This is Bad Man Betting’s Ultimate Guide to Betfair giving you all the information you need on one of the UK’s most popular sportsbook and betting exchanges. This full Betfair review explains the background of the company, how to sign up with Betfair, the main features of the bookmaker’s website and how to find and use Betfair offers.
Betfair overview
Betfair was established back in 1999, so the company has over two decades of experience in providing a wide variety of markets to sports bettors. Betfair is owned by Flutter Entertainment plc, which also owns Paddy Power and its UK operation holds a license from the Gambling Commission. In other words, Betfair are serious players with a highly reliable website.
Betfair have been innovators from the start, having created one of the original betting exchanges, which is now the world’s biggest. Betfair have also led the way making in-play betting, cashouts and live streams part of the mainstream.
In addition to Betfair’s busy betting exchange, where punters bet against each other, the Betfair sportsbook is one of the largest in the UK, covering more than 30 sports and with a wide variety of events, markets and selections on offer.
As one of the UK’s most prominent bookies Betfair also regularly gives customers free bets, promotional offers, welcome offers, bonuses and promo codes. You can always find the best Betfair offers right here on the Bad Man Betting site.
Signing up with Betfair
It couldn’t be easier to create a new account with Betfair.
On the Betfair homepage you’ll see the Join Now button at the top on the right. Click there and you’ll be taken to the registration page. There you can sign-up by providing:
- personal details and contact information
- a username of your choice
- a password of your choice
- a security question which you set
- your choice of currency for your account
Keep in mind that once you’ve created your account you cannot change your username or your currency preference.
At this stage if you have a Betfair new customer promotional code you can also add it as part of the sign-up process.
Once you’ve agreed to the Ts&Cs and Privacy Policy and you’ve verified your phone number and email address your account will become active. Now you can start to place bets with Betfair. We recommend you check out Ban Man Betting’s analysis, tips and predictions on football, horse racing, golf or boxing before you part ways with any hard earned cash.
Payment methods accepted by Betfair
As you’d expect with a bookmaker of Betfair’s stature you can add funds to your Betfair account using all the main payment methods.
As well as using a Visa or Mastercard debit card you can also add funds with a bank transfer, Apple Pay, cheques, Neteller, PayPal, Skrill and Sofort Banking. You can withdraw or cash out with all those payment methods, but with Paysafecard you can deposit but not withdraw / cash out.
Betfair deposits and withdrawals
Betfair’s deposits and withdrawals processes are simple and fast. In terms of minimum transaction limits on deposits or withdrawals that is £10 when it comes to bank transfers, cheques and Skrill, or £5 with the other payment methods listed above.
How do you get free bets on Betfair?
Here on the Bad Man Betting site we are always on the look out for Betfair free bets and promotional offers. You can always bookmark this page which we update constantly with any new offers we see from Betfair. If you log in on the platform itself Betfair has its own promotions section for the Sportsbook and Exchange, as well as for its Casino, Poker, Exchange Games and Bingo customers.
How to use a Betfair promo code
It’s really easy to use a Betfair promo code. Look for a Betfair new customer welcome offer here on Bad Man Betting and copy paste the promo code into the relevant field as part of the sign-up process and you’ll get access to the relevant offer in your Betfair account.
If you’re already a Betfair customer you’ll see that the bookmaker often creates special promotions around specific events like the World Cup, Champions League, big Premier League games or major events on the horse racing calendar like Cheltenham and Royal Ascot. Keep an eye out for those promotional codes and special offers as they can boost profits when used wisely.
Betfair sportsbook
Betfair’s sportsbook markets are extensive with more than 30 sports featuring on the site including Football, Boxing, Cricket, Cycling, Darts, F1, Golf, Horse Racing, MMA, NFL, NBA, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Snooker and Tennis. You can also bet on other things such as current affairs, politics and esports.
