There's an awful lot to think about when you're choosing an online gambling provider. And, thankfully, there's a whole lot of choice out there across many regions where online gambling is legal.
But all that choice can make it hard to decide which one should be your main port of call when you're in the mood for a flutter.
So let's zoom in on two major companies and find out which one deserves your attention. Today we're going to find out is bet365 or Betfair stronger.
bet365 and Betfair are two well-known and respected online gambling companies that just so happened to launch at the beginning of the century.
While both websites are strong in product offerings, bet365 has a more diverse offering of betting lines as well as greater sports betting promotions.
Below is a breakdown of how bet365 and Betfair stack up in key areas. For additional details on what website has the edge for your preferred betting option, continue reading below.
Category | Bet365 | Betfair |
---|---|---|
Established (online) | 2000 | 2000 |
Licensed | UK Gambling Commission | UK Gambling Commission |
Products | All major prodcuts | All major products |
Poker | iPoker Network, more Twister SNGs | iPoker Network, Twister Race |
Sports | Huge selection of betting markets | Focus on major sports |
Casino | Playtech-focused | Larger selection of software providers |
Bingo | Playtech, more promotions | Playtech |
Contact | Live chat | Live chat |
@bet365 | @betfair | |
Overall |
5/5 |
4.5/5 |
Interestingly, both bet365 and Betfair started their online gambling operations in 2000. Betfair's founders Andrew Black and Edward Wray founded the British company in June of that year. As is common in the industry, there have been several sales and acquisitions since.
For example, the Japanese multinational investment group Softbank bought 23% of the company in 2006. That sale put the value of the company at an eye-watering ยฃ1.5 billion. And later that same year, Betfair itself purchased horse racing and sports data company Timeform.
Ten years later, Paddy Power and Betfair merged, becoming Paddy Power Betfair. Now the group is called Flutter Entertainment, and as well as owning Betfair and Paddy Power, it's also home to PokerStars, SkyBet, FanDuel and more.
On the other side of the coin, bet365 was brought to life by founder Denise Coates, also in 2000. She built the online business on the back of her dad's bricks-and-mortar bookmaking business, which started decades earlier.
With ยฃ15 million borrowed against the family business, Coates started an impressive online gambling operation. Coral bought the final high street betting shops from bet365 in 2005 and since then, it's been a purely online operation. And has remained in the hands of the family too.
One of the interesting things about these gambling sites is that they have so much to offer punters. Whether you choose bet365 or Betfair, they've got all the major areas of online gambling covered.
Betting Type | bet365 | Betfair |
Poker | โ | โ |
Sports | โ | โ |
| โ | โ |
Casino | โ | โ |
| โ | โ |
| โ | โ |
| โ | โ |
| โ | โ |
Live Casino | โ | โ |
Bingo | โ | โ |
In some ways, it's easy to compare poker at bet365 and Betfair. And in other ways it's tricky. That's because both online poker rooms are on the iPoker Network. The iPoker Network is one of the biggest in the world, which is excellent news for players.
So whether you're at bet365 or Betfair, you're going to be treated to a pretty good time. But of course, because they're both on the same network, that means we have to look extra close for differences.
As they are both part of iPoker, they boast the same fantastic Twister Sit & Gos. These are three-handed lottery sit & gos, which randomly determine prize pools at the beginning of the SNG. The prize pools are always a multiple of your buy-in and can reach up to 1,000x. When we were doing our research, we could only find Wild Twister Sit & Gos and Age of the Gods Twisters at bet365.
These Twister spin-offs are well worth your time. With Wild Twisters, you go all-in on every hand, bringing a true casino vibe to the table. On the other hand, you're in with a chance of winning one of four progressive jackpots every time you play an Age of the Gods Twister Sit & Go. Whether you randomly trigger the bonus jackpot game or not, you will still get to play.
At Betfair, there's an also exclusive Twister Race open only to their players. This is a weekly leaderboard challenge, where you effectively have to play Twisters to progress. The higher the buy-in, the larger your points total. And if you win, your points are doubled. The top 250 players get a prize of additional winter tickets. While it's true that pretty much just the heavy players will get these, it's nice all the same if you are a high volume player.
Both poker rooms also offer players the chance to take part in the Loyalty Club, which rewards you for playing poker. The more you play, the higher your rank. As you progress through the ranks, you get better rewards like entry to exclusive freerolls, bonus cash and more. A really nice reason to stick and use one site as your main poker port of call.
Bet365 Poker Significant Terms and Conditions โ Registration Required
Significant Terms and Conditions
A quality sportsbook is a thing of beauty. At least when you're a sports fan like us. The bet365 and Betfair sportsbooks are actually surprisingly different. Both have a lot to offer fans of traditional sports. But on closer inspection, there were a few glaring differences.
