Review

Odds Brothers / Bookmakers / bwin Sport

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Bwin is the largest betting company that is publically traded on the stock market. Since their formation in 1997, the company has gone on to sponsor football giants Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich, as well as basketball teams New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76’ers.

The Sport Guys

Bwin is the largest betting company that is publically traded on the stock market. Since their formation in 1997, the company has gone on to sponsor football giants Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich, as well as basketball teams New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76’ers.

Here is a company that is very much in the public eye. Besides sponsoring major sporting teams, they also sponsor tournaments, most notably the European and World Basketball Championship, something they have had the honour of doing since 2006.

Away from sponsorships, Bwin own PartyPoker, which is now the third largest poker room in the world.

Layout of the website

Bwin’s homepage is extremely easy to navigate. Upon entering the website you will see their combi section. This is found at the top-centre and offers customers enhanced odds on a range of combination bets that are available to play.
Beneath the combi section you will find the football betting highlights for the action coming up. With the Premier League being the most popular league in the world, it is naturally at the top, followed by the Irish league and the International leagues.

To the right of the highlights, you will find the live in-play betting. What differentiates Bwin’s in-play from other competitors is that their in-play isn’t solely focused on football; basketball and tennis can be found on there on most occasions. The live betting page itself is extremely easy to use.

Also, on the right hand pane you will find your betslip, a link to the casino and a link to their bestselling bets.

Over on the left pane, at the top you will find the most popular football markets. This is immediately followed by a favourites section, where you can add all your favourite sports or leagues to make your experience as streamlined as possible. You will also find links to all of the sport markets on the left. And finally, to finish the left hand side off, there are links to Bwin’s Live Score, Results and Statistics service.

Markets on offer

Football is the main market that Bwin offer their clients. As you would expect, they cover all the major European leagues, but they also wander farther afield. Their presence and expertise in Arabian football is noteworthy; they currently offer markets in Bahrain, Iran, Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE.
You have to commend Bwin on the basketball they offer. Not only do they take bets on the Euroleague, the NBA and the respected European leagues, but they also take bets from UK basketball matches, Chinese basketball games, and fixtures in various other Asian leagues.

With over 33 markets to bet on, Bwin have all bases covered. Not only can you have a bet on the Premier League but you can also bet on futsal and chess.

Deposit and withdraw

All major cards are accepted by Bwin, while deposits are instantly credited within your account. This can be done 24 hours a day. Besides bank cards, PayPal, Skrill, Ukash and many other online payment services are accepted.

If you are using a Visa bankcard. withdrawals are instantly credited to your account. However, if you using another type of bank card then it will take between 3-5 days for your money to reach your bank account. The online payment services usually take between 2-6 hours to process your withdrawal.

Help around the clock

Located at the very top left of any given page you will find the help button. If the FAQ answers in the help section do not help you, then click the “contact us” button directly next to it. On this page you will be able to find Bwin’s phone number and an email address for you to submit your question.

Pro’s

cons

Frequently Asked Questions

  • How do bookmakers work?

    Bookmakers are traditionally known as the ‘accountants of the horse racecourse’ and this is for good reason. They take money as stakes on various outcomes of a race or contest and they pay out money to those who predicted the outcome correctly.

    The aim of this ‘accountant’ is of course so that when the balance sheet is drawn up, a profit has been made by the bookmaker. To achieve this, they try to offer odds that are actually smaller than the probability of the outcome actually turning out that way.

    The odds offered by the Bookmakers when a given event is added up are therefore higher than 100%.

  • How are odds determined by Bookmakers?

    If a bookmaker offered odds of, say, 6/5, it would always be to the bettor’s advantage. You would then bet, say, £50 on ‘heads’ and £50 on tails and you would make a profit regardless of the result. Bookmakers are, of course, far too smart to let this happen. However, it is possible that comparing odds at bookmakers can create such a win/win situation.

  • How are the odds determined for a particular event?

    Below is an example of how prices are set based on the nature of the event. Let’s take two horse races, same venue, same type of race.

    Race 1: Big well-known race, well-known names competing, high stakes spread across the various player. Bookmakers can then compile odds easily and without much adjustment.

    Race2: Small race, with unknown participants. Is unlikely to generate as many stakes, so betting a high amount on 1 horse causes more headaches for the Bookmakers than race 1. To secure the Bookmaker’s margin, the odds per horse will go down, to have a higher ‘over-round’ percentage overall, so this acts as a buffer for the Bookmaker.

  • Why do bookmakers restrict your accounts?

    Bettors like to have multiple accounts because it ensures they get the best price on all their bets. It can be very frustrating to see your accounts very restricted or even closed. The official reason for restricting accounts is almost always a ‘trading decision’; actually, it is the reasons below that make your accounts get tackled.

  • Are there any bets that bookmakers don’t like?

    Bookies love it when you place multiple bets. That’s why they offer so many enhancements (odds that are increased in between) and money-back specials with multiple bets. After all, any kind of bet with more than one outcome reduces your chances of winning.

    Although you get a few wins from these bets; the bookies will generally leave you alone because they assume they are going to make money from you in the long run.

    There are some bets that bookmakers dislike, such as singles, for example. Or bad each way bets (each way bets in races where a short priced favourite is running and bettors are more likely to take advantage of the market) and each way bets on relatively short priced selections (3 on 1 or 4 on 1 shots).

    These are some examples of bets that bookmakers are not happy about and – even if you are losing – can cause restrictions on your account

  • What does it mean when your account has never been restricted?

    Don’t worry if you have never had to deal with bookmaker restrictions. Be happy! Most gamblers bet for fun and usually the amounts involved are so small that bookmakers are not worried at all. Besides, most punters lose regularly or bet on the type of bets bookmakers love (especially multiples).

  • Is it fair for the bookmaker to restrict my account?

    Don’t forget that a bookmaker runs a commercial business. That is why bookmakers make sure their terms and conditions allow them to restrict big winners at any time.

    Naturally, it would be much fairer for bookmakers to treat their big losing customers the same as their big winning bettors. The chances of this happening are slim, especially since the government has no legislation on the matter.

    It is relatively easy for bookmakers to monitor customers so having restrictions imposed on them is unfortunately one of the things to consider when gambling.

  • How do I prevent my account from being restricted?

    Of course, ideally you should not have to deal with restrictions from bookmakers. So the question is, can you do anything about this or are you powerless? There are some things you can do to reduce the chances of restrictions. We have put them here for you, take advantage of them!

    • Set rounded amounts
      The more arbitrary your bets are, the more you will resemble an arber. Arbers bet with exact amounts to guarantee their winnings. Betting with 40 euros instead of 39.99 makes you look more like a real gambler. Whether you are or not…
    • Write off money
      Don’t write off your money from your account too often. Make sure it doesn’t look like you have a regular betting bank, because the more strategy the bookies think they see in you, the more likely they are to restrict your accounts. If you’re winning; let your balance go up.
    • Lose!
      Believe us, this advice is not as weird as it sounds.
      If you have a good run in an account and it’s all running smoothly, back some selections that they lose and then trade them on the exchanges. Of course, make sure your potential debts do not exceed your potential profits.