Betfair is one of the most famous operators in the world due to the fact that it is completely different from other betting companies. Over the years, BF has become a popular betting exchange while offering the services of a traditional bookmaker. They are part of Paddy Power Betfair plc and began offering their sports books in 1999. After the first successful year, they entered the online markets and quickly reached the top of the betting industry. Their largest player base comes from the UK market, and they also have dedicated players around the world and Tanzania is no exception.
What is sure to excite every bettor, is the huge variety of offered sports and markets. Many alternative bets and events are available, while Betfair has also become the first choice of horse races bettors. There are other important factors that separate Betfair from any run of the mill bookies. Only Beftair will allow you to act as a bookie, as well as take the chance to sell or to trade your bets and do tons of other things.
Sportsbook
Having this unique position in the market was great for Betfair, but that didn’t stop the company from wanting a piece of the house-versus-player sports betting market as well. The Betfair sportsbook engine is robust, showing odds on thousands of sporting events around the world. The company doesn’t just cater to the major professional leagues; you can find odds on almost any professional sport. Have a look at the sports currently featured on the Betfair homepage:
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Football
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Many sports also feature in-game live betting; this is usually most popular for sports like soccer and tennis, where the matches themselves can be long and with only one result, so betting on individual aspects of each game makes them far more intriguing.
If all these real sports aren’t enough for you, there is a whole series of virtual sports that you can bet on as well at Betfair. If you don’t know what these are, virtual sports are essentially video games that play themselves; think of the demo versions of games you have likely seen, but attach a Random Number Generator to them and let them play to a result. These events take much less time to complete (a soccer match can be done in less than 10 minutes), so you can make wagers on them far more often.
eSports Betting: Bet on League of Legends, CS:GO and Dota 2 with Betfair
Betfair are new to the world of eSports having experimented with the growing market on their exchange, with the likes of CS:GO, LoL and Dota 2 among the most popular eSports bets.
Their actions within eSports go back to 2010 when they sponsored the German ESL Pro Series. However, in the UK they have failed to actively market this market, having started to offer eSports bets since October 2015, including the ever-popular in-play betting for LoL and Dota.
As a result of being new to the eSports market, the range of betting options on their sportsbook is fairly limited in comparison to some of the best eSports betting sites, with bets only available on the major events from around the world. Only traditional match betting is generally available, where customers can back the winning team or place a handicap bet. More advanced eSports bets are rarely offered at Betfair, however their easy-to-navigate desktop site make it easy for customers to quickly locate all eSports markets.
Esports odds comparison shows that Betfair’s odds are competitive, if a little disappointing, however price boost specials are often offered for major events. As well as this, Betfair do not offer any live streaming of eSports action, but this could well change should the industry continue to grow at such a rate.
With major events such as the Las Vegas DreamHack, Dota 2 Asia Championships and League of Legends Spring Split available, the chance to quickly add to your balance with a free bet with Betfair is certain to appeal to many.
Casino
The casino over at Betfair is pretty impressive on the whole and features hundreds of cutting-edge games. If anything, the only downside is that there’s perhaps a little too much focus on slots, with certain table games having been covered in a slightly weaker fashion. Still, this is somewhat made up for by the live-dealer table games, the excellent poker room and the increasingly popular virtual sports on offer.
Poker
Betfair’s poker is operated by The Sporting Exchange Ltd. and is part of the iPoker Network. It has a very good reputation and solid player base as a result of its decent software and great promotions. It offers a wide variety of tournaments with buy-ins from just a few pounds to hundreds for the high rollers out there. It runs tournaments every day with some prize pools reaching £200,000. As well as this it runs live satellites to every big live poker event including WSOP, WPT and the EPT. It also has Betfair Live!, which are events touring through European countries. As well as this it runs over 30 free tournaments each week.
Bingo
Betfair offers cutting-edge features, great promotions and it’s topped off with unlimited gameplay. The site is powered by Playtech’s subsidiary, Virtue Fusion so the functions are high level with fast load times and clear graphics. The bingo lobby offers a wide variety of games to get you going. There is a host of 90 ball games and 75 ball games as well as some unique and fun Specials. You can settle back and enjoy Roller Coaster or Dodgems bingo games as well as their most popular game, Cash Cubes. If you fancy something else, then you can go and play some of the slots it has on offer. When it comes to bingo, Betfair certainly holds its own.
In-Play Betting
You have in-play betting available at online betting site Betfair and this is both on the exchange and sportsbook. So you have tremendous options throughout and stacks of value again you are looking at. Just by the nature of the betting exchange, it fits in perfectly with live in play betting. You can track the prices of a selection and this importantly is where a lot of punters will create that green book. If you have a wager on Man City to beat Stoke for example, but Stoke takes an early lead, you could lay Man City with a live bet so if they win or lose you won’t lose out.
This is all based on pricing of course because the value of either outcome has to cover the loss of stake on the other one. You will see prices fluctuating quickly throughout the live in-play betting section and again you can place your own. Everything is presented very clearly, although it may take some getting used to for first-time punters because there is a lot to absorb.
Their in-play betting services are not limited to just football, of course, it covers a much broader spectrum of sports including the likes of Basketball, volleyball, Esports, Badminton and more. We clicked on a football match and got presented with a match view graphic of the game to get a sense of how the game was going and could look at overall match stats as well as getting a text commentary of key points.
