Bet365 Review

Bet365 claims a membership base of 14 million from 200 countries around the world. They've been in business since the year 2000. Bet365 is headquartered in the UK, licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, and reported more than $944 million in revenue last year.

The main benefit to joining a site like Bet365 is legitimacy. I want to point out three further features of Bet365 that I consider very good signs when it comes to questions of legitimacy:

1. Reviews of Bet365 on the major review sites are generally very positive. Casinomeister's review is overwhelmingly positive. The site earns a 9.1 rating out of a possible 10 points, which puts it in the top ten in terms of overall rating. Casinomeister is a trusted name. Why do I put so much faith in Casinomeister? The site's been maintaining an online casino blacklist for well over a decade. Their writers explains their issues with casinos in detail, providing references and quotes to back up their opinion when possible. The Casinomeister forum is such a compendium of complaints, big-name casinos and affiliates have representatives that read and respond, before the site's rating or reputation is affected.
2. Bet365 holds a gaming license from the UK Gambling Commission. In the hierarchy of gaming licensing bodies, the UK's Gambling Commission is Rocky at the end of Rocky 2. CasinoListings calls the UK Gambling Commission one of the worlds "… top tier gambling jurisdictions." It's tough to earn and maintain a license from the UK, and it speaks to the site's legitimacy and fair practices.
3. Bet365 doesn't service the US market. I'm not making some kind of political statement, here. I'm just saying that (even though I'm an American) I'm always a little suspicious of operations that are focused on American customers. I know all the usual points people make about online gambling in America, how the UIGEA isn't focused on bettors, and how the Federal Wire Act has been reinterpreted, but it still seems strange to me that a site would openly advertise payments through American banks. Now, as a guy who lives in the USA, I'm not happy that I can't play at Bet365, but I do consider it a sign of the site's legitimacy.

Bet365 uses a combination of software platforms to deliver its various betting opportunities, most notably Playtech and Microgaming titles in their casino. I like to see a betting site varying up the designers of their games, if for no other reason than it tells me that they care about the quality and variety of their betting library.

With those facts in mind, read on to discover the details of Bet365's services. I write in greater detail about all the games in each major section of the site below.

The latest working Bet365 bonus code is EASY1000. All new customers are asked for this code when signing up for a new account at Bet365.com. This code is the same whether you are signing up to play poker, bet on sports, or gamble at the Bet365 casino.

All customers who use the Bet365 bonus code receive a 100% bonus worth up to $200: the biggest bonus Bet365 is currently offering. Other gambling sites may offer bigger signup bonuses, but we are still big fans of Bet365. Their huge sports betting selection, busy poker room, and solid reputation make them worth considering.

New Player Bonus - A 100% deposit match bonus offer capped at $200, aimed at casino customers.

Slots Bonus - A 200% deposit match bonus offer capped at $400, aimed at slots fans. Check the terms and conditions for details on rollover requirements, which vary from game to game.

VIP Player Bonus - A 100% deposit match bonus offer capped at $1,000, limited to players that make large deposits. Contact customer service before making your deposit if you want to inquire about eligibility.

Sportsbook Bonus - A 100% deposit match bonus worth up to $200, aimed at sportsbook customers. The rollover requirement is 5x deposit-plus-bonus.

Bet365 provides support for twenty-seven world currencies:

This table covers the basics of all deposit methods available at the time of my review:

This table covers the basics of all withdrawal methods available at the time of my review:

Bet365 is one of the best-known names in online sports betting, with a huge customer base, a household name in Europe, and billions of dollars in bets handled annually. How does the site's famous sportsbook perform in other writer's reviews?

Bet365 Sports Betting

SportsbookReview gives the site an "A+," on the strength of the site's varied forms of gambling, quality customer service, multiple currency and language support, longevity, and ethics. If you click through the full review, you'll read what I consider one of the most gushing reviews I've read in all my years of writing about gaming. I can't fault the author – I like a lot of what I see, too. But you won't catch me saying something like: "Bet365 is one of the world's most premier online sportsbooks." [sic] without backing it up a little more than this reviewer does.

OddsShark was equally impressed by Bet365's reputation, bonus offers, and sports betting selections. I like how the reviewer goes on to list a few cons, including a note on the site's "not very appealing layout."

BetShoot.com had a fairly positive perspective on the site's overall sports betting offerings, except for what it describes as "medium-big margins" in some of their pro basketball odds.

