Stan James

About Stan James

Stan James' humble origins stem back to 1973, when a single betting shop was bought by associates Steve Fisher and James Holder. The 'Stan' in the name of the brand is said to be a portmanteau of Fisher's first name and the Christian name of his wife Anne. The company can now boast owning a total of 90 bookmaking establishments in the UK which is complemented by its large online presence, and its sister stores based across Europe.

A brand with a varied appeal, the company sponsored the Guineas Festival at Newmarket for five years and held a ten year association with Blackpool's World Matchplay Darts tournament.

Since the launch of its online sportsbook in the late 1990s, Stan James have become a by-word for their trademark Betting In-Running feature. As its name suggests, to bet in-running is to be able to place money on a horse as the race progresses, the company's traders updating the odds up until the first nose passes the finishing post.

Betting Markets

Stan James' sportsbook homepage is highly customisable with a number of tabs available for selection to allow the customer to change the markets displayed on screen.

United Kingdom and Ireland-based horse racing meetings top the homepage with the punter having the ability to view 'Rest of the World' and 'Virtual Races' by clicking on the relevant tab. Using icons located beneath this table of meetings, customers can also stream the races live to their computer, listen to the races as they happen on Stan James' exclusive radio station, view the results upon the conclusion of the race and/or assess statistics to ensure that they are happy with the runner they pick.

Further down the main body of the homepage is an array of in-play markets before the bookmaker lists a series of highlights that the punter may be interested in betting on. The 'highlights' are generally popular sporting events including Premier League, Grand Prix and NFL betting with the sport of choice being selected by choosing the relevant tab.

Whilst the right hand side of the homepage is concerned with promotions and deals, the left column displays a number of quick links and services including an alphabeticised list of all the sporting markets available for selection. In total there is 26 playable categories listed from popular sports like football and horse racing to more niche markets like bowls and volleyball. At the time of writing, neither bowls nor volleyball had been updated and had no markets on which their punters could place money. Novelty bets and lotteries are also listed as part of the 'All Sports A-Z'.

Selecting the football quick link sends the customer to the dedicated football homepage at the top of which are a number of tabs clickable to take users to such betting longlists as 'Both Teams To Score Longlist', 'Handicap Longlist' and 'Total Goals Longlist'. Beneath these tabs are a number of footballing highlights including Premier League betting, German Bundesliga betting or Spanish La Liga betting. Should the punter's favoured market not appear in the table of highlights, they can scroll down further to find a list of competitions divided up by the countries in which they are played.

By clicking on a preferred match the customer is sent to the page dedicated to this tie. Again, there are tabs at the top of the page to allow users to jump to their market of choice. Alternatively, they may scroll through all markets and peruse at their leisure. Popular Premier League games typically have around 170 playable markets whilst a Conference match-up usually has 100 markets available to punters.

The horse racing homepage sees the same table of meetings and accessible functions that was available on the homepage top a list of popular up-coming races.

Clicking on the time of their favoured race takes the nag enthusiast to a page dedicated to their race of choice. Here there is an overview of key information on the event, as well as the options to listen to or watch the race live through Stan James' streams and a predictor function.

Further down, the table of runners thoroughly covers all the facts and figures an experienced backer of the gee-gees would want to know about their potential fancies. The horse's name and silks are displayed as well as the names of both their trainer and jockey. There is also its form, its age and the weight it has to carry. The punter gets the choice of selecting the early price or the SP whilst all the previous odds are also listed besides the new price.

Customer Service

The promotions homepage can be accessed by selecting 'View All' from the promotions drop-down box on the Stan James sportsbook homepage. All the featured products and promotions are aimed at fans of horse racing and football, and the choice available pales in comparison to that of most of their major rivals.

Nag lovers will be pleased to hear that Stan James guarantee to give their punters the best odds, meaning that they will receive a return at the starting price, should this SP be larger than the odds initially taken. This deal is available on all meetings in UK and Ireland. This is complemented with the Stan James Happy Hour offer seeing the bookmakers offer the best industry price on a selected high-profile horse between the hours of 11AM and Noon every Saturday. All races from the UK and Ireland can also be streamed live from any mobile or tablet. To qualify, users must simply place a bet of £1 or greater on their preferred race. To watch all the races in a three-fold multiple, however, the punter must wager at least £3.

The regularly run Second Chances promotion is a promise from Stan James to reimburse punters with their original stake should the customer come second in any live Channel 4-broadcasted race. This offer is only available to those betting via a mobile device or tablet and only stakes with a value of less than £25 will be returned in the form of a free bet.

Nagme! is a newly-launched service from Stan James allowing their users the chance to keep up-to-date on the news of their favourite jockey, horse and/ or trainer, receiving alerts prior to them running or saddling a mount. The product has a racecard feature with live, up to the minute odds, with daily tips from professional punters and pundits as well as a space for the user to write their own notes to bear in mind.

There are bonus bets to be earned for those who are partial to a wager on a Lucky 15, Lucky 31 or Lucky 63 acca. Stan James promises to double the odds should the customer pick one Lucky 15 winner or add 10 per cent to the returns if they select four; selecting a Lucky 31 winner will see the punter's odds double with four winners adding 5 per cent to their returns and all five winners adding 10 per cent; Lucky 63 gamblers will also receive twice the odds for choosing one winner with 10 per cent being received for five successful selections and a 15 per cent bonus for backing all six winners.

Stan James also promise to payout on all disqualified horses in the UK and Ireland, as well as paying out on those that are promoted to first, whilst also choosing to flout the 'Rule 4' 5p deduction on races with a non-runner.

The promotions provided for the delectation of football fanatics differ from those concerning horse racing in that the football deals update and change from week to week. Whilst this lacks the familiarity of the in-house promises of some bookmakers, it also makes Stan James feel fresh and inclusive. Such offers running at the time of writing include a 'both teams to score' accumulator insurance, money back if the customer's first goalscorer tip grabs the second goal and a free £5 bet for those who place £20 on an in-play market.

The bookmaker also rewards selected loyal customers by sending them free bet opportunities by e-mail, as well as handing out free bets as competition prizes on the company's official Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The terms and conditions concerning all the above offers can be found by scrolling to the bottom of the promotions page.

In Summary

As well as being easy to use, the Stan James sportsbook can be personalised to suit the tastes off the individual punter. It does though prioritise the needs of football and horse racing fanatics over the wishes of supporters of more niche sports. Sports such as bowls and volleyball, whilst available, are not regularly updated, and all promotions are only applicable to the aforementioned big two, though there's not much of a choice even for these fans.