Sky Bet

Sky Bet's welcome bonus offers new customers £30 in free bets when you place ANY bet! Overall, it looks like a great offer, but how does it compare to its peers?

The minimum deposit of £5 is below the norm for these sorts of bonuses, looking better than the likes of bet365 and Betway sign-up offers available.

The maximum bonus a player can receive with this Sky Bet sign-up offer is £30 in free bets, which once again is at the better end of bonuses available. Both Betfred and BetVictor do offer £40 in bonuses, however, although £10 is specifically for slot games and is subject to turnover requirements.

The one advantage that Sky Bet does have over its competitors, is that free bets do not expire!

Yes, players can join Sky Bet, safe in the knowledge that there is no pressure to use free bets before a certain period of time, unlike most other bookmakers, who require these free bets to be used within seven days.

Although there is no ongoing deposit or reload bonus for existing players, there are plenty of daily sportsbook promotions at Sky Bet, with many events benefitting from added betting options, enhancements, and specials.

Football fans are given a wealth of enhanced prices across the bigger match-ups of the day, with a large range of request-a-bet options, individual player odds boost, enhanced accumulators, and money-back specials, among plenty of enticing options available.

For horse racing, punters are also well treated, with price boosts on individual runners to win by certain distances, extra places in races, and enhanced multiples to name a few, while options such as the Placepot, Scoop 6, and ITV 7 are also available to bet on each day

Other sports are also given the price boosts treatment, such as tennis, basketball, cricket, and darts, but Sky Bet seems less inclined to offer more than one or two boosts/enhancements to these sports, which looks like a missed opportunity in my opinion.

The Sky Bet Club offers free bets or spins to users every week, based on total stakes placed within specific markets or arenas. For instance, racing punters can receive a free £6 bet, if they have staked £30, while in-play market players can also receive a free £6 bet if they have placed £30 worth of bets on In-play events.

To qualify, current members must visit the Sky Bet Club page and opt-in to one of the five options available, and match the staking criteria by 23.59 on the following Sunday, with the free bet credited to a player's account on a Monday.

This weekly cycle then restarts, with the user able to change their bonus, while those who missed out can once more opt-in.

BuildABet offers up to 65 markets for players to create individual football-focused match accumulators, with U.K. leagues, major top-flight divisions in Europe, and UEFA competitions as the main focus of these bets.

Matches outside these zones can feel a little less supported, but still, provide some 30-40 betting options to create a bet. Cash-out is available on all BuildABets too, further extending the options to players.

For those who enjoy creating bet builders, Sky Bet is easily one of the best around and offers a strong alternative to bet365 or BetUK offerings.

Sky Bet also features a few more specialised markets in its BuildABet, adding extra depth and value to prospective accumulator selections. Suppose a team puts lots of crosses into the box, in that case, the “To Score A Header” market offers a good opportunity to nicely boost your odds, over a simple “Player To Score” pick, whilst a freekick specialist could be worth adding via the “To Score From Outside The Penalty Area” market.

BuildABets can be created in-play, offering over a dozen markets during games and once again can be cashed out whenever the player wishes.

• In-Play Betting

Sky Bet offers strong in-play options for players, with markets available across a large number of sports, including football, tennis, darts, and cricket among others, with cash out also offered for each.

• Cash Out

Cash-out options are available across many sports, covering all manner of bets, including singles and multiples.

These options stretch to in-play markets too and are available for all BuildABets a player creates.

• Group Bets

Group Bets offers the chance for like-minded friends to team up and bet together on accumulators via the BuildABet feature.

Once a group has been set up and friends are invited, anyone in the group can set up a bet, picking the market(s) and the number of selections each player can add.

With form tracking available on each of your picks and a chat function too, this fun option certainly adds a social element to betting and looks to be an exclusive feature that may become popular with other bookmakers, over time.

Website

The web version of the site is clean and easy to use, with navigation mostly straightforward and signposted well.

