NetBet Review
NetBet are something of a silent but sure bookie in the UK market. They have been around for a long time but don’t come up in conversation as often as their contemporaries. It’s odd because, actually, they deliver one of the best websites out there with decent odds to boot, and they certainly aren’t lacking in depth or range.
They offer something a little different to a lot of sportsbooks by way of more obscure European sports and markets, as well as some genuinely interesting and experience enhancing betting features.
Their live betting capabilities are first class and when it comes to payments there isn’t much to complain about there either, aside from some unnaturally long potential processing times, but if you are the patient sort this is a useful bookie that should be seriously considered as an addition to your portfolio.
In terms of gaming they have around 38 different providers and deliver one of the easiest sites to search, even letting you refine by software which is a Godsend if you particularly like or dislike a certain developer.
They are known in particular for existing customer bonuses and they also have Poker, lottery betting, virutals and live casino.
Sports Markets & Odds
As a bookie with a European focus, NetBet run a sportsbook that is less predictable than a lot of other brands. You won’t find anywhere near as many events as some of the big boys provide, we may as well make that clear from the start, but you will often find events from afar that other bookmakers don’t list at all – and they usually come with a good depth of markets.
The sports list is 30 strong and contains a surprising number of Winter Sports as well as a few options like Bandy, Surfing, and Volleyball that UK focused bookies may not include.
You will never miss out on popular UK fixtures, either, although there may not be quite the number of betting lines you are used to. Don’t let that put you off, though, there are still 100+ even for National league football fixtures, for example, and some of the extra features like SnapBet add a great deal of enjoyment which many other bookies can’t match.
The other great thing about NetBet is that they tend to rank quite highly for good value odds, especially when it comes to European football matches, and regular NetBet Boosts (price boosts) and promotions can improve things even further. There is also a comprehensive stats and results tool to help you make some shrewd decisions.
It’s not the best place for the horses or the greyhounds, although they are available for the casual punter, but if these are what you bet on most you will be better served somewhere else.
Live Betting/Streaming
This is a professionally designed betting tool and interface that is constantly evolving in real time, and it feels very exciting to use. The red and green pulsating arrows indicate odds going up and down, and the whole thing feels like a stock market traders’ platform.
It’s incredibly smooth and responsive, you won’t end up frustrated that the site can’t keep up with you, and the in-game graphic is probably one of the best there is both in terms of appearance and functionality.
There are always plenty of fast markets available and you can quickly get to what you want using the market categorisation options for each event followed by the collapsible menu bars to narrow things down further. There is also a good deal of in-game information available as well as an event schedule so you can plan your time.
Once you open an event you can even keep track of the live scores of other fixtures from other categories, and quickly jump over if one takes your interest. It means you can make your live betting experience as laid back or as intense as you want it to be.
You won’t be able to live stream and will find more in-play markets at some other bookies, but again there are more than enough for most people here, and you almost certainly won’t be using such a good product anywhere else.
Banking
| Banking Method | Max/Min Deposit | Max/Min Withdrawal | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debit Card | £10 | £10 | Up to 5 Days |
| PayPal | £10 | £10 | Up to 5 Days |
| Paysafecard | £10 | N/A | No Withdrawal |
| Bank Transfer | £10 | £10 | Up to 5 Days |
Since they have players from all over Europe, the payment methods on offer are numerous. We have only mentioned those relevant to UK customers but there are many more besides. One interesting option that they used to accept is Bitcoin, and although it isn’t an option anymore, as the first first company to accept the crypto currency it puts NetBet at the front of the line when it comes to innovation.
High rollers may find the low deposit maximums annoying, but usually, you can talk to the bookie in question if you want to deposit unusually large sums of money and make an arrangement; most people will be just fine.
There are no fees attached, although the timescale is up to 5 days which feels excessive to say the least. That seems crazy in this day and age. That said, they always give an absolute worst case scenario, so the chances of your withdrawal request actually taking this long are slim.
