RaceBets - Closed
Racebets have now closed to the UK. The owners of the brand, the BML group, announced they were removing all brands from the market on the 21/10/2020. Customers can access the site to withdraw up to 18/11/2020, following this by contacting customer services. Failure to withdraw by 31/12/2020 will result in all funds being donated to GambleAware.
This is a sad story as Racebets were the most popular BML brand in the UK, they offered something unique as a tailored racing specialist and were much loved for their foreign racing and streaming especially.
Unfortunately the BML group do not like the UK and have been strategically withdrawing from these shores over the past few years. They closed their UK offices in 2018. It is very much the model of Betsson to buy up good brands performing in the UK, they acquired Racebets in 2016, only to then pull them out a few years later. Why have they left? Ultimately they find the tax and regulation levels here to be too big for their market share to justify.
RaceBets are a racing only online bookmaker, a specialist if you will, so if you like to bet on horse and greyhound racing you must try them out. They have greater market coverage in this area than anyone else in the business and provide more regular promotions tailored to racing than any other betting site.
This online bookmaker is unlikely to completely replace your existing bookie, unless you only bet exclusively on racing, but it is certainly worth having an account with for extra value when betting on racing.
Plus, if you like to study form guides etc then this website is perfect for you, with plenty of personalisation options, loads of stats, and even the ability to keep tabs on your favourite horses and make notes as you go along.
Interface
I’m not going to talk about the entire site here – there isn’t a great deal to say about it; it’s perfectly functional, very simply designed and no bother to use – instead I am going to focus on the race selection console.
This little beauty is expertly designed to allow punters to browse and filter the entire racing calendar with just a few clicks. It is multi-functional and best taken one step at a time.
- To begin with you have the option to view Current, Ante Post, or the Calendar.
- You can then toggle flats, jumps, trotting, and greyhounds on or off to only view the sorts of racing you are interested in; so you could select jumps and greyhounds and all flats and trotting would be filtered out.
- Now the races that fit your filtering options will be displayed by country and will also display how many races are available to bet on in that country.
- These tabs are actually drop down tabs so you can open and close them to get a little more info such as the racetrack, what time the race will run, and if any specials or head to heads are available.
- Once you select a race the racecard will open in the middle of the page, but the race selection console will stay as you left it so you can hop between races without having to start from scratch each time.
It’s brilliant.
When looking at Ante-Post races you can flick between General and Specials, and when the Calendar is selected you can obviously cycle through the days and months to see what is coming up.
Personalisation
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this sort of depth when it comes to customer personalisation. As well as favouriting specific races and horses (and making your own notes on them) there is another layer to this too.
Go to the Settings menu, and alongside the usual marketing settings and the like, you can also set up your preferred quick bet amounts so you don’t have to type it in each time. You can request an extra confirmation after you place your bet for extra security. You can change the odds format and your time zone.
You can also personalise the order in which the countries display on the race selection tool so that if you always bet on races in the United States, for example, that will be the top option. The option to view weights in metric or imperial is also useful for punters from different part of the world.
You can even turn off certain types of racing if you never bet on them. So if you never bet on trotting just hit the button in the settings to turn it off and it won’t even show up as an option on the race selection tool.
Worldwide Coverage
RaceBets covers all kinds of racing from all over the globe. The website itself is available in 17 different languages which shows you how broad their outlook is and the range of customers they cater for.
In actual fact they cover markets in 40 different countries, which no other bookie on the planet comes anywhere close to matching. These won’t all be available all of the time for obvious reasons, they can’t lay bets on events that aren’t happening, but you can guarantee that if it’s running RaceBets will be listing it.
As an idea of what you might find at 9am on a Thursday morning, have a look at the table below:
Country | Gallop | Jumps | Trotting | Greyhounds |
---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Ireland | Yes | Yes | No | No |
South Africa | Yes | No | No | No |
France | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Germany | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Italy | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Sweden | No | No | Yes | No |
Norway | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Denmark | No | No | Yes | No |
Australia | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Turkey | Yes | No | No | No |
India | Yes | No | No | No |
United States | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
New Zealand | Yes | No | No | No |
That is nowhere near the full extent of their coverage but it probably beats what your average bookie is offering even at busy times.
