Overview
AK Bets is the brainchild of Anthony Kaminskas, a former Flutter employee of nearly 10 years. Originally a rail bookmaker at racecourses across the UK and Ireland, it launched online in March 2023. The operator was well appreciated by punters across the British Isles and accepted over 70,000 bets in its first year.
AK Bets is an up-and-coming sportsbook with a great reputation, offering best-in-class odds and markets on horse races. In this review, we’ll examine what this sportsbook can offer UK punters, including its safety, payment options, bonuses, odds, markets, and mobile app. Once you’ve read this review, you’ll be able to judge whether this sportsbook is for you.
Safety and Trustworthiness
Rest assured that AK Bets UK is a legitimate operator that conforms to the high standards of the British sports betting industry. The site holds a license with the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), meaning it adheres to strict conditions on bettor safety, data protection, payment security, market fairness, and responsible gambling.
Payments are secure at AK Bets UK, as the bookmaker only accepts trusted banking options, such as major debit cards Visa and Mastercard and popular e-wallets like Revolut and Monzo. All payments are secured with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, meaning your personal information is protected.
The site is also a member of the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS), the dispute resolution service for bookmakers and punters. Therefore, if you have a complaint with AK Bets online, you can have your complaint handled by an independent third party.
Overall, our research found that punters are generally happy with AK Bets online, praising its market depth and functionality. However, there were some complaints about the bookmaker’s customer support, especially regarding the range of methods available to contact AK Bets in the event of a problem.
Deposits & Withdrawals
AK Bets online accepts several popular payment methods, including Visa, Mastercard, Monzo, and Revolut. Deposits are instantly processed, while withdrawals tend to be processed within 2-5 business days. The minimum deposit is £10, while there is no maximum deposit or withdrawal. Overall, we think you’ll be satisfied with the payment methods available at AK Bets UK.
Mobile
If you’re looking to bet on the go, AK Bets UK has you covered. The site offers an app for iOS and a mobile site built on HTML5 technology, which allows you to seamlessly navigate the bookmaker’s markets and odds on your mobile browser.
In our experience, we found the mobile site to be a solid choice for mobile bettors, although occasionally, there was a lot of scrolling involved in finding the markets we wanted. While this shouldn’t be enough to put you off using AK Bets UK, we’d like to see the design refined to remedy this.
The AK Bets app is available for download on iOS devices. It is well designed, with a similar look and feel to the mobile browser site. Navigating the app and finding the markets was easy enough, and we didn’t have much trouble selecting the wagers we wanted to place on the app. The AK Bets app also gives you access to the bookmaker’s casino site, and we found a decent number of mobile games available.
iOS users have rated the AK Bets app 3.5/5, which could be higher. While many bettors have rated the app 5/5, some have complained about the app’s ability to access customer support, with others complaining about some lags and glitches.
Overall, we think you’ll be satisfied with your ability to navigate the bookmaker’s markets and odds on the go. Still, we believe there are a few improvements that the operator should make to optimise the experience.
In particular, we’d like to see the site offer an Android app to cater to all punters. Secondly, we’d like to see the availability of customer service improved on the app, as punters have made several complaints about this in reviews. If these are fixed, AK Bets will offer an excellent experience for UK bettors.
Bet Offers
One of the more disappointing aspects of AK Bets is the lack of a welcome bonus for new punters, which puts it at a severe disadvantage compared to some of its competitors. We’d like to see the site offer a welcome bonus in the future to help it compete with some of the best UK sportsbooks.
Despite its lack of a sign-up bonus, AK Bets offers a good range of bonuses for existing players. The site provides a range of “Clubs” for different markets, offering players who reach a qualifying stake on certain sports and markets a range of bonus bets.
These include AK’s Kennel Club, which gives you a guaranteed bonus bet if you spend more than £50 on greyhound racing within a 24-hour period. The sportsbook also gives similar offers for racing, multipliers, and virtual sports. While this is a solid bonus, we feel the qualifying criteria is relatively high.
