Brilliant option for eSports betting#BetYourWay for football
November 28, 2023
Joe is a passionate sports fan, who also loves the field of sports betting. He has been creating sports betting content full-time since 2016. In that time he has written hundreds of articles, including sportsbook reviews, strategy guides, explanatory articles, betting tips, and more. Joe also enjoys wagering in his spare time, particularly on football, the NFL, and the NBA.
Betway occupy a strange position in the sports betting sphere. There’s no doubting they’re a big bookmaker, but they’re yet to become a household name in the way that companies like William Hill, Ladbrokes and bet365 are.
Partly, this was because they got off to shaky start. After being founded in 2006, Betway swiftly developed a reputation amongst punters for being unreliable.
In recent years, they’ve put a huge amount of work into both improving their offering, and marketing their brand. Most notably, their sponsorship deal with West Ham has helped them to reach millions more people.
So, where do they stand now? Can they rival the biggest bookies on the scene? Should they be given a second chance by bettors who didn’t like them the first time round? Basically… is Betway any good?!
The answers to all these questions, and more, can be found in our Betway betting review.
Betway have made huge strides with their promotions in recent years. Headlining the current crop is their ‘Get up to £10 in Free Bets’ welcome offer, which is exclusively reserved for new customers.
As welcome offers go, this one is pretty easy to get your head around. You simply deposit at least £10, and – after completing a qualifying bet – are rewarded with a free bet of £10. However straightforward an offer may seem, though, it’s always necessary to check out the T’s & C’s anyway. These are the main ones for this offer:
Clearly, with only a £10 free bet on the line, this offer isn’t one for the big spenders! The value being offered is still acceptable, though, with your spending power effectively being doubled immediately. The requirements for your qualifying wagers are also fair, and the fact that you’re given almost complete freedom in how you use your free bet is obviously a big bonus.
Obviously there are bigger welcome offers out there. Overall, however, this is a respectable offering from Betway.
If anything, though, the ongoing Betway promotions are even better than the welcome offer. There are a whopping six promotions right now, covering several different sports, and there’s an enticing loyalty program in place.
The most eye-catching Betway football promotion is probably their Free Bet Club. Opt in, spend £25 or more on any multiples bet (minimum three selections), and you’ll get £10 in free bets.
There’s also a fun prediction game, which is free to enter, called 4 To Score. Betway give you four matches, you pick the first goalscorer for each one, and – if you win – you get a shot at winning the jackpot.
Elsewhere, there are also Betway horse racing and rugby league offers, and even eSports are well-covered.
Finally, there’s Betway Plus, the loyalty program. You can check out the mechanics of how it works when visiting the brand, but it basically gives you even more free bets in return for consistent wagering.
Betway bets won’t simply rope you in with a cool sign up offer, then hang you out to dry. These excellent ongoing promotions show that, once you’ve become a customer, you’ll be rewarded for staying a customer.
Users on betting sites can be fickle and will move to a bookmaker to take advantage of free bets. All the major online bookmakers have a welcome offer but come up short when it comes to rewarding existing customers for their loyalty. This is certainly not the case here because existing customers can benefit from a good range of ongoing concessions and promotions. Here is the full list of Betway’s promotions for existing customers, several of which are sports specific:
Two of the most popular and intresting promotions are free prediction games. Customers must specify four players to score the first goal in selected football matches in 4 To Score and the winner of four selected horse races in 4 to Win. There is a prize fund of £25,000 for the football game and daily and bumper prizes of £1,000 and £10,000 for the horse racing game. These contests are free to enter and there are no staking and odds requirements. The bigger prize fund applies when the selected races are live on ITV.
The welcome offer of £30 in the form of a matched bet based on the initial deposit is about average for the industry. Other operators offer £50 as part of the welcome offer but others give as little as £10 to new customers as concessions. Betway numerically offer an excellent range of promotions for existing customers. The sports specific offers will appeal to many bettors. Other operators tend to focus on football but Betway’s ongoing promotions are related to racing, NFL, rugby league and eSports.
The range of Betway betting markets is extensive, to say the least.
Football is extremely well-covered, as you might expect, with markets available from around the world. Fancy a small wager on the Armenian First League? Not a problem!
