Sky Bet really does stand out from the crowd. Apart from its links to the media giants and biggest broadcaster of sports in the UK, Sky Bet creates a unique experience by tying in sports betting with Fantasy Football, Super 6, Fantasy Six-A-Side and also the Pick 7 competition. Each of these unique and free to enter competitions add an additional level of fun for all bettors who use the Sky Bet platform. Behind all of that is a proper sportsbook with best odds on a range of football betting markets, a clean and easy to use layout and fantastic in-play betting features. Sky Bet are arguably the very best bookie for casual punters.
Pros
- Lots of extras (Super 6, for example)
- Live streaming for horse racing
- Best odds guaranteed for horse racing.
Cons
- Not available in many countries
- No football/US sport streams
- Mobile App could be improved
Overview
Sky Bet is 20% owned by Sky UK Limited and 80% by giant Private Equity Firm CVC Capital Partners. CVC Capital Partners are an absolute investment giant who have over $80bn tied up in various investments through Europe, Asia and the United States. This deal was brokered in 2015 with part of the agreement stipulating it would remain a Sky brand for a long time to come. In July 2002, BSkyB completed the purchase of Sports Internet Group which consisted of three companies which were Surrey Sports, Opta Index and Planet Football. Surrey Sports was a small telephone and online bookmaker that was rebranded to create Sky Bet. Unlike a lot of bookmakers, there"s a lot less information out there with regards to just how much money Sky Bet turnover. Sky"s online gaming website has five major brands which is the Sky Bet sportsbook, Sky Vegas, Sky Casino, Sky Bingo and Sky Poker.
Bookmaker Review
The first judgement you make when dealing with a bookmaker is the quality of their website. It"s not attractive if you land on a dark, hard to navigate, clunky, promotion filled splash page.
Sky Bet"s website is bright, clean, easy to navigate and responsive. It does nudge you in the direction of a couple of welcome offers, including their unique free betting bonus without deposit offer, but overall the emphasis is on showing you that they have a wide range of sports and markets for you to bet on. The mobile betting app is just as functional and straightforward to use when betting on the go.
A big part of the Sky Bet experience is the many wonderful extras they offer which includes Super Six where you attempt to correctly predict the correct score of six football matches to win £1 million, Sky Bet six-a-side where you are asked to nominate six players from one selected weekend fixture list. Fantasy like rules apply and the highest scoring team of the weekend wins £100,000. Sky also offer the more traditional season long Fantasy Football with prizes including Merchandise, Tickets and £50,000.
As well as these fun extras that enhance the user experience, Sky Bet offer the Sky Bet Club which rewards you with £5 free bets every single week that you remain an active member of Sky Bet for the duration of your account with them. Whilst it"s only a small token gesture, it can add up to £240 in free bet stakes per year and allows professional and casual gamblers alike to have a bit of risk free fun on a Saturday afternoon.
The sportsbook itself offers some of the more attractive limits amongst the best bookmakers. There are no specified withdrawal option limits, and you can deposit up to £100,000 it would seem, although larger deposits may be possible, and Sky Bet do not state there is a limit on daily transactions. Depositing, withdrawing and placing bets is all very straight forward with self explanatory FAQ sections and Sky Bet support on hand if you do get confused. It"s also simple to manage your account which can be found at the top right of any Sky Bet page.
The betting odds offered by Sky Bet are very competitive when it comes to Horse Racing bets and Football bets and quite often they have best odds on Premier League fixtures. Sky Bet offer in excess of 120 sports betting markets for most major football matches including several price boosts close to kick off. Sky Bet offer the single most extensive range of sports betting markets online with 34 betting options including Fishing, Music, Politics, E-Gaming and more. We aren"t saying you want to bet on those things, but hey, the option is there.
Sky Bet offer a wide range of market with low margin betting odds for US Sports, Rugby, Tennis, Cricket, Golf, Darts and UFC, MMA and Boxing. Quite often Sky Bet offer more markets than anyone else when it comes to Darts betting including several price boosts and custom markets exclusive to themselves.
Overall, the Sky Bet platform is a fun and friendly one with a professional feel about it. It has something for every type of bettor and if you"re a football fan then you"re definitely in for a fun experience with all the little extras.