Betting Features
NetBet are always thinking of new ways to spice things up or improve the betting experience so they have a good deal of extra features available.
As well as those listed below there are also regular promotions including acca boosts and weekly prediction prizes, a great blog, the results service and in depth stats available for many fixtures. There is also a Bet Maker, which is a rubbish name but does exactly what it says on the tin.
SnapBet
This one is only available on mobile and tablet but it’s designed for use in-play so chances are you will be using a device anyway.
It’s a doozy. During a football match, you can bet on a goal being scored in the next 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes; whichever option you choose will be split into three periods.
The closer to the end of the time limit the goal is scored, the greater your winnings. So, for example, if you bet on a goal in the next 30 seconds, the first 14 seconds might be worth £30; 15-24 seconds might be worth £50; the final 5 seconds could be worth £100.
This is a guaranteed adrenaline booster, and the odds are updating all the time so your timing has to be just right.
Virtuals
A relatively new addition for NetBet, and with only Football, Horse Racing, and Greyhounds to choose from. However, if betting on non-existent football matches floats your boat then these are actually quite good. New events start every 3 minutes.
Graphically it can feel a bit grainy, like watching telly in the late ’90s, but the commentary is really good on the football with some interesting camera angles we haven’t seen before too. The play and set pieces are also complex and unexpected.
The racing doesn’t compete quite so well but there is less to play with to be fair. We noticed some commentary issues like repetition or the audio not quite matching the visuals, but on the whole it was decent.
Fantasy Leagues
Fantasy football leagues aren’t anything new, but playing through NetBet could earn you weekly and monthly prizes in the way of free bets. The end of season prize is obviously the main event, but there is plenty to keep you involved along the way.
Other prizes include team kits of your choice for the next season, and NetBet will hit you up with tips, stats, and analysis so you can immerse yourself in the competition.
It’s a good way to get a group of mates together throughout the season and brag about successes as well as laughing at each other’s misfortunes.
Cashout
Not only is this available at NetBet but they have built other features around it.
It’s easy enough to do, the hardest part is figuring out if it’s a good idea or not. If you put £10 on Grimsby Town FC to win (it does happen sometimes) and they are 2:1 up at 85 minutes but the other team look like scoring, you could cash out early at reduced odds but for a slightly lower profit.
Equally, if Grimsby were 2:1 down at 85 minutes (which is the more likely scenario, let’s be honest) you might decide to cut your losses and cash out early leaving you no chance of winning the bet, but recouping a small portion of your stake.
Partial Cashout
Building on cashing out, NetBet will allow you to cash out a part of your bet while leaving the other part in at the original odds.
This way, in the right circumstances you can cover yourself and still make a profit.
This is available on singles and accumulators (do check though, it’s not always an option) and is a great way to stay in control and adapt with the game you are betting on.
You can also play with the amount of your stake you want to cash out. It works on a sliding scale, so you could cash out £4 of your bet on Grimsby and leave the other £6 in, for example.
Poor old Grimsby.
Casino
NetBet don’t specialise in sports betting, there is more to them than just that which is immediately apparent when you load their equally impressive casino. The igaming offerings at NetBet are comprised of the Casino, Live Casino, Vegas, Poker, and Lottery areas.
The casino hosts top games from a large number of well-known software providers encompassing slots, jackpots, blackjack, roulette, and a few other table and card games. There are more than 1700 games on the site which is an awful lot to deal with, but NetBet have probably the best game filtering system of any online casino anywhere. It’s brilliant.
Many menu options that lead to a lot of results like Slots, Jackpots, or Providers reveal a neat sub menu with further search categories to narrow things down. These are incredibly varied and include themes, specific providers, new slots, etc. It’s so helpful if you don’t know what to play and want to explore, plus, the menu follows you down the page as you scroll so you don’t have to scroll all the way back up to change category.