At bet365, there are dozens of different sports listed on the homepage. It's easy to see the variety of markets on offer. Whereas on Betfair, things are a little more spartan.
Now, maybe it was just us, but it seems like Betfair only really focuses on the biggest sports. So when we were researching, we could quickly and easily find links to Football, Tennis, Cricket, Rugby and Darts markets. But beyond that, the options were few and far between. To be honest, maybe it was a result of poor layout as opposed to a poor offering, but from our perspective, something isn't working.
There's a lot more to choose from at bet365. Or at least it's easier to see your choices. As well as all the markets listed above at Betfair, you can also find American Football, MMA, Esports, Golf, and even special markets like politics. And if you want to go even more niche you can. We know that most people will tend to go for major sports. But it's nice to have the option to bet outside of that. And it's nice to have the option to easily navigate to those markets too!
When it comes to promotions, there is also more to choose from at bet365. Depending on when you're looking, you might be able to find early payout offers, accumulator bonuses and guarantees. There are promotions at Betfair too, but just not as varied or as strong, in our opinion.
One of the nicest ones on offer over there is bonus cash when you refer a friend. Other than that, at least when we were researching, the only other thing on offer was no cash-out suspensions on match odds across a few markets.
Bet365 Sports Significant Terms and Conditions โ Registration Required
Your Bet Credits will expire 7 days after they are added to your Bet Credits balance.
Available to new customers only. Make a qualifying deposit of ยฃ5* or more and claim the offer within 30 days of registering your account to qualify for 300% of that amount in Bet Credits, up to a maximum of ยฃ30* in Bet Credits. Once released, your Bet Credits will be held in your account balance and are non-withdrawable.
To release your Bet Credits for use, you must place qualifying bets to the value of your qualifying deposit (capped at ยฃ10*) and they must settle within 30 days of claiming the offer. Only qualifying bets placed and settled after claiming the offer will count towards this requirement.
Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, paysafecard and all other prepaid credit and debit cards, where available, cannot be used for either your qualifying deposit or any subsequent withdrawal of returns from Bet Credits stakes unless we have successfully verified an accepted form of your Identity Documents and you have entered a Postal Verification Code (PVC), or we have successfully verified two accepted forms of your Identity Documents. See condition 2 of full Terms and Conditions for details.
Bets placed must meet certain conditions to count towards the release of your Bet Credits:
Must contain at least one selection at odds of 1/5 (1.20) or greater.
Only the largest cumulative stake on an individual selection within a market/fixture combination (either pre-match or In-Play) will count towards the settled bets requirement.
Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, only the remaining active stake will count.
Where a bet has been edited using our Edit Bet feature, only the new stake on the new bet will count.
Fully Cashed Out, Instant Games, Gaming, Free Bets, void bets, In-Play bets which are settled as a push or Fantasy Sports entries will not count.
Your Bet Credits are non-withdrawable, and Bet Credits stakes are not included in any returns. Any returns from Bet Credits placed will be added to your Withdrawable Balance. Bet Credits cannot be used on certain products, offers/promotions and bet types. See full Terms and Conditions for details.
Both bet365 and Betfair have a really great casino offering. You can find table games, card games and slots games galore on both sites.
When it comes to variety, we found that bet365 Casino has a wider offering of table and card games for their players. There's an awful lot to choose from, especially when it comes to roulette and blackjack. Similarly, the Live Casino at bet365 is just excellent too. Betfair does hold their own in this department as well, but there's something about the gaming options in bet365 that we just gravitate towards.
When it comes to slots, things get interesting. At bet365, it's solid quality. We're talking all Playtech, all the way. That's where the majority of their slots come from. Meanwhile, over at Betfair, things are slightly different. Instead of relying on one main supplier, they've got several.
Of course, it's nice to have options. But we find that there's a lot to be said with sticking for one major provider, especially when it comes to consistency of quality.
During our research period, we found more casino promotions at bet365 vs Betfair. We did find a nice free-to-play promotion that gives out free spins and casino bonuses at Betfair. However, there's just meatier casino offers at bet365. For example, there was a great football predictor promotion that awards players with free spins.
Bet365 Casino Significant Offer Terms and Conditions โ Registration Required
This offer is only available to new and eligible customers.
Deposit a minimum of ยฃ10 to Casino at bet365 and select the Claim box to qualify for 100 Free Spins. This is your โqualifying depositโ.
Stake ยฃ10 on eligible Casino slots. Live Slots will not count towards the staking requirement. Once the staking requirement has been met, your Free Spins will be credited to your account. You will have seven days from making your qualifying deposit to meet the ยฃ10 staking requirement.
Only stakes made on Casino slots (excluding Live slots) will contribute towards the ยฃ10 staking requirement. Stakes made on any other games, such as Table or Card games, will not contribute.