Likelihood of being limited at Sky Bet
Apart from bits and bobs in the general terms and conditions, most bookmakers don"t really touch on this subject. Pinnacle give clear mention that they"ll never limit, but most neglect the area. Sky Bet do actually make an effort to provide some information and possible reasons as to why accounts may be suspended or removed and they revolve mainly around duplicate accounts, incorrect details and failed security check. There is no vague bit about "business decisions" that you might get from some bookmakers, so we can only take Sky Bet on face value and presume that being limited is quite unlikely, but remember, you should never rule it out.
Betting Markets at Sky Bet
Sky Bet make covering their sports betting markets a breeze with a useful explanation of each market, what that market is and its rules. By clicking here you will be able to learn about each sport and the sports betting markets that Sky Bet offer.
In addition to the traditional markets for all sports including 1x2 markets, totals points, goals, runs or tries, correct score, goal/try scorer and half-time, full-time and quarter by quarter markets to name but a few, Sky Bet are well known for their Request-a-bet specials which give punters complete power in requesting Sky Bet to price up a combination bet. Here is just a snapshot of what some Sky Bet request-a-bet specials look like. Please note that Request-a-bet is only available on select Football matches and no other sports.
Deposit/Withdrawal Options at Sky Bet
Sky Bet currently offer a limited number of deposit and withdrawal options compared to some best bookmakers, but they do facilitate the free major payment methods within the UK, and only offer their services in very limited territories. It"s always a shame to see a list that doesn"t contain Neteller or Skrill, but Sky Bet offer attractive limits for the below methods. You are able to deposit up to £100,000 at a time and there is no set withdrawal limit in place and there is a 0% fee attached to all methods.
Unfortunately, you are unable to withdraw back to some Credit Cards after depositing. All withdrawals must go to a Debit Card or an acceptable Credit Card and this will take two to five working days. You can withdrawal to PayPal, but beware that most bookmakers including Sky Bet enforce that you withdraw to the last payment method you uploaded with.
Sky Bet only allow members to bet in Pounds or Euros.
Below is a table of accepted deposit amounts for Ladbrokes customers.
Deposit Options
| Payment Method | Type | Fee | Process Time | Min Deposit | Max Deposit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Debit Card | Free | Instant | 5 | 50000 |
 | Credit Card | Free | Instant | 5 | 50000 |
 | eWallet | Free | Instant | 10 | 5500 |
Withdrawal Options
| Withdrawal Method | Type | Fee | Process Time | Min Withdrawal | Max Withdrawal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debit Card | Free | 1-5 days | 10 | 50000 |
| Credit Card | Free | 1-5 days | 10 | 50000 |
| eWallet | Free | 0-24 hours | 10 | 5000 |
Countries Sky Bet is available in
Sky Bet and it"s services are only available to you if you are in one of the following territories: Channel Islands, Finland, Gibraltar, Ireland, Isle of Man and the United Kingdom.
Sky Bet License Information
Sky Bet"s website is operated by Bonne Terre Limited who are registered in Alderney. Their registered office is Office 1, 1 The Crusher, Braye Harbour, Alderney, GY9 3XX. For customers based within the UK, Sky Bet is licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission and for everyone else it is licensed and regulated by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission.
Sky Bet Contact Information
Sky Bet offer a detailed FAQ section which covers the following sub-headings: Verification/Documents, Suspended Account, Reopen Account, Sport Rules, Log in problems, Banking Query, Responsible Gambling, Sky Bet Query, Super 6 or Fantasy Football Query, Technical support and Other.
If one of these sections do not sufficiently answer your query then there is a dropdown box available that will direct you to the various contact points for each of those subheadings as well as Sky Vegas, Sky Casino, Sky Poker, Sky Bingo and technical support. There are various sub-categories for each sub-heading and each one provides you with a form that will be sent to the relevant department. It also provides a phone number for each category and this number is consistent.
Telephone 0330 024 4777
If you wish to email Sky Bet then you just click the email logo on the contact us support page and a pop up box will provide you with a form to do so as well as providing you with extra necessary information. Sky Bet do not give out actual email addresses.
In addition to these methods there is a live chat service. The live chat service can also be accessed through the contact us support page. Note that via Telephone Sky Bet are available between the hours of 8AM until Midnight and that"s seven days a week.