The providers are too numerous to mention all of them, but you will recognise the likes of NetEnt, Play’n GO, Pragmatic, NYX, Microgaming, IGT, NextGen, and Yggdrasil. There are more than 35 developers proudly displaying their games at NetBet, and they are displayed beautifully with great big game tiles so you can get a good idea of what the game you are considering might be like.
This might be our favourite online casino outside of the real big boys. It’s stylish, incredibly user-friendly, and also very powerful so there is never any lag.
Live Casino
The live casino is powered by Evolution Gaming, and if you know anything about this area of online gambling you will understand why that is a good thing.
NetBet go above and beyond when it comes to game info too, revealing an awesome amount of detail on each live game without having to load it up. You can see how busy it is without even loading the lobby.
The live casino options are built into the regular interface but once you load a game up you can enter the lobby proper where you can access 110+ live games covering roulette, blackjack, poker, baccarat, and sic bo, as well as the less traditional game show type games like Monopoly, Deal or No Deal, and Dream Catcher.
There are scores of blackjack tables here, one to suit every purse or wallet, and it is a pretty good place for live dealer poker games in particular with Casino Hold’em, 3 Card, and Caribbean Stud all available amongst others.
Poker
You will need to download the poker product if you want to join in with the many games, tournaments, and promotions on offer at NetBet poker.
There are loads of smaller tournaments every day, with affordable buy ins and guaranteed prizes. These are an ideal training ground for newer players or those looking to work on their game before hitting up one of the major tournaments.
The Academy is another option for those who still have a bit to learn, which will take you through the rules for the various different games, how tournaments work, and also run you through a poker glossary so that you can keep up with the lingo.
The built in reward scheme is especially good at NetBet poker, with benefits available as soon as you sign up which only get better the more you play. These include tournament tokens, reload bonuses, cash bonuses, freeroll access, and VIP shop access. It’s a monthly scheme so you have to work hard for the upper tiers, but it’s designed in such a way that even occasional players can get at least a few perks from it.
Lottery
Lottery betting at NetBet might not be the type of Lotto betting that you were expecting. It is not based on real lotteries from around the world but on draws made every few minutes from a studio somewhere in Eastern Europe.
There are three game types available; 5 ball, 6 ball, and 7 ball. Each draw is hosted by a real person and three different sets of coloured balls are used. The most obvious way in which this lottery product differs from others though is that you don’t choose any numbers.
You actually bet on the many different possible outcomes of the draw such as more even numbers than odd, at least one ball of each colour, zones the balls will drop in, etc.
It’s all based on blind luck of course but it’s a nice relaxing way to do a bit of gambling without having to think too much.
Desktop Site
We really like the NetBet site, it feels stylish and fresh with plenty of space for each section and feature to breath. Varying shades of grey leading to white are used for clarity between sections and info box’s, with touches of green for emphasis.
This high end feel is down to the SBTech platform the site runs on. It’s incredibly capable, feels robust and light on its feet. SBTech are a multi-award winning Bulgarian firm known for developing innovative betting products and allowing great diversity from one site to another, and is on fine form here.
In terms of navigation you should have absolutely no issues at all. Quick links to popular choices as well as an A-Z of sports or a search bar will get you to where you need to be in no time, and all of the useful features and tools are listed for easy access.
Everything is contained within a single interface, so once the page loads you can snap instantly from one selection or category to another. The only time you will need to load a new page is if you want to go to another area of the site entirely, from the sportsbook to the Casino for example, or if you want to read the blog etc; even banking and the help centre open on top of the interface so it is just as you left it when you finish what you are doing.
When exploring a particular sports category, you can list the events by top leagues, all leagues, live events, or see them in a calendar view over the next 7 days. Further to this, all options are collapsible and expandable, so the screen can be as tidy or untidy as you want to make it.
Mobile Site
The mobile site doesn’t quite live up to the desktop site but it’s not a million miles off. There is an app as well but there is no noticeable benefit to using one over the other, they are identical as far as we could tell so it just comes down to personal preference.
