NetBet Review
Although NetBet have been around for a long time, they are still seen as an up and coming bookie in the UK for some reason, but they are certainly heading in the right direction offering literally everything you could need as an average punter. In fact, this is one of our best bookies for bettors who like to bet on a bit of everything.
It’s easy to do as well on a slick interface which is highly intuitive to use giving plenty of betting options to anyone using it. And that goes for the desktop version of the site or the app.
This is a well known brand in Europe with a lot to offer fans of all major sports and some minor ones too. NetBet deserves more attention from UK punters but the way that they are going they will get their due in good time.
What Have We Got?
Having been around since the early days, NetBet have managed to build several different betting products and then integrate them into a single website to create a betting package that will suit any type of gambler.
The sportsbook is our focus here but let me quickly give you an idea of what else they have in store:
- Casino – The games list is gargantuan at NetBet with over 1500 games in the casino from providers such as Play’nGO, IGT, Microgaming, NetEnt, Ainsworth, NYX, iSoftBet, Quickspin – it’s like a who’s who of game developers old and new. There’s a great rewards program attached to the casino too, and the site is blissfully easy to navigate while running very smoothly indeed.
- Live Casino – With Evolution Gaming on the case this was always going to be a winner. They have it all; roulette, blackjack, poker, and even fun games like football studio and dream catcher. The streams are crisp and very rarely glitch, and the interface allows for a lot of flexibility from either the lobby or from inside a game.
- Vegas – I wouldn’t usually set this apart from the casino itself, but the reason they have two separate sections at NetBet is because the Vegas area is reserved solely for Playtech slots, jackpots, video poker, and other table games.
- Lottery – There are draws every five minutes in each of the different game varieties; they have 5, 6, and 7 ball draws as well as dice games. You aren’t hoping your numbers come up here, you are betting on things like ‘at least one white ball will drop’ or ‘first ball drawn to be numbered between 1-36’ etc.
- Poker – Although there is poker available in the live casino, this is where the real players go. It’s a downloadable client that allows you to pit your wits against other players. This is an entity in itself, with its own VIP scheme, offers, etc. There are millions of players from around the world using this Playtech built software to compete in the many poker tournaments and competitions.
So you see this is much more than an online sportsbook. Online gamers could use this site quite happily without ever venturing close to the sporting options, but if you are someone who enjoys both and don’t want the hassle of a betting portfolio then NetBet is a great shout.
Sportsbook
Having said all that, the sportsbook is absolute dynamite as well. Rarely do you find such an engaging and feature rich online bookie as this.
It’s an SBTech platform so the design, layout, functionality and navigation is all taken care of, there are no worries in that department at all. With that being the case, I will focus solely on the betting options and features that are available.
- Bet Maker – This powerful personalisation tool allows you to add previously unavailable same event selection into an accumulator. It will automatically suggest markets based on your initial selection and give you immediate odds as you add or remove them. It makes accumulator betting easier and more interesting.
- Snap Bet – This one will get your heart racing. You can bet on a goal in the next 30 secs, 1 min, 5 mins, or 10 mins during a live game. You winnings increase as time ticks on, so the closer to the end of the time period the goal occurs, the more you win. But when the time runs out your bet is lost. Timing is everything here.
- Add2Bet – You can probably figure this out for yourself. It’s a feature that allows punters to add another selection to a pre-existing bet to enhance the return. It works by using the cash out value of the original bet as the stake for the new improved bet, so this needs to be factored in as well. You are effectively cashing out your first bet in order to make the modified bet.
- Cash Out – Since we are on the subject, cash out and partial cash out are both available on many bets at NetBet. You can use this feature to end a bet early and guarantee a profit or minimise a loss. Partial cash out allows you to cash out say 50% of the bet while leaving the other 50% in at the original odds. Great when you are currently winning but things are looking shaky.
