Betfair

If you’re partial to a bit of a flutter on the horses, or a cheeky accumulator on Super Sundays, you’ll no doubt be familiar with some of the more well-known betting sites and betting companies in the UK. Betfair however, are considered to be the biggest of the lot, which in itself is quite an achievement. Betfair offers some of the most generous betting exchanges, very impressive betting odds, a wide selection of sports and events to bet on, as well as online casino games and much more besides. Betfair is the place to be if you happen to enjoy sports betting, if you’re not that keen, it is lacking, though there are still quite a fair few options to choose from. But why should you choose to spend your hard-earned money with Betfair, when there are countless other betting sites and companies to choose from? Well, let’s find out, shall we? Below we will be taking an in-depth look at Betfair, in a bid to help you decide whether it really is worthwhile.

Betfair

Betfair is arguably the largest, most successful betting company in the UK. This is an impressive feat, made all the more impressive by the fact that the company was only founded back in 2000, so is less than two decades old as of this writing. That may sound like a long time to many of you, but just remember that some of the other big names in the world of betting and gambling, were established in the early 1900s, some even earlier still. When the company first started trading, it operated under its Betfair Exchange trading system.

Right from the offset it proved to be incredibly successful and shortly afterwards, Betfair branched out and offered sports betting, casino services, and betting services in general. Its betting trading system still remains one of the company’s primary focal points, and it is still proving incredibly successful for them. This exchange is the biggest in the world and hosts around five million transactions every single day. There are roughly 3 million Betfair members, and the company operates in 17 languages, so this shows you just how dominant Betfair are, even in the global markets. Betfair sponsor a number of hugely successful football teams, including Barcelona and Arsenal.

Sportsbook

For people living in the UK that enjoy sports betting, Betfair is perfect. Betfair place an emphasis on the sports markets of the UK, so things like the premiership, championship, and l the lower leagues can all be bet on. As well as football there is of course a number of other sports to gamble upon, including horseracing, tennis, rugby, and much more besides. But what about if you’re not a fan of UK sports, or if you just feel like a change? Well, worry not, because there are also sports from all over the globe to be chosen from, including football from Uzbekistan.

What’s especially impressive however, is the variety of different bets that customers can place. We’ll stick with the football for now and you’ll be pleased to hear that your typical bets like ‘both teams to score’ and ‘team X to win in normal time’ are available to be utilized. However, with Betfair, you can bet on virtually every scenario imaginable. You can bet on whether a manager will wear a specific type of clothing, the number of corners in a game, which player will finish as the top scorer in League 2, and much more besides. Again, as Betfair emphasize the Betfair exchange, you would be advised to utilize Betfair’s trading exchange system. Experts recommend that you begin small and gradually ease your way into it. Before long, you will soon have got the hang of it. Best of all is the fact that you are virtually guaranteed the best odds possible.

Popular sports

At Betfair, customers can bet on virtually any sport you can imagine, and as great as that is, it does mean that describing each one would take us forever. Instead, we’re going to condense things down and talk about some of the more popular sports available to be chosen from. Football is first up, and if you’re a fan of the beautiful game, you’ll be in your element when betting on the footy with Betfair.

Users can place a number of bets, as we looked at above, on upper and lower league football, as well as international football. As well as the premiership you can bet on La-Liga, Serie A, the German Bundesliga, and much more besides. Tennis, such as ATP, and the major tournaments are also available, as is Cricket and major tournaments such as the Ashes, major test matches, and Twenty20. Rugby, golf, athletics, badminton, boxing, and much more besides, is also available so sports fans will be in their elements.

Betfair horse racing

Horse racing is technically a sport, but because horse racing is seen as synonymous with betting, we’re going to talk briefly about the horse racing currently available at Betfair. Needless to say, there is live streaming and live betting available, so users can watch races live, and bet on them live, as the action unfolds. This adds an additional element of excitement to things.

All the major racing tournaments and events are covered in-depth, though there are many other lesser known horse racing events which also receive a lot of coverage. A lot of experts recommend browsing the racing forum of the site before an event, to learn more about the horses, the races, and betting in general. If you are a seasoned horse racing gambler and know a thing or two about betting on the gee-gees, check out Betfair’s timeform section, which provides more analytical data about horse racing than you could ever imagine.

Betfair Exchange

The Betfair Exchange is something you’ve seen us mention several times already, but what the heck is it? Well, an exchange is where users will bet against one another, rather than going against the betting site. Customers therefore determine and set the odds themselves. Betfair obviously need to make something back, so their profits come in the form of a percentage of customer winnings from the exchange. Odds from the outset are not set, which means that users can set the odds for themselves. If another user matches these odds, the bet will then get underway.

So, as an example, if Barcelona were going up against Macclesfield Town (for some obscure reason) a user may bet on Macclesfield to win with odds of 10/1. The bet will not begin however, unless another user becomes the betting site and bets that Barcelona will beat Macclesfield. If by some miracle, Macclesfield were to bet Barca, if the first user bet £10 on Macclesfield, they would get their initial stake back, plus £100. This would come from the player acting as bookmaker and backing Barca to win. If Macclesfield fail to win however, the ‘bookmaker’ will take the first player’s £10. This is all minus Betfair’s percentages of course.

Live betting and streaming

There just something more exciting about watching an event live as it happens when you have money riding on a potential outcome. Betfair offer a number of live betting options on a whole variety of different sports and events. The live streaming options are very easy to use, though if you are outside of the UK, you may not be able to take advantage of these features thanks to certain geographical blocks. Of course football and horse racing is covered in very great detail, though many other sports are also streamed live around the clock, so keep your eyes peeled.

Cashing out

Cashing out is now offered by a number of bookmakers, but Betfair offer the option of partially cashing out some of your bet, so you get the choice of deciding how much to cash out before an event has finished.

Casino

If sports betting isn’t your thing, or if you just want a break from overpaid Prima Donnas kicking a sack of air around a pitch for a trillion pounds per second, you may wish to check out Betfair’s casino. Here users can play poker, roulette, slots, instant win games, Black Jack, and many more. Many of the games can even be streamed from real life casinos, and played live on the app, or simply on your tablet, smart phone, or computer. Loyal casino players can also benefit from the VIP-program, so if you take your casino games seriously, this is well worth considering. Betfair bingo is popular and fairly in-depth, offering 75 and 90 ball bingo, as well as many other types of bingo in the process. Users have been especially impressed with the progressive jackpots and campaigns.

Betfair mobile

Betfair is fully optimized for mobile use and is compatible with IOS and Android devices. Betfair also offer a number of apps including:

• Betfair casino app
• Betfair exchange app
• Betfair poker app
• Betfair live casino app
• Betfair app

With so many mobile-friendly options to choose from, it’s easy to see why Betfair is proving to be such a popular choice with mobile gamers from all walks of life.