Free Spins will be credited to your account automatically and must be claimed within seven days. You can claim your Free Spins by clicking Accept on the pop-up message, or by logging into your Casino account, opening a game and clicking Accept. Once accepted, you will have seven days to use the Free Spins. Any unused Free Spins, along with any winnings accrued, will be removed within seven days of claiming.
Free Spins can be used on the following games: Book of Horus, Eye of Wukong, King of the Klondike and Sizzling 7s Fortune.
To use your Free Spins click on the Free Spins icon and press โSpin'. If you are on a mobile device or tablet, you will need to go to the menu at the top left of the game screen and click on the โFree Spins Bonus' option to be able to play your Free Spins.
The bingo on offer at bet365 and Betfair is fairly similar if we're being honest. That's because both sites are powered by Playtech. So when you're at either site, you're going to see similarities when it comes to the rooms.
Just to give you a flavor of what's available at bet365 bingo, we spotted a cash giveaway, exclusive bingo room entries, weekly cashback and discounted games. Then at Betfair, there are also a decent amount of offers. When we checked, we found a free daily game, exclusive bingo room entry and boosted prizes.
Bet365 Casino Significant Terms and Conditions โ Registration Required
This offer is only available to new and eligible customers.
Register your Chat Name in the Bingo Lobby, and then opt in to both the Bingo New Player Offer (Free Spins) and the Bingo New Player Offer (Free Tickets) in the โMy Offersโ section of the Lobby.
Spend ยฃ10 cash on Bingo Tickets in eligible rooms to receive the 100 Free Tickets and 50 Free Spins. This ยฃ10 is cumulative and can be made up of multiple cash ticket purchases of smaller amounts. Tickets purchased in all Bingo rooms, excluding Tickets in Free Bingo rooms, will contribute towards the staking requirement.
Cash spent on Bingo Tickets will only count towards the staking requirement for this offer once the corresponding Bingo game has finished.
The New Player Offer Terms and Conditions apply to customers who create their Chat Name in the Bingo Lobby and Opt in between 11:00 UK Time on 13th June and 10:59 UK Time on 14th August 2024.
You will be notified via a pop up in the Bingo Lobby once your rewards are available. You must accept your Free Tickets via the pop-up, if you click โDecline' then you will not get another chance to accept the Free Tickets. All rewards will be credited within 48 hours of your registration and completion of the New Player Offer eligibility requirements and must be used within seven days of crediting. Any unused rewards will be removed within seven days of crediting.
You can use your Free Tickets in Bingo games where each ticket costs 10p or less, excluding DISCOUNTED featured games. Not all rooms may be available at all times. There is an option to buy additional tickets with your cash balance.
You can use the Free Spins which are valued at 10p on any of the following games: Big Bass Bonanza, Book of the Fallen, John Hunter and the Book of Tut, Snakes and Ladders Megadice.
There are a number of different things to take into consideration when you're trying to decide between bet365 or Betfair. The first is what sort of online gambling are you looking for. If you want a sportsbook in your online gambling stable, then bet365 is a clear winner when it comes to offers as well as markets.
But things are a little trickier when it comes to bingo, poker and casino. That's because both sites genuinely have so much to offer. For bingo and poker, because they share more similarities than not, it's especially difficult. However, we think that because there are Dual Drop jackpots at bet365 Bingo and Wild Twister Sit & Gos and Age of the Gods Twister at bet365 Poker, it gives bet365 the edge.
We think things are even closer when it comes to the casino. Essentially, you're choosing between the solid quality of relying on mainly Playtech titles at bet365 vs a large selection of providers at Betfair. So it really depends on if you favor quality over quantity. For us, it's got to be quality and consistency every time, which is why we'd choose bet365.
Both Bet365 and Betfair are considered to be very safe and well-regulated online gambling websites. Both are licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, which is the crown jewel of licensing bodies in the online gambling world.
The specific payment methods available at Bet365 and Betfair can vary significantly depending on a punter's location. In general, you will find that payment processing options will meet or exceed the needs of players. Bet365 offers deposits through most major e-wallets, credit cards and vouchers, A Quick Deposit option allows you the opportunity to fund your account more easily.
At Betfair, players have the option for methods such as Neteller, Skrill, Paypal, Web Money, Paysafecard, Rapid Transfer and credit cards, to name a few.
If you are in the UK and have problems with your gambling, there are resources available to you. Visit GambleAware for more information call the National Gambling Helpline at 0808 8020 133. Live Chat is also available.
If youโre interested in how Bet365 matches up against other websites, check out our other in-depth comparisons of Bet365 vs other popular online gambling sites:
Stay tuned to this space for more analysis of Bet365 vs other top online casinos.
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