bet365 Sports

bet365 Sports Review

I have been gambling online for over twenty years. I placed my first bets over the phone and I’m pretty sure that I received my winnings via a cheque at one point. Since that time, I have used hundreds of sites, placed thousands of bets, and had my fair share of disappointing experiences.

Today, I use about 5 sportsbooks on a regular basis. Of all those, bet365 is number 1. That makes me a little biased going into this review, but I don’t have shares in the company, I don’t know anyone who works there, and I have absolutely no personal connection. I can’t hide my experiences, but I can be honest about them, and that’s what I’ll do in this bet365 sportsbook review.

Welcome Bonuses

bet365 offers £30 in free bets for new players who deposit £10 or more.

It’s actually a 300% matched deposit offer and as the site accepts deposits of just £5, you can also deposit £5 and get £15. You must wager the money that you deposit, after which the funds will hit your account. There is a maximum bonus payout of £30.

All qualifying bets must settle within 30 days.

Loyalty Offers

bet365 runs occasional offers from time to time. To be honest, I don’t pay much attention to these, but if you like accumulator refunds and the occasional free bet on live games, they’re worth looking out for.

What I like about bet365 is that every now and then I will receive a free bet without really doing anything. I get a message pop-up telling me there’s an offer to collect, and after visiting the “My Offers” section, I can unlock it.

The offer is nearly always a £10 free bet token, but it’s one that can often be broken into multiple smaller bets and it doesn’t have any wagering requirements.

Software and Betting Options

The bet365 site is the busiest you will encounter. There is more going on here than on any other sportsbook I have seen. It has more sports and more betting markets, and it also includes features like Bet Builder, which lets you create an in-game multiplier.

More importantly, it has the best streams. You need to have money in your account to use these streams, so I always keep a couple of quid there to watch snooker matches, MLS games, La Liga games, and NBA games. It also has good coverage of tennis, boxing, and countless other sports.

Despite being so busy, it’s very neatly organised and this ensures that the experience is not confusing or overwhelming. The site is also dynamic and adapts to any window size. This means that it works across most tablets and smartphones, but it also means that it doesn’t fall apart as soon as you try to adjust the window size on desktop.

I do this all of the time and I also use dual windows so I can work while betting/reviewing/watching streams. bet365 is one of the best sites for this.

Customer Support and Personal Experience

Customer support on bet365 is both exceptional and disappointing.

Firstly, the support itself isn’t very fast. In my experience, live chat is usually very slow and as I don’t want to sit around waiting for replies and solutions, I often resort to emailing them and then getting back to my day.

Most casinos reply to emails within a few hours, even if they are sent on the weekend. This has never happened with bet365. I don’t get a response on the weekend and even during the week it can take a day or two.

It’s not a massive issue, but it means that if I ever have an issue with the sportsbooks I frequent, bet365 is usually the slowest to resolve it. If that issue needs a fast solution, I’d much rather it be on any other site than bet365.

However, there is a big caveat here, and it concerns something that bet365 do better than anyone else.

I gamble a lot. As I write this, I’m actually losing a bet on a live Premier League game. As a result, I’ve had a lot of issues with sportsbooks and most of these revolve around incorrectly settled bets.

Sometimes, those bets lead to endless arguments. In one instance on a site that shall not be named, it took me several weeks of arguing before they agreed that they had made a mistake. In another, on a popular UK betting site, it has happened about 4 times and while all of the bets were eventually corrected, it can take several days.

With bet365, I have never had a winning bet settle as a loss, but I have had losing bets settle as a win. It has happened three times. On all occasions, I continued betting until I had either lost or withdrawn, not realising that £50 or so of that money wasn’t actually mine.

The following day, the bet was reversed and my account showed a negative sum.

This has happened on a few other sites, and they have kept that negative sum, noting that when I deposit, they will instantly take that deposit from me.

With bet365, the balance was reset and I was sent an email highlighting the mistake and letting me know that they cleared it as a goodwill gesture.

They didn’t have to do that, and in my experience, no other site has done it. For that reason, I feel safer gambling here than I do at any other site.

It should be noted that I have probably gambled thousands of pounds at bet365 over the 10+ years I have been a member, so I don’t know if loyalty played a role, but the same could be said for many of the sites that refused to do this.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Withdrawals are very fast at bet365. I have always used a debit card here and while withdrawals used to take 3 to 5 days, they are now processed in a day.

bet365 also accepts PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Paysafecard, Click to Pay, and bank transfer.

Verdict:bet365 Review

I love bet365. It has the biggest selection of markets, the best bets, and by far the best streams. The Bet Builder is great, the cash outs are unmatched, and while the customer support can be a little slow, it’s also leagues above other providers when it comes to those kind little gestures.

The fact that I have been a member for more than 10 years and have rarely had a bad experience is a testament to the quality of this site. 

Here’s hoping I didn’t just jinx myself