Betfair Review

Full Review

Sports betting is a quite simple matter. There is a match, say a football game, between team A and team B. One of them has stronger players, with better skills, and a better coach, so it has the bigger chance to win – this one is the favorite. The other one is considered weaker – the underdog – so its chances to win are lower. Before the two teams start playing, bookmakers arrange bets on the outcome of their match. Usually the bets placed on the favorite are safer, so they have a smaller payout, and the ones placed on the underdog are less safe, but more profitable. And there are other bets to be placed (over, under, and so on), but the this is the basis of the whole thing.

Well, a betting exchange is quite a different thing. Instead of betting against the bookmaker (the house, so to say), you bet against other punters – the operator acts as an intermediary, arranging bets between players. There are two types of bets to be placed at such an exchange: the ‘back’ bet, meaning you bet on something to happen, and the ‘lay’ bet, meaning you bet against something to happen.

Betting exchanges have quite a few advantages, like having virtually no limit to their bets, but they also have one thing considered a disadvantage by many: that they perceive a commission of the transactions.

Well, after clarifying what a betting exchange is, I can move on to the real topic of this review: Betfair, the world’s biggest betting exchange.

History

Betfair was founded in 1999 by two British entrepreneurs –  Andrew Black and Edward Wray. They launched their innovative business in 2025 – it was the first successful betting exchange ever built, and it has kept its position as the top betting exchange ever since. In time Berfair has grown – today they provide a full range of sports betting and online gambling products to almost a million users from all over the world. In just 10 years Betfair has become a FTSE 250 company (the FTSE 250 means the top 250 companies traded on the London Stock Exchange).

Services

Betfair’s core business is the betting exchange, but it covers every other online gambling service, including sports betting. Actually, it has launched its online sportsbook only a year ago…

It has casino and live casino games, a poker room, a bingo hall, a section dedicated to slot machines, a bingo hall, and something called Exchange Games – about this a little later.

Betting exchange and sportsbook

Betfair’s core business is the betting exchange – it offers bets on events in over 20 categories, from American football to volleyball. Players have the chance to place pre-game and in-game bets – Betfair covers approximately all that moves in the most popular European sports.

Also, players can place in-game bets through the Betfair live betting platform, that covers a surprisingly high number of games.

For those reluctant to place lay and back bets, Betfair also runs its own sportsbook, where punters can place bets against the company instead of each other. This section acts as a normal sportsbook – players can place bets with different odds in 24 categories, pre-game and in-game as well.

Neither the exchange, nor the sportsbook allow players to follow the events live, through streaming, as some of their competitors do.

What it has, and many competitors don’t, is its forum that combines a blog with a live chat, and its guide to the TV schedule – if players can’t follow the game through their website, they will tell them which channel to switch to and at what time.

Casino

As many other leading online gambling operations, Betfair also runs a casino powered by Playtech. Thus, their games have the usual quality, being available for instant play in smaller numbers and for download in their complete form.

As usual for online casinos, Betfair also has a welcome bonus – actually three, as it has a separate offer for those willing to play all the games in the casino, for those who prefer to play slots only, and one for those who prefer live dealers instead of impersonal random number generators to deal their cards. For more details you can click here.

Gamblers at the Betfair casino can play for a great progressive jackpot (hundreds of thousands of pounds at the time of writing this article), can gain comp points, become VIP players and earn various benefits.

Betfair has a casino license issued by the gambling authorities of Malta.

Arcade

This section has a great variety of instant games for players to spend their time (and money) on, including ones based on the popular video game Worms, or the even more popular table game Monopoly, to mention just a few – most of them are instant casino games, virtual sports and others. This section also has a special bonus: filling the bonus bar (not all games have this one) will bring the player a guaranteed win.

Vegas slots

This section is everything its name suggests: a collection of various slot machines, provided by Williams Interactive. It has the finest slot machines – titles like Fire Queen, Star Trek (based on the Original series), KISS, Elvis, Bruce Lee, and about everything you might imagine. This section also has a kind of achievement system – some games have to be unlocked by earning medals (playing other slots).

Bingo

Yet another online bingo hall – a game very popular in the UK. It has 75 and 90 ball bingo games, with various themes, special side games and an attractive welcome offer: players will receive a £30 welcome bonus for spending £10 on bingo tickets: £20 in Bingo funds, plus £10 to spend on side games. Terms and conditions apply.

Exchange games

This is an interesting and relatively new section at Betfair: it gives the players the possibility to bet on the outcome of several virtual casino games. It’s like sitting behind a Blackjack players in Las Vegas, for example, and betting on his hands. On desktop and mobile, as well.

The list of games in this section includes classic casino games like blackjack, baccarat, roulette, hold’em, omaha hi, card derby racing.

Conclusion

Betfair is a big company, one that you can trust your money with. It has everything online gambling covered, it has decent bonuses (nothing extraordinary, but I have seen many worse), and promises fair payouts and hours of fun and gambling. Go, take a look right now.

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