Betfred Review

BetFred celebrated their 50th year in 2017, having been established in Salford back in 1967 and growing to the point they now employ 10,000 people. They have over 1,300 betting shops across the United Kingdom, and are looking to expand on that number. Fred and Peter Done were the co-founders, with the former infamously paying out early to Manchester United on two separate occasions when it seemed, pardon the pun, odds-on for the Red Devils to win the league in 1998 and 2012. BetFred also lost a £1m bet to rival bookmaker Victor Chandler in the 2004-05 Premier League season, when they bet United would finish higher than Chelsea. Jose Mourinho’s Blues landed the title that year, leaving BetFred out of pocket. They are the main sponsor for Rugby League’s Superleague for the next at least three years, a sign of how rooted in the North and North-West BetFred truly is. On our site you will also find information about BetFred bonus and BetFred mobile app.

Deposit & Withdrawals

One of their better areas, BetFred have a solid deposit and withdrawal system online. Transferring money both into your account and out is unlikely to cause problems, and is a very reliable way of dealing with your money. The usual £5 minimum to withdraw still stands, and you can withdraw around £7-12k in a day.

Customer Service

From experience, BetFred’s customer service is actually very good. Their live chat is constantly available, as well as the ever-popular Twitter option. However, it is worth noting for foreign visitors to the site that their live chat is only in English, which could create miscommunication of events and betting, leading to a disappointing experience rather than a memorable one.

License Information

For customers in the UK, Betfred licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission.

Best betting sites by category

Betfred offer both traditional UK fractional odds and the European decimal odds format.

Betting limits

Horse Racing
£1,000,000 – where all selections are for horse racing in the U.K. or Ireland, and covered by a full service (betting shows, offs, and results broadcast by S.I.S. and displayed on this website).

Greyhound Racing
£250,000 for any BAGS/BEGS meeting covered in full (betting shows, offs and results broadcast by S.I.S. and displayed on this website) or by Sky Sports.

Soccer
£1,000,000 – For all main European Leagues (English Premiership, Championship, League 1 and League 2, Scottish Premier League, Champions League, La Liga Primera, Serie A, Bundesliga 1 and Le Championnat Premiere), FA Cup, English League Cup and International Matches and Competitions.

Types of bets

Unlike other bookies’ websites, although quick to place a bet, it can be a little tedious. Finding football and rugby matches from the home page to bet on is slower than others, while their odds are quite competitive though sparse. They also offer ‘double delight’ and ‘hat-trick heaven’ which can either double or triple your winning bet when betting on the first goal scorer. They have some great odds for Horse Racing to compete with Sky and Bet365, and offer up to £1m pay-out. Although fairly slick and easy to use, BetFred seem to be a little behind the time with their live-betting. Put nicely, their in-play is less in depth than competitors, and do not offer live streaming in order to counter-act this difference. Events such as football do have a combination of commentary and stats to keep you interested, but not on a level to compel you to bet more. Their website is nicely laid out, but it is a little on the slow side, and can cause you miss out on an otherwise good offer. 

Sport coverage

Betfred cover 28 different sports with a primary focus on Horse and Greyhound racing, as well as English and European football matches.

In-play experience

Although fairly slick and easy to use, BetFred seem to be a little behind the time with their live-betting. Put nicely, their in-play is less in depth than competitors, and do not offer live streaming in order to counter-act this difference. Events such as football do have a combination of commentary and stats to keep you interested, but not on a level to compel you to bet more. Their website is nicely laid out, but it is a little on the slow side, and can cause you miss out on an otherwise good offer.

Live streaming

For horseracing and greyhounds streams, you do need to have placed a bet with the equivalent total stake of £1 or €1 per race (depending on your account’s currency). For a single, the minimum bet to stream the race is £0.50/€0.50 each way, or £1/€1 win. Some sports are streamed live without the need to place a bet.

When entering the site you will find a main menu at the very top and undeneath this the first thing you will see will be all of the various bonus offers that are available for sports and other areas of the site.

Once you click on Sport in the main menu it takes you to a page which is very similar to William Hill, it has the content in a middle section with left and right sidebars showing different promotions. Like William Hill the site is set on a dark blue background (Betfred corporate colors)

In terms of site loading then the site loads nice and fast.

On the left you will find a quick links section with all the major sports and at the top, then under the main menu you will now have a second menu appearing in a grey bar with lots more information. One of the key parts to look at in this grey menu is on the far right called “Extras”

From here you can access lots of additional content including the Betfred Blog, Betfred TV, a full range of FAQ’s and also one of their special bets which is #PickYourPunt, this bet works like this:

You’re in control with #PickYourPunt, where Betfred price up the markets that you are interested in. It can even be when you want to bet on a market that simply isn’t there. You can combine markets and create your own scenarios, then simply send them in to Betfred via Twitter using the hashtag #PickYourPunt. Then just sit back and wait for your request to be priced up by the Betfred traders.

The overall betting margin at Betfred is 4.9% which means they are above the average with margins of over 5% on a a number of sports. The sport where they do beat a number of other bookmakers is on their football betting offer. They work to a margin of 3.5% which puts them in the top 20 for all football betting odds.

Other sports where they come under the “acceptable” margin level are Baseball at 4.9%, Ice hockey at 4.7% and American Football at 4.8%.

We mentioned their odds margins on football, and Betfred have some excellent comments from punters about their football odds and market coverage.

“The best online new bookies for me, fastest withdrawals and very good odds. I recommend this site to everyone. Very good support and easy to use”

“This site is very good. They offer good football odds! And their system is easy to use but their mobile site needs improvement. Help line is fine”

“Have used them for betting in the past and have the odd flutter with them at the weekend on football, always paid out on time, without any issues”

Betfred are best known for football and horse racing betting. Premier league games will see them offering up to 150 different markets, and in horse racing they cover a wide range of different bets. In terms of incentives they have their daily price boost offer as well as various performances of favorites including a market on favorites to be placed.

You also have Fred’s “Special” double each day which gives enhanced odds on two selections.

The In-play interface is easy to navigate but can be difficult to read with small text on a white background. Once inside an individual event then the markets are broken up nicely by a series of dark blue tabs going horizontally at the top.

This does make it easy to find the market you wish to bet on. Again the interface in each market is quite boring and can be difficult to read. But this will suit some punters who like little distractions.

One nice touch when you use the Betfred In-play interface is that any event that is being show live on TV will have the icon of the relevant channel.

So if a game is showing on Sky Sports or BTSport then you will see this. It is only a small thing but one which is not common on other sportsbooks.

New 18+ UK customers only. Register using the promo code WELCOME40, deposit and place first bet of £10+ on Sports (cumulative Evens+) within 7 days of registration. First bet must be on Sports. £30 in Free Bets and £10 in Free Spins (50x20p) credited within 10 hours of bet settlement. Free Bet stakes are not included in any returns. Bonuses have a 7-day expiry. Payment restrictions apply. SMS verification and/or Proof of I.D and address may be required. Full T&Cs apply.

This is where Betfred come out “Tops”. Thet have a really great set of bonus and promotional offers. When we visited the site there were thirteen different bonuses covering football, horse racing and rugby.

Here are just a few of the best ones we thought you should know about:

Football DD/HH
If your winning first goalscorer scores a 2nd, they’ll DOUBLE the odds. If they net a 3rd, they’ll TREBLE them!

All Correct Bonuses
If you pick an all correct Lucky 15/31/63, Yankee, Canadian or Heinz, they’ll pay a bonus on your total winnings.

2nd to SP Fav
Back a horse at the selected meeting and should it finish second to the SP fav, they will refund your stake as a free bet up to £10!

Rugby Union Six Nations Double Delight
If your player scores the first try of any Six Nations match and then goes on to score another, we will double your first try scorer price.

Being one of the UK’s leading online bookmakers you would expect that deposits and withdrawals would be simple, and this is true enough with Betfred.

As well as offering VISA and Mastercard, they also offer PayPal, Moneybookers, Ukash, Bank Transfer and you can also deposit into your online account by depositing funds at one of the many Betfred shops.

Deposit times are immediate for all payment methods, with withdrawals being immediate for e-wallets and 2-5 days for cards.

When testing the Betfred live chat our questions were answered really quickly. A customer support agent responded within 15 seconds of opening the chat.

We tested them by asking a regulatory question and this was answered correctly. We also asked a specific racing question using the acronym NRNB which of course means “Non Runner No Bet” and this was explained clearly by the operator.

Very helpful and courteous agents with a solid knowledge of sport and operational type questions.

Betfred have been in operation for many years. They started out and built their reputation by operating a small chain of betting shops. Owner and founder Fred Done has since gone on to expand this operation and the Betfred brand was launched a few years ago when the company started its’ online sportsbook operation.

A highly trustworthy company and regularly features in the top 10 bookmakers in the UK. Betfred also put a lot back into various sports with a wide range of sponsorship deals.

Betfred is licensed and regulated through the UK Gambling Commission. The site has also been certified by Trustwave who validate safe e-commerce practices of financial and sportsbook companies.