Sportsbooks are one of the fastest growing segments of the entertainment industry. While in their beginnings they offered services exclusively in land-based stores, with the development of the Internet they moved primarily to the online world. The main services that bookmakers offer include betting on sports, cultural and political events, online casino gaming and lottery.
There are several factors to consider before choosing the ideal bookmaker. The first step you should take before creating an account with any of the brands is a detailed research of the existing bookmakers. Due to the large number of companies operating in the online world, you can use the SlothBet.com website as a perfect guide to better understand this market.
Don’t be tempted by the first bonus offer you come across, because it is just one of many factors you should consider when making your decision. Our many years of experience have taught us not to jump into conclusions prematurely. We have put all our experience and knowledge into reviews of bookmakers, which should help you in the decision-making process. Our analysis of what distinguishes high-quality bookmakers from low-quality, respectively fraudulent ones, includes several parameters. The most important ones are listed below.
⚽ Sports offer
An obvious part of the offer of all bookmakers are the globally most popular sports, such as football, basketball or tennis. However, such an offer would satisfy only a few people, so vast majority of bookmakers offer around 30-35 sports, including less popular ones like floorball, futsal or water polo. Today, political (e.g. elections) or cultural events (e.g. the Oscars) are also a common part of the offer. Most bookmakers also respond to the growing popularity of esports. Some brands have gone even further, in their offer you can find sports specific only to a certain part of the world, for example sumo, kabaddi or surfing.
🏆 Offer of league competitions and tournaments
Of course, no one will be surprised to find the odds on Premier League football, NBA basketball or tennis Grand Slam matches. However, there are bettors, who specialize in betting on less known or lower competitions. When browsing the offer of most bookmakers, you can run into, for example, tennis tournaments of the ITF or UTTR circuit, the 5th English football league or the Australian women’s basketball league. Then again, there are bookmakers, where you can find competitions you didn’t even know that existed, such as the Myanmar Women’s Football League.
📊 Available markets
The offer of the most common types of bets (match result, over/under, the number of goals or both teams to score) is not missing at any bookmaker. However, the better ones offer a much wider selection. There are alternative handicaps, bets on the number of games in tennis or statistical bets on the number of shots, number of fouls, goals/player points, etc. For the highest football competitions, you can expect up to over 200 types of bets, including bets on the percentage of ball possession, the number of cards, corners or fouls. However, the offer differs from competition to competition. It is understandable that the English Premier League will offer more betting opportunities than the Brazilian 3rd league. It is the same with other sports, the offer regarding the NBA basketball will be much more varied than for the Philippine league and so on.
📈 Odds and payout
The essence of odds betting is the level of the odds. The higher the odds are, the more you earn. So a great tactic is to have an account with multiple bookmakers and bet with the one that offers you the best odds. Unsurprisingly, the better the bookmaker is, the higher the odds will be. The high levels tend to be particularly high on the major markets for major sports competitions. It’s not a problem to find a 98% payout on the main market in the Premier League or a 96% payout when betting on the winner of the tennis Grand Slam final. The lower the competition and the market you are betting on, the lower the payout will be.
Good bookmaker can be also recognized by the level of margin. The equation: lower margin = higher odds, works here. Furthermore, the best bookmakers offer a wide range of odds boosts and advantages for bettors, such as matches with a zero margin, return of the deposit in case of a 0-0 draw, early payout of winnings, when the team leads by two goals (e.g. football matches) etc.
The best bookmakers also offer a range of odds advantages and offers, such as zero-margin matches, return of your deposit on a 0-0 draw, early payout on a two-goal lead in a football match, etc.
📶 Live betting
In case of live betting, there is a noticeable difference between good bookmakers and average ones. The best ones make sure to offer high enough odds, a large number of competitions with many markets (lots of alternative handicaps, bets on each point in tennis matches, etc.). The better bookmakers have a sufficient offer of live streams, quick acceptance of live tickets (2-3 seconds) and fast cash out of winnings.
📱 Mobile betting (app)
At a time, when 7 out of 10 bettors use a mobile phone to bet, it is important that bookmakers offer responsive mobile websites. The best ones also develop their own mobile apps for both iOS and Android. Thanks to fast and user-friendly apps, bettor can place his bets in seconds without needing anything other than his mobile phone.
📺 Live streams
One of the other major factors to consider these days, is the offer of live streams. The offer of the best bookmakers is incredibly diverse. Popular football competitions like Serie A or Bundesliga are commonplace. However, some bookmakers also provide streams from less attractive competitions and tournaments.
💸 Cash out
For many bettors, cash out is an indispensable function. Therefore, the best bookmakers make sure to offer this tool, including partial or automatic cash out. It is also important, how quickly the cash out request is accepted. In addition, cash out should be available until the last seconds of the match.
🎯 Bet Builder
Not all bookmakers offer the Bet Builder service. However, the best ones make sure to offer it in a wide range of markets. This tool allows bettors to create a ticket consisting of a combination of tips from the same match. Let’s consider the Premier League football match between Manchester City and Manchester United as an example. With Bet Builder, you can include, for example, the match result, the number of corners and specific goalscorer bets on a single ticket. Some bookmakers offer this service even as part of their live betting.
📜 License
We are getting to the security section. An important factor, when it comes to the safety of bettors, is the license that the company operating the bookmaker has. The most trusted operators are usually licensed by regulatory authorities such as the UKGC, MGA and GLA. The above mentioned authorities do not license fraudulent companies, so you are safe as a bettor. Another popular regulatory body that issues licenses to credible companies is the Curacao Gambling Authority.
🗣️ Experience of bettors
Confidence of bettor increases proportionally with fewer negative experiences of other bettors. The most trusted companies receive less negative feedback than the most untrusted ones. This is due to their fair resolution policy, e.g. they have a high efficiency in resolving disputes with their clients fairly. Comments from other bettors are available at each of our reviews.
🛑 Limits for successful bettors
Let’s be realistic. Bookmakers want to make money first and foremost. Therefore, it is no surprise that successful bettors are often limited. The analytical department of a bookmaker can expose a good bettor within a few bets. The vast majority of bookmakers that focus on recreational bettors react by limiting deposits. However, there are exceptions, where successful bettors are not limited, or where restrictions are not so drastic that it would completely discourage a successful bettors.
💁 Customer support
The satisfaction of the bookmaker’s clients can be determined by the quality of its customer support. If insufficiently trained workers are hired for these positions, long queues will form in the online chat. Unhelpful employees will make bettors reluctant to deal with anything with support and rather change the bookmaker.
Key support features include 24/7 support, ability to communicate in multiple world languages, and speed of problem solving. The best bookmakers offer several channels that can be used for communication with support, e.g. online chat, phone, e-mail or contact form.
