About Unibet

Who are Unibet

The Unibet Group is an online gambling service provider responsible for three brands; sportsbook operator Unibet.com, online bingo and casino website Maria.com and Kambi.com, the company's second sportsbook operator.

Since being founded in 1997, Unibet services are now used by over 8.9 million people in more than 100 different countries. The business has a strong European appeal, having been floated on the Nordic Exchange and with key markets in such countries as Netherlands and Belgium. The company's head quarters are also based in Malta.

Under CEO Henrik Tjarnstrom, Unibet.com scooped the award for Sports Betting Operator of the Year three times (2006, 2008, 2009) at the eGaming Review awards ceremony. The site also bagged the gong for Operator of the Year at the eGR Operator Awards 2013 and the Sportsbook of the Year at the 2014 renewal of the International Gaming Awards.

Betting Markets

The main body of the Unibet sportsbook homepage is primarily concerned with the most popular bets of the day. Whilst this is subject to change on a daily basis, the focus is almost always aimed at football betting.

With the right hand column for the customer's betslip, the left hand side of the sportsbook homepage is dedicated to a hub of links to popular shortcuts as well as containing an A-Z of sports on which punters can bet. Terms and conditions can also be found up this side as can a re-formatting tool should the user prefer to see their price as the standard fraction rather than the decimals initially offered.

The Alphabeticised list contains 34 sports with markets regularly updated for each. Such niche markets available to bet on include bandy, chess and futsal; pesapallo, trotting and volleyball. At the time of writing there were a massive 97 open books on trotting, 35 available for futsal and a gigantic 305 for volleyball. The least represented sports were such things as bandy, pesapallo, poker and surfing all of which had one open market. Regardless, there's a much greater choice available at Unibet than some of its leading rivals.

Selecting the football link sends the users to the football homepage. The page is topped with a filter to allow the customer to select an available 'Goal Scorer', 'Match Cards' or 'Relegation' market. Scrolling down will take the user to a list of forth-coming ties whilst competitions and tournaments can be chosen from the list in the left hand column.

There is substantially less choice for markets on Premier League ties at Unibet than many other online bookmakers. Whilst there maybe 170 markets on a top tier game at other reputable bookies, Unibet offers between 150 and 160. Again, whilst the user can expect 100 open books for a top-end Conference clash, Unibet offers half.

To its credit though, the individual fixture pages are well presented with markets hidden until selected in the form of drop-down menus. This organisation allows punters to bet quickly whilst not over-facing those who are new to the world of betting.

The information on the horse racing homepage is just as efficiently displayed though this is at the expense of important key information. Quite simply, the gee-gees homepage shows the table of the day's meetings and the runners in the next scheduled race. By clicking on a time in the table of meetings, the users changes the information regarding the next scheduled race to that concerning their race of choice.

The information offered on each individual runner includes its name, the jockey's name and the colour of the silks; its form, its number and the stall from which it will run. The punter also gets the choice of selecting an early price or the starting price. Should there be any specials on a particular feature race, these will be listed below the initial table of runners.

This layout will not satisfy many experienced punters, and is best suited to the inexperienced or pin-stickers who rely on their gut rather than outside factors to pick a winner.

Customer Service

To put it bluntly, the number of sportsbook-applicable promotions offered by Unibet is downright derisory. At the time of writing, there were only three long-running deals available for redemption through the website's sportsbook, not including the two bonus offers listed below. Users wanting to take advantage of deals on a number of different sports will be advised to look elsewhere. All the offers featured on the Unibet promotions page concern football.

Placing four separate £5 bets on Premier League fixtures in one weekend will see the loyal customer receive a risk-free bet to place on another match of their choice. All bets must be made after 7:00AM on the Saturday to qualify and all selections must have odds of 2/5 or greater. The idea that a user must place four bets and spend £20 all in one weekend excludes a portion of the site's customers who will bet infrequently and with smaller amounts of money.

Unibet also provides customers with an accumulator insurance for those betting on Champions League matches. Qualifying bets must have four legs with those let down by a single leg having their £10 bet returned as a free bet. Users must opt in to be eligible for the insurance offer.

There is also insurance safeguarding those whose correct score/ half time-full time/ first goalscorer/ last goalscorer wagers come undone in injury time. Unibet will reimburse Premier League or Champions League match bets up to the value of £75. Again, visitors must opt-in in order to receive the insurance.

Terms and conditions for all the above offers can be found on the relevant promotion page, listed in the promotion link as displayed on the black toolbar.

Bonus Offers

Friends will also receive their standard £20 promotion should the user choose to recommend Unibet through the bookmaker's 'Refer A Friend' programme. As the referee the punter will also be better off to the tune of £20 per friend (up to the maximum of ten) once their pals have hit their 'wagering requirements'. Unfortunately, finding out what these requirements are is nigh on impossible, the offer's terms and conditions merely saying, 'Bonuses can be subject to the obligation of wagering them a certain amount of times ("Turnaround Requirement") before they can be withdrawn. If a bonus is subject to the turnaround requirement winnings generated by the wager of the bonus will be able to be withdrawn only when the Turnaround Requirement is fulfilled.'

These 11,000 terms and conditions can be found at the bottom of every page.

In Summary

Unibet can only be recommended to punters new to the betting game who value simplicity and conciseness over promotions and extra features.

Whilst the sportsbook is applauded for having many open markets on more niche sports, Unibet are lacking some choice in the football market.

There are also very few promotions and deals for users to get their teeth into and have no point of difference when it comes to products and features concerning popular sports such as football, horse racing and greyhound racing.

Those looking for transparency will have a job reading through the 11,000 word terms and conditions.