Review Breakdown
Betway’s marketing genius has ensured that you’ve probably heard of them by now. Whether you’re a football fan or you prefer the ponies, their marketing and sponsorship strategy has made sure that their name is emblazoned across billboards, saddlecloths, jumps and football shirts across Europe. But does the actual Betway sportsbook live up to the hype? This Betway review brings you an impartial A-Z look at this bookie! So, Is Betway Legit?
Sports Betting Welcome Offer & Promotions
Betway offers a number of ways for you to get a little something extra in the kitty, from a welcome bonus with no wagering requirements, to various other promotions to make you feel like you’re getting value for your money.
Although Betway offers both a sportsbook and full casino, with separate welcome offers for each, we will focus on the sportsbook in this section, and take a look at the main Betway sports bonuses in detail.
Betway Welcome Bonus
If you are a new customer and live in the UK or Ireland, you’ll be eligible to receive the Betway signup offer and get up to £/€30 in Free Bets. A minimum deposit of £/€10 qualifies you to get the joining bonus, which will be a 100% match – if you deposit £/€10, you’ll receive £/€10 in Free Bets. This offer is capped at £/€30.
You can use these Free Bets to wager on any sports, but they are not transferable to any of the other Betway products (ie Casino, Bingo, Vegas or Poker), which is fair enough, because the casino section has its own bonus. You need to choose which welcome offer you would like to accept, and then opt-in to receive it.
There are no wagering requirements on your Free Bets. This alone makes Betway entitled to a lap of victory in our opinion, but there are caveats to this. You need to use Paypal or your credit or debit card to make a first deposit of £/€10 to £/€30. The 100% match will be automatically allocated to your account, but you need to activate it before you can use it.
To activate your Free Bets, you have to wager all of your initial deposit. To count towards the playthrough requirements, these bets must fulfil the following criteria:
• For single bets, the odds need to be 1.75 or over
• For each way bets, the place part of the bet must be placed at 1.40 odds or over
• System bets need to be placed at odds of 1.40 or over for each selection
Once you’ve activated your Free Bets, any winnings (minus the initial Free Bet amount) will be paid into your cash balance, with no further wagering requirements.
An important point to remember is that the Free Bets will expire 7 days after your initial deposit, regardless of whether you have activated them. Knowing that you have a seven-day deadline may help you decide exactly when to make your first deposit, and how much you wish to deposit.
Betway Plus – Rewards For Existing Players
Once you’ve received and played your new player Free Bets, Betway has a number of other promotions on the go to give you that little extra boost in the bankroll. Betway Free Bet Club can give you £/€10 worth of Free Bets each week if you wager £/€25 or more on sports multiples. There’s a range of deals available at any time, including 4 To Win and 4 To Score offers, Money Back Specials, Best Odds and more.
For more information on available promotions, have a look at the Betway Plus section to find the most up-to-date offers. Betway Plus is the Betway loyalty programme. Each time you wager on sports or play casino or bingo games, you will earn Tier Tokens and Plus Points.
Plus Points
Plus Points can be redeemed for extra credits, bonuses and Free Bets. You need to earn 5000 Plus Points before you can start spending them, but as you start climbing the tiers, you’ll start earning Bonus Points too, so your rewards really can add up quickly if you are a regular player.
Tier Tokens
The more Tier Tokens you earn, the higher your loyalty level, and the better the offers you will receive. At Blue, the entry-level tier, you will have access to guaranteed best odds, dedicated support and exclusive promotions. At Bronze level, you’ll start earning 10% Bonus Points every time you play. Once you reach Silver, you’ll start getting invitations to sports events, personalised offers, access to VIP events, and 25% Bonus Points. The highest tier, Black, will earn you a whopping 80% Bonus Points.
With this Tier Token and Plus Points system, Betway manages to scale your rewards according to your loyalty, as well as giving you something back on your spend along the way.
The Betway Sportsbook and Markets
Betway has a big presence in the horse racing and football spheres, but its market scope is not limited to these top two UK sports. There’s a broad selection of sports on offer – all the world’s major sports, like golf, cricket, tennis and rugby are covered. Betway’s range extends from Gaelic Sports to Aussie Rules, American Football to Pesapallo. The list is too extensive to list here, but a quick scan of their website will show the range you have to play with.