All this is of course, alongside the many live in-play options for the game from Both Teams To Score, Half Result Markets and Over/Under. There is also a great selection in the live in-play betting where you have quick bursts of selections of what will happen in the next 1 minute (corner kick, free kick, goal kick, penalty etc for a team), and the same for a 5 minute period. That was an exciting dynamic which we found in a Betfair betting review.
Live Streaming at Betfair
Betfair is one of the only bookies to offer a comprehensive live streaming service to all members, and it can be found by selecting the “Live Video” tab on the “Sports” page.
The range of different events that it shows is absolutely stunning, with international cricket, a huge amount of horse races and football matches from around the globe all regularly found here. All of the upcoming events are listed on the right of the window so that you never miss the one that you are waiting for.
To watch live streams at Betfair one of the follow must apply:
- You have a funded betting account or have bet in the last 24 hours (excluding horse racing).
- You have at least a 50p bookmaker bet on the horse race.
- You have a min of £5 on the horse race on the exchange.
Betfair Mobile App Review
When you are dealing with a bookmaker of Betfair’s reputation, you expect only the best in every regard. We are happy to say that the Betfair Android app delivers on these expectations from design and functionality to the number of available markets and convenient features.
The app layout is very intuitive and easy to use, and you will know exactly where you are and where you need to go at every moment. The Betfair mobile app tries to make things as easy and as simple as possible for the punters. Finding your destination events and placing any bet your heart desires has never been easier.
Furthermore, you can cover your entire account management directly from the app. If you need to deposit money or make a withdrawal, the app allows you to do so. Need to check on the status on your open bets? No problem. Everything is a simple tap or two away.
The Android app’s for Betfair offers a lot of standout features. The bookmaker went a step further with their app, making sure their punters don’t lack anything.
- Acca Edge feature
- Great offers for horse racing
- Excellent in-play solutions
- Cash out option
- Live streaming for various sports
- Bet against other punters
Due to Google Play policy, Betfair is not allowed to make their app available for download there. You can, however, download the Betfair app from their official page or simply by following the link provided on this page.
Betfair Mobile Version
There are many betting exchangers and bookmarkers available and finding one should not be overwhelming. Most bookmarkers find it necessary to develop a mobile version to match their PC site which is a growing trend among diverse sectors and businesses.
The Betfair mobile site is fully optimised to access their official pages and provide a seamless betting experience that is similar but more convenient than PC browsing. Betfair mobile portal is easy to use and allows betting in all markets registered with the bookmarker. Its interface is, and the transaction features are secured to prevent hackers and frauds from gaining unauthorised access.
It merely is practical and convenient. Besides, both Android, iOS and Windows users have no problem accessing this version thru any browser. The mobile site is particularly configured for these platforms.
HOW TO SIGN UP
- Visit the Betfair website where you will see a “Join Now” button in the top right corner
- Sometimes a new landing page will appear, so you may have to click the button a second time
- Fill in your personal details, your security and select your account currency
- The registration page will ask you for any Betfair promo code
- Agree to the terms to and conditions
- When registration is complete you will be directed to a screen where it asks for your preferred deposit method. You can do that right there or later through account management.
- Make your initial deposit.
Betfair payment options – deposit and withdrawal methods
You have the usual array of banking options for funding on your account and across a variety of currencies as well. You can use a regular Bank Transfer, e-wallets and cards to get funds into your account and you get a full list of transaction history in your account. The regular means of getting your money out of your Betfair account is available to you. Always check for charges and processing times for the different methods of deposit and withdrawals.
Betfair do also have a speedy withdrawal function for customers in the UK, Ireland and Spain. This they call Fast Funds. What the function does is allow Visa Debit and Visa Pre-Paid customers to get money from a withdrawal transaction in two hours or less. The transaction could be complete in as little as seconds in some instances.
Deposit Methods Include: Visa, Mastercard, Visa Electron, Delta, Bank Transfer, Cheque, ClickandBuy, EntroPay, Neteller, PayPal, Poli, Skrill, Western Union.
Withdrawal Methods Include: Visa, Mastercard, Visa Electron, Delta, Bank Transfer, Cheque, EntroPay, Neteller, payPal, Skrill
How does Betfair compare with other exchanges?
Betfair is the biggest online betting exchange in the world, and for good reason. The sheer number of markets available far surpasses those of their competitors, meaning greater liquidity and choice for bettors. Customers here have the option to bet on sports and events taking place across the globe.
The value of Betfair Exchange odds is hard to match, too, particularly on the most popular leagues and tournaments. Be aware, though, that you might find it difficult to find greater value in odds on less popular competitions, as you could at a standard sportsbook.
It’s also important to remember that while Betfair Exchange odds on the surface offer more value, commission comes into play on winning bets. Calculate how much will be returned to you after commission has been paid, and compare this to your possible winnings elsewhere.
In general, though, you’d be hard pushed to find a betting exchange who can offer a more complete, all-round experience than Betfair.
Customer Service
A world-class, publicly-traded company such as Betfair needs to ensure that their clients are taken care of in a quick, effective manner. This is especially true in light of what they did to their players in 2010 with the Happy Hour scandal. With this in mind, the casino gives you nearly every way possible to contact them. Not only do they have an excellent FAQ section which will take care of most minor questions, but you can also communicate with the Betfair customer service team via these methods:
- Telephone
- Live Chat
- Facebook Message
We like that they are embracing social media as a front line for customer support. It is, after all, the first place a player will likely go to post a complaint these days.