Betway Review

Is Betway Safe?

Betway is one of the biggest sports betting sites in the UK due to its high-profile sponsorships such as West Ham and Cheltenham Festival.

In this Betway review our expert explores what makes them stand out from their dedicated app, security and more.

Discover all you need to know here.

Betway Security

Betway is registered with both the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA). IBAS assists players with advice in the event of disputes with betting companies. It’s great to see that Betway is open to this and it’s something we look for when reviewing a betting site.

IBIA on the other hand describes itself as the global voice on integrity for the licenced betting industry. It looks for suspicious behaviours and patterns which help protect players. Again, this is a huge plus to see.

In terms of site security, Betway uses 128-bit SSL encryptions to scramble your personal data. This means their site is safe to enter details on and provides good protection.

We also consider reputation for security. Betway has an excellent reputation in the UK market. They’ve been an established brand for well over a decade and still attract lots of new players which is a good sign of trust.

Licence

Something that makes Betway stand out in the crowd is the number of betting licences that it holds. Of course, our priority is with the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) which allows them to operate in the UK. Betway has held this since 2006 without ever having it suspended.

As well as a UK licence, Betway can offer their services in:

This list is considerably longer than your average online bookmaker. These are all highly regulated markets where acquiring licences is not easy.

Betway will need to meet the demands of each to obtain and continue to do so if they want to keep operating there. It’s impressive to see so many and it is one of the biggest marks of trust.

Fines

Although Betway has never had their UK licence suspended, they have found themselves in some hot water with the UKGC.

In 2020 the company was fined more than £11m for several failings’ relating to VIP customers and background checks. These went against anti-money laundering laws as a full source of funds were not identified. This means not enough was done to ensure that money spent was from a legitimate source.

This was considered a very serious offence by the UKGC hence the large fine. Betway accepted that their processes were outdated and have since improved.

They have taken steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again. While a fine isn’t ideal, the fine was not a result of any security failings so the site itself is still safe.

Protection of Funds

Every betting site in the UK is obliged to keep player funds separate from their business accounts. The rating assigned to Betway by the UKGC is high.

We rarely come across a high rating with only a couple of other betting sites including paddy Power meeting these standards. It means that in the event of insolvency your funds are guaranteed to be paid out.

This is excellent to see and adds an extra layer of protection when playing at Betway.

Sponsorships

No Betway review would be complete without looking at their sponsorships. This is an area that the brand has invested heavily in over the past ten years, and they have an impressive portfolio.

They are the principal sponsor of West Ham United which provides a great deal of coverage. On top of that, they are also one of the main sponsors of the Cheltenham Festival. This is one of the biggest horse racing events on the calendar and is a good showing of trust.

Betway also has connections with:

• Brighton and Hove Albion
• Leicester
• Several Bundesliga Clubs
• All-weather Championship
• Grand National
• Five NBA teams
• New York Islanders (NHL)

And more. It shows that they are respected and that the big names in sport are happy to partner with them.

Responsible Gambling

Responsible gambling tools are an essential part of an online betting site. For our Betway review, we had a look at what options were available to us.

There is a page referred to as ‘safer gambling’. On here, you can find out information on which organisations might be able to assist, and what limits you can set on your Betway account.

Players can:

These can be very useful. We would say that some sites go beyond this by offering stake and loss limits. Therefore, Betway is not the best offering we’ve seen but it is certainly good.

Betway New Player Offer – £10 Free Bet

The welcome offer at Betway is as straightforward as they come; bet £10 and get a matched £10 free bet.

This is a great offer for those new to betting especially as it’s easy to understand, but you should bear in mind that there are some restrictions.

The qualifying bet must be placed at odds of 3/4 (1.75) and must settle before your free bet will be awarded. Other than that, however, there are no market restrictions which is great as it gives you plenty of choices.

We should point out that only deposits via debit card qualify here, so it’s important that you do this for your first deposit, or you will miss out. It is a common restriction placed on all types of sports betting offers, although we do normally see a few options.

As you can see the free bet is easy to obtain. It doesn’t matter if your initial bet is a winner or not, the free bet will still be yours.

Our advice here is to ensure that you deposit with a debit card, and make sure that your bet settles within 7 days.

Offers for Existing Players

In terms of existing player offers, Betway promotes Betway Boosts. These have their own tab within the menu bar, separate from the promotions section. These are price boosts on set markets such as Manchester City to win to nil.