Bet Your Way – Betway’s in-play markets
One of the areas where Betway excels is its huge selection of pre-match and in-play betting markets. This kind of market opens up your range of prediction – from simple win/draw/lose options, your world can open up to encompass any number of in-game events, from the first team to score to accumulators or combination bets. Betway offers up to the second odds, and you have the option to use their Cash Out or Partial Cash Out function if you can see the tide is turning and you’d like at least some return on your bets.
This breadth of betting scope allows you to tailor-make your own experience, so you really can get the most out of each match and put your knowledge and instincts to good use in a marvellously varied number of ways. So, the next time you think your team will win with over 2.5 goals and two yellow cards, you can put some money on it at Betway.
Betway Live Streaming
The complete the full in-play betting experience, Betway offers a live streaming service, so as long as you are logged in and have a positive balance, you can watch the match and place your bets, all in the same place. If an event is available for streaming, you’ll see a TV symbol next to it. Simply tap this symbol to begin the live stream. You can stream directly on your laptop or desktop, or download the Betway app and watch your game on your mobile or tablet. You’ll never miss another big match again! This live streaming service is only available in the UK, Ireland and Sweden.
Betway Esports Betting
Betway has wholeheartedly embraced the Esports culture and has a presence in all the major tournaments worldwide. Esports is growing in popularity at a staggering rate, and Betway is in on the action with its sponsorship of the ESL Pro League, ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters and Ninjas in Pyjamas. If you’re into Esports, you want to have a look at Betway’s selection. Call of Duty, Dota 2, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, LoL, Overwatch… fans have plenty to peruse and will find excellent esports odds at Betway. Click here if you’d like to start betting on esports at Betway.
Betway Insider: Tips, Tricks and News
If you click on the blog section in the Betway site, you will find a whole treasure trove of news, as well as insider betting tips. Betway Insider has won awards for its excellent football commentary, and a quick browse can show you why. The articles are divided into sections for easy navigation. Football, Horse Racing, Cricket, Golf, Tennis, Boxing, UFC, NFL, Esports, Other Sports and Meet The Team are the main sections, and you can filter by category within each section. If you’re looking for betting tips for particular events, this is the place to find them.
Betway Casino
Although Betway has made its name in the sports and Esports spheres, the site offers a full casino too. There are hundreds of games on offer, including a vast selection of slots as well as roulette and blackjack. Live Casino, one of the latest trends in online gambling, is well represented at Betway. Poker and roulette, blackjack and baccarat – there’ a full section of live casino games available for players to enjoy in real-time with real dealers through live streaming.
Betway Casino Welcome Bonus
First time players at Betway can claim up to £/€1000 as a welcome bonus. Like most casino offers, this is linked to your deposits, and is broken down as follows:
• Your first deposit will earn a 100% match bonus, up to £/€250
• Your second deposit gets you a 25% match, up to £/€250
• Your third deposit will trigger a 50% match bonus, up to £/€500
To qualify for these deposit match bonuses, you need to deposit £/€20 or more each time. You need to opt in and accept the terms and conditions to get the bonus, and 50x wagering requirements apply. However, thanks to Betway’s Flexi Bonus system, you can withdraw your cash balance at any time, even if you have not yet fulfilled the wagering requirements.
Flexi Bonus at Betway
Basically, the way Betway Flexi Bonus works is as follows: If you have an active bonus in your account, any wager you make on a game will be drawn from your cash and bonus balances according to the Bonus to Cash ratio. Bear with us….
1. Let’s say you have a £/€20 cash balance and a £/€20 bonus balance. That’s a 50% to 50% ratio (50:50). So if you wager £/€10, half will come from your cash balance, and half from your bonus balance.
2. On the other hand, if your cash balance is £/€10 and your bonus balance is £/€30, the ratio is 25% to 75%, so your £/€10 wager will be £/€2.50 cash and £/€7.50 bonus.
Any wins are allocated back into these two accounts the same way. Let’s say you win £/€20. A 50:50 ratio will mean the win amount will be split between the two accounts equally (£/€10 in each account), but a win for the second example means 25% of the winnings (£/€5) will go to your cash account and 75% of the win (£/€15) will go into your bonus account.
You can deduct your cash amount at any time. As soon as you have fulfilled the wagering requirements on the bonus amount, it will be transferred to your cash balance.
