bwin doesn’t provide the best odds around or the slickest service, but it offers a comprehensive range of international and local football markets. Here we investigate bwin’s strengths and weaknesses in more detail.
Bwin trust & financial stability
bwin is operated by Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is one of the world’s largest, publicly traded online gambling companies.
The bwin sportsbook is licensed in Gibraltar and regulated by the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner, and is subject to the regulations in the Gibraltar Gambling Act. This provides some protection for customers.
In addition, bwin elects to comply with the code of conduct drawn up by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), which addresses issues such as security, the protection of minors, and responsible gambling.
bwin has lost some customer trust, however, by being quick to limit or even close the accounts of those who win too often or too big, or even just place large bets. It has also been involved in occasional disputes for voiding bets and for failing to pay out bonuses (or paying them out only after protracted argument).
Bwin odds
Unfortunately bwin isn’t known for its great value odds. A telling sign is that the company recently removed itself from many of the odds comparison sites on the web. That said, bwin’s odds tend to be average or just short of average rather than extortionate, and sometimes there are pleasant surprises.
Where bwin really shines is in the breadth and depth of the football markets it covers. According to the bookmaker, it covers upwards of 500 different leagues across roughly 100 countries – so even for obscure teams in unlikely locations, you may find odds on offer.
Bwin specials & promotions
bwin ranks poorly when it comes to promotions and specials. It has a reputation for free bet offers with unfavourable terms, requiring customers to “roll over” the bet amounts, or to bet large sums, before being allowed to withdraw any winnings.
Currently bwin is offering residents in the UK a sign-up bonus of up to £30. Sign up for an account, deposit £10 or more and bwin will credit you with a free bet to the same value, up to a maximum of £30.
Before withdrawing any winnings you use the bonus to secure, you’ll need to stake further bets to three times the value of the bonus amount.
Bwin website
bwin’s sports betting site is clearly and attractively laid out, although it can be a little slow to load.
The home page provides quick access to top football markets, a My favourites pane to which you can add events you want to track and the usual pane for choosing the sport you’re interested in. It also provides links to live scores, statistics and results.
The bwin live betting platform provides 24-hour live betting on a wide range of events and is probably the best feature of bwin’s site. It’s organized into three main tabs – an Overview tab lists all events for which live betting is available; an Events View tab provides details of events that are in progress; and a Multi View tab lets you choose events to view.
A VIDEO icon alongside an event indicates that you can watch live streaming of it. Once you click the icon for an event, the video plays on the same page, in a screen immediately above the bet slip. So you can watch the action unfold without leaving your initial view of the live betting markets and odds, which are updated in real time. To access the live footage on a larger screen, you can switch to the Video page of the site.
You can even access a chat room from the live betting platform, if you’d like to chat with other punters.
Bwin mobile
bwin offers a mobile sports betting app for iPhone or iPad users, which you can download from the Apple store, and an app for Android users, which you can download for free from bwin.com/app. The apps provide all the key features of bwin’s desktop site. They’re easy to navigate and finding markets is simple.
bwin also provides a mobile-friendly version of its site.
Bwin customer service
bwin attracts complaints for its tardy customer service and occasional failure to pay out winning bets and bonuses (at least without customers having to fight for them). This is an area where the bookmaker could clearly improve.
24-hour customer service is provided via e-mail. To lodge a query or complaint, you fill in and submit a form on the contact page of the site. You can also contact the company by phone between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m., although when we last checked, a message announced, “We regret to inform you that at the moment our phone support is unavailable.”
bwin supports a good range of payment methods, including credit and debit cards, just about all the recognised e-wallet services (including NETELLER, Skrill and PayPal), prepaid systems like Ukash and bank transfer.
Note that bwin is one of the few remaining bookmakers that still charges its customers a fee to withdraw funds from their betting accounts. The fee is set at 2%.
On the bright side, bwin provides access to its extensive football markets in 22 languages, making it a truly international option.
The bottom line
If we had to recommend just one sportsbook to our readers, it wouldn’t be bwin. There are many better options, such as bet365, William Hill, 888sport or Boylesports. However, if you’re keen on any of the more obscure football leagues and cannot find those anywhere else then opening an account at bwin may be your only option.
