the action live, wager on certain sports such as football, tennis, baseball and badminton. Streaming is accessible on both desktop and mobile devices.
Live Sports Betting
Australian consumers are not able to bet live online due to Interactive Gambling Act 3. Customers in Australia must call in to place a sports wager. If you want to gamble live online, be sure to read our list of bookmakers who provide live online betting.
Upsides
- Excellent sports and race betting interface with concise display of odds
- Low minimum deposit for most methods
- Good range of deposit options, notably including Paypal and POLi 4.
- Very low turnover requirements
- Strong betting selection, particularly for Australian sports
- Frequent betting promotions on popular events
- $0.01 minimum bet
Downsides
- Live online betting is not available to Australian residents (due to Australian law)
- Basic help section (although a live help feature is available)
- Withdrawal amounts can only be in $1.00 increments.
- Have been known to suspend or limit the accounts of successful punters
- Sign up bonus not as generous as some competitors
Sportingbet Customer Support
The primary reason for my complaint is because I was unable to receive a response from their customer support. This also applies if you phone them up yourself. They have the largest sportsbook, according on Sportingbet, but they’ve let themselves down when it comes to customer service. Their telephonic support is abysmal with long delays and terrible sound quality on their lines. Use their FAQ instead; it’s fantastic and will address the majority of your queries. They do offer a live chat option as well.
Bottom Line
Sportingbet is a fantastic betting service, and it’s one of Australia’s biggest legally permitted bookmakers. The new design is top-of-the-line, and the website provides a nice variety of deposit methods to go with a decent number of betting opportunities. Despite being foreign owned, the business tries to cater largely to Australians. The Australian sporting competitions are well catered for, and only Australian dollar accounts are offered. Sportingbet offers something for everyone. Beginners will like the frequent betting discounts, while enthusiasts will enjoy the numerous options and interface.