Pros:
+Brilliant blog
+Competitive odds
Cons:
-Lack of payment methods
-No welcome offers for players to utilise
The Star Sports site:
It must be said that the design of Star Sports’ site is minimalistic, but this arguably works in its favour. The site appears as smart and professional with the blue colour scheme helping the yellow advertisements stand out amongst the rest of the site.
The structure of the site allows for a ‘user-friendly’ experience that is further aided by the A-Z betting column down the left-hand side, allowing customers to find their preferred market with ease. Horse racing tends to take priority down the centre, but at the time of writing The Open is the first market available as this is a large sporting event.
Virtuals and Casino also have their own tabs at the top of the page making it easy for players to access these areas of the Star Sports site if they wish to. The betslip is present on the right-hand side of the home page and this shows players the bets they have placed as well as highlighting betting options such as ‘build-a-bet’ which some users may choose to utilise.
Further along the top tab is the Star Sports blog which previews a wide range of different sporting events as well as offering information on promotions and even tips. This is very useful for any newcomers who may want to gain any prior information before placing a bet.
Star Sports welcome offers:
Unfortunately, there is not a welcome offer available to those who choose to sign up to Star Sports. This is quite disappointing, but users do have the opportunity to access a variety of promotions after signing up which makes up for the lack of a signing up bonus.
Star Sports promotions and offers:
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Best Odds Guaranteed |
Event based offers |
Build-a-bet bonus |
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Casino bonus |
Added insurance |
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There isn’t a dedicated promotions page on the Star Sports site, but players can view the available offers via the slider at the top of the homepage. The offers are regularly updated to reflect real life events such as The Ashes and Women’s World Cup.
- Best Odds Guaranteed on UK and Ireland races
This is a great offer for those betting on horse and greyhound races and guarantees that punters will have their odds adjusted to the best if they fluctuate before the event takes place.
- Up to £100 of win stake back
This applies to The Open which is currently taking place. Players can get £100 of their win stake back if their golfer misses the cut. There are similar offers available for golf throughout the year so this isn’t just a one time event.
Star Sports’ customers can receive a 10% bonus on top of bet builder winnings for a bet builder with four or more selections. This is becoming a common form of offer for the leading bookmakers and is great for punters, who can gain additional winnings.
Players can get 100 free casino spins if they wager £500+ a week on selected slots. If you are feeling lucky, you may even win big at the Star Sports casino, however this may not be a particularly appealing offer to many members.
This is for the football fans out there and you can get a 50% refund on your stake as free bet if your score is correct at ninety minutes but loses in added time. This helps prevent last minute goals from totally ruining your bet!
Star Sports horse racing features:
Star Sports provide racing odds from the UK and Ireland as well as from international races too. This gives players options when it comes to selecting the race they want to bet on.
Star Sports is definitely a customer-friendly betting site and this is shown by the competitive odds throughout the racing section. When comparing the odds on a few different races, I found that all the horses had the potential for a decent return and had good odds. Compared to some of the leading racing bookmakers, Star Sports provide impressive odds for horses further down the field. This makes them stand out from a lot of the other betting sites on the market.
When navigating through the racing section, I noticed Star Sports offer an interesting range of specials on certain events including the 2023 Racing League. These allow users to bet on certain outcomes and events taking place during the race, such as a selected horse finishing in third place or above as an example. I found this different to the usual betting experience but I’m sure some players will find this intriguing so this feature is well worth trying out.
As discussed earlier, Star Sports do offer best odds guaranteed which is a major plus point of the betting site. This means users will have their bets matched to the best odds before a race and the winnings earnt from a bet will reflect this change. However, best odds guaranteed will not apply to any free bets or any bets over £1000 which is something to keep in mind if you plan to make a high stakes bet on a particular horse.
Star Sports provide a sufficient live tracker of various sports, such as the football, which enables players to view the events happening during a particular match and bet based on the stats available to them. There is no live streaming for sports such as football, but I can say that this feature is available for horse and greyhound racing within the UK and Ireland. I’m sure this will come as good news for many punters. The in-play markets are also easy to use and are accessible via a tab at the top of the home page.
