How to find the best accounts for sports betting
Betting on sporting events has been around for quite some time in the UK. The first bookmaker in the country started operating in the 18th century. Things have changed a lot since then and now the bettors have a lot more options. Betting was a pretty common pastime in the second half of the 20th century and bookmakers’ shops were a pretty standard sight on every high street and in every neighbourhood. Something happened at the beginning of the 21st century and it revolutionised betting forever. Namely, betting went online. Now, a lot more of the bettors bet online, from home. It saves a lot of time and effort and it’s quite convenient.
How to choose a betting site
Licence
Each country has a specific set of rules and regulations when it comes to online betting, or betting in general. In the UK, for example, it is 100% legal, provided that you are 18 years or older. This is generally the case throughout Europe and most of the world. Each country has its own regulatory body that deals with online betting. A company is required to have a licence which allows it to open an online betting site. With the EU regulations, each company that has the right to operate in one of the member states is allowed to operate in every EU country.
Bonus
Being legally allowed to operate an online betting website is one thing, but offering sound conditions and getting punters interested is a different game. One of the crucial aspects that will make every potential sports fan interested is the type of bonus, or bonuses that are offered by the bookmaker. There are several type of bonuses that can be offered. Many betting sites offer Free Bets. This is basically free money that they give you and you can use them to make one or few bets. The bonus amount may vary; it can be £10, £20, £30 or even more. It is usually divided into several free bets. For example if the betting site offers £20 bonus, it’ll probably be divided into 2 £10 free bets that you can make.
Another type is a Deposit Bonus, which is usually a match bonus. In this case, they would match a percentage of the amount you have deposited, 100%, 50%, or perhaps even 150%. Thus, if you deposit £50 and the bonus is a 100% match, you’ll have £100 in your account. However, these bonuses come with a rollover requirements. The rollover requirement is an amount that you’re required to wager before you can collect any of the winnings won with the bonus amount. If it is x8, then you have to wager an amount 8 times the bonus amount. Also, bonuses have a limit in the sense that the bets made with the bonus amount cannot be safe bets such as 1/5 or 1/3. Different sites may have different requirements. Make sure that you analyse the bonus offer carefully and compare which betting site has the best bonus offer.
Markets
Now, getting a bonus to start you up is one thing and it sure does matter, but the matches that are on offer and the bets that are available are as important if you want to have the ultimate online betting experience. First it’s the number of sports available. Surely, most people in the world are interested in football, punters, but a lot of people fancy placing a bet on a hockey match, basketball match or American football match. But it’s not just the selection of sports and the number of competitions that matters. The types of bets are also important.
The most standard bet is betting on whether the outcome of the match would be a win for the home team, a draw, or a victory for the away team. Each particular of these 3 bets is called a market. There is a vast range of different markets that can be offered. You can bet on the amount of goals that will be scored, less than 2 (0-2), more than two (2+), 1-3, 2-4, etc. Generally, the more combinations the better, regardless of the type of bet in question. Special bets can be offered on practically anything that has to deal with sports, like who is going to be the next manager of a club who sacked theirs.
Payment Methods
In order to bet, and eventually win, on an online betting site, you’d need to open an account and make your first deposit. There are various payment methods that are available. Here the rule also is, the more options there are, the better. First, you have credit and debit cards. Everybody owns at least one of them these days. Visa and Master cards are the most commonly used cards, for online betting and in general. They might be credit or debit and the cards can have names such as Solo, Laser, or Switch. Generally speaking all of these cards are accepted and most betting sites don’t charge additional fees, although your bank may impose a fee. They have higher fees and are usually not accepted.
Some bookmakers have special pre-paid cards which are directly linked to your online betting account. And if you’re not a fan of using cards, you can instead make payments via digital wallets or e-Wallets like Skrill or Neteller. Also, cash cards like Paysafecard or traditional bank transfers are also accepted.
Live Betting
Probably the most thrilling type of betting is live betting. It is a bet that you place on a match that has already started. For example, Chelsea are playing Southampton at home and they are two down in 30’, but you’re sure that they can turn it around and win in the end. The quote for a Chelsea win would be much higher than prior to the match, since it has already started and they are two goals behind. You can bet on which player will score the next goal. And football isn’t the only sport you can bet on. Horse racing, boxing, basketball, basically any other sport that you can bet on regularly.
Another advantage of live streaming is that you can watch the matches on line. For example, even if you don’t bet on a particular match, you have a chance of watching it online, via the website. And the match in question may be one that isn’t broadcasted on TV. Results and quotes change regularly and it is really vibrant and exciting. You should definitely be looking for a site that offers live betting along with live streaming, preferably with a large offer of live events, reasonable quotes and a lot of markets.
Handling
When it comes to websites in general, user-friendliness is one of the main criteria. You want to be able to navigate through the website easily and to be able to find everything you need. For example, you would want to be able to see sports matches that you can bet on divided into categories that will allow you to find the match you’re interested in easily.
Mobile App
Mobile phones and other devices such as tablets serve different purposes than they used to in the recent future and we see them as a substitute for our computers. That is the main reason why having a good mobile app is essential for a good betting site. Again, the most important trait of a mobile app is user-friendliness. Basically, you should be able to do on your mobile phone everything that you are able to do on your computer. Mobile betting is a convenient and useful way to make a wager while commuting back from work, queueing, or when you simply aren’t near a computer.
Customer Support
If you have any issues concerning your bets, the bonuses you are entitled to, or anything that has to do with online betting you should definitely address it to the support team of the betting site in question. Most reliable betting sites offer customer support either via phone, email, an online form submitted directly through the website, or live chat. Make sure that you check whether the telephone line is toll free or not and also if what hours are their lines open.
Making the first Steps with your Betting Account
We went through all the general information; now let’s see how you start betting online. First you need to choose a bookmaker, a betting site which seems the best and fits your idea of what a betting site should offer. Remember to go through all the criteria that we mention above. This is particularly important if your new not just to online betting, but to all sorts of betting.
The next step is to open an account. This is not very difficult, since you’ll find a link on the website that says either “register” or “sing up”. Once you click it, an online form will appear and you’ll need to fill it in. The form will require general data, like your name, surname, website, country or residence and age. You will also need to read the terms and conditions, come up with a username that hasn’t been used before and a password and once you fill in every requested filed you’ll get a confirmation email. Once you’ve confirmed, your account is open.
Once the account is open you can start betting. Remember that we mentioned how most online betting sites would offer bonuses to new players, even without making a deposit. Logically the next step would be to claim your bonus. Then you could play out your bonus, and even if you win you would need to make a deposit before you can claim the money you’ve won. Then the next step is to make a deposit. You can choose your preferred method and then make a deposit. The next step is the most exciting one, namely then you can choose the type of bet or bets you’re going to make. And if you win, hopefully, you would need to withdraw your winnings. As you can see, it is quite simple and the steps are logical.
Conclusion
All in all, if you think online betting would be fun and a chance to win some, or maybe even a lot of money, then you definitely should choose a betting site and open an account. You’ll see though that different sites have different advantages. One may have a great bonus offer, another may offer a great number of matches and many markets on each match, a third site may be known for its user-friendliness and so on. If it seems like it’s not possible to choose which betting site is the best, then maybe you shouldn’t limit yourself to just one.
There’s nothing stopping you from opening two or several accounts with different online bookmakers and then get the best of each of them. Once you get a bit of practically experience on each of the chosen sites it’d be much easier to choose which one is really the best and stick to it, or perhaps keep betting at various bookmakers if you think they all have something unique to offer.