By Simon Head

One of the most well-known and respected sports betting brands in the UK, Betfair started life as a peer-to-peer betting exchange. Now Betfair’s offering is a comprehensive one, with their online sports betting site fully established as one of the best on the market.

Key information

What is Betfair all about?

Bonuses

Betfair offers a range of bonuses to cover their various products. That includes a welcome bonus that, at the time of writing, offers £50 in free multiples when you bet £10 on their sports betting site. You must place a minimum bet of £10 on minimum odds of 2.0. Other offers are regularly available, with weekend super boosts, football accumulator, bet builder offers and free bet offers tied to specific sports, including horse racing.

Available sports

The range of sports offered by Betfair rivals any brand on the market, with odds available on virtually every sport that you can watch on television (plus one or two that you can’t). Football and horse racing are the main two sports, but Betfair covers plenty of smaller niche sports, too, with the likes of greyhound racing, ice hockey, futsal and handball all available to bet on. Betfair also offers virtual racing and virtual sports, so even when there’s a lull in real-life action, there’s still the opportunity to bet on simulated sporting events.

User experience and interface

While their interface might not win any beauty contests, Betfair’s front end is clear, effective, and simple to navigate. The sheer amount of information on some of the pages, most notably the football pages, which can get very busy, may offer a bit of a text overload to some, but everything is set out in an easy-to-understand manner that, despite the weight of information on some pages, makes the site relatively easy to navigate.

Finding your sport and market is easy, with the left hand navbar listing the sports, and the top nav in each section highlighting the various types of markets available for that sport. The colour scheme might not be to everybody’s taste, but the setup at Betfair is clean and straightforward and placing your bet is a simple process.

Mobile and app compatibility

The mobile app is an almost identical copy of the website, so switching between the two is seamless, with no major usability differences. In my test of the iOS app, I found the user experience to be smoother on the app, but overall, the differences were barely noticeable.

App Store: 4.7/5 stars (99.3k ratings)

Google Play Store: 4.5/5 stars (17.8k reviews)

VIP programmes and loyalty rewards

Betfair offers a three-tier rewards program:

• BASIC offers no access to promos, and no access to Prize Pinball, while you will pay two percent commission on net winnings on exchange markets.
• REWARDS offers bettors a £5.00 free exchange bet every month, five free spins per month on Betfair’s online slots, one MyOddsBoost every month, and five percent commission on net winnings in exchange markets.
• REWARDS+ offers a 10 percent refund if you make a net loss on Betfair’s exchange in a calendar month, a £5.00 free exchange bet every month, five free spins per month, a £2.00 free accumulator (acca) per month, two MyOddsBoosts and eight percent commission on net winnings in exchange markets.

New customers are automatically enrolled into the REWARDS programme.

Pros & cons of Betfair

Diving deeper into Betfair

Licensing

Betfair is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission across a number of different gambling services, including sports betting, gaming, and exchange betting. They are also licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), meaning they are also licensed in a number of countries.

Payment methods

Betfair offers a good range of payment methods, from the usual Visa and Mastercard options to other services including Neteller, PayPal and Paysafecard. Withdrawal times for these options are all instant, with the exception of bank transfers, which can take up to five working days to process, depending on your bank. Minimum deposit limits vary, so please check the quick reference table below for your chosen payment method.

Security and fairness

As one of the most respected names in the sports betting industry, Betfair’s website and app offer best-in-class security, and their treatment of customers is among the best in the business. As such, the brand’s security and fairness are viewed as some of the strongest you’ll find among UK bookmakers. 

Responsible gambling measures

Betfair’s responsible gambling tools give you everything you should need to help keep your betting in check, with deposit and stake limit options allowing you to restrict how much you can add to your account, and how much you can bet, over specified periods of time. Betfair also uses Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures to verify customer identity in the event of large deposits or withdrawals, to help keep your account secure.

FIRST rating

4.7/5 stars

Payment methods available at Betfair

Betfair FAQs

Is Betfair legit?

Yes. Betfair is one of the most respected names in sports betting in the UK.

How can I contact customer support at Betfair?

All customer service support on Betfair is accessed online in the first instance, with live chat serving as the point of entry. From there, the automated chatbot may pass you on to a human customer support operative, who should be able to assist, or direct you accordingly.

How do I reset my password at Betfair?

If you are already logged into your account, click 'my account' at the top of the site, then go to Account Details in the secondary navbar. That will open up a drop-down menu. Select my details, click edit next to 'about you', and you will have the option to your new password

If you have forgotten your username or password, there are quick links immediately beneath the login box at the top of the Betfair site.

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