888.com moved into sports betting with the creation of 888Sport. 888 were already market leaders with 888Casino and 888Poker, also operating a number of very successful Bingo brands and are one of the biggest operations in the global online gaming industry. 888holdings is the parent company of these well established gambling brands, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has its headquarters in Gibraltar where the business is licensed. In 2009 888Holdings announced an annual turnover of £150million with profits near £17million.
BACKGROUND
Established in 1997, 888 successfully applied for a gaming licence in Gibraltar which was awarded in 2003. Following this, 888 moved its head office to Gibraltar and in October 2005 888Holdings PLC became listed on the London Stock Exchange. In March 2008, 888Sport was launched in partnership with Blue Square, one of the longest established online betting operators in the UK. 888Sport target the European and Scandinavian online betting markets, and the sportsbook is available in Danish, English, French, German, Spanish and Swedish language versions.
OFFERS AND PROMOTIONS
In an EXCLUSIVE arangement with Freebets.com, 888Sport will TREBLE THE ODDS on your first bet. This great twist on enhanced odds for new customers gives more choice to punters who can choose any single bet or accumulator in the sportsbook. Just stake at least £5 to qualify for triple odds, extra winnings will be paid in cash within 72 hours. The maximum stake is £10 and maximum winnings capped at £5000.
There’s plenty of opportunities for free bets with promotions on a variety of sports, updating with each new season.
888Sport provide a variety of innovative betting offers across all sports and these offers have proven effective in attracting new customers. 888Sport special offers range from enhanced each way promotions to cashback offers and equally important to customers, 888Sport offer some very competitively priced markets. Since its launch, 888Sport have regularly offered some of the better value free bet promotions available and their long standing 88th minute refund offer remains a popular promotion for Premier League and Champions League bettors.
Horse racing punters can make use of daily refund offers which are typically for 2nd placed horses beaten by a selected distance and are usually available across most of the day’s meetings.
888Sport also have an Acca Club promotion allowing regular punters to earn up to £25 in free bets each week for placing a minimum of 3 treble or bigger multiples in a single week.
Get treble the odds on your first free bet when you register with 888Sport
BETTING OPPORTUNITIES
888Sport provide a good range of UK horseracing, football and other major sports and special interest betting events. However, 888Sport do not yet provide the depth of betting markets that can be found with a few of the longer established online bookmakers and do not offer best odds guaranteed on horse racing. While some customers may feel their betting opportunities to be somewhat incomplete, 888Sport provide enough betting markets to satisfy the majority of online gamblers. The 888Sport website has a very slick live betting console with in-play betting available on all the major markets of each live event. As this relative newcomer develops its online sportsbook, be sure there will be some unique and interesting additions to their betting markets; 888Sport already cover Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and they have one of the best coverage of ante-post greyhound racing.
DESIGN AND LAYOUT
The 888Sport site is very modern and sleek with a stylish orange and black colour scheme that feels very comfortable to the user. 888Sports home page has the familiar lay out seen on so many internet betting sites with a very prominent betting slip where expected, in the right hand corner. Quick access to live betting and the major upcoming betting events is ensured, with 888Sports making them available in the central area of their home page.
NAVIGATION
Browsing round the 888Sport site is very straightforward with expanding menus providing access to additional betting markets associated with the event. 888Sport have some helpful grouping of markets such as “Short priced favourites” or “UK TV match list” which can save a lot of time when building accumulators. 888Sport offer the widest selection of payment options including: Credit Cards – Visa, MasterCard, Diners club, Euro card Debit Cards – Visa, MasterCard, Diners club, Euro card, Laser, Maestro, Solo Bank Transfer, Cheque and Wire Transfer On the navigation sidebar, 888Sport offer the UK horse racing icard which is powered by the press association and is an excellent resource providing full racecards with jockey colours, results, statisitics and news etc. Below, 888Sports’ promotions link is prominently featured for access to the regularly updated 888Sport betting offers and competitions.
Register with 888Sport and get triple odds for your first bet
MOBILE BETTING
888Sport promote a mobile betting service on the homepage. However you will need to register and apply for mobile betting to find out if there is an application compatible with your mobile phone, as the website does not provide this information.
LIVE STREAMS
You can watch horse racing via the iCard but 888Sport ask you to place a bet in order to see the race. At the time writing, 888Sport do not offer live video streams for other sports.
FORM AND STATS
As previously mentioned, 888Sport provide a huge resource of horse racing information and statistics via the Racing iCard. 888Sport also provide a live score and statistics console powered by Bet Radar with comprehensive coverage of most major sports.
VIP
Become a VIP at 888Sport and open the door to a whole new world of sports betting with bigger bonuses and free bets, exclusive promotions and invitations to top sports events.
As a VIP member, you’ll get a hatful of opportunities to score incredible prizes which include; free bets, tickets to live sports events, the latest must-have gadgets and tech, invitations to global VIP events and more. Not only that, but you’ll experience the personal touch with your very own account manager.
Examples of recent VIP prizes on 888Sport are tickets to Cheltenham Racecourse, box seats at Premier League football matches and a meet and greet with Brazilian football legend Pele.
There are no set limits on the amount which can be staked at 888Sport with the firm using their own discretion depending on the marke, but payouts are limited at £250,000.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
888Sport has an extensive FAQ section with search facility to help answer customer queries. If you cannot find the answer to your question, contact with 888Sport must be made via email as at the time of writing there are no chat facility or telephone contact details.