Betsafe
General Information
Betsafe was founded by a group of betting enthusiasts that terrorised online sportsbooks in the late nineties and early 2000s. Th company was led by the Lavold brothers Andre and Christer, but a lot of strong product guys were involved. This group worked their socks off and were spurred on forward by the very dynamic executive Henrik Persson who took the CEO role once Andre Lavold himself removed himself from that position. In 2011 the hard work payed dividends as the listed Betsson group knocked on the door with an offer too good to refuse. Betsson bought Betsafe for an upfront fee of €32.5, but with extra addons the deal more likely end up at the agreed to value cap of €60M.
Financial matters
With the mighty listed Betsson group backing the management team there is nothing to fear at this moment in time. The Betsson group of companies at this moment in time are valued at about 8.35bn SEK. Just be sure to check Google Finance or similar services to see that the owners and shareholders of the firm dont do silly things with our deposits.
Payment methods
Betsafe offer all the traditional ones. In this modern world of ours, pretty much every operator has a top of the line payment suite. One can simply not operate well without it. Credit and debit cards are welcome. They even offer Norwegians (not americans however) the option to deposit this way. Moneybookers/Skrill, Paysafe cards and Neteller are also all incorporated with a decent range of other opportunities.
Website performance and usability
Betsafe and Betsson merged a lot of functionality, look and feel in 2012 and I know they struggled with a massive amount of bugs and problems. The support worked over time with upset customers, affiliates and others. However, the tables are turning. The child diseases have been cured more or and this baby is already walking. I know Betsafe have high expectations and want to be compared to the best. In that regard they still have some way to go. I feel the site loads a little bit slow for my liking. There is a lot of work still to do on the look and feel of the site. That said; they are far from the worst in class.
Customer support
Pre Betsson the company was miles ahead of the competition when it came to customer support. Post Betsson the support level has fallen a little bit, but in our opinion it is still a market leading support level. Multi language, live chat and very fast e-mail support is what it is all about at Betsafe. I can't find much negative to say here. I would actually stretch as far as to say they are the best in show on support.