They can be great if you’re looking for a bit of extra value so be sure to look here before you place a bet.

It is slightly disappointing that they don’t have any other offers always running, but they make up for it with their loyalty and free bet club.

Free Bet Club at Betway

The Betway free bet club is one of the most generous on the market, and earning your free bets is simple. It is also relatively easy to achieve.

Players must place £25 worth of bets on trebles or accumulators with greater than 3 legs. You can place these on any market (excluding esports). The minimum odds of your combined bet must be 2/1 or greater. You also need to make sure that they will settle within the qualifying 7-day period which is Saturday – Friday.

If you do this, you will get two £5 free bets awarded on Saturday afternoon. Much like the qualifying bets, these can be placed on any market. Of course, your free bet stake is not returned.

Key Terms

• Opt-in required
• Single line multiples including 3 or more selection only
• Min overall odds 2/1
• Bets must be settled between Saturday 00.00 and Friday 23.59.

Loyalty Rewards at Betway

The Betway Plus promotion is their take on a loyalty scheme. All players are automatically entered into this and ready to earn points.

Every time you place a bet (regardless of the stake) you’ll be gathering tier tokens and plus points. The more you play, the more you acquire.

Tier points determine your loyalty level and what rewards you can get, while points are redeemed against these for casino bonuses, bingo bonuses or free bets.

You’ll need to get to 5000 points before you can start getting bonuses or free bets, and the higher the tier the better the value.

Keeping track of your points is easy too as they are displayed at the top-hand right corner, near your account details always.

Overall, it’s a good scheme that not all betting sites offer anymore.

Betway Sports Markets

During testing for our Betway review, we discovered 32 different sports to bet on. This is an impressive number that is only matched by the biggest betting sites in the industry.

Sports you can bet on include:

• Football
• Horse racing
• Tennis
• Darts
• American football
• Gaelic sports
• Cricket
• Snooker

This is of course not an exhaustive list of what is on offer, winter sports and cycling are also amongst the sports available.

In comparison with other sportsbooks, this is a great range.

Maximum Payouts

The limits for sports when betting at Betway are good. Grade 1 football includes the likes of the Premier League, top European leagues and the Champions League. At £500,000 it is at the high end of the scale with the likes of William Hill and bet365 the ones to beat this limit.

Other sports also have generous maximum payouts in comparison with other bookmakers. It should be remembered that these are per bet so regardless of the potential winnings in your betslip, this is the most you will win.

Horse Racing at Betway

As the main sponsor of the Cheltenham Festival, it’s no surprise that horse racing betting at Betway is a great experience.

Fixed odds are available every day on UK and Irish tracks along with interesting specials. #betyourway provides a list of daily betting options such as jockey to ride a double and number of winning favourites at a certain race track. We like these as they provide unique markets which can offer value.

Every race in the UK is available to stream, as well as many international tracks. It is common to find races from South Africa, the USA and France on-site which further enhance the amount of choice to players.

Betting on horse racing at Betway is one of the most enjoyable betting experiences around.

Competitive Odds at Betway

To understand if a bookmaker is offering you good value or not, you need to know if the odds are competitive. We have been impressed with the odds at Betway and can say they are excellent.

This is a real screenshot of how Betway compares to some of the best football betting sites on a Premier League market.

As you can see from this table. They are offering keen odds on both the 1×2 and both teams to score (BTTS). These are popular markets so it’s great to see that they are top on both.

Of course, that’s not to say that they offer better odds on all markets. This is just a snapshot of two at a certain time. But, it does indicate that you’ll be getting value when you bet.

Live Betting

Betway provides a top-class live betting platform to its players. It has its own separate tab ‘in-play’ within the sports menu bar making the markets easy to find.

Once there you will see a top list of all the sports with live events and how many of each. We found that the odds moved quickly, as expected, and that our bets were taken in a timely manner.

Adding bets to our betslip was an easy process too which was great. On top of that, there was an ‘upcoming’ tab so you can see what events are next for the live betting experience.

There weren’t quite as many market options as with the likes of bet365, but it was a good experience so we can recommend it.

Live Streaming

Betway provides live streams for horse racing. This is a great service that extends to the UK, Irish and International events. We found the streams to be of high quality and didn’t experience any glitches.

