Sportingbet have quickly grown into one of the world’s biggest online bookmakers, having been founded in 1998 and launching the sportsbook website in October of that year. They have been listed as a plc on the Alternative Investment Market (AiM) of the London Stock Exchange since 2001. The company have acquired several smaller betting companies along the way, the most notable being SportingOdds.com in June 2002, which was integrated into the SportingBet brand years later.
They are currently licensed in Antigua and Barbuda, with their betting site particularly popular in Spain, Germany and Turkey where they have localised brands available.
The Sportingbet website is very pleasing on the eye, adopting a nice blue and white colour scheme to good effect. The latest events being covered In-Play are slap bang in the middle of the homepage and you can scroll through several pages of live events and what is about to be covered In-Play by this firm. Indeed, this is the really impressive part of the site and the live console is wonderfully dynamic, with the match score and latest incidents neatly chronicled along with the odds updating in real time.
Elsewhere on the homepage is a rotating graphic which highlights the other big upcoming events, while it’s also nice to see a free bet offer displayed in a clear fashion rather than tucked away. It’s also good that Sportingbet use both the right-hand and left-hand menu on the homepage to promote sportsbook promotions rather than try to cross-sell their other products to customers. There are also a long list of thumbnails all the way down the middle of the page so you can find plenty of choice!
Sportingbet’s prices should be applauded as you’ll regularly find that they provide the best price about a number of football teams, horses or players. What’s refreshing is that they seemingly offer competitive prices on virtually every sport, not just the North American sports or the UK-focused markets. The In-Play prices are marginally less generous than the prices you will find In-Play, although they are still better than most live prices you will find with other bookmakers.
As you’d expect from a global bookmaker offering their website in nineteen different languages, they have excellent coverage when it comes to sports and markets offered. As well as the likes of soccer, racing and NFL, you’ll also get a specialised service for the likes of volleyball, handball and all the European ice hockey leagues. It’s hard to think of a soccer league that isn’t covered by Sportingbet and you can choose between nearly 100 pre-match markets for the big games.
Sportingbet are predictably 24/7 when it comes to customer service and they run a tight ship as far as resolving customer queries are concerned. There is live chat available in addition to phone and email support, with staff quick to respond to you contacting them on any of these fronts.
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Although Sportingbet are one of the biggest online bookmakers in the world, there is certainly room for improvement as far as their website and undermanned customer service is concerned. However, the reason for their growth is their ability to provide a first-class betting service (in terms of market coverage and competitive odds) to customers in a range of languages. They also have possibly the most generous open account offer in the business.