Nice betting, piss-poor banking (sportingbet.com)

Member Name: JonnyM79

Product:	sportingbet.com
Date:	10/04/02 (212 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple, Clear, Wide sports coverage

Disadvantages: Can't get at your winnings, and that's just SOOO annoying, isn't it?

Sportingbet.com is something of a historical hangover. It is based in the Channel Islands and was clearly set up when betting was taxed to take advantage of tax free betting offshore. Why it remains there when betting tax has been abolished I'm not sure, but we're talking about the internet here so it doesn't really matter where it's located.

The thing that first attracted me (and most new punters) to the site is the free bet so I'll deal with that first. All you have to do is deposit 20 quid and bet it and you get credited with a free £20 bet. What this is depends on the big sporting event of the moment and, bizarrely enough, whether you logged onto sportingbet.com or sportingbet.co.uk (they offer different things). Typical examples include the result of the Grand National or the winner of the World Cup. If that's all you're interested in you need to find a dead cert' to bet your initial 20 quid on to qualify so you don't lose it. My recommendation is Test Cricket: wait until the 3rd/4th day of the game and hopefully by that time one side will be in total control and you can back them with confidence (admittedly at crappy odds, but you just want your money back and your free bet, right?).

To those interested in further punting you'll want to know about the rest of the site. The range of sports covered is reasonable with all major UK and US sports catered for. They do the odd bet that doesn't seem to appear on other bookmakers sites; e.g. half time/full time winner predictions on rugby league. The odds are fairly standard and the same as everyone else: 5/6 on either side on handicap bets, for example. The page layout isn't as pretty as the superbly presented Blue Square, but the information is clear and comprehensive.

A great feature which doesn't seem to be offered too commonly is the statistics button: click it for a tennis match, say, and you get the c
urrent world rankings of the protagonists and the dates and results of their previous meetings. It's nothing you couldn't find on most sports information sites but they should be applauded for making it so convenient. The site also features a casino. For research purposes I went and lost a tenner in it (I hope you're impressed with my commitment: even with a crown I'd take an 8 quid hit on this op!). It's flash rather than downloads so the graphics and sounds aren't all that hot and it's even in U.S. dollars so I'd probably give it a miss: if you're desparate to lose money Ladbrokes download casino is far superior.

This site does have a great weakness though, and that's with transfers of funds. It's not with putting them in (surprise, surprise): credit and debit cards are both a doddle. The problem is if you get a decent win and want to withdraw it (this happened to me so I don't really mind the casino loss) If you want to withdraw a greater amount than your last deposit it can't be done electronically and they have to write you a cheque and post it. Now remember this has to come from Jersey, and (in my experience) takes nearly 2 weeks to arrive from the day you request it (you have to do this by E-mailing the site administrator: more hassle). When rivals such as Ladbrokes, Sporting Odds and Blue Square all offer instant withdrawals of almost any amount either to a card or a bank account this seems ludicrous and the thought that it's not too easy to get it back actually dissuaded me from depositing money again with the site.

To round off this is a very passable site with clear features and a good range of bets. However it offers nothing beyond its many rivals and since they've made it so difficult to get at your winnings (and there's nothing that pisses me off more than that on a betting site) I'd have to recommend that you go elsewhere next time you fancy a flutt
er.

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