A slider bar offers up the most popular choices as well as a link to all sports, although this can also be reached via the menu button which is your access point for pretty much everything else except your account management. You can also transition between NetBet’s different products from here.
It’s straightforward to use and just as snappy as the desktop site, but intermittent page loads from one category to another slow things down a bit. We found using the built in back button where possible was more effective than going back to the menu.
In terms of layout it mirrors the main site wherever it can, so the way the bets are displayed and the collapsible bet types etc are all the same, and the casino menu operates in the same way.
There are some nice little touches that show forethought, too. It’s inevitable on the small screen that there will be a certain amount of scrolling to get through all of the information, for example. NetBet have added a simple ‘back to top’ button that shows up once you have scrolled so far to make it slightly less of a scroll-a-thon. It’s a small thing, but it’s actually very useful.
Your betslip will only pop up as a round icon when it is in use which saves space and it is satisfying to use. The slip will float in from the side when you tap the icon and a simple tap elsewhere on the screen hides it again.
About
NetBet were fairly quick off the mark, entering the industry back in 2001 from their base in Malta; they might be the only online gambling company in Malta who didn’t move there from somewhere else for a tax break.
They are a European bookie with a good foothold in the UK market, although they do seem to fly somewhat under the radar in the UK for some reason. Perhaps it is because their sponsorship deals tend to be with European clubs like AS Saint-Etienne and GFC Ajaccio – although they have also sponsored West Brom and Hamilton Academical in Scotland.
The sportsbook is a fantastic product but they run an equally well manned casino and poker product. In fact, in 2014 after the merger with Poker770, NetBet Poker could boast over 2million registered players.
NetBet are licensed by NetBet Enterprises Limited and currently employ around 500 people
Why Bet with NetBet?
If you have started to feel like all bookies are pretty much the same then NetBet could be just the tonic you need. They are often overlooked in the UK yet they provide an excellent sports betting platform with a lot of extra features to keep life interesting.
They are especially useful if you have an interest in European football and sports in general, and you may find bets that your mates will be jealous of.
If you feel like you need 10,000 different sporting events each day to keep you satisfied then go elsewhere, but if you prefer to keep things a little more manageable you will find everything you need for mainstream betting with some interesting extra’s thrown in.
Anyone who enjoys casino will love it here, everything about the casino product works to the user’s favour and the excellent list of providers ensures diversification and variety. This is one of those rare gambling sites which does not favour one product over the other, both are superb.
Customer Support
Having won awards in this department, it’s safe to say that customer service is something NetBet take seriously. It’s not 24/7, but the quality is what stands out here rather than the quantity.
If you open the help centre live chat will immediately become available via a small tab at the bottom. It’s one of the best live chat clients we have used, with a photo of your support agent to make it feel like a personal service, as well as the ability to rate the chat. It connects almost immediately too.
A Whatsapp button is also available as a help option which seems to have replaced the old phone support. Still, it’s a phone number so you could always try ringing it we suppose. The staff are fantastic whichever way you choose to get in touch.
The help centre itself is split into sections which all hold their own subcategories and specific FAQ’s. This breaks the options down into manageable numbers so you will only scroll through information relevant to your query. It’s smooth to use too, just as high quality as the rest of the site.
Contact and Licence
- Live Chat – It’s only available from 9am to 11pm but it’s a good service when it’s live. Find it via the Help Centre.
- Email – [email protected] is the direct address, or you can use the contact form.
- Phone – Call +44 020 3608 6024 to see if phone support is still available. It used to be open between midday and 8pm but seems to be down now.
- Whatsapp – Embracing the modern world, you can Whatsapp for help on +44 7510 365245 – the show offs.
- @netbet – This humourful account is updated regularly each day with news and promotions, well worth following.
- Address – NetBet Enterprises Ltd, 209 Marina St, PIETA, PTA 9041
- Licence – 39170