Scientific Games<\/a>, and Bigtime Gaming (Megaways slots) will be able to spin to their hearts content.<\/p>\nThe casino also contains a Live Casino, again powered by Playtech but with Evolution in there too, and boasting a shed load of blackjack and roulette tables, a few exclusive to Paddy Power, as well as Sic Bo, Game Show style games like Spin a Win, and Poker.<\/p>\n
Instant win and scratch games are on hand if you want minimum effort entertainment, and if none of that takes your fancy then maybe the table and card games will; roulette, blackjack, and video poker are all available in good numbers.<\/p>\n
A great thing about the various casino\/gaming sections of the site is that the relevant promotions are listed along with the game filtering options, so you can view offers specific to the area you are using instead of having to sift through the lot.<\/p>\n
Bingo<\/h3>\n
Given their relationship with Playtech, it’s no surprise to learn that Paddy Power’s bingo product runs on the Virtue Fusion network (owned by Playtech).<\/p>\n
This is a good thing though, because it means it is liquid as anything and there is always plenty to play for and plenty of people to play against, chat to, make friends with, etc.<\/p>\n
90 ball, 75 ball, and 80 ball make up most of the games available, but there are some specials too like Cash Cubes and Housey which are very different to what you might be used to and provide a great change of pace.<\/p>\n
There are 21 rooms all together including a Paddy Power exclusive one, and bingo gets favourable treatment from the promotions department too.<\/p>\n
Poker<\/h3>\n
Not one to miss out on a good thing, Paddy Power also have a downloadable poker product that is pretty comprehensive all things considered.<\/p>\n
There are cash games, sit and gos, tournaments, you can play on desktop or on mobile and compete for pots of a few quid up to the kind of money you would abandon your friends for.<\/p>\n
There is also a poker school which will teach you everything you need to know about the various different variations of poker and how it all works.<\/p>\n
It comes with its own loyalty scheme and promotions as well, so you can get access to freerolls with cash prizes and rake back of up to 22.2% at the highest level, plus taking advantage of offers. Nice.<\/p>\n
Lottery<\/h3>\n
In all honesty this isn’t Paddy Power’s strong suite.<\/p>\n
They offer betting on a handful of lotteries such as Irish, new York and Spanish, but it doesn’t go much further than that.<\/p>\n
You could argue that it doesn’t need to since you aren’t actually taking part in the lottery in question, you are just betting on it in parallel, but the fact remains that most other brands pump a bit more effort into their lottery offerings.<\/p>\n
There are lottery based offers available though, so it hasn’t been ignored completely, and it’s a good way to use those last few pounds in your account on something offering very big returns on small stakes. The lottery specials add a bit of diversity as well.<\/p>\n
Desktop Website<\/h2>\n
This isn\u2019t our favourite website in the world, but there is a lot to praise here nonetheless. Obviously green is the dominant colour (where colour is used), and while the site is capable of an awful lot it isn\u2019t very stylish and the personality of the brand doesn\u2019t really come through either.<\/p>\n
It runs on the OpenBet platform which processes more bets each year than anyone else hands down and has won more awards than any other provider too. Going back to our naughty school kid analogy, we can\u2019t help feeling that if Paddy Power had spent more time working on their site and less time messing around on Twitter, they could have taken full advantage of what OpenBet can do.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of different elements to the site that need to be brought together to create a more fluid experience, it feels a bit disorderly at the moment with too many page loads and new windows to work through. Depositing works better as it displays in front of the screen you are on without interrupting flow \u2013 more of this is needed.<\/p>\n
What appears to be the A-Z actually isn’t, and is too jumbled to be truly useful, but once you open up a sports category things improve dramatically. The interface isn\u2019t particularly pretty but it is structured brilliantly. All options relating to the sport in question – such as in-play, tournaments, specials, coupons etc – are displayed and you can snap between them instantly which makes managing your activity very easy indeed.<\/p>\n
Handy icons indicate when cash out, live streams, offers, and early payouts are available, but there is a heck of a lot of scrolling to do. Organisation options need improvement.<\/p>\n
The bet slip is easy to manage too, with cash out bets displayed separately for added simplicity and to save time if you have a lot on there; but the casino games listed underneath are way too prominent for our liking. This is supposed to be a sportsbook, after all, if we wanted the casino we would go to it.<\/p>\n
Speaking of which, even the casino site feels a bit like a hoarder lives there. There are a lot of options and buttons etc which probably don’t all need to be there, but it shouldn’t be so much of an issue that it scares anybody away.<\/p>\n
Mobile Website<\/h2>\n
Both the Paddy Power app and mobile site are structured in more or less the same way as the desktop site, with a few operational tweaks to better suit the smaller screen.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s another decent offering without doing anything to blow you away, and while there is certainly room for improvement it will serve you perfectly well as a companion to the desktop site, or even as a standalone product if you prefer to bet on your phone.<\/p>\n
