Virgin Bet Sports Review (2024)

Virgin Bet Final Verdict

As is the case with plenty of new Sportsbooks, they’ve made a good start to life as a Sportsbook, which is no surprise given they’re in the capable hands of Gamesys Group and SB Tech, in terms of who manages their operations and powers the Sportsbook, respectively.
They offer lots of different sports, have competitive odds, give you the best Odds Guaranteed promise on horseracing, offer a good lives streaming service for a handful of sports and have a decent Bet Builder product. All of which means they tick lots of boxes for what we expect from a strong betting site in 2023.
But as we often say about new betting sites, there’s plenty of work to be done yet.
They need to start by launching a newer-looking version of a site that looks a bit dated despite being just four years old.
And once they’ve done that, need to add more promotions covering different sports, perhaps extend their Bet Builder product to other sports beyond football and also increase the number of payment options available, as it’s currently a bit limited.
But they’ve started well, have already signed up plenty of customers and we’re sure that as they keep on improving, they will carry on having great success in the UK Sportsbook market.

Intro

Virgin Bet is a new kid on the block in the world of sportsbooks, having only launched in June 2019.

Even though it shares the world-famous ‘Virgin’ in its name- widely associated with its owner, Sir Richard Branson, and whose other brands include Virgin Active, Virgin Games, Virgin Casino and Virgin Atlantic- it was never meant to be run by Virgin or Virgin staff.

Instead, it was down to gaming software developer and operator Gamesys Group to launch the brand in the UK market and carry on operating it through a partnership with SBTech.

SBTech will use its platform to power Virgin Bet in the UK, having developed a bespoke front-end interface for the offering.

Upon launching, Virgin Bet entered into an immediate partnership with sports scores and results service Livescore, despite the fact that Livescore had its own betting brand already, Livescore Bet.

Virgin Bet has become one of the fastest-growing Sportsbooks in the UK and has recently attracted attention in the horseracing world for sponsoring the Ayr Festival and Ayr Gold Cup.

Sign Up offer.

Let’s get this Virgin Bet review underway by looking at the Virgin Bet sign-up offer.

The sign-up offer

Depositing and placing a bet for £10 at odds of at least 1.5 sees you rewarded with 2x £10 bet tokens to use as you please on a sports market of your choice.

This decent welcome offer is equivalent to a 200% bonus because what you get in free bets is twice the value of your qualifying bet.

Notable Terms and Conditions

• The £10 qualifying bet must be placed at odds of at least 1.5 as one bet and can’t be split into two or more bets.
• The qualifying bet must be placed within 14 days of you opening your account.
• The free bet must be accepted when you log in and used within 7 days of accepting it.
• The free bet must be placed as a multiple or single but can’t be placed as an each-way bet.

How to claim your welcome bonus

• Register an account with Virgin Bet.
• Deposit at least £10 and place a qualifying bet of £10 at odds of 1.5 or greater.
• Accept the fee bet token(s) when you log into your account. The choice to accept or reject your free bets will pop up when you log in after placing your qualifying bet.
• The free bets must be used within 7 days of you accepting them and must be placed as singles or multiples. Not each-way bets.

Registering an account in Virgin Bet

1. 1. Click on the Join Now button at the top right-hand side of the homepage.
   2. Enter your name and surname, date of birth and gender.
   3. Enter your address, e-mail address and mobile number..
   4. Choose a username and password you’ll easily remember.
   5. Take this opportunity to set any deposit limits so you practice responsible gambling.
   6. Choose whether you want to receive communications about offers via e-mail, SMS or phone.
   7. Confirm you’re over 18 years old.

Ongoing Promotions

This isn’t one of those sites jam-packed with loads of different offers that mean you can look forward to something new every day offering great value. Other bookies we recommend here at Punter’s Pub have more ongoing promotions than Virgin Bet do. But here’s what is on offer in terms of Virgin Bet promotions.

Weekly £10 free bet

You can claim a £10 free bet every week to use as an acca/multiple. But you’re going to have to get to work to receive it.

To be awarded it, you’ll need to place two accas worth £10 each, with at least four selections in it that come to odds of at least 5/1.

The two qualifying bets must be placed between Monday and Sunday; you’ll be awarded with the free bet to use the following week and need to accept the token the same way as you did with the welcome offer free bet.

Extra places paid out on horseracing

Virgin Bet betting on racing has just become that little bit sweeter thanks to the fact that they’re paying out extra places on selected races every day.

On any given day Virgin Bet will select up to 13 races where they’ll pay out on an extra place when you place an each-way bet.
That could make all the difference in terms of you getting paid out on a place.
Customers should however be aware of the following, which is that Minimum runner rules apply.

a. 3 Places. If there are fewer than 6 runners standard place terms will apply.
b. 4 Places. If there are fewer than 12 runners standard place terms will apply.
c. 5 Places. If there are fewer than 16 runners, we will pay 4 Places (1/5 odds).
d. 6 Places. If there are fewer than 18 runners, we will pay 5 Places (1/5 odds).
e. 7 Places. If there are fewer than 22 runners, we will pay 6 Places (1/5 odds).

Betting Markets and bet types

If you’re the type who likes to bet across the board in terms of the number of sports you want to place wagers on, then Virgin Bet are more than happy to accommodate.

All the main sports like football, horseracing and tennis are well represented (see below)  but in total there are over 35 different sports to bet on at any time, so if the likes of MMA, lacrosse, water polo or GAA sports are more your thing, you’ll certainly find those here, too.

Let’s look at the positive features of Virgin Bet betting on the five most popular sports.

Other sports

So those are the most popular ones here at Virgin Bet. But here are some good features across some of the other sports.

eSports

Virgin Bet have made a bigger effort than most to offer lots of eSports betting from around the world on a daily basis across the likes of Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, DOTA 2 and Valorant.

