LV Bet (not active)

Regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, LV Bet betting site was launched back in 2016 and has been clamouring for attention ever since. We’ve said before that everybody deserves a chance, and this is why we have an open and honest review here today. You’re going to learn about their welcome bonus, customer support, available markets, banking methods, responsible gambling features, and lots more.

Registration

First things first, to place any bet you’ll need an account. Compared to most services in the market (and many we’ve reviewed), the process is actually quite strict. After providing personal details, you’ll face the verification process that has become standard right across the industry. As long as you have some ID, proof of address, and a photo of yourself holding the ID, you should be fine.

Why is LV Bet strict? Not only do you have the verification process, many bettors have been asked to verify their banking details before withdrawing their winnings. In fact, some have even had problems with how long this process takes. As long as you remember that these procedures have been set up for your own safety and security, hopefully waiting to make the first bet and withdrawal won’t seem too bad (this is better than a website with poor security, right?).

Welcome Bonus

Recently, we’ve seen a number of services offering a £10 and £20 free bet or matched deposit as their welcome bonus. While this is still better than nothing, it doesn’t exactly bring much excitement. With LV Bet, they’re going all out for new customers and we love their effort. Although a standard 100% bonus, you will get your first deposit matched up to £50. Depending on how much you deposit and get in return, the wagering requirement will vary between 5x and 12x.

Once you’re a customer, we found lots of other promotions from LV Bet, and this is another feature we like (too many betting sites rest on their laurels and don’t offer loyal customers any reason to stay). Normally, the promotions are based around the biggest sporting events. However, this isn’t always the case and a recent campaign encouraged people to bet on a Monday by offering a refund for some losing bets.

Banking Methods

In recent years, we’ve seen an abundance of eWallets and cryptocurrency payment methods with betting platforms, so it’s not surprising to see the various depositing and withdrawal methods on LV Bet. Don’t worry, the classic options are still available, and this includes a bank transfer, Visa, and MasterCard. Additionally, you can use Skrill, Neteller, and other services.

The most you can deposit at any one time is £5,000, and this should be more than enough for the majority of bettors. With regards to withdrawals, they have a unique system (and it might just steer you towards another service). Every week, you get one free withdrawal. After this, every other withdrawal will cost £5. Although this is better than some services who charge for every withdrawal, those who withdraw frequently will find this penalty a steep one. While eWallet solutions see money return to the account within 48 hours, debit cards will take up to five days.

On the whole, LV Bet doesn’t have the extensive list of depositing and withdrawal options of some betting sites. As long as you’re somebody who sticks to the main options, this won’t affect you.

Mobile and Desktop Experience

After clicking onto the website, the first thing you’re likely to notice is the yellow and black theme. Although this sounds like it might attack the eyes, we actually quite like the appearance. In terms of the logistics, it’s what you might expect from a betting platform. The left allows you to navigate between sports, the central panel holds the events within that sport and their odds, and the right has the betting slip.

Despite the lack of a mobile application, this didn’t harm our experience on mobile because the website is optimised for smaller screens. It has the same appearance, but it looks even better in the streamlined design.

Markets

For many, this will be the most important section of the review, and we can be mostly positive. Firstly, football and other major sports are covered, and the biggest fixtures have over 100 individual markets. In terms of the deep individual markets, this reaches football, tennis, cricket, and golf. The less popular the sport, the fewer markets on offer. This being said, we still found events from the worlds of volleyball, ice hockey, darts, American football, and rugby union.

These days, non-sports betting is common, and LV Bet have embraced this market. You’ll find markets and betting opportunities for eSports, politics, chess, Call of Duty, Starcraft 2, and other games.

If you’re a fan of a special bet, LV Bet has a handful, and our favourites were the two markets regarding humans and their mission to get to Mars. While one offers bettors a chance to bet on the company to put humans on Mars, the other posed the question of whether humans will set foot on the planet by the beginning of 2025. If you’re interested, the odds are 1/25 for ‘No’.

Betting Features

When betting platforms all do the basics well, it’s often the extra features that make a difference. With this in mind, the first feature we like from LV Bet is the in-play betting. With a range of different graphics, we can keep up to date with live events and place bets at the right time.

On the other hand, we were slightly disappointed to hear that there was no live streaming on the platform. Given the quality and depth of their in-play markets, we think live streaming could be the addition that really pushes the brand forward. Whether or not they’re able to make this addition, only time will tell.

In terms of licensing and security, they have the expected license from the UK Gambling Commission. Meanwhile, they take steps to protect all data going through the platform, and transactions have the protection of 256-bit encryption. With both of these features, we have confidence in LV Bet and how they operate.

Customer Support

If you have a problem with your experience or account, LV Bet have the big four; FAQs, email (through a contact form), phone number, and live chat. For us, customer support doesn’t get too much better. Hopefully, your problem is a small one and the FAQs should be enough. If not, you can get immediate responses through the live chat and a timely response through phone and email.

Since this is a fair review, we could potentially pick out a problem with the opening hours of the customer support. While the email and chat are both manned between 7am and 10pm, the phone line is only open between 9am and 7pm. We love the fact that they have three points of contact, but we think the opening hours are another area for improvement.

Responsible Gambling

In recent years, betting platforms and casinos seem to have adjusted their mindset when it comes to responsible gambling. Thankfully, LV Bet is no different and they provide some helpful features for all bettors. If we look at this first, players have access to deposit limits, game session limits, loss limits, wager limits, self-exclusion, and breaks.

Once an account is closed with LV Bet, it will only be reopened after the individual makes a request in writing (and if a minimum of 24 hours has passed).

Their responsible gambling policies are impressive, and we also like that they advertise the GamStop scheme as well as various other organisations and programs. On the responsible gambling page, they also lay out questions for a self-assessment and tips on how to gamble responsibly.

Lack of Horse Racing

We’ve uncovered a couple of minor issues with LV Bet, but there’s one big problem we haven’t yet mentioned. Unfortunately, there’s no horse racing or greyhound racing markets on LV Bet. We know, this will put an end to LV Bet being a contender for some bettors. If you don’t bet on the horses, this won’t affect you, and you’ll still enjoy betting on all the other sports.

Conclusion

There’s lots to like about LV Bet and some of our favourite features include the security and privacy, various sports markets, customer support, and, although frustrating, we think players will appreciate the strict registration process in the long run. It might add a few minutes at the beginning of your experience with the website, but these stringent steps have the potential to save the platform and keep it safe for all.

Additionally, the welcome bonus is better than some betting platforms we’ve reviewed. With live betting, this is a great area as long as you’re happy to make decisions based on statistics rather than live streams.