Just like my Betzone review, Star Sports also provide its players the ability to track the price changes of various horses throughout the time prior to a race. This can help you to identify trends and help decide when the right time is to place a bet, as the odds may be more favourable as time passes.
Virtual sports are becoming increasingly popular among players and I’m pleased to say that Star Sports offer this feature, including virtual horse racing. Once you have signed into your account, you can choose to watch a variety of virtual races and bet on your preferred horse. After this you can then watch the race unfold and hopefully be rewarded by a winning horse. Virtual markets are convenient for those who have commitments and cannot always bet on races that happen during the day as they simply don’t have time to, hence being more and more popular amongst punters.
Star Sports certainly has an impressive horse racing section that caters to many of its member. With competitive odds for all horses, including those further down the field, it offers attractive returns for its players. The site provides intriguing specials on events like the 2023 Racing League and offers Best Odds Guaranteed, a very impressive feature. Live streaming is available for horse and greyhound racing in the UK and Ireland. The price history feature helps users track odds changes before a race, and virtual horse racing adds to the overall appeal. Overall, Star Sports provides a unique and rewarding betting experience for horse racing enthusiasts.
Star Sports’ customer support:
If customers have any issues whilst using Star Sports, they can refer to the FAQs to resolve the problem. Despite being answered in great detail, the FAQs only cover a limited number of subjects so users may be better off trying to contact the site’s customer support team. Currently, you can contact Star Sports via email, telephone, live chat and even Twitter. These services are available 24/7 and provide a large array of methods to contact the site. This caters to all customers, so you should have no problem finding a way to contact the bookmaker. The inclusion of a ‘Live chat’ feature is a welcome addition and allows any queries to be resolved within minutes. Overall, I was impressed by the customer support on offer at Star Sports and unlike some other betting sites, they really make an effort to swiftly resolve any problems you may have.
Payment options, depositing and withdrawing:
As of the time of writing, payment options appear to be limited when using Star Sports. Players can only deposit and withdraw from their betting account using Maestro, Visa or Mastercard debit cards, cheque or bank transfer. This is contrary to various other betting sites which offer the payment options of eWallets and even cryptocurrencies with these methods becoming increasingly convenient for punters.
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Maestro, Visa and Mastercard debit cards |
Cheques |
Bank transfer |
However, the process of depositing into your Star Sports account is simple. Users must click onto the yellow ‘Balance’ icon located in the top right-hand corner of the homepage which brings up a deposit screen. All you have to do is select the amount you want to deposit into your account, before clicking onto your preferred deposit option and entering various details such as your card number to transfer the funds. As with most betting sites, the minimum deposit and withdrawal amount is £10.
To withdraw funds, players must click on the balance icon again before selecting withdraw. You will receive confirmation that your withdrawal is pending and this could take between 3-5 working days for debit card users. Bank transfers may take a little longer to reward players with their winnings.
Conclusion:
Star Sports lives up to its name as the UK’s leading luxury bookmaker and is certainly one of the best betting sites in terms of its coverage of horse racing. The coverage of this particular market is superb and is well accompanied by the various features such as competitive odds and live streaming which help to benefit the player experience. The blog that is provided by the site is also a good addition and helps to inform players about upcoming promotions as well as providing betting tips – something that could be useful for newer players.
However, if you are someone looking to dip into other markets, your needs may be better satisfied by other betting sites. The lack of promotions and a welcome offer is disappointing and doesn’t reward players for initially joining the bookmaker. Players who prefer a site that rewards players after signing up then you may be better off exploring other online bookmakers.
Nevertheless, because of the brilliant mobile app that Star Sports offer as well as the competitive odds and customer support, punters may be attracted to the site despite the lack of a welcome offer. For Star Sports to become more appealing though, the promotions should be expanded and the site could embrace more modern payment methods such as eWallets and even cryptocurrencies.
Overall, the bookmaker is superb in a few areas but could be improved to satisfy all of its customers’ needs. I would recommend trying Star Sports out as they could suit your betting needs, especially if you are a horse racing fan.
