Hollywoodbets Horse Racing 2023 - Offers, Free Bets & Review

Hollywoodbets has evolved from South African based publishing company Winning Form, established in 1986, which creates and distributes race cards for the South African horse racing industry.

In 2000, under the name Hollywoodbets, the Group opened its first retail branch on Argyle Road, Durban which is in its country of origin, South Africa. The bookmaker has expanded its online operations to Ireland in 2018 and the United Kingdom in 2019, where Sportsbook and Casino products are available.

Hollywoodbets’s Current Racing Free Bet Offer:

 

Pros:

+Payment options

+Number of promotions

Cons:

-Limited customer support options

-Site design

The Hollywoodbets site:

It is fair to say that the Hollywoodbets site is rather basic and poorly designed compared to other horse racing bookmaker. The distinct lack of colour on the page means that everything seems a little too cramped and crowded with nothing standing out from the rest. That being said, the new player bonus and promotions are easily seen through the daring choice as purple as the site’s primary colour. A handy statistics tab is seen on the centre of the page which allows players the chance to read up on the latest stats to make more informed decisions when choosing to bet.

The performance of the site was faultless and ran smoothly during the time of my review which bodes well for anyone using Hollywoodbets as their primary bookmaker. There is also a scroll-along tab in the centre of the page which allows users to access all of the different sports available to place a bet on, which is easy to use and takes a matter of seconds to find the sport you are after. The betslip is located on the right of the screen and enables players to track any bets they have placed as well as keeping any eye on any bets that are in progress.

Smartphone users will be pleased to hear that Hollywoodbets is available to download on Apple and Android devices, offering the same experience from your phone as the site.

Hollywoodbets welcome offer:

Stake £10 for 100 free spins

Up to £10 back as free bet

Up to £20 back as free bet

 

Unlike other bookmakers, there are actually quite a few different welcome bonuses available to customers of Hollywoodbets. These include:

• Stake £10 and get 100 free spins

This offer is only available to new customers who sign up through the app and all deposits must be made through debit card as any other method of payment will not qualify for the bonus. Players must bet a minimum cumulative value of £10 on the game ‘John Hunter and the Book of Tut™’ within 3 days of registration to qualify. One hundred free spins will be credited to the players account within 24 hours once the player has met the deposit and wagering requirements. The maximum bonus awarded will be 100 Free Spins. Qualifying players will receive 50 Free Spins on John Hunter and the Book of Tut Respin™ and 50 Free Spins John Hunter and the Mayan Gods™ totalling 100 Free Spins. Free Spins can be claimed from the bonus tab on the players account once credited. The free spins must be used within three days of receiving them. This seems like a decent offer but the time restrictions may not suit all customers.

• Up to £10 back as a free bet

This is a good offer for players to gain advantage of when signing up to the site as £10 will be credited back to your account if you lose a bet. In order for a player to receive the £10 Free Bet players must make a minimum deposit of £10 via debit card and within 3 days of registration, place a minimum £10 qualifying bet at minimum odds of 1.5 (1/2) as their first bet that subsequently results as a loss. The £10 free bet will be awarded once the bet has lost.

It’s very important to note that £10 will not be awarded to any bet that wins, is cashed out or made void.

• Up to £20 back as a free bet

Once again, app users are rewarded by choosing to gamble with Hollywoodbets as this is the same offer as the ‘Up to £10 back as a free bet’ but players must make 2x£10 bets that result in a loss to receive £20 in free bets. Users cannot bet twice on the same fixture or event otherwise the £20 will not be awarded to them.

The two app exclusive offers would suggest that the bookmaker is easing people towards using the app rather than the site.

Other Hollywoodbets promotions and offers:

• #TGIF Roulette lucky spins

Players can get 20 free spins when they bet 10x£2 on the Roulette game. This offer is quite similar to the welcome casino offer mentioned earlier in this piece and rewards those players who prefer to utilise the casino section of a bookmaker.

• Accumulator bonus

New and existing customers can earn a bonus of up to 30% on their accumulators (accas) depending on how many legs are included in the acca. It must be said that most accumulators will probably not reach the 25+ legs required to activate the 30% bons but even the smaller accas can generate a worthwhile bonus that isn’t available on other sizeable bookmakers. The bonus is automatically added to the bet so players don’t need to worry about missing the bonus by not clicking on it.

• Acca insurance

This promotion allows players the chance to win up to 5x their original stake back if they lose one leg of their football acca. For this promotion, it’s up to the player to come forward to Hollywoodbets to claim their refund. In order to claim acca insurance, players can contact the bookmaker via email with ‘Acca Insurance’ in the title to make the most of this brilliant offer.

Acca insurance can be used once per day and if multiple bets qualify for acca insurance in a single day or are resulted at the same time this offer will apply to the bet created first. All other bets resulted on that date will become ineligible for this offer. Unfortunately, only football accumulators qualify for the refund.

