Bethard Sports Review:

Despite the tough sounding name, Bethard is an easy-to-use online sportsbook with a welcoming atmosphere. Arriving here in 2017, Bethard is a relatively new entry to the cluttered UK sports betting scene, but offers enough intriguing elements, including an interesting take on the welcome bonus, to warrant your attention. Read on for the full review of Bethard.

We don’t put too much stock into celebrity endorsements, but the fact that Bethard has signed up the legendary Zlatan Ibrahimović as brand ambassador gives us plenty of confidence that Bethