bet-at-home
Bet-at-home - general information
In this next sportsbook review we are going to take a look at bet-at-home.com. This sportsbook was founded in in Austria more than twelve years ago, and is today considered one of the leading betting companies in Europe. Continue reading this article for all the general information about this gaming company, plus our review of their various products and what bonuses that are available.
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home company information
Bet-at-home.com was founded in 1999, and in 2000 they went online after obtaining a Maltese gaming license. In the beginning the company only offered sports betting, but they quickly launched a live score service and after that casino (in 2005), poker (in 2006), Games (in 2009) and also live betting and live streaming of many sporting events. They became a publicly listed company in 2004, and are currently listed on stock exchanges in Frankfurt and Vienna. In 2009, the BetClic Everest Group acquired the majority of the company, so bet-at-home is now part of one of the top European companies in the industry that also owns brands such as Betclic and Expekt. See below the company structure of bet-at-home.com:
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home financial matters
Because this sportsbook is part of the Betclic Everest Group it is a highly solid sportsbook that is well financed and backed by solid owners. In addition they are publicly listed, which makes information about their turnover and profitability more easily available compared to many other sportsbooks, and this adds to their trustworthiness. Overall, bet-at-home has earned a great reputation in the betting industry for honoring bets and paying out winnings promptly, and processing withdrawals without delay.
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home main markets and sponsorhips
Bet-at-home.com is available in 22 languages and have more than 2.5 million registered users, and they are especially big in Eastern Europe and German speaking countries. Currently they are sponsoring several teams and events across several sports. For instance, in football they sponsor the Primera Division team RCD Mallorca, the Bundesliga teams FC Schalke 04 and Borussia Mönchengladbach, three Austrian teams and one Bulgarian team. They also sponsor several tennis events, including MercedesCup. Handball is another sport where they are very visible, sponsoring the Spanish Liga ASOBAL, EHF Champions League, and other events/teams. Other sports like ice hockey, volleyball, and nordic ski are also covered, making the sponsorship reach of bet-at-home.com very wide compared to other sportsbooks.
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home website
The bet-at-home website has been regularly updated over the last years, and the result is a fast-loading and easy to use website. The website has a clean design, it is perhaps less stylish and graphical than many other sites, but this is often a good thing as there is less to distract you. Both experienced and beginners will have no problem navigating through the website and placing bets, and the general layout of the website and its functionality is pretty standard and similar to most sites nowadays. On the left hand side all the available sports are shown, and by selecting a sport the events become visible. Once you have selected your event(s), the available markets are shown in the middle of the window. Only the main markets are shown initially, this is just an advantage as it is easier to manouvre and you are anyway only one click away if you want to display one of the more special markets. Your selected outcomes will appear on the right hand side in the betting slip, the slip layout is also pretty standard and easy to understand, making bet placement very easy and fairly quick.
The various products are easy to find as they are displayed in the top menu. The only exception is the live betting product, bet-at-home does not display this as a separate product in the top menu or on the left hand side menu where we are used to finding it on other websites. But you can find the live matches on the right hand side under the betting slip. We did not intuitively look there for the live betting, but once you know where to find it all you have to do is click on a match and the available markets are displayed in the middle (and all the other events are listed on the left hand side and replace the normal pre-live sports/events list).
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home customer service
The customer service is one of bet-at-home's strong selling points and they are known for offering reliable and rapid support. All contact details are easily visible on the front page and you can choose between normal email support, phone support, or live support. Queries via email are answered 24/7 in (currently) 20 languages which is impressive, and this along with the helpful phone and live chat support teams means that you will get help quickly whenever you need it. Great support is something that we really expect from all sportsbooks nowadays, but bet-at-home's combination of being backed by one of the top European companies in the industry, being a publicly listed company, and providing top notch multilingual customer service, really makes betting with them a solid and enjoyable experience.
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home payment options
Bet-at-home.com offers multiple payment options for both deposits and withdrawals, as you would expect from any sportsbook nowadays. For deposits they offer the normal free of charge Skrill (Moneybookers) and Neteller, plus also Visa, Mastercard, and Diners at 2% fee. In addition to this they offer multiple local and instant deposit methods free of charge such as Ukash, Paysafecard, Webmoney, and many more. Although bet-at-home offer multiple currencies, Euro is the standard currency so you should be aware of this in case of currency conversion.
Multiple withdrawal options are available. Neteller, Skrill (Moneybookers), Mastercard, Visa, bank wire, Webmoney, and Western Union are currently available. Most of these are free of charge, but note that there are a limited number of free bank wire and Skrill withdrawals you can do per month before a charge is applied. All in all this is a decent and normal offer of options and should satisfy the customers.
Bet-at-home - betting markets
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home's selection of sports
The sport that is the most popular with the customers is without a doubt football (soccer). But bet-at-home offers a wide variety of sports equal to most other top European sportsbooks, so you will find all the usual sports including all popular ball-sports, US sporting events, and all major motorsports and wintersports. Other less usual sports are available too, such as darts, futsal, or cricket. The total number of sports on offer is approx 30. Non-sporting events can be bet on as well, and you will often find bets on politics and entertainment, for instance the US presidential election, the Oscars, and the Eurovision song contest. All in all, bet-at-home offers a wide variety of sports, the amount of sports available is in line with the top companies, perhaps not the very best of all, but acceptable and recreational punters should have no problem finding lots of things to bet on.
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home's events and betting markets selection
When you look at the events/leagues available to bet on per sport, it is evident that football is the major sport on offer. Bet-at-home's football coverage is very good and one of their key selling points, as they have a very wide range of football events/leagues available across Europe and the rest of the world. The betting markets available per football match is good, but a bit limited, and you can find a few other sportsbooks with better selection of markets. This depends mostly on the league, the top leagues and the leagues in the regions/countries where bet-at-home is very strong have plenty of betting markets, but some of the other (minor) leagues could do with more markets. Other sports are well covered also. The number of events and betting markets available for other sports of course vary depending on the sport, but in general the selection per sport is good. Some sports could do with better selection whereas other sports (that are important to bet-at-home's main markets) have very good selections. As a recreational punter you will have no problem finding all major events and betting markets to bet on, but as a professional punter there might occasionally be some sport or football league where you wish the betting market selection was better.
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home odds
The prices offered on sporting events and their various betting markets are above average. However, bet-at-home tends to go a bit lower on big favourites, so if you are looking for value on big favourites it is (as always) recommended that you compare with other bookies for the best price. This should in our opinion not stop you from having an account with bet-at-home.com, normally they offer above average odds and this in combination with the wide range of sports and events available means that you will find plenty of betting opportunities.
Bet-at-home – live betting
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home live betting functionality
The live betting is not presented as a separate product (and menu choice) like many other sportsbooks do, but it is still very visible on the front page. By clicking on a live match on the right hand side you go to the live betting screen, and from there you can see all available events on the left hand side, the event markets in the middle, and the bet slip on the right. The calendar is only one click away also, and it displays all upcoming events per date. What we miss here is the option to select specific sports, so that we can see for instance only football matches (both running and upcoming). But this does not distract us that much, overall the functionality is very good and we especially like the quick loading and easy navigation. The presentation is well done too, it is easy to see what is available to bet on and what the current scores are.
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home live streaming
One great advantage with bet-at-home is their live streaming service. Every day and pretty much 24h a day, they offer you free of charge live streaming video of various events, which is a great plus and allows you to watch the matches you bet live on even if your tv provider does not show the matches.
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home live betting selection and odds
When it comes to bet-at-home's live betting selection, it is the football (soccer) coverage that is by far the best. The football live betting coverage is very good, especially in terms of the number of football events that are available. The number of markets per match is decent, but not that much better than many other sportsbooks. Other sports are well represented also, the selection of events not as impressive as football, but still on par with most other sportsbooks. This means that you can always find something to bet live on 24/7, and betting is very easy because of the simple and fast website functionality. The odds on offer is decent (average/slightly above average), and you should have no problem finding attractive odds. The favourite odds can be a bit lower than what is on offer from other sportsbooks, this being a result of the pre-match favourite odds being lower too. But as always, live betting will give you plenty of betting opportunities and if the favourite odds is low pre-match then depending on how the match progresses look out for attractive outsider odds in-running.
Bet-at-home - bonuses
Next up in this sportsbook review series we take a look at bet-at-home's bonus offers, and see what promotions they offer both existing and new customers in their sportsbook, casino, and poker products. The major bonuses that are available are visible from the front page, and it is not surprising that a sportsbook-focused company such as bet-at-home displays the sportsbook bonus in the most prominent place in the middle/top of the front page. The casino bonus is also visible on the right hand side of the front page. For the more details concering terms and conditions, and also the full range of poker bonuses/promotions you need look around on the site a bit more, but everything is nicely laid out and easy to find.
Sportsbook review - Bet-at-home 50 euro for free every day!
Bet-at-home is running a promotion that is available for all registered customers, regardless of when you registered or how much you have played. This promotion is a lottery that all registered players are automatically entered into, and each day one customer is randomly selected as the winner. The winner gets 50 euro for free, all that is needed is for him/her to log on to their account by the end of the day. If the customer does not log in before the deadline, the 50 euros will be forwarded to next day and added to the next winner's prize. It seems like many registered customers do not log in in order to claim their winnings, at the moment the 50 euro for free prize is up to 1100 euros. Even if this promotion is not that important and not a major selling point to register an account, it is still a nice added bonus, knowing that you are always in the draw and can any day win 50 euros for free!
Sportsbook review - Bet-at-home sportsbook bonus
Basically every sportsbook offers some kind of deposit bonus for new customers, and bet-at-home does this too. They offer a deposit bonus of 50% up to max 50 euros, which is not a very high bonus compared to other sportsbooks. However, they offer the bonus not only on the first deposit, but on the total of deposits you make within a certain time period, so this makes the bonus a bit more flexible. The wagering requirements are pretty standard, you must roll over the total deposit plus bonus amount four times within 90 days and at minimum odds of 1.70 per bet. Note that this bonus cannot be combined with other bonuses or used for other products, and that some countries are excluded from taking part.