• Cash Out

This is arguably one of the best betting promotions that now features among most, if not all, bookmakers. Cashing out allows players the chance to receive a return on their original stake, even if the bet goes onto lose. If you choose to cash out, the final result of the bet has no impact on the funds transferred to your account during the cashing out process.

Hollywoodbets’ horse racing features:

• Best Odds Guaranteed

A brilliant feature of the horse racing section is best odds guaranteed which enables players to receive the same odds as the starting price despite the increase in odds prior to the event. This applies to UK and Irish horse racing as well as South African racing – the home nation of the bookmaker. This can be particularly beneficial for those who place an early bet knowing that this will match any further odds changes to their selection, helping to reassure players that place an early bet due to other commitments such as work which prevents users from placing a bet at the time an event begins.

• First past the post

This is a promotion available to horse racing fans that pays players out based on whether the horse they have bet on finishes first after being either disqualified or downgraded in the results after. This means that If a winner is disqualified after the official result is announced, the disqualification will not affect the settlement of bets. This promotion further benefits players by allowing them to keep their winnings even though a later result may have affected this.

• Horse racing odds

Hollywoodbets certainly offer their players competitive odds when compared to the leading UK bookmakers. Whilst looking at some of the races throughout the day, the site offered a good number of joint best-priced runners, usually on the more favoured horses, but wasn’t too far off on the other contenders. It was a similar story in the ante-post markets, with Hollywoodbets having decent prices on at least a handful of runners in each of the races I had a look at.

• Live streaming

Hollywoodbets’ live offering can be accessed via the ‘In-Play’ tab which is amongst the purple header at the top of the page. Horse racing is the only sport that is provided with a live streaming service with most other sports having to rely on basic statistics and match trackers to make more informed bets. This should come as good news for punters who can tune into the horse race they have betted on to track their particular horse.

• Previous odds

This is a promising feature which allows players to view the change in odds of all the horses before a race. This could help you to decide as to whether or not to back a horse based on its new odds or perhaps not due to a worsening of its odds over time. This feature does tie into Best Odds Guaranteed because when the race starts the player will receive the best odds possible if they change between placing the bet and the start of the race.

• Horse racing conclusion

All in all, Hollywoodbets offer a standard experience for the horse racing fan with features such as Best Odds Guaranteed and Live Streaming surely attracting punters to the site. The competitive odds mean players won’t miss out on better prices by gambling with Hollywoodbets and the promotions such as First Past the post offer an alternative to the established UK bookmakers.

Hollywoodbets’ customer support

It’s fair to say that Hollywoodbets’ customer support is limited in certain areas. To contact the bookmaker, customers can email them or use their superb live chat function. Customer support is available to all customer from 7am until 10pm daily so they can expect to get all queries answered during sociable hours. There are also a range of frequently answered questions (FAQs) that are available at the bottom of the home page. The answers to these questions are pretty basic so it may be more worthwhile to contact the bookmaker for a more comprehensive response.

Hollywoodbets’ payment methods

A major positive of Hollywoodbets is that they offer a large variety of payment options to their customers. The list of payment options is as follows:

Visa	Mastercard	Maestro
PayPal	Neteller	Skrill
Paysafe	Neosurf	No Cryptocurrency

 

The minimum deposit amount is £5 for all payment methods apart form Paysafe which appears to be £10. However, the minimum withdrawal amount is £10. The bookmaker aims to process your withdrawals within 24 hours of your request, and it could take between 3-5 working days for your funds to arrive in your account. There are no fees associated with Hollywoodbets’ deposits and withdrawals. Overall, the bookmaker has provided an extensive range of payment methods catering to all of its customers, with an exception being those who prefer to use crypto as a deposit method.

Conclusion

In summary, Hollywoodbets, originating as a South African race card publisher, has expanded into a bookmaker with online operations in Ireland and the UK. The website’s basic design, though lacking colour, effectively presents bonuses and promotions. The excellent performance and top mobile app are positives. Various welcome offers cater to different players. App-exclusive bonuses indicate a mobile focus with the bookie seemingly wanting customers to sign up via this method.

Promotions like Accumulator bonuses, Acca insurance, and Cash Out enhance the experience. Horse racing features such as Best Odds Guaranteed, First past the post, competitive odds, live streaming, and tracking odds also appeals to horse racing enthusiasts.

Customer support through email and live chat has limited hours although these are effective contact methods. Payment options are diverse, lacking only cryptocurrency.

All in all, Hollywoodbets offers a comprehensive horse racing experience with competitive odds and varied payment methods, though some aspects like website design and support could improve. The bookmaker’s mobile emphasis and promotions make it noteworthy in horse racing betting.