Remember that here on Bad Man Betting we provide free predictions, tips and analysis bringing you the best football, golf, boxing and horse racing bets, backed up by high quality research. The insight we provide covers a wide variety of betting markets that can be found on Betfair – including accumulators, both teams to score, trebles, doubles, and challenge bets.
We are football mad here at Bad Man Betting and football fans are very well catered for on Betfair, which covers all the major leagues and competitions such as the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, the Championship, FA Cup, international football, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga. Betfair also covers minor leagues too right down to the German Regionalligas, Portuguese Liga 3 or the Colombian Primera B, though of course we recommend sticking to betting on competitions on which you really know your stuff.
You won’t be short of interesting odds, markets, offers and selections on the Betfair UK sportsbook when it comes to the big games. You’ll find a huge array of bets on offer from the typical 1X2 match odds, correct score, first scorer, to big accumulators and bets on corners, double chance, dynamic live betting and combinations of markets.
You’ll see that on Betfair they show odds (or prices as they are also called) in the decimal format. Don’t worry if you’re not used to decimal odds as they are pretty easy to understand, perhaps easier than traditional fractional prices once you get the hang of it.
When you see a price such as 5.0 (4/1), multiply your stake by that amount to work out your possible winning returns. The return of the stake is included in the decimal price. So a £100 bet on a correct selection at 5.0 will return £500. If you get confused between fractional and decimal odds you can refer to a bet calculator or odds converter table.
Betfair exchange
As well as the Betfair Sportsbook you’ll also find the Betfair Exchange on the website. Meanwhile there are separate Betfair Mobile Apps for the Sportsbook and the Exchange.
On betting exchanges such as the Betfair Exchange the members trade with each other, as opposed to betting against the bookie on a sportsbook. The ‘punters’ place and lay bets against each other, essentially trading bets.
Bettors trade with each other on the Betfair Exchange offering odds for or against specific outcomes.
The exchange takes their cut in the form of a small commission such as 2%-5% only on the profit that the traders make through the site.
If you are really clued up on specific sports and have really done your homework by reading Bad Man Betting’s guides and tips it is possible to make more profit on an exchange than on the sportsbook, as you only pay commission rather than margin (built into the sportsbook odds) to the bookie.
But there is more to take into account and learn in exchange betting as you back and lay bets and rapidly evaluate prices against what’s out there in the market. It is probably better to learn your way around a sportsbook first if you’re new to betting.
Betfair’s in-play and Cash out features
Using Betfair’s in-play and cash out features can be great fun if you’re watching live sport and want to react quickly to changing odds based on what’s happening in front of you. You can place bets ‘in-play’ during the live match.
Let’s say Arsenal are playing Liverpool and one of the teams gets a player sent off with 30 minutes to play and with the score at 0-0. The odds for the full-time correct score and other selections will immediately be impacted and if you can read the game well you can take advantage of the fluctuating prices.
Betfair created the ‘Cash out’ functionality, being the first bookmaker to offer it to their customers. It allows bettors to secure returns early by ‘cashing out’ before the end of the match, race or event, usually at an adjusted price. Or you can take reduced loss, in the case that you feel your initial selection will now not be successful.
Cashing out is commonplace with bookmakers now, all thanks to Betfair’s innovation in introducing it to the marketplace.
Betfair customer support
We have always found Betfair’s customer support to be responsive and professional. The company’s FAQ section is worth a look if you are new to Betfair and have any queries about how their sportsbook and exchange function, with clear explanations on how to resolve any issues you might have.
They also have an efficient and friendly customer support team which can be reached via live chat, email, phone or Twitter:
Email: info@betfair.com
Phone: +44 20 3059 8888
Twitter: @BetfairCS
Betfair Security and Safety
Betfair take customer data and security seriously. With a PCI compliant website which is ISO27001 certified the platform is safe and secure. Any personal data you share with the company is stored safely under 128-bit SSL encryption on Betfair’s secure servers.