All of the other major sports are represented ably, including cricket, horse racing, tennis and golf. There are also some more… obscure options too, including kabaddi and pesapallo (no, we’d never heard of them either).
Special mention must be made for eSports betting. In fact, there’s an entire separate Betway eSports section on the website, with boosted odds available for League of Legends, Dota 2, CS:GO, and more.
Sports is the first option on the main menu on the Betway Home Page. The sports page shows Quick Links to the betting highlights of the day. The most featured sports in this list are horse racing, football and tennis. These three sports appear at the top of the sports menu so we can assume they are the most popular with Betway’s customers and account for the most markets and bets. The main sports page also displays the high-profile events which are generally for football matches and horse racing. Betway targets the UK market as these sports are the most popular for betting in the UK.
In total the operator offers odds for over 30 sports covering the main ones and some of the more obscure. The four US sports of American Football, ice hockey, basketball and baseball are covered with odds for all matches and futures.
Football accounts for the majority of online sports bets and the sport appears at the top of the menu. Football betting is displayed under the headings of highlights, Top Leagues and coupons. Most of the top leagues are competitions in England but the main leagues in the rest of Europe are also included under this heading.
The most popular league in the world for betting is the English Premier League. At the time of writing there was an international break so no matches in the EPL for the next 10 days. The EFL Trophy is a minor Cup competition in England and there were 24 fixtures taking place. The match odds three-way betting market is displayed with a link to the other related markets in the following categories:
An icon indicates whether cash out is available and this option applies to the win/draw/win, 1st goal and both teams to score markets. For each match there are links to detailed statistics and scores updates during the match. A betting margin of about 7% applies for the match odds which is about average for the industry in which the range is 3 to 11%. The range of football odds is more suited to recreational players than professionals who could be put off by betting limits. Pricing is not very competitive and seasoned bettors will not be impressed with the margins.
The main betting markets are covered but other operators offer more for each fixture. Odds are updated in running for many matches and markets are suspended when a goal is scored or after other key events. There are more live football events than for any other sport. Customers can also bet on the outright winners of many leagues and Cup competitions including the Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Trophy and EFL Cup in England and the Champions League and Europa League. Looking further ahead customers can bet on the winner of Euro 2020 and the 2023 World Cup.
See more football betting offers >>
Horse racing is the traditional betting sport in UK licensed betting offices. The most trusted firms are Ladbrokes and William hill and that reputation helps their online business. Operators who don’t have shops can focus on the online product but they have to compete with the established firms and one area in which they do so is with horse racing.
Betway offers Best Odds Guaranteed on every race in the UK and Ireland. Any bets placed after 9am on race day will be settled on the best odds that can be the Starting Price or Board Price and these odds are guaranteed. However, most bookmakers offer this promise so Betway are doing nothing special.
Horse racing is the second option in the main sports menu and races are displayed under the following headings: Next Off, Today, Tomorrow and Antepost. All meetings in Britain and Ireland are covered in addition to some international fixtures. The going is displayed for each meeting and distance and conditions for each race.
Timeform provides a brief form guide and star ratings are used to identify the leading contenders. Customers are offered the current odds and once a bet is placed there is access to live streaming. Antepost betting is available for major upcoming races including the Classics on the Flat and Cheltenham Festival over jumps.
See more horse racing betting offers >>
There has been a huge growth in tennis betting over the last 15 years. The first live tennis event was only offered well into the current century. However, tennis is second behind football for in-play betting interest. The sport lends itself to live betting because odds change after each point and there are many swings in the odds. Live tennis betting is much more popular than pre-match betting but Betway caters for both markets.
Customers can bet on matches from the ATP and WTA tours in singles and doubles. However, there are no odds for the Challenge tour and other minor tours. The ATP Tour is the men’s professional organisation and is the most popular for betting. In addition to the match winner match betting markets include 1st set winner, set betting, handicaps and total games. Betway cash out is available for the match and sets winner.
See more tennis betting offers >>
Betway is trying to take advantage of the emerging and growing pass time of eSports and related betting. The main menu on the Home Page features eSports while other operators display this option in the sports menu. Betway cover five popular games with odds for the match winner, handicap and totals. Betway sponsor some of the biggest tournaments and offer boosted multiples and free bets related to eSports.