I'd like to point out that Bet365's strongest feature may be its live in-play betting options, which are often reviewed as the best in the industry. I read plenty of reviews that mentioned this phantom number - 50% of the site's total revenue stream was due to in-play betting.

It works like this – bettors can take live wagers on sports like football, baseball, basketball, and soccer, then watch a high-definition live stream for bettors to watch and continue making wagers as the game progresses. The site uses powerful proprietary software to stream these games to millions of players all over the world, with few complaints about the quality of the streams.

Markets covered:

Casino games at Bet365 are available in download, instant, and mobile versions. Most of the site's casino games were designed by either Playtech or Microgaming, two of the biggest names in the industry.

Bet365 Casino Games

Here's a look at each category of casino games available at Bet365 at the time of this review.

Slot Games

Bet365 hosts 103 slot games, produced by a variety of designers. This selection includes licensed titles, classic-style games, slots with progressive prizes, and 3D titles as well.

Card Games

A decent selection of blackjack and casino-style poker variants.

• Blackjack – A standard game of casino blackjack with a payout percentage of 98.4%.
• Baccarat – The classic casino game translated for an online audience.
• Live Blackjack – Identical to the site's blackjack game, but played with a live dealer via webcam.
• Blackjack Surrender MH – Identical to blackjack with the option of surrendering half your bet.
• Pontoon – Based on the classic British version of blackjack, with slightly worse odds.
• Casino Hold'em – A casino poker game based on the rules of Texas hold'em.
• Live Baccarat – Identical to baccarat, but played with a live dealer via webcam.
• Tequila Poker – A hybrid casino poker and blackjack game using a single deck.

Table Games

Not the largest selection of table games ever, with a huge emphasis on roulette variants.

• European Roulette – Also known as "single wheel roulette."
• Multi Wheel Roulette – Allows for multiple outcomes per round of play.
• Roulette Pro – A slightly fancier version of the site's standard roulette game.
• Mini Roulette – A miniature roulette wheel game with slightly better odds and faster play.
• Marvel Roulette – A licensed version of roulette featuring Marvel characters.
• Stravaganza – A complicated card game played with five decks.
• Craps – The classic casino contest with dice.
• Live Sic Bo – A live dealer version of the classic game based on an ancient Chinese skill contest.

Video Poker

Classic versions of video poker games you recognize from the casino plus a few new variants.

• Jacks or Better
• 4-Line Aces and Faces
• 4-Line Deuces Wild
• 10's or Better
• Joker Poker
• 25-Line Aces and Faces
• 2 Ways Royal
• Deuces Wild
• Megajacks
• 10-Line Jacks or Better

Skill Games & Keno

These are mostly lotto-style scratch card games, with a simplistic Vegas-style keno game thrown in for good measure.

• Rubik's Riches
• The Avengers Scratch
• Captain America Scratch
• Ghost Rider Scratch
• CashBlox
• Iron Man 2 Scratch
• Spamalot Scratchcard
• Thor Scratch
• Fantastic 4 Scratch
• Dolphin Cash Scratch
• Lotto Madness Scratch
• Keno
• Mummy Scratch
• Gladiator Scratch
• Rocky Scratch
• Hulk Scratch
• Elektra Scratch
• Kong Scratch
• Easter Surprise Scratch
• Blade Scratch
• A Night Out Scratch
• Genie's Hi-Lo Jackpot
• Bonus Bowling
• Irish Luck Scratch
• Penalty Shootout
• Around The World
• Derby Day
• Genie's Hi-Lo
• Dice Twister
• Rock-Paper-Scissors
• Heads or Tails
• Pop Bingo

Jackpot Games

A list of all 18 games on the site with progressive prizes. Here's the full list at the time of this review:

• 10-Line Jacks or Better
• Beach Life
• Cinerama
• Deal or No Deal
• Diamond Valley
• DOND World Slot
• Everybody's Jackpot
• Fruitmania
• Funky Fruits
• Genie's Hi-Lo Jackpot
• Gladiator
• Gold Rally
• Jackpot Darts
• Megaball
• Megajacks
• Queen of the Pyramids
• Spamalot
• Wall Street Fever

I find the software to be overall pretty average. It's nice that Bet365 is willing to mix things up in terms of designers and game variants, but comparing Microgaming and Playtech is like comparing a Red Delicious apple to a Fuji apple – they're both apples.

They could improve their casino library a lot by using Betsoft or NetEnt slots, since these are the top of the line these days in terms of quality and replay value. It would be nice to see some more valuable blackjack variants, too, including games with one deck, multi-hand capability, or interesting rule variations, rather than variants with different skins and a few extra side bets.

