Bet365

Bet365 Casino

Bet365 Casino isn’t a sister site in the traditional sense, because it sits inside the same Bet365 website rather than operating as a separate brand. Even so, it’s such a large part of the business that we think it deserves to be treated as one in its own right. The casino shares Bet365’s familiar green-and-white presentation and one-wallet account system, but it has its own UKGC operating licence through Hillside (UK Gaming) ENC rather than the Hillside (UK Sports) ENC licence used by the sportsbook. Slots make up most of the library, with live casino, jackpots and game-show titles adding variety. New players can currently unlock up to 500 free spins over ten daily reveals after making qualifying deposits, with winnings paid without wagering requirements. If you like Bet365’s sports site but want casino games instead, this is the obvious place to go for you.

Bet365 was founded in Stoke-on-Trent inside a temporary building in the year 2000. Just one year later, the brand was taken online by its founder, Denise Coates, and has never looked back since. Today it’s among the biggest sports betting sites in the United Kingdom and has branched off into casino games, poker, bingo, and just about every other aspect of betting and gambling you can imagine. Has that expansion beyond sports betting come at the expense of the core sportsbook, or is Bet365 still as good as it ever was? We’ll find out by reviewing it as a product.

The Bet365 homepage is a busy one. The first thing you’ll see when the page loads are live odds and lots of them. Upcoming horse races can be found directly beneath the homepage’s single promotional banner. The next big football games are in a column next to them, with offers on those games lined up next to them. If you don’t like the look of anything you see there, you’ll find a full list of sports to your left and a scrollable top bar offering access to the other Bet365 gambling brands. So much space is given over to betting options that there’s no space for branding or theming save for the single green stripe at the top with the Bet365 logo on it. The Bet365 website is not quirky, eccentric, amusing, or light-hearted. The message it sends is that this is a very serious sports betting site for very serious sports bettors. The cold approach might put some players off, but it could just as easily appeal to those who see this as more than a hobby.

Bet365 Welcome Bonus

There are multiple promotions open to players at Bet365, but only one of them is aimed specifically at new players. Helpfully enough, it’s marked “Open Account Offer,” so you won’t miss it. The headline version is Bet £10, Get £30 in Bet Credits. New players can place a qualifying cash bet of between £5 and £10 at odds of 1/5 or greater and receive three times that amount in Bet Credits once the bet settles, up to the £30 maximum. You have thirty days to place the qualifying bet, but the Bet Credits themselves expire seven days after they’re issued. They can be used across eligible sports markets, although the Bet Credit stake isn’t returned with any winnings.

Ongoing Promotions

Beyond the welcome offer, the promotions you’re likely to see at Bet365 will depend on what’s happening in the sporting world at the time of your visit to the site. Current examples include 2 Goals Ahead Early Payout, Sub On Play On, the Tennis Retirement Guarantee, 100% Acca Boost, Best Odds Guaranteed and various Bet Boost and Winnings Boost offers. The exact mix changes as sporting events come and go, but there are some promotions that hang around for longer than others.

The “2 Goals Ahead Early Payout” offer is exactly what it sounds like. Place a qualifying football bet, and if the team you’ve backed takes a lead of two goals or more, Bet365 settles it as a winner before the final whistle blows. Sub On Play On works differently: if the player you’ve backed in a qualifying market is substituted, the bet transfers to the direct replacement at the same odds. The Tennis Retirement Guarantee also offers some protection. If the opponent of the player you’ve backed retires in a qualifying match, your selection is treated as a winner, while a retirement by the player you’ve backed results in the wager being void and your stake returned. These features aren’t revolutionary, but they give players a few extra protections that ordinary bets don’t always have.

The Bet365 Price Promise is another attractive feature for horse-racing bettors, although it isn’t as broad as the name might make you think. It applies to qualifying UK and Irish races shown live on ITV Racing, with fixed-odds Win and Each Way bets placed from 10am on race day until fifteen minutes before the scheduled off. Bet365 compares its prices against a selected group of rival bookmakers and boosts the qualifying price when necessary. That’s still a solid guarantee, but it doesn’t cover every horse race on the calendar.

What are the Pros and Cons of Bet365?

Featured Slots and Casino Games

While we would normally assess the qualities of any online casino or gambling site on the contents of its gaming library, it wouldn’t be fair to do so with Bet365. This is a sports betting site, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a sports betting site. All of the other casino games that the company offers can be found at Bet365 Casino, and we’ve given that its own review.

Rather than having any featured games or slots, Bet365 has lots and lots of sports to bet on. The company prides itself in the range and depth of its sportsbook and believes itself to be unbeatable in the UK for its sheer range of options. It’s hard not to agree with them when you look at the long list of sports on the Bet365 homepage. Every mainstream sport you might care to mention is on there, but so is the niche horse racing variant of “trotting,” cross-country skiing, pelota, water polo, bandy, and floorball. We didn’t even know floorball existed until we saw Bet365 offering odds on it.

Away from sports, Bet365 also offers odds on special events. If you want to bet on the winner of this year’s series of “Strictly Come Dancing,” Bet365 will make that possible for you. If you fancy yourself as a film critic and think you know who’s going to come away from the Oscars with the important trophies, Bet365 will let you put your money where your mouth is. Every popular betting avenue is open here.

Deposit and Withdrawal Methods

Bet365 doesn’t tick every box when it comes to withdrawal options, but it supports a broad selection of banking methods. Visa and Mastercard debit cards are available, along with PayPal, Apple Pay, Trustly, Pay by Bank, Revolut Pay, bank transfer and myPaysafe, depending on how the account was funded. Some methods are deposit-only or can only be used for withdrawals after a qualifying deposit, so the cashier is the best place to check what’s available on your account.

Bet365 says it aims to process withdrawals within four hours, although some requests can take up to twenty-four hours. Debit cards, bank transfers, PayPal and Trustly are generally quoted at one to four hours for processing, while Apple Pay can be processed instantly. Those figures don’t necessarily tell you when the money will land in your bank, though, because card and Apple Pay transfers can still take up to two banking days to arrive after Bet365 has processed them.

Customer Support and Licence

Bet365 guarantees players that its live chat service is available 24/7. In practice, however, there are sometimes long waits for a chat operative to become available. If you don’t want to wait, you can also use the site’s contact form or social media channels, and postal support is available as a fallback. What you can’t currently do is pick up the phone and speak to a Bet365 support agent.

Despite being based in Malta, Bet365’s sportsbook is operated by Hillside (UK Sports) ENC under UK Gambling Commission account number 55148. Bet365 Casino, Live Casino and Poker are covered separately by Hillside (UK Gaming) ENC under account number 55149, so the two sides of the Bet365 business don’t technically share the same UK licence. In April 2024, Hillside (UK Sports) ENC paid £239,085 as part of a combined £582,120 regulatory settlement involving both Bet365 operators. The failings related to anti-money-laundering controls and social-responsibility requirements. Both licences remain in force.

Bet365 – The Verdict

Bet365 is one of the UK’s top sports betting websites. It wouldn’t be fair or accurate to describe it any other way. Its sports portfolio is staggeringly huge, and Bet365 Casino offers plenty of variety if you get bored of betting. The main weakness we can identify at Bet365 is customer support. Feedback indicates that the site could use more support staff and that the staff they already have could be more helpful. Adding telephone support could be the smartest move here. Problems will hopefully be few and far between, though, as Bet365 is a trustworthy big name.