Bwin Sportsbook Review

Bwin Review

Bwin is one the largest gaming companies in the world. They have business interests in both regulated and unregulated markets and offer players online sports betting, poker, and casino gambling all from the same account.

Bwin Interactive Entertainment, formerly betandwin.com, was established in 1999 out of Austria. It operated in over two dozen markets and had over 20 million registered users.Bwin merged with PartyGaming plc in March 2011.

PartyGaming has a long history in online gambling pre-merger. The company was founded in 1997 with the launch of an online casino, the Starluck Casino. They are most famous for their online poker platform, PartyPoker, which was a pioneer in online poker markets, and still operates today. After the merger had been completed, it was opened to the public. 48.4% of the stock was owned by existing PartyGaming shareholders while the other 51.6% by former Bwin shareholders.

In September, 888 Holdings and GVC Holdings, two gaming companies got into a bidding war to acquire Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment. The company confirmed that they accepted the winning bid of £1.1 billion on September 4th, 2015. The transaction was completed on February 1st, 2016.

GVC Holdings plc is headquartered in the Isle of Man. It was initially founded in Luxembourg in 2004 as Gaming VC Holdings. They are publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol, GVC. In addition to acquiring Bwin.Party, they purchased long time British bookmaker, Sportingbet. The Government of Gibraltar licenses Bwin and they regulated by the Gibraltar Gambling Commission. They are also licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission.

Bwin and Party continue to operate as separate brands. Neither .com site currently accepts American residents. However, Party Poker through a partnership with the Borgata casino is licensed by the New Jersey Division of Gaming to offer online poker and casino games to New Jersey citizens.

A Personal Opinion on Bwin Sportsbook

Online Sportsbooks Worth Considering

Bwin Betting Site – Deposits and Withdrawals

Lots of Cashier Options, But Slow Speeds

Bwin’s list of cashier options is among the largest we’ve seen for an online bookmaker. They have an extensive list of accepted currencies and many local deposit options depending on your jurisdiction.

The most popular deposit method will likely be by credit card or debit card. They accept both MasterCard and Visa. There are no fees for depositing and withdrawing with any credit or debit card. However, with e-wallets, such as Neteller and Skrill there is a 3% charge on withdrawals. This is extremely rare for an operator of their size. Bwin drops the ball by not covering these fees for customers.

To make matters worse, they also charge for bank wire withdrawals and have a minimum amount of $50,000 before players can request a bank wire payout. We guess not many of these are requested and processed.

Withdrawals speeds are all over the place. It seems the general feeling after reading feedback from customers that Bwin has below average speeds, but they are still honoring all requests, from all methods within 7-10 days. These rates are below the industry standard. Many operators process the majority of their withdrawals within 24-48 hours, but they are still far from slow-paying or rogue territory.

Bwin Review – Sportsbook Bonuses

New customers to Bwin will receive a 100% bonus up to £30 on their first deposit. The minimum bonus amount is £10. The bonus comes with a 3x rollover. The free bet will only be available if you’re registering for Bwin for the first time. If you have previously had an account in the online casino or poker room, you are not eligible. This is a nice little bonus, and unlike many bookmakers, it is a true freeplay bonus instead of a risk-free bet rebate. The bonus will be released in two increments after betting begin placing real money wagers.

Bwin Review Highlights

If Bwin were rated just on their interface and betting software, they might be the best bookmaker online. The sports and number of markets available are extremely impressive, and although a lot is happening on your screen, navigating around and placing bets couldn’t be simpler.

Their most popular markets are listed in the upper left-hand corner of the day. Clicking on a sport, and placing a selection doesn’t require a page reload, and wow, is their software fast. One of our top features, unique to Bwin (at least we haven’t seen it anywhere else) is favorite market preferences. Customers can star their favorites markets and have easy access to them as soon as they log in. It can save a lot of time, particularly because of the sea of options at Bwin.

The left side of the screen also has a live total of the number of markets they currently offer. It’s typically at least 15,000 or more. There is also a ‘last minute bets’ button that allows punters to check for value quickly in the final seconds of pre-match markets.

As far as sports available for betting, there are few sports or leagues that Bwin doesn’t provide. It’s not worth our time to list them all here, but if someone in the world is taking bets on it, there are probably odds available.

They don’t necessarily have a focus on a particular area, but there will be more betting markets on high profile European sports, such as football and soccer compared to say compared to less popular sports like darts or handball.

Software aside and number of markets aside, their odds are just average. It’s not particularly an operator you would look at immediately for the best price. However, in-play betting markets seem to reduce the bookmaker’s edge. Their live betting options and interface are as excellent as the pre-match betting options if not better.

Unlike most other bookmakers, Bwin doesn’t list their maximum payout limits. Instead, the when customers place a wager, they will be notified if they’re trying to bet more than the maximum. They will then have to adjust their stake. At a few places online it says that they have a maximum payout per week of £100,00 which would be quite small. Although, it may make sense due to the number of issues that punters have gone through with their accounts being limited.

Bwin seems to be extremely aggressive in dropping players who are on a hot streak or that manages deems to be sharp. Betting steam and only betting +EV wagers will surely get their attention quickly. Once they limit you, your maximum bet may be only around £100. With that said, Bwin is definitely not a sportsbook for the professional level bettor or someone who is looking to win more than six figures. It’s likely that they will be limited long before they reach the £100,00 figure.

Bwin Sportsbook Support

As touched on in the above section, the lack of 24/7 support team isn’t a deal breaker, but it’s not something you would expect from an operator of their size. One major mistake they made was not including a live chat operator during regular business hours.

Support is provided by email or phone. We’ve seen mixed responses with support. Universally, however, speeds seemed to be a bit slower when handling issues. Many players were relieved with finally connecting with a representative to get their problem fixed promptly, but too many others complained of not getting responses for days or even a week later.

Bwin – Average Option For Sports Betting

Despite their size, Bwin is just an average choice for bettors. They’re not quite squeaky clean Even their affiliates have issues with them, but they’re still one of the most trustworthy shops when it comes to being paid, despite the slow speeds. Grab a bonus, enjoy the software and try out the live betting, just don’t go in expecting too much.