To watch a live stream, you don’t need to have placed a bet on a specific race, but you do need an active balance or have placed a bet with the previous 24 hours. This is standard and something we have come to expect.

Unfortunately, we didn’t find streams for any other sport. We contacted customer support who confirmed that now it is solely horse racing. However, we’ll keep you updated if this changes in the future.

Betway Cash Out

The cash out function at Betway works well and is easy to identify. There is a small cash out logo displayed on events that is available which is really handy and not something that all online bookmakers have. We noticed that this was available for a lot of matches and events which is hugely positive.

On top of that, partial cash out is an option too. This gives players the chance to leave some of their stake on the original bet. We like this because it means you have more control over your bets.

It’s worth bearing in mind that cash out does not offer great value. You should be offered roughly your stake x the current odds for your cash out amount. If it’s nowhere near this then you may want to reconsider.

Bet Builder at Betway

We’re pleased to see that Betway has introduced a Bet Builder to support their #betyourway. Up until recently, players had to request their bet through social media or by email, but now the function is available within the main betting section.

The bet builder gives you the chance to build a same game multi. It’s an interesting way to boost odds for a single match. Of course, the more selections you add to your betslip the harder it becomes to land. We tried it out and found the odds to be reasonable.

Overall, it matches the rest of the sites that offer bet builder and we enjoyed placing a bet this way.

Payment Methods

The number of options at Betway is less than most other betting sites. In saying that, it’s a solid selection.

PayPay is one of our preferred methods thanks to its additional security steps and we always recommend using this where possible.

Despite the limited options, the withdrawal times are good. Players can receive funds within 2 hours via PayPal and Neteller which is excellent with some bookmakers taking up to 48 hours.

You won’t encounter any fees for depositing or withdrawing either, which is a big plus.

Betway App

There is a dedicated betting app for Betway players. It can be downloaded for free from the Google or Apple store meaning you can play it on almost any device.

The app itself is well designed and easy to navigate. It offers the same features as the desktop including bet builder and cash out.

On top of that, players can log in using Face ID or a fingerprint. You also have the option of setting up a four-digit code which further emphasises Betway’s commitment to security.

This is also true if you prefer to bet directly from the mobile web version of the site. It is accessible from all major browsers and fully optimised to fit any screen.

We placed a few bets on the app and the mobile web version and can say both offered a good betting app experience.

Customer Support

We contacted the support on several occasions with various questions on live chat. Our chat was answered within 30 seconds each time and the question was solved quickly. The agents we spoke with were both friendly and knowledgeable which offers peace of mind.

The only downside is that it was not available 24/7. Many online bookmakers provide around the clock support, so it was a little disappointing to see.

Email is the only other option to contact as there is no phone number. Again, we tried this out and were answered within 6 hours which is a good time frame.

Overall, the support is good but could be improved.

User-Experience

We can say that one of the things that stands out for Betway is the user experience. They make use of various menus to separate the site and it makes everything easy to find. The graphics are sharp, and promotions are easy to understand.

The app was particularly user-friendly, and we made use of the search function to look for specific markets.

Betway is more than a sportsbook, it is a complete betting site that offers bingo, esports and an award-winning casino.

The Betway casino comes highly recommend with top games and an action-packed live casino. We like that the wallets are linked as are your loyalty points. That means that if you enjoy playing more than one product, you’ll earn points to use on any of them simply by playing.

Improvement Areas

We have been very impressed with the Betway site during testing but there are a few improvements we’d like to see.

The number of payment options is lower than we’d like to see. Apple Pay is becoming a popular method especially for mobile users and is one we would appreciate.

On top of that, we’d also like to see a few more payment options to be eligible for the welcome offer. With only debit cards currently allowed it is quite restricted.

Many betting sites offer live streams on several sports, which Betway do not have. While the horse racing streams are one of the best it is quite limited.

Finally, a 24/7 live chat would also be an improvement. It is something that we find on several sites, and it is an area in which Betway are behind the pack.

Conclusion

To sum up our Betway review, we would say that it is one of the best sportsbooks in the UK. It provides competitive odds on a huge number of sports and markets as well as interesting player offers.

We like that the site is easy to navigate and that they are members of IBIA and IBAS. It is a safe betting platform for all players.

If you’re looking for a safe and fun betting site that provides these, then look no further.