Another and more unique sportsbook bonus offered by bet-at-home is the BETMASTERCUP. All registered customers are automatically qualified, but you need to keep betting as it is the winning bets that count to get you in the rankings! The higher the odds and the higher the stakes, the more points you earn for the ranking. It is a monthly competition that starts on the 1st day of each month, and you can via their website stay updated on the top 20 ranking this month (updated daily) plus see last month's ranking. Prizes are given for the top three positions, as the winner you get a Speedmaster Professional luxury watch, second place gets a €500 betting voucher, and third place a €300 betting voucher. It is a nice and fresh promotion that adds to your betting entertainment, especially if you like to place bets on outsiders or go for the big multiples!
The bet-cup competition is another promotion currently running, but if you are qualified for it you probably know about it already. To qualify for it, the customers had to place a bet on March 1st 2008, and continue to place at least one bet each days since then. It does not matter if the bets are won or lost, as long as one bet is placed each day. When the competition started in 2008 a total of 20914 customers took part, and now there are 196 customers still in the running. The winner is the last person remaining to place bets each day, and he or she will win a brand new Porche! Even if you are not able to take part in this competition, it is original and will be interesting to see how it all plays out and who eventually becomes the winner!
Sportsbook review - Bet-at-home casino bonus
Bet-at-home offers a pretty normal casino bonus for new customers (or customers that have not purchased any casino chips before). What is on offer is a 100% bonus up to 100 euros. All you need to do is exchange funds you have on your account into casino chips, and you automatically get the same amount as a bonus. The requirements for this bonus are also fairly standard, you need to turn over the bonus amount at least 40 times and within 28 days. Certain games count less towards the wagering requirement, for instance the following count only 10%: all Blackjack games (incl. Mini-Version), Baccarat, All American, Jacks or Better, Punto Banco, Oasis Poker, TXS Hold'em, Pontoon, Deuces Wild, Joker Wild. Casino Hold'em does not count. Checking how much you have left of the wagering requirement is easy and is done by clicking the casino bank refresh button in the casino. Note that this bonus cannot be used for other products including the Live Casino. In addition to the deposit bonus there are many other game-specific promotions running, such as numerous Jackpots.
Sportsbook review - Bet-at-home poker bonus
When it comes to a poker first deposit bonus, bet-at-home offers a highly attractive 100% up to €1000 bonus. The size of this bonus offer is great and higher than many other have on offer. The bonus is determined by the first transfer of funds you make from your main/betting account to your poker account, and it is paid out gradually based on the number of poker points you earn (called fpp).
Several other poker promotions are available, for instance bet-at-home offer a Monday tournament with a relatively low buy-in of €10, where they add €1000 and an iPad 3 to the prize. For new depositors they also offer an attractive €10,000 freeroll tournament, all you need to do to qualify is to make your first deposit and play one raked hand at a cash game! If you are a new customer that has not deposited or played, then you can enter one of their Saturday €1000 New Player freerolls. Other more standard promotions on offer are various Jackpots, MTT leaderboards, daily €100 freerolls etc, so there are plenty promotions to take part in!
Bet-at-home - poker
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home - poker network
Bet-at-home is on the International Poker Network (IPN), also known as the Boss Media network. The poker software is from Boss Media, and Boss is also managing the network in partnership with St Minver Ltd of Gibraltar. Although Boss Media has been in the gaming industry for many years and the Boss network once being in the top 3 of networks, this network is currently not among the biggest networks. But it is still a medium sized network where most players have no problem finding games to play. The games are, in fact, considered fairly good, with many recreational players and not so many professional players (a nice effect of the big brands leaving the network was that they took the better players with them). In addition to bet-at-home.com, other brands that are on the network are for instance Paradise Poker, Betclic, Poker Heaven, and Inter Poker, just to name a few.
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home - poker product usability
The poker product is easily visible on the front page top menu, and by clicking on it you come to the poker main page, where you get all the necessary information on how to download the poker client and start playing. The information is very well laid out and perfect if you are a beginner. You get tutorials for both how to download and install, and also for how to use the poker software for the first time in order to get started playing. There are also menu selections where you can learn about the basic poker rules, a poker dictionary, and poker hand rankings. Once you start playing for real in the poker client, the poker software by Boss Media is easy and straight-forward to use. The software is pretty basic and perhaps not as good-looking or advanced as the best softwares out there. But basic functionality is just an advantage for beginners, and if you are an experienced player the skill level of your opponents is still a very good (and perhaps the most important) selling point.
Sportsbook review - bet-at-home poker bonuses and promotions
There are numerous of poker bonuses available, both bonuses offered on the whole network plus bonuses offered exclusively by bet-at-home.com. As a new player you get a big first deposit bonus, and you also have several freeroll tournaments you can play on the basis of being both a new registered player and a new depositor.