The most important factors to consider when choosing a betting site
Choosing the best betting site can be a tough decision, if you search for a betting site you will just see a list of sites and free money offers to sign up, trying to entice you into making a quick decision. Don’t rush this process as there are a lot of different factors you should consider first.
This is not a promotional article so we are going to give you an accurate and genuine content guide to choosing a betting site. Sports betting is one of the most competitive industries around, and there are more online betting sites available than ever before. Consequently, choosing a sports betting site that suits you can be challenging.
To start with, it is best to think about what you are looking for. We will help you through this process then list the most important features that should influence your decision making.
Sports Betting
If your betting requirement is sports specific then look for an online sports betting site strong in this area, then narrow down to which sports your most likely to bet on. This should heavily weight your decision as different sites put more focus on different sports, and if you are looking to bet mainly on country specific sporting events then choose a sports betting website that is strong in that geographic location. This will most likely provide you with better coverage, odds, tips etc of country specific sports eg. Hurling and Gaelic Football.
The top 7 betting sites in Ireland
Other factors you should consider are things like, do you want live streaming, in play betting, a loyalty scheme and a cash out feature. The top betting sites should offer plenty of innovative features to keep you coming back. For example, many betting sites provide live betting options these days, so this should now be a minimum requirement for any online betting site you choose.
Once you have all your requirements then you need to choose the right partner. Bellow are the most important feature to consider when choosing a betting site.
Legality
Make sure the betting site is fully licensed and regulated by the relevant Gambling Commission. You can check out reviews on an online betting site on iTunes or the Google Play Store depending on if you are using an iOS or Android device. This is a factor that needs to be especially considered in markets where online sports betting has only become legal recently, and should be very carefully considered in some markets.
The best sites for horse racing betting in USA
Most reliable betting sites
There have been betting sites that even recently have had big outages and even worse, some have gone bust, anyone remember 666Bet?? It was a high profile company that went bust in 2015. You don’t want to pick an unreliable site which could sink your money along with the business. It’s also important that the sports betting site or app has the technology and redundancy that get it though the very busy times like when major sporting events are in play.
Anybody wanting to be referred to as the best sports betting site will have robust measures in place to ensure any outages are rare and when they do occur, are dealt with swiftly.
Here’s a separate guide to – The most reliable betting sites
In Play / Live Betting
Most sites will now allow you to place bets after a match or race has begun and top betting sites will normally offer odds that are significantly shorter or longer, depending on how a race or match is unfolding. Rating a betting site for in play of live betting often comes down to variety of matches open for betting, how good the odds are in play. The right betting site for you might be the one that has the most extensive live wagering markets.
Live Streaming
Massive TV rights deals in sport mean that actually trying to follow or watch races / match can be hard, there are so many premium subscription sports channels and more recently online content providers are taking over. Because of this live streaming has become very important and some betting sites are particularly good at this, for example Bet 365 have been a great platform to watch tennis over the years. So again, focus on the sport you want to watch and bet on most frequently then do your research on who offers live streaming.
The cash-out feature which we will discuss below is has become very popular and good live streaming is vital for making good betting and cash out decisions.
Cash out
Cash out feature is where a bettor can settle a bet before the last league of the match, to achieve a win or cut their losses. Cash out is a great way to manage betting risk, the cash out level will deviate depending on which betting platform you use. So site will also let you cash out before a race or match.
The most popular sports to bet on
Tipping Guides
Tipping guide are most important and most when it comes to horse racing, some of the more racing focused betting websites have experts who tip daily. And some of the best Irish betting sites hire racing experts to write for them, do podcasts and TV and radio interviews. Some these racing tipsters will have social media accounts too, to advise on racing betting. Paddy Power and Ladbrokes have been particularly strong in this area.
Bonuses and promotions
Nearly all betting websites will offer deposit bonuses, which is a cash bonus you receive when you sign up and deposit money in an account. As a part of their offer to get you to deposit money, betting site will either offer you a deposit bonus of a fixed sum of money eg. You sign up and lodge €50 and the betting site will match this as bonus. Or else they will offer the bonus in the form of free bets. The latest BetMGM bonus code is one of the best on offer
Coverage
Another very important factor to consider is the quality of odds coverage, this can be particularly important when looking to see narrowing or widening odds. If the betting site you choose is weak in a certain sport or geographic location, you will not get an accurate view of the betting trends for a race or match. Some of the biggest sports leagues will be better covered by betting sites from the country where those leagues are based, for example the premier league betting will most likely be better serviced from English betting companies
Betting Formats
Different wagers an online betting sites can also be a factor influencing your decision. There are sites like Betfair which allows customers to bet against each other rather than a traditional bookmaker. Other book makers will give better options for things like accumulators.
User Experience
UX or user experience has become so import on mobile site and apps, and if the user experience is poor it will massively take away from the apps’ reputation, this of course has trickled down to betting sites / apps too so choose a site that you find easy to use and navigate.
eSport
Betting on eSports is by far the biggest growth market in betting this year. Corona Virus lockdown has decimated the 2020 sporting calendar. The cancellation or postponement of nearly all sports events has seen eSports reap the rewards with traditional gaming and the rise of virtual leagues exploding in popularity.
Factors to choosing an eSports betting site
When choosing an eSports betting site, most of the above are the same considerations. As eSports betting is a lot newer that traditional sports betting, coverage will be very important factor. But where eSports betting really differs is the ways to bet and the different betting formats.
The best sports betting apps in the US
Ways to bet on eSports
There are the traditional eSports leagues such as Call of Duty Championships, Doha 2 Championships etc then the traditional sports eLeagues, all offer a number of different ways to bet.
Real Money Betting
This is the closet for to traditional sports betting, put simply, money is placed on an outcome at agreed odds and you get paid out if you win.
Skin betting
A skin is a graphic or audio download which changes the appearance of characters in video games. They’re purely aesthetic – they don’t increase the character’s abilities or impact the outcome of the game
Skin betting is huge among eSports players and fans and involved using virtual currency or real money to trade items and things like enhancements between players. Players can also use these items and currencies to gamble with to bet on the outcome of eSports contests as a replacement for real money.
The biggest annual eSport events
Fantasy betting
This is not technically betting, it’s more fantasy eSports as akin since fantasy sports for traditional sports.
Challenge betting
Also known as head-to-head betting, this is where gamers compete against each other for real money or items and skins. A lot of gamers bet among themselves, and then settle up once their contest is over. There are also websites that organise this for players, they will charge the team or player a fee things a little more formally where the players and/or teams pay entry fees to enter a contest then pay out the winners at the end
eSports betting sites
The are lot’s of current options available for eSports fans to bet. You have legacy sportsbooks which nearly all have eSports betting options, then you have the more purist/dedicated eSports betting sites, and crypto betting offerings. We strongly advise stay away from illegal offerings and sites/app operating illegally and stick to established and reliable betting sites.
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