Skybet

Sky Bet

Sky Betting and Gaming, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB empire, is made up of four key brands. Sky Bet, Sky Poker, Sky Bingo and Sky Vegas. The company also owns the bookmaking comparison website Oddschecker and operates both the Sky Super 6 competition and its own brand of Fantasy Football.

Sky Bet began in 2002 as BSkyB rebranded their online Surrey Sports sportsbook. Surrey Sports was made up of Opta Index and Planet Sport before expanding again in 2006, with the brand continuing to eat up smaller rivals including Total Bet, UK Betting and the 365 Media Group.

Sky Betting and Gambling's headquarters in Leeds can claim to provide jobs to over 1,100 local people. Last year, the Group saw a 20 per cent growth in the revenue of Sky Bet, with their customers also increasing at the same rate. The website has over one million active users. They are the current sponsors of the Football League.

Betting Markets

The main body of the Sky Bet sportsbook homepage deals with everything from in-play betting to future events, though it focuses primarily on football and horse racing. There are also a number of promotions advertised on the homepage and it is always worth keeping an eye out for these.

Up the left hand column are quick links to popular bets alongside an alphabeticised list of sports and various special features (see the Customer Service part of this review). Sky Bet offer prices on 35 different sports, the most obscure of which being such things as Aussie Rules, NASCAR and pool; chess, Gaelic games and speedway. Whilst this isn't a massive selection, all sports contained in the A-Z list are updated regularly though very few markets are offered on less mainstream sports.

By selecting football from this selection, the user will be taken to the football betting homepage. This is a busy hub of activity with in-play odds prominently placed and constantly updated. There is also a long list of forth-coming matches and future events. Scroll down further and the user will be able to select their preferred competition from a table divided up by the country in which the tournaments are played.

Upon finding the match on which they want to bet, the user will be directed to the dedicated page for the tie. Customers will note the lack of markets available with there being a maximum of 80 outcomes to bet on for Premier League games as opposed to their rivals' average of 170. Indeed, supporters of Conference clubs will be upset to hear that there are only around 40 available markets in their competition of choice at Sky Bet, despite the market average amongst their leading competitors being nearly 100.

There is also a lack of tabs or filters allowing the customer to jump to their market of choice meaning that users have to scroll through a number of undesirable markets in order to reach their preferred bet. The horse racing homepage seems equally over-facing with there being a gargantuan list of the day's meetings rather than a simple table of times.

By picking one of the races, the punter will be transferred to the dedicated page. Atop the page is the full title of the race, the time and meeting location as expected but also the going, distance and class alongside a function that allows users to watch their selection after having placed a £1 bet.

Sky Bet manage to present a simple table of runners without scrimping on any of the necessary information. As well as the horse's name, number and silk colour, there is also the name of the jockey and trainer, the stall from which the horse will leave and its recent form. Next to the form is the runner's previous price before the win/ each way odds are displayed. Beneath this is a separate table for anyone wanting to choose a forecast or tri-cast and any available specials.

A Sporting Life race summary is also present up the right hand side of the page allowing punters to get an expert's view on the running of the race.

Customer Service

Sky Bet aren't the most generous bookmakers when it comes to dishing out free bets, accumulator insurance and other value deals. A quick search beneath the extras drop-down menu on the left hand side of the sportsbook's homepage displays that pretty evidently. The company makes up for this however by providing other services including much-loved competitions and access to media outlets.

The first of two traditional promotions run by Sky Bet is the best odds guaranteed promise that sees punters able to take the starting price of a horse should this SP be greater than the early price already taken. This offer is available on all races staged in the UK and Ireland and also applies to odds that have already undergone a price boost. Price boosts see Sky offer their customers an increased price on a particular horse for a limited time.

Free bets can be obtained by joining up to the 'Free Bet Club' though only those who consider themselves to be dedicated and experienced punters should sign up for this promotion. Users must spend over £25 over a week to receive a £5 free bet the following Monday. Qualifying bets can be placed on events in any market with odds of evens or greater. There is no limit to the number of free £5 bets that can be received though if a customer misses placing their £25 worth of bets one week, they will have to spend £40 the next in order to be eligible for the free £5 coupon again.

The more unconventional services provided by Sky Bet include sports tips from a series of experts including Jamie Redknapp, Alex Hammond and Ed Chamberlin; there's a fantasy football competition that will see one lucky winner earn themselves £30,000 and there is also a quarter of a million pounds up for grabs in the Super 6 tournament. Super 6 is a free weekly game that offers users the chance to predict the scores of six Premier League matches. Those that predict all six correctly win a share of the jackpot, whilst there's £5,000 for the highest scorer should the jackpot not be bagged.

The terms and conditions of all promotions and competitions are clearly written on the relevant promotion page that can be accessed through the Sky Bet homepage.

Bonus Offers

Sky Bet are running a welcome offer that sees a £20 free bet presented when the customer wagers £5 (single or each way) on their first bet. Qualifying bets must me staked on an event with odds of evens or greater. Transparency see the general terms and conditions clearly available to read beneath the summary of the promotion on the relevant webpage. Should a particular query be still unanswered or the customer still feels unsure about any part of the offer, there is also a list of 'Related answers' displayed to the right of these terms.

In Summary

Sky Bet is going to appeal to those who want to be able to access the much-advertised competitions and whilst this is a good enough reason to select this bookmaker there are also a number of other considerations to bear in mind.

The company pales in comparison when it comes to offering markets on particular footballing ties, sometimes providing only half of those their leading competitors offer. Sky Bet also overlooks markets on more niche sports such as Aussie Rules, NASCAR and speedway.

Horse racing punters will, however, probably find what they are looking for here with a number of promotions to keep them happy and a well displayed and informative table of runners for each future race.