GAA

GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) includes the likes of GAA-football and GAA-Hurling. These are traditional Irish sports that have a cult following in Ireland and to a lesser extent, the UK. Not many betting sites bother to lay odds on them so it’s nice that Virgin Bet do because there are some hardcore fans of them out there.

Politics Betting

Politics of course isn’t a sport as such but betting on politics has been extremely popular ever since betting went online in the 1990s.

Virgin Bet have a good selection of politics markets covering elections, countries that may leave the EU in the future and who will be the Next Party Leader. Generally, markets are on UK, US, EU or Irish politics but occasionally, there are markets related to other countries, as well.

Betting Odds

So how are the Virgin Bet betting odds?

As is the case with most betting sites, they’re pretty close to what their competitors are offering.  We found some examples of markets where they had among the more generous odds and other examples where the odds weren’t quite as good; so, it depends a bit on the sport, the market itself and a few other factors.

Betting Features

Now is the time in this Virgin Bet Sports betting review where we consider the special features that make a customer’s experience that little bit better.

In-Play betting

Clicking on the in-play button on the left-hand column will display all the events across different sports that are currently in-play.

Football, tennis, racing and basketball are some of the sports that have the most in-play events on them, but the likes of table tennis and futsal are also offered as in-play markets, as are plenty of others.

Within the in-play betting section, it will also have a ‘streaming’ icon next to it telling you which of those events are available streamed.

Virgin Bet try hard to make sure that in-play markets that are suspended, for example when there’s a goal in football, are re-opened as quickly as possible to avoid disruption with customers’ in-play betting.

Cash Out Betting

Cash Out betting is available here at Virgin Bet, but you’re well advised to check which markets do and don’t have the option available, because it’s only available for some sports and selected markets within those sports.

Some free bets can be Cashed Out but again, read the market rules carefully to see how it will affect your free bet.

Bet Builder

As is the case with most betting companies, Virgin Bet do have the Bet Builder feature but at the moment it’s limited to just football.

There’s a decent amount of choice when it comes to the variety of markets you can include in your Bet Builder such as: the full-time result, a player to score anytime, the number of corners, whether a player will get a card and bets around player stats such as how many shots on target they may have.

The point of all this is of course to build a bet in whichever manner you like, with whichever selections you wish. But Virgin Bet does also provide a list of around 20 different Bet Builders that have already been put together (with their total odds included) so customers can choose to bet on one of those if they wish.

Virtual Sports

Throughout most of the day there’s something to bet on, so you’ll generally have options available to you across numerous sports. But in those few minutes that there isn’t necessarily something you fancy going on, you can play virtual sports.

At Virgin Bet you can bet on football, racing and greyhounds as virtual sports and as ever, can watch the action in computerised format after placing your first bet or ahead of placing your next one.

Mobile App

The Virgin Bet betting app is available on both Android and iOS.

For more info on downloading betting apps, visit our mobile betting app page. Alternatively, check the FAQ section of the site dedicated to their app for specific instructions that also include what to do when the app needs to be updated, including how to change the settings so that it updates automatically when necessary.

There is also a web browser option available but at the moment you can only bet and watch streamed horseracing via the app, not the browser.

We found the app worked pretty well and was easy to use, allowing you to bet, stream and manage your account with minimum fuss.

Mobile App

The Coral betting app is simple and quick to use and allows you to enjoy your Coral account on the go. It’s available for Android, iOS and very rarely for a betting app, Windows as well.

iOS users can download straight from the Apple Store, and Windows users from the Microsoft app store. Android users will need to download the Android app directly from Coral’s website instead, but it’s fast and easy to do.

For more info on downloading betting apps, visit our mobile betting app page.

Customer Support

Speaking of FAQs, you’ll be surprised by how many queries can be solved just by visiting their FAQ section.

Like with lots of other betting companies, they’ve realised that taking some time out to put together some 100 or so different questions and answers will save them far more time in the future by customers not having to get in touch with actual Customer Service.

Their FAQs cover numerous topics including: banking, account issues, promotions, responsible gambling and more general information.

The ‘Promoted Articles’ highlight the most frequent of the Most Frequently Questions, so you may well find the FAQ you’re after right there.

But if that doesn’t solve our problem, there’s always Live Chat, e-mail and phone where you can speak to an actual human agent.

Here are the contact details:

E-mail: support@virginbet.com.

Phone: 0044 808 169 7700

They also have a special section on their site relating to the procedure in place for Customer Complaints in terms of who to contact, what you should mention in your complaint and the methods (e-mail, letter etc) you should use to get your complaint adequately handled.

Deposit/Withdrawal Options

Virgin Bet at present doesn’t give you too many payment options to choose from when it comes to making deposits and withdrawals. But they do include the increasingly popular PayPal, as well as another e-wallet in the form of Trustly.

As they say on their site, PayPal can sometimes be instant in terms of you getting your money as soon as you request it, but may occasionally take a bit longer. And it’s the same with VISA, which can be as quick as 2-3 hours, but may take a bit more time depending on the payment provider.

Virgin Bet in the Media

Virgin Bet to carry on sponsoring Ayr Gold Cup   

Virgin Bet announced that in 2022 it would carry on sponsoring the Ayr Gold Cup, Scottish racing’s most prestigious flat race as part of an extended deal that sees them retain the naming rights of the three-day Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup Festival which runs from September 15 through to September 17.

The festival is broadcast on ITV and the 2021 edition saw 11,000 fans attend the festival.

“Virgin Bet continues to cement itself as a leading runner in horse racing and following the popularity of last year’s festival amongst our customers, headlined by The Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup, it was only natural for us to extend our partnership with one of the biggest moments in the flat-racing season.” said James McKay, sportsbook director at Virgin Bet.