A scroll bar points you in the direction of popular options and other Paddy Power products like the casino, and there is instant access to cash out via the betslip which is always welcome on mobile as if you need it you will need it quickly.<\/p>\n
There is still an awful lot of scrolling to do, however, and little thought seems to have gone into how to solve this. Horse Racing works a lot better from a structural point of view, you can easily scroll horizontally through all of the day’s meetings from one place and then switch between race tracks from each race card etc.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, once you have picked an event the site works much more efficiently, utilising drop-down collapsible subcategories to organise markets \u2013 but why oh why can\u2019t the same be true when you are scrolling through the fixtures?<\/p>\n
All of the nice little extra features have made it across to the small screen too, so you are getting more or less the same experience, and the whole thing performs well. The common theme with Paddy Power seems to be that while the content is great, the way it is presented should be tightened up.<\/p>\n
About<\/h2>\n
Paddy Power was founded in Dublin in 1988 by David Power, John Corcoran, and Stewart Kenny, three Irish bookmakers who joined forces, consolidating their combined 40 shops under one banner. Given the political situation at that time, it was a bold move to name the company as they did, although there is a little more to it than that. David Power’s teenage son was called Paddy, making him Master Paddy Power himself. He now works as the company\u2019s marketing spokesman.<\/p>\n
Expansion was aggressive, favouring high street hot spots as shop locations rather than the side streets that were the norm in those days. This, combined with their bright green branding and novelty bet range, saw them gain media attention and quickly rise to prominence.<\/p>\n
By 2000 the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange to help fund expansion into the United Kingdom, and in 2001 they could claim 33% of the off course betting market share in Ireland. In the five years between 2005 and 2010, Paddy Power went from operating 195 to 356 high street betting shops, with around 40% of their estate now in the UK.<\/p>\n
The company has always had something of a rivalry with Betfair, so it was a surprise when the two bookies announced plans of a merger. This was completed in February of 2016 as an acquisition by Paddy Power, and their name was changed to the imaginative Paddy Power Betfair.<\/p>\n
Not long after they also welcomed the likes of Pokerstars and SkyBet into the fold plus many more, and became Flutter, an umbrella company under which all of the brands now operate.<\/p>\n
\nNever one to be afraid of a little controversy, Paddy Power\u2019s sense of humour is close to the knuckle and attracts a fair amount of criticism from some whilst simultaneously endearing themselves to others. They racked up the most complaints to the ASA in history when they offered odds on the outcome of the murder trial concerning double amputee and Paralympian Oscar Pistorius with the slogan: Oscar Time – Money Back if he Walks.<\/p>\n
Other controversial moves include odds on recently deceased Ugo Ehiogu becoming the new manager of Birmingham City FC; releasing a YouTube video of chavs being shot with tranquilizers before Cheltenham; and an advert showing sight-impaired footballers kicking a cat.<\/p>\n
We know you are laughing at these by the way. Shame on you.<\/p>\n
Less funny was when they refused to pay out on 3000\/1 odds that miraculously came in, instead coming to an arrangement with those involved.<\/p>\n
None of this ever seems to do them any harm, however, as Paddy Power is now Irelands largest and most successful bookmaker with over 600 physical locations, a string of popular and well developed online products, and its own office building in Dublin which they have dubbed the Power Tower. This is also Flutter’s HQ.<\/p>\n
Why Bet With Paddy Power?<\/h2>\n
There isn\u2019t a bookie out there with a bigger personality, so the entertainment factor with Paddy Power is huge \u2013 as long as you enjoy their sense of humour of course. If you are easily offended you may well be put off.<\/p>\n
Those who enjoy the lighter side of betting will find fun in exploring their novelty bets, and it may sound daft to say it but Irish bettors or those who follow Gaelic sports will get full market coverage here.<\/p>\n
The fact that Paddy Power is a bricks and mortar bookie will also appeal to many punters as there is a human point of contact, and they are especially good for regular offers and numerous extra\u2019s. This goes for both the sportsbook and the other products such as casino, bingo, poker, etc.<\/p>\n
If content is more important to you than the way it is displayed then Paddy Power provides everything you need in all areas of the gambling industry, and there isn’t a brand that does it with more humour.<\/p>\n
Customer Support<\/h2>\n
Paddy Power isn\u2019t one of those bookies who try to hide from their customers, in fact, they try to encourage direct contact to solve issues immediately.<\/p>\n
For this reason they have stopped offering email and phone support and instead prompt punters to use live chat, which is available 24\/7. There is some contradiction with these hours on the website but the support agent we spoke to ensures us they are open all day and night.<\/p>\n
Since they frequently reach out to their customers via marketing over social media, this is another way in which Paddy Power invite engagement, with Twitter being their go to platform by the looks of it.<\/p>\n
The searchable Help\/FAQ section contains a lot of useful info so you can self help most of the time, and while this section isn\u2019t particularly inspiring to look at it does the job as intended and is easy to use. It just feels a little like you are in the basement of the site and it doesn\u2019t get much attention.<\/p>\n