Betway Mobile and the Betway Android and iPhone App
Betway’s Mobile site is not simply a scaled down version of the main site as so many sportsbooks are. It offers the full functionality you expect, but it is optimised to be easy to use on the smaller screens of smartphones or tablets. The interface is pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate.
Although you can access Betway from your mobile browser, they have also created Android and IOS mobile apps to make life even easier for you. Even though the app store may tout the casino and sports apps as different entities, you can access all parts of the Betway offering from within the app anyway. Think of the app as a shortcut to the section you will use the most often.
Choose Betway Sports if that’s your main focus, or Betway Casino if you can see yourself spending more time there.
Everything you will find on the online site is available in the app and mobile version, so you can, in fact, carry hundreds of slot games and thousands of sports markets around in your pocket.
Betway Payment Methods
If you use Visa/Mastercard or Paypal, funding your Betway account is simple – as a first time player, when you have filled in your registration details, there will be an option to deposit and to opt in to the bonus at the end of the registration process. If you skip this step in the process, you simply need to tap on your balance at the top right of the screen to display the banking options.
Although there are articles online that state that you can use a whole number of ewallets and alternative payment methods to fund your Betway account, the only options we saw during our test run were Visa and Mastercard or Paypal. However, this simply means that these are the preferred methods. You also have the option to use Paysafecard, Neosurf, Ecopays, Skrill and Entropay.
The payments process is smooth and easy. Just remember to opt in if you want to collect your welcome bonus. Betway does not charge you for making any deposits or withdrawals, but the payment method you choose may have additional charges. As far as possible, Betway will process your withdrawals into the same payment method that you used to make your deposit.
Minimum deposits according to the payment method
It’s important to check the minimum deposit amounts. The lowest deposit you can make when using most of the available payment methods is £/€10, with one big exception – if you’re using Paypal, the minimum deposit is £/€50.
Betway Licensing and Regulation
Betway is licenced and registered in Malta, and regulated by the Maltese Gaming Authority. Betway Limited is a member of ESSA, and is registered with I.B.A.S. Betway carries the eCOGRA safe and fair seal of approval, which means it is audited regularly.
Customer Support
- Customer support at Betway is available through the following channels:
- Live Chat
- Log in to your account, and click on the dropdown icon next to your name, or navigate to the contact us page on the
- website and click on Live Chat
- Telephone
- UK: 0808 238 9841 (Mon-Sun: 8am-Midnight)
- Ireland: 1 800 932 847 (Mon-Sun: 8am-Midnight)
- Canada: 1 877 811 2604 (Mon-Sun: 9am-1am EST)
- support@betway.com
- Complaints
Some of the most common Betway complaints seem to be about the withdrawal process and the withholding of withdrawals. Without being privy to both sides of the story, it is difficult to make a judgement call, but as a general rule, casinos and sportsbooks do ask for identification verification when you make your first withdrawal, or if you are moving large sums of money. This is necessary to prevent fraud and money laundering, and to make sure the money goes into the correct person’s account. If your account is in good standing, and you have all the verification documents necessary, this shouldn’t be an issue. However, be prepared for some delays, especially if you are withdrawing for the first time, or cashing out a big win.
Betway Business Information
- Sister sites
- Spin Casino; Dream Bingo; Bingo on the Box; Hippodrome Casino
- Sponsorships and Partners
- Esports: Ninjas in Pyjamas; ESL Pro League; MiBR – CS:GO; Invictus Gaming – DOTA2
- Football: West Ham United; RSC Anderlecht and the Croky Cup; Werder Bremen; Deportivo Alaves; Levante UD; CD
- Leganes; AS Roma
- Horse Racing: Queen Mother Champion Chase; All-Weather Championships; Grand National Festival (4 races);
- Galway Races (first 3 races)
- Other: UK Snooker Championship; West Indies Cricket
Betopins’ Verdict
From the beautiful game to the sport of kings and everything in between, Betway has it all. That said, though, other sportsbooks also offer a comprehensive array of markets. What sets Betway apart is the scope of its vision, the quality of its rewards programme and the Betway Insider section. It’s the all in one package that leaves very little to chance – except the sporting and casino outcomes. It shows attention to detail in the construction of its mobile site, its live streaming system and the user interface on every level. Get in on the hype and give Betway a go.