Making deposits and withdrawals is a simple process, whilst placing bets is also a breeze, with selections added to the betting slip, on the right side of the screen for immediate viewing.

There are one or two missteps, such as the option to view the day’s Football matches, which is on the home screen, only being available within the football accumulators section, but generally, the site is laid out well, despite one or two odd decisions in terms of displaying markets.

Mobile App

For those using a mobile device, the App for both IOS and Android, is easily one of the best out there, with all the features available on the web, reproduced perfectly on mobile.

Once again the depositing and withdrawing of funds is a breeze, whilst placing bets is as straightforward as ever and all actions are swift and responsive.

A minor issue can be the live streaming of sports via the app, which doesn’t always work or at least work immediately. Although this isn’t a deal breaker, those who wish to watch horse racing may miss out, with the race ending before seeing the live feed.

• Watching Sports

Sky Bet plays host to several key sports for live video streaming. Football, horse racing, greyhound racing, snooker, and tennis are among the main featured events, with events subject to respective TV rights and availability.

Viewing of these events is open to all members once logged in, except for horse racing, which requires users to place a minimum stake of £1 on the specific race, to view it.

It should be noted that although stated as live, video feeds are generally around 20-30 seconds behind, which could affect cash-out availability on bets, so some caution is required.

• Virtual Live Feed

Sky Bet also provides the now standard virtual live feed of matches, with football and tennis the main beneficiaries.

Clicking on an in-play football match shows a pitch view detailing proceedings, viewable stats, and main events of the game, such as cards and goals, plus a score centre that shows other scores in active matches.

The pitch features an animation of the play and how possession develops, giving users a decent idea of what is happening and who is in the ascendency.

Sports betting at Sky Bet is a very enjoyable experience, featuring over 30 sports markets in total.

Outside of mainstays such as football and horse racing, Sky Bet does a cracking job with other sports, such as tennis, golf and boxing.  There are plenty of markets for fans of American sports too, with the big competitions (NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB) all offering markets for individual match-ups and outrights.

Outside of regular sports, Sky Bet provides good betting options across various e-sport competitions, with popular events such as DOTA, CS:GO, League Of Legends, and FIFA covered.

The TV / Film specials markets may not be everyone’s go-to option for betting, but with the continual rise in popularity of shows such as Love Island and I’m A Celebrity, bookmakers like Sky Bet offer plenty of betting options on these shows, along with yearly staples like the Eurovision Song Contest.

Sky Bet goes that extra mile for reality tv betting, offering occasional specials on “evictions” and “eliminations”, while even providing a market for who will be a contestant on a particular show before it even begins.

Yes, Sky Bet customers can also enjoy slots, table games, poker and even bingo via its sister sites, using the same account details

Both Sky Vegas and Sky Casino provide a plethora of slots, including some of the more popular games, such as:

• Deal or No Deal

• Fishin Frenzy

• Luck Of The Irish

• Reel King

• Slots Of Gold

For table game players, there are numerous Blackjack, Baccarat and Roulette options, with minimum stakes from as low as 20p.

Live games also feature heavily, with live table games, plus popular gameshow-like games, including Spin A Win, The Mega Drop and Mega Party.

Sky Bet allows the following payment methods to be used for depositing.

Visa Electron, Visa Debit, Maestro, Mastercard Debit, Solo, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

Withdrawals can take between 1-3 days depending on the payment type you are using.

Sky Bet has plenty of customer service options, with Facebook chat, web chat, phone, and email all available.

Having made inquiries via both web chat and email, my experience was good, with both queries answered in a timely fashion and with useful and relevant information too.

Despite my own experience, there seems to be a general perception that Sky Bet’s customer service isn't always so good to use, with many forum reports detailing longer delays in responses to account inquiries and betting queries via email, with some cases simply not receiving contact at all.

Although customer experiences will vary, I feel that this warrants being mentioned in this review, as my own experience may well differ from others.