Sportsbooks with poker rooms are becoming a rare commodity, thanks to the closure of the US market, changes in other world markets, and the consolidation and failure of former competitors. Poker players love to find sportsbooks with active poker rooms, because they tend to have weaker competition willing to throw a little money around while they wait for their sports bets to pay out.

Bet365 (thanks to its presence on the iPoker Network) gets a ton of traffic, which makes it difficult to make sweeping statements about the quality of players there. Real-money player statistics (as of June 2015) indicate that the site had an average of about 3,000 ring-game players during peak play time. That was good enough to earn it a fourth-best rating in terms of traffic among all world poker rooms.

Bet365 Poker Table

The high population density means that micro-to-medium stakes games are usually stuffed with players and open games. High stakes games are not all that popular, but that's the case at many online poker rooms these days.

So what's the read on the competition at Bet365's poker room? You'll need to experience it and decide for yourself. Reviewer's opinions (even my own) are not always right. I try to back up my opinions with data, and I can't tell you for sure whether the competition is soft, due to sportsbook bettors wandering in, or whether the competition is tough, because of the iPoker network members.

PokerNews says that the poker games at Bet365 "seem softer than on other networks." But other reviewers say just the opposite. PokerListings intimates that Bet365 traffic is tougher than expected because of its presence on the iPoker network. The reviewer says the "quality of play [is] higher than many other sites."

I personally think that the network is too crowded to allow for generalizations, and I'd bet that a scientific study of the quality of play at the site would reveal it to be about average, thanks to the size.

As for bonuses, you can earn a referral bonus, though the details weren't available without applying, at the time I reviewed the site. First-time depositors can earn a 100% deposit match worth up to $100. Check the terms and conditions page for details on rollover and other features.

Games offered:

• Texas Hold'em
• Omaha
• Omaha Hi-Lo
• Seven-Card Stud
• Five-Card Draw
• Five-Card Stud

Bet365's bingo section offers three types of traditional bingo play: 75 ball, 80 ball, and 90 ball games.

The site allows bingo players to play via mobile, which is a nice feature if you travel a lot or face a long commute to work every day.

Bet365 Bingo Rooms

Bingo players rejoice – you have your own special bonus offer at Bet265. Called the Bingo Welcome Package, it asks bettors to choose between one of three bonuses when they sign up:

• Slots Bonus – $20 in free slots bets with a 20x deposit-plus-bonus rollover. Not all games qualify.
• Free Bingo - $1,000 in free bingo play with a 4x deposit-plus-bonus rollover. Not all games qualify.
• Bingo Bonus – A 100% deposit match bonus worth up to $200 with a 4x bingo bet rollover requirement.

According to user comments, the site frequently updates bingo players on bonus opportunities, like reload bonuses and referral prizes, as well as comp point trade-ins and deposit specials.

Bet365's customer support services are available in fifteen languages:

• English
• Spanish
• German
• French
• Italian
• Danish
• Swedish
• Norwegian
• Traditional Chinese
• Mandarin
• Russian
• Greek
• Portuguese
• Polish
• Romanian

Each language has its own unique contact methods, but I'll use the English language customer support methods below as an example.

The following toll-free phone numbers are answered 24 hours a day:

• 1-866-273-0934
• 1-866-333-3238
• 1-866-736-5385
• 1-866-811-1365
• In the United Kingdom, customers can call +441782-684-611.

Bet365 also offers multiple toll-free fax lines:

• 1866 273 0933
• 1866 423 8555
• In the United Kingdom, customers can fax +441782-684-611.

Customers can use this physical address to contact Bet365 through the mail:

Customer Services, Bet365

Hillside, Festival Way

Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

ST1 5SH England

You can contact Bet365 via email at [email protected].

Customers who want a more immediate option should point their browser toward the site's Live Chat option, which is open around the clock, every day of the year. This is a really useful feature for those times when you have a serious question for which you need a fast response, or if you have a more casual question that you just don't want to wait for.

Bet365 has been in the industry for a long time, and it has earned a reputation as an above-board operator.

A large library of casino games, sports betting options, bingo variants and other contests means the site has something for everyone.

Customer service is available around the clock in a variety of methods. The site's support staff speaks more languages than a UN conference, and currency support is excellent.

As a downside, American customers are not welcome, and some of the deposit and withdrawal methods available seem to take longer than the industry average.