888 are a company with over 20 years' experience in the betting industry, having launched its casino back in 1997. After performing strongly in that niche, they decided to launch their sportsbook. The sportsbook offering arrived 11 years later, meaning they've been challenging the status quo of sports betting for 12 years.
Here we provide an in-depth 888Sport review, which will give you everything you need to know about 888Sport and whether they're a bookmaker worth your time and, more importantly, your money.
Our 888Sport review will include everything from the markets on offer, a look at the 888 free bet options and promotions you can exploit and a review of how the 888Sport betting website and apps operate. We will also look at how the company handles your money and supports punters who might encounter difficulty with gambling addiction.
888Sport Betting Markets
The most important thing for any bettor to understand before signing up to a bookie is whether that company can offer the betting markets you want. As far as 888Sport betting goes, you'll be alright, providing you're into one of the more major sports. There are 13 different sports options for you to consider, ranging from football to MMA and UFC, snooker, golf and ice hockey, and a few more in-between.
The major markets that 888Sport betting specialises in are football, horse racing and NFL. The first two are quite widely seen as the biggest markets in the UK betting scene, but the latter, the NFL, is more of a unique offering. 888Sport boasts no fewer than 19 bet types available for every NFL match. These range from selecting the match winner, betting on the points spread, and even including what quarter will be the highest scoring. It's not just matches where you can place your punts, though, with outright markets available at conference level upwards.
Football is similar to the NFL in terms of betting depth. You can bet across countless leagues, including divisions as far as South America and Africa, whilst the bet types are almost endless; Premier League games, for example, come with 40 markets to choose from. This isn't as many as a company like Bet365 offer, but it is still more than you could ever need to choose from in truth.
The horse racing markets work slightly differently. Again, there are plenty of events and bet types to dip your toes into but what sets 888Sport apart from the competition is their smart ‘Betfinder'; this allows you to target down your selections based on a host of different criteria such as highlighting in-form horses.
Special offers and promotions
Let's begin our promotion section by taking a look at what 888Sport offer on sign up. At the moment, new customers can claim a pretty impressive £30 ‘cashback' offer when creating an account. To unlock this deal, you'll need to utilise the code '30BACK' during the sign-up process, but it's well worth doing. The offer gives you protection on your first bet up to a maximum stake of £30.
If your bet loses, you get your stake back – check the terms and conditions before staking, though, as minimum odds of 1.50 will be just one of a few requirements to be eligible for the offer. On top of that, you'll get £10 to spend in the 888Casino too.
888Sport also offer a strong programme of promotions for their existing customer base. They operate a best odds guarantee on UK and Irish horse racing, but it's far from the only sport to get special treatment. A personal favourite is the 888 free bet offered to customers who place a winning bet at odds of over 4/1. It's a nice boost to your winnings, and you can place bets on a variety of sports.
Beyond that, another 888 free bet that is available regularly is linked to the NFL. You unlock the 888 free bet of £5 when placing a £20 NFL accumulator.
Finally, there are a couple of free games to enter too. An NFL predictor can see you scoop a £5k jackpot, whilst a similar football game can net you £8k. However, what's more likely, on the latter game is a 888 free bet worth £1. You get awarded a £1 free bet for every prediction you get correct in football games' win-draw-win market. It can't be bad!
Website and App overview
It is easy to overlook just how important a bookie's website is. Odds and promos drive a lot of customer traffic, but a poor site can cause punters to miss out on certain events if layouts are confusing. Thankfully, you won't have that problem with 888Sport.
If you're a desktop user, then you'll find two obvious panels running down either side of your screen; one is a menu whilst the other shows you your bet slip or in-play bets. Which one you see is based on a simple toggle option.
Then there is the bulk of the screen; this is where you navigate between markets and events. A smart scroll bar combines words and line drawings to indicate the sports you can dip into (including 888Sport specials and popular markets). Below that, you find the available events.
Your first screen will show you the in-play markets, which is useful because if you're betting in-play, you need quick access to place your bets at the right time. Then you have options to dive into specific competitions and leagues, as well as a ‘coupons' section that allows you to target specific bet types. The transition between these tabs is very simple to follow.
Finally, it's hardly a make-or-break part of our 888Sport review, but the striking orange and black colour scheme is pretty smart! The mobile app is available for iOS and Android systems and follows a similar guise as the desktop site with subtle changes to how the menus work.
Banking and safe betting
As you'd expect for a company of 888's size, they're fully licensed to operate in the UK markets under the Great Britain Gambling Commission whilst they're also allowed to operate much further afield under separate agreements. What tends to get less attention from most bettors is the bookie's approach to responsible gambling.
888 have a dedicated section on their site for this; it's not as clearly laid out as a site like William Hill, but there are plenty of tools in place to help those who need it. What are they? Part of the approach is to provide access to companies who can support problem gamblers, whilst other elements are tailored towards self-control, such as deposit limits and ‘take a break' rules.
When it comes to making deposits and withdrawing funds with 888Sport you'll be able to do so with ease. They accept an incredible amount of banking methods—Visa, Mastercard, Paypal and Apple Pay are just a few examples of those you can use. On the withdrawal side, the questions we usually hear are about timeframes. With that in mind, the slowest method shown by 888 will see your funds arrive back in your possession in eight days. The quickest is two days, which tends to be through e-wallets like Paypal.
Customer Service
When you sign up for many online services, you often think about how customer service might impact your experience. Bookmakers don't tend to get the same treatment but when things go wrong – and, believe us, they can – it's handy to know you're betting with a company who will be there for you. 888Sport are.
They offer a detailed “Frequently Asked Questions” guide on their site that enables customers to answer their own questions before reaching out for more detailed answers. If you're still at a loss, you can contact the 888Sport support team via a couple of different avenues. Their preferred method of contact is via their online form, which effectively becomes email, but phone contact is available between 10 am and 6 pm. The only downside to their customer service function is the lack of a live chat function, which can be useful.
Closing Thoughts
Let's bring our 888Sport review to an end and summarise our findings. 888Sport are a big player in the sports betting world with strong welcome offers and recurring promotions. These are likely to attract and keep hold of customers, which will see their position continue to grow in an ever-challenging market place.
Their website is an easy-to-use platform that enables you to place bets without too many challenges across a wide range of markets and sports. The support they offer in respect of responsible gambling and customer service is certainly strong. If you choose to deposit your funds with 888Sport, you'll be in safe hands with a platform that lends itself well to having a fun-filled flutter.