This is a growth area but authorities may question whether betting should be associated with the hobby games. Traditional sports bettors could be confused by the scoring system and terminology but enthusiasts may be tempted to open an account and bet with Betway for the first time in the specialist area of eSports.
See more eSport betting offers >>
The other sports covered by Betway are a mix of sports that are popular in the UK and others that generate most interest in the rest of Europe. Darts and snooker get extensive television coverage in Britain and betting is huge. Cricket and both codes of rugby generate a great deal of betting interest. Sports like handball and volleyball are more popular for viewing and betting in other European countries.
The four US sports attract many bets from the UK and the rest of the world and this is reflected in Betway’s offer. The operator also offers virtual betting on football, horse racing, greyhound racing, cycling and motor racing. Virtual sports are streamed live and there are events throughout the day and night. Its debatable that round the clock coverage firs in with Betway’s commitment to responsible gambling. However, you can’t question the comprehensive nature of the Betway’s offer, both pre-match and in-play for many sports.
The Betway sports betting app is available on both iOS and Android devices. Technically it’s called the “Betway Sports App”, but you can play casino games on there too, if you like.
Like everything else we’ve looked at so far, the Betway mobile betting app is absolutely fantastic.
The layout is genuinely one of the best we’ve seen. Its intuitive nature, and particularly the design of the menus, allows you to switch between every important screen – Promotions, My Bets, Free Bet Club, and so on – at will. Live odds are instantly available, and actually placing a bet can be done in mere seconds.
For the record, we tested the app on an iOS device – it had as score of 4.6 with almost 2000 votes which is pretty high in both cases. Judging by the reviews on Google Play, however, the Betway Android app is just as solid.
If you can’t use the app for some reason, the mobile version of the site is nearly as good. The layout is the same, but it seemed to work more slowly during our tests, despite the internet connection being the same.
We’re trying hard not to gush in this review, but there’s no other way around it. The Betway app, for UK users and those further afield, ticks every single box you could hope for.
Betway have offered live streaming of sports since mid-2016, with the quality – and range of events – improving over time.
Nowadays, as long as you’ve got money in your account, you can watch live football, tennis, basketball, eSports and much more, from all around the world. This is possible not only on your computer, but on the mobile app too.
In-play betting is also available, as you’d expect from any modern bookie. Whilst the odds updated regularly – which is great – we found the act of actually placing a bet to be tricky.
We went to place a small wager on an ongoing football game, only to be told our stake didn’t “meet the minimum bet amount”. There was no explanation regarding what the minimum amount was, either on the main site or in the FAQ section. We were also unable to reach the customer service team to ask for help (see Customer Support section, below).
We didn’t experience this problem when placing bets before an event, so there might simply still be some kinks for Betway to work out for their in-play betting.
I’ts also worth noting that the brand has a very extensive blog which deals with day to day topics that may interest day to day bettors but also general sports fans – it’s that good.
The Home Page for Betway sports can be found at www.sports.betway.com. Existing customers login into their account by entering a unique Username and Password. Potential new customers click ‘Register’ and this action begins the sign up process. A new customer creates an account by entering a Username and Password, personal details and contact details. When the required fields are populated a new account is confirmed and it is ready for the first deposit.
When a user logs in the account balance is displayed. Other operators display a prompt to make a deposit when there are no funds available for betting. Betway customers click the ‘Bank’ button and deposit, withdrawal and transaction history options are displayed. Customers select from a number of deposit methods and then specify the amount to be deposited. The account balance is updated immediately and betting funds are available.
Customers navigate through the menu structure to locate the market they require for betting. When the current odds are clicked a Bet Slip appears which shows the selected odds. As more options are added the range of bets are shown, for multiple and system bets. When a stake is entered the Bet Slip shows the potential return from a winning bet. Once all the fields have been completed the bet is placed and confirmed which updates the betting balance.
The Betway interface allows for quick navigation across the product range which includes a sportsbook, casino, live casino, ESports, Vegas and Poker. However, there are no quick links and featured markets on the Home Page which is used to promote the new customer offer and existing customer offer.