- Statistics – You can dig deep into the annals of any team in any sport using this comprehensive and detailed stats tool. It covers everything you could possibly think of, and not just in the big sports either. Player history, match records, head to heads, stadium details, you could get lost for days in here.
- Results – Another handy little tool but built into the interface. You can easily use the filtering options to find results from any league in any sport over the last 7 days. It can be interesting to browse if you are considering betting on something new and want to do some research.
- Blog – Ok not really a betting tool, but it does include betting tips, and it is a bumper blog as well, not one of these two articles a week efforts. Lots of sports get plenty of attention, as does the casino and other NetBet products. There are news items, opinion pieces, throwbacks; expect anything from ‘F1’s Hottest Wags’ to ‘European Transfer Deadline Roundup’.
You will probably want some idea of what kind of market variety they offer as well, so have a look at the table below. The numbers next to the sport indicate the market availability at the time of writing, but do bear in mind this information was taken at 9am on a Thursday morning, so you can expect higher numbers at busier times:
| Football (869) | Tennis (183) | Horse Racing (24) | Greyhounds (15) | Virtual Sports (359) | Basketball (80) |
| Cricket (14) | American Football (77) | Golf (78) | Athletics (32) | Aussie Rules (1) | Badminton (6) |
| Baseball (12) | Boxing (32) | Cycling (2) | Darts (6) | E-Sports (61) | Futsal (2) |
| Handball (46) | Ice Hockey (139) | MMA (25) | Motor Racing (20) | Rugby League (8) | Rugby Union (41) |
| Snooker and Pool (12) | Specials (7) | Speedway (1) | Table tennis (42) | Volleyball (15) | Kabaddi (5) |
There are busier online bookies out there but NetBet have an excellent spread, and they will serve those of you who bet on European leagues and competitions as well as UK ones especially well.
In-play opportunities are numerous and cover more than the usual cohort of sports. Table tennis, handball, and badminton all get a fair crack of the whip among others, and the in-play interface is superb. There is no live streaming which is the only real downside you could find, but there is a useful match graphic or match tracker, and fast markets, varied betting lines, and NetBet Boosts all go towards enhancing the experience.
Rundown of the App
What I love about this app is that it all at once feels busy and vibrant but also extremely well maintained, like a perfectly kept garden that has no space for anything else – if you will run with the slightly odd analogy.
Everything has its place and, for the most part, is exactly where you expect it to be. There are one or two little surprises such as the search button only being accessible via the menu, but you will figure them out in no time.
Quick links to the in-play area and the most popular sports will save time for many of us, but if you want to wager on Kabaddi your bet is only a further tap or two away. In fact, nothing should take you more than a couple of taps to get to thank to a clever design that sees menu’s floating in and out and horizontal scroll bars providing an unexpected number of further options.
There are personalisation options too such as favouriting sports so that they appear at the top of the list meaning you don’t have to scroll to find them each time. A lot of thought has gone into this app and the user experience is high because of it.
You shouldn’t find load times causing you frustrations either – I found it to be quicker than average although I was using high speed broadband. The app is available for Android and Apple users and can also be used via a mobile browser.
NetBet History
NetBet was founded all the way back in 2001 and is based, like so many other bookies, in Malta. They are licenced in the UK under their holding company name, Netbet Enterprises Limited, who also hold all of the casino and gaming licences for NetBet’s operation.
The site is available in several languages (English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Greek and Dutch) and accepts many forms of currency and payment methods so if you want flexibility then this is a good site to use. It should also be obvious by now that this is a setup with a continental focus.
The company is not shy when it comes to sponsorship either, and to say it plainly, they put themselves about a bit. In the past they have been the sponsors for West Brom, AS Saint-Etienne, GFC Ajaccio, Fortaleza Women, OGC Nice, and CR Vasco de Gama – they are clearly after attention from all over the globe.
This is a great online bookie for punters with specific payment needs too. They offer many more options than most other bookies, and as a bit of trivia they were also the first UK licenced bookmaker to accept bitcoin as a payment method.