Other countries include the UAE, Argentina, Chile, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Poland, and Canada to mention just a few.
Benefits of Using a Specialist
If you rarely bet on anything other than horse and greyhound racing then the benefits of using RaceBets are blatantly obvious; there is nothing else on the site to get in your way or navigate around, and they take bets on more racing markets than anyone else in the world.
Even if you like to bet across a wider range of sports though, it pays to have an account with RaceBets. You might find that there are better offers for individual races at other bookies, but overall RaceBets offer excellent value because all races on site will be covered by at least one of their promotions, so you are always getting extra value on your bet.
You also need to understand that this is more than just a bookmaker. This is an all in one horse racing enthusiast’s dream come true, combining news, blog, betting tips, a searchable knowledge base with stats on all horses, jockeys, and trainers, a racing calendar, a place to watch races live – the list goes on.
In simple terms, it’s a one stop shop for everything racing. If you want to know anything about horse racing you will probably find that information here, and then be able to put a bet on it.
Betsafe
Since Betsafe and RaceBets are sister brands (they are both owned by Betsson) the horse racing section on the Betsafe website is essentially RaceBets in disguise, so if you have betting interests in other areas too then you can get the best of both worlds by going there.
You might not get exactly the same experience as you would at RaceBets, certain features might be missing such as the ability to check on jockeys and trainers in the form guide, and you will miss out on some of the promotions, but the interface and the coverage will be the same.
Personally I would use both sites, but if the idea of switching between two different bookies makes you yawn then Betsafe are a…well, a safe bet.
About RaceBets
RaceBets International Gaming Ltd are based in Malta and possess a full UK gambling commission license, the website is available in English, Dutch and Spanish and offers racing markets from no less than 40 different countries with over 250,000 races to bet on each year.
If you are worried that these guys are new and inexperienced then please don’t be, the company have in fact been around since 2005 in Germany where they established themselves as the largest bookie in the country – German Racing itself is even a shareholder in the company.
In 2007 they moved to Malta to expand into other European markets and attained their UK gambling license in 2012. Although only recently coming to prominence the bookmaker already has a great reputation with its existing customers, and you can see why.
Retention at RaceBets is extremely high, this is no small feat either as racing punters are the most discerning of all and if you can keep us happy then you really must be doing something right. High retention is also a great sign for anyone eyeing them up for a new account; you know the way you can tell a restaurant is good if the locals eat there? It’s a similar thing with bookies; if retention is high it means their service is good and their customers re happy.
In 2016 RaceBets was acquired by Betsson who also own Betsafe, and the two companies were linked together in order to offer Betsafe’s punters a superior horse racing package. RaceBets still operates as a brand in its own right though, run by around 60 full time members of staff.
Features and Offers
RaceBets are world leaders for ante-post markets with a vast selection, but they also have some of the best special bets, enhanced odds deals, exotic bets and a huge depth of market in general.
Aside from all of that, let’s run through a few other specific betting features to round off the review and make sure we have covered everything.
- Promotions – Well known for best odds on UK, Irish, UAE, and South African races, first past the post, first fence fallers, and money back on losers promotions. They also give win bonuses on specific races sometimes, usually American races.
- Form Guide – I mentioned it briefly, but the form guide lets you see a horse’s ratings, career earnings, trainer, owner, breeder, pedigree, all sorts.
- Bash the Bookie – Go head to head with RaceBets ambassador bookie Harvey. Try and predict the winner of 6 races; points are awarded for various placings and if you finish with more points than Harvey the bonus is yours.
- Login Game – You can win money just for logging in and depositing. This is a daily game that roles over if it isn’t won.
- Pooled Betting – A lot like the Tote but for German racing.
- Live Streams – You can stream races from around the world from high quality feeds at RaceBets.
- Jackpot Races – They tend to be German races and there are a handful each day with pots starting at 5,000 up to around 35,000 Euro’s.
- Best Backed – Have a nosey at what everyone else is doing if you are stuck for ideas.
There are plenty of other competitions too, but they tend to be based around specific events or meetings. For example, there was the Chase to Cheltenham where VIP tickets to the Cheltenham were up for grabs and customers competed against each other over 20 different races leading up to the main event. A bit like the football pools if you are old enough to remember them.