Sports is the first option on the menu. The main sports page displays quick links to the main betting events of the day. The betting sports are listed with the most popular at the top followed by an alphabetical list of the other sports.
An icon next to the symbol and name of each sport indicates if there are any current live events. The In-Play option displays the current live events by sport. Football and tennis account for most of the live events but there are others for basketball, ice hockey and eSports. The screens are well laid out and not too cluttered and there is a good mix of betting events and promotions. The main colour is black with some headlines in green and this combination is visually appealing.
You can deposit for Betway betting using all the usual major methods, including PayPal and Neteller.
The minimum deposit amount is an industry-standard £10. Deposits are usually made instantly, and you can place a daily, weekly or monthly deposit limit on your account.
Accepted deposit methods in Betway: Bank Wire Transfer, ClickandBuy, EcoPayz, Maestro, Neteller, PayPal, Paysafe Card, Ukash, Entropay, Przelewy24, Sofortuberwaisung, POLi, GiroPay, EPS, Boleto, eKonto, EZIPay, Euteller, Lobanet, Neosurf, QIWI, Trustly, Skrill, AstroPay Card, Direct Bank Transfer, Instant Banking, i-Banq, WebMoney, Citadel Direct.
The minimum withdrawal amount is also £10. Withdrawals must be made to the same payment method you used for the deposit. The Betway withdrawal time can be up to 72 hours, but will usually be processed quicker, and ID verification is required before making your first Betway withdrawal.
It’s natural, of course, that punters should want their personal details to be well looked-after by their bookie. In this case, they quite simply want to know, “Is Betway safe?”
There’s little detail on the Betway website regarding what their security measures actually are. They say that your data will be protected… but they don’t say how. A little research revealed that they use 128-bit SSL, but that was all we could find out.
We’re not saying that Betway is unsafe. They hold a series of well-respected gambling licenses after all, including a British one. We do wish, however, that they provided more security information.
Customer support is an area in which Betway must improve.
From their website, you get the impression that the Betway customer service team simply don’t want to deal with you. You’re constantly directed to their FAQ section, whether you click on “Help”, “Support” or – incredibly – “Live Chat”. If someone clicks “Live Chat”, they want to chat, not read an FAQ!
The FAQ section, which they keep sending you to, isn’t even good. The search function works poorly, directing you to the same few articles, and most of those are long and dull.
It is possible to find the Betway phone number, albeit with some difficulty. You can ring the UK contact number between 8am and midnight, Monday through Sunday.
As for the Betway live chat… we couldn’t even try it out. They claimed to be “experiencing exceedingly high volumes.” We doubt that somehow, given that it was a Tuesday morning at the time…
Our advice to Betway? Cut back a little on the advertising, and invest that money back into your customer service.
The Betway Group are a private company, based in Malta and founded in 2006. They own a couple of casino and bingo services, but Betway Sportsbook is their only sports betting operation.
In recent years, Betway have made a huge commitment to boosting their brand. They’ve sponsored Premier League football, Premier League darts, boxing, snooker, tennis, horse racing and eSports.
Only time will tell whether this massive marketing push can help them reach the top of the sports betting scene.
We began our Betway review by asking a simple question – “Is Betway any good?”
The answer to that question is a resounding yes. We were blown away by the range and quality of ongoing Betway promotions on offer, which follow up brilliantly on the enticing sign up bonus. The mobile app is one of the best we’ve tried, and this is generally a feature-packed offering all-round.
There are certainly some significant areas in which Betway must improve, however. Their customer service is surprisingly weak, and we’d appreciate more transparency regarding their security measures.
All in all, Betway have made remarkable progress in recent years, and are absolutely worth checking out. At the very least, we’d recommend signing up for the excellent Betway welcome offer, trying out a couple of ongoing promotions, and seeing what you think.
Other than the 100% match on your first deposit, the range of promotions for existing customers is a major positive because they reward loyalty. There is a comprehensive range of odds for all the main betting sports and some of the more obscure. Betting margins are about average and in-play betting, live streaming and cash out make for a decent betting experience.