We’d like to see AK Bets UK offer a slightly higher guaranteed bonus value and lower its qualifying criteria for redeeming the bonus. Overall, we think there’s room for improvement for the AK Bets bonus, although if you enjoy greyhound and horse racing betting, you’ll potentially find some good value.
Applies to new UK/IRE customers who sign up with promo code AKACCA100. Place your first bet as a multiple (minimum 3 selections) and AK Bets will boost the profit gained on that initial bet by 25% in the form of a Free Bet up to a value of £100. 18+ | GambleAware.org
Betting Markets And Odds Quality
AK Bets offers markets on 18 sports, which is a solid if unspectacular number of sports offered. Within each market, we found a good depth of bet types. Despite this, in some sports, like both codes of rugby, we found the options for bettors to be lacking – markets were limited to some outrights and did not cover some of the most popular competitions of both codes, like the NRL and Super Rugby. We’d also like to see more match markets in some sports, like snooker and darts.
Some sports are well covered on AK Bets UK, most noticeably US sports like American football, ice hockey, basketball, and baseball. We found good depth and a great range of markets, especially in the NFL, NBA, and NHL. The site also offers decent collegiate sports coverage, which was a pleasant surprise. If you’re interested in these sports, we think you’ll be satisfied with what you find.
Without a doubt, AK Bets UK is perfect for punters interested in horse racing and greyhound racing, and its depth of markets and competitive odds are unparalleled. As you’d expect from a bookmaker originating on the country’s racecourses, the sports betting site has exceptional coverage of domestic and international horse racing and greyhound races.
In-Play Betting
AK Bets UK’s selection of in-play betting is impressive, with most of its markets available to place wagers on while the action is ongoing. We found that the availability of live betting markets would satisfy most UK bettors, with major football matches and other popular events, like US sports, well represented in the bookmaker’s in-play betting menu.
In-play betting odds refresh quickly, meaning you don’t experience the frustration of lags and freezes while you’re trying to place your wagers. Overall, live betting at AK Bets online is a reasonably pleasurable experience, although we would like to see a couple more sports added to the bookmaker’s live betting menu. For instance, darts is not currently offered.
AK Bets UK offers live streaming on some of its horse racing meetings and greyhound racing, but not football, rugby league, rugby union, cricket, and darts, all of which are popular among UK punters. We’d like to see more live streaming offered on the site, but given it is a relative newcomer to the UK sports betting market, we hope this is something AK Bets will add in the future.
Support
If you encounter a problem at AK Bets Sportsbook, the betting site provides a number of methods to troubleshoot your issues with a representative from the bookmaker. Users can contact the support team via email, and you can expect a response within a couple of days. If your query is urgent, your best bet may be to contact the team via X/Twitter. Our research found that you can expect a quick response there. Additionally, there is a comprehensive FAQ page, which we found helpful.
Despite that, there are a few areas for improvement. We’d like to see live chat and telephone support added, as these are often the first port of call for bettors. Overall, AK Bets’ customer support is satisfactory.
Review Summary
AK Bets is an excellent choice for punters who are passionate about horse racing and greyhound racing, offering unparalleled market depth, competitive odds, and solid racing promotions. The bookmaker’s roots in the UK and Irish racecourses make it an ideal platform for bettors who enjoy a flutter on the horses or dogs.
While the sportsbook excels in these areas, it still has room for improvement to compete with top-tier operators. A lack of a welcome bonus, limited live streaming options, and no live chat support hold it back.
Our team would score AK Bets 6.8/10. Improving its promotions, expanding live betting options, and enhancing customer support would push this promising bookmaker closer to an elite level. For horse racing enthusiasts, though, AK Bets is undoubtedly a standout choice.
Applies to new UK/IRE customers who sign up with promo code AKACCA100. Place your first bet as a multiple (minimum 3 selections) and AK Bets will boost the profit gained on that initial bet by 25% in the form of a Free Bet up to a value of £100. 18+ | GambleAware.org