Betfair Review

Bonuses and Promotions

All online casinos try to tempt new players into joining by offering lucrative bonuses and promotions – and Betfair is no different. Below, we look at the main Betfair casino bonus and how it works!

Welcome Offer

The main Betfair welcome bonus is fairly straightforward, and it’s a simple 100% matched deposit bonus up to $400. This welcome bonus, essentially, allows you to double your first real money deposit at the site – and with wagering requirements of just 35X, you actually stand a pretty good chance of converting the bonus into withdrawable cash!

Some game restrictions do apply when using the bonus. Valid for 7 days, the turnover requirements of the bonus need to be completed before the time runs out; else, you forfeit the bonus. Valid for 7 days means you have a week to meet the turnover requirements, which, for most players, should be plenty of times.

Please note that this welcome bonus does not apply to players in the UK, where the casino bonus offer is completely different.

No-Deposit & Free Spins Offers

At the time of writing, we could not find any no-deposit bonuses or free spins promotions at Betfair. If this changes, we’ll update this page and give you any relevant bonus codes needed to claim them.

VIP and Loyalty Programs

Betfair VIP Club – that’s the name of the loyalty scheme at the casino, and all customers are invited to join from the moment they first create an account. You’ll earn points every time you play a game, and later on, you can redeem your points for promotional bonuses, free spins and cash prizes; there are three tiers making up the loyalty scheme, and the higher you get, the bigger the rewards!

BANKING AND PAYMENT METHODS

Like any online casino, Betfair aims to offer players as many payment methods and banking options as possible – and, with a minimum deposit of $10 for most payment methods, all players should find themselves able to enjoy the site!

They offer a huge selection of payment methods, including all major debit and credit cards, Skrill, Neteller, PayPal, Paysafecard and Web Money, and they also allow deposits and withdrawals via bank transfer – a major plus point for many players, especially those wanting to use the betting exchange and shift large amounts of money!

As stated, the minimum deposit of $10 is applied to virtually all payment methods, and Betfair Casino does not charge any fees on deposits. Funds are available in your account immediately – which can then be used in the online casino, the betting exchange or in the sports betting part of the site.

Withdrawal Speed

Unlike many online casinos out there today, Betfair Casino actually tries to process withdrawals as quickly as they can. If you make a withdrawal to an EWallet, the average time it takes for you to receive your money is just 4 hours! Other payment methods can take up to 2 working days – and if you’re in the UK, you cannot cancel your withdrawal. Those outside of the UK can, but, as pointed out, withdrawals are so quick, it’s rarely needed anyway.

Average Based on 5 real users

Responsible Gaming

When compiling this Betfair Casino review, our staff found that the online casino has several tools in place to assist consumers in maintaining control over their gaming.

The typical deposit limits are available, with daily, weekly, and monthly limits to choose from. Lowering the limits takes place automatically, but any rise in the limits takes 24 hours to take effect.

At Betfair Casino, players can also set session alerts to notify them how long they’ve been playing, with periods ranging from 30 minutes to 4 hours. In addition to this, Betfair Casino will display your game history – showing you how much you’ve won or lost playing the games at Betfair.

As their license condition dictates, Betfair Casino also allows players to take a time-out from their casino software – for up to 6 weeks – as well as offering self-exclusion, which completely blocks access to a player’s account for between 6 months and 5 years.

Betfair Casino takes responsible gambling very seriously. In addition to all of the self-managed responsible gambling tools, they also offer resources, links to problem gambling charities and blocking software.

About the Team and History

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Betfair: “Betfair is an online gambling company which operates the world’s largest online betting exchange. It also offers a Sportsbook (fixed odds betting), online casino, online poker and online bingo. The company’s headquarters are located in Hammersmith in Greater London, England, and Clonskeagh, Dublin, Ireland.”

Betfair offers everything – from sports betting and online poker to casino games and more – and they are well licensed, regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority – they’re even regulated by the Jersey Gambling Commission! They’re one of the world’s leading online casinos, and their arch-rival Paddy Power – well, let’s say they ended up combining, and in 2015 Paddy Power and Betfair merged to create Paddy Power Betfair.

Complaints and Track Record

Betfair has sort of an infamous history at Casinomeister. For a few years, they were listed as an Accredited Casino – but this came to a screeching halt in 2010 when they had a Betfair Bonus Fiasco.

Betfair Casino ran a promo on Saturday 13 November, which offered an unlimited happy hour bonus with only 10x playthrough. When they realized how much they were losing, they changed the wagering amount to 20x and began locking accounts and confiscating winnings.

Even though players had risked their own funds and met the posted wagering requirements, they were given the “speak to the hand” treatment and were told that they had not played in the “Spirit of the Bonus.”

Enforcing a “spirit of the bonus” clause is something that a rogue Costa Rican clip shot joint would have pulled years ago. Most rogue casinos wouldn’t even try to pull a stunt like this now. The “spirit” is to win; for the casino, it’s for the player to lose, right?

From Casinomeister’s philosophy and mission statement section:

“Spirit of the Bonus”

No such animal. If the casino offers a bonus, the casino should not assume on what grounds the bonus should be accepted. If the player wants to play and watch the reels spin or is playing to make a profit, it is not up to the casino to enforce subjective terms like “spirit”.

Betfair was a Casinomeister Accredited Casino, but they were removed from the Accredited section as soon as this episode began to unfold. Complaints at Casinomeister began to pile up, and Max forwarded these to Betfair’s casino representative. He responded to only the first batch with a blanket response – again – referring to players exploiting the spirit of the bonus. He recommended that players contact the Malta Gaming Authority if they had any problem with this.

The problem was back then; the MGA was one of the most non-responsive licensing agencies in the business. You might as well have complained to the mailman. Since then, the MGA has become much more responsive and is a viable licensing agency at present.

Well, the player issues spilt out into the forum. One startling note was that a player had reported that Betfair paid his winnings into his bank account, only to remove them later. That was quite alarming behaviour. We believe that this was settled via a courtroom.

As Vinylweatherman stated here, “Betfair is trying to make out they are victims of mass “bonus abuse”, rather than victims of their own incompetence.” It looks like he hit the nail right on the head.

So Betfair was tossed into the Rogue Pit with the warning that Betfair would confiscate winnings at a whim. If they don’t like the way you play, even though you risk your own funds and meet the wagering requirement, they will exercise their right to seize your winnings.

And then there was the Betfair probation attempt in November 2012; Betfair attempted to go on probation – in other words, to be removed from the Rogue Pit. But for this to happen, all previous player issues were to be dealt with fairly. This included all of the players who had their winnings confiscated for not playing in the “spirit of the bonus” RE: the Happy Hour promotion mentioned below. Betfair reps informed me that those cases were closed and that they would not consider opening them. Unfortunately, this disqualified them from “probation” status.

We had hoped that Betfair would come to its senses and realize how loathsome this Happy Hour situation was handled, and make a real attempt to right their wrong shortly. It’s not about the money – it’s about doing the right thing.

Anyway, years went by, and they seem to have more-or-less got their act together. Unfortunately when it comes to player complaints though they have been pretty underwhelming in recent years because they basically ignore anything that they aren’t forced to deal with. See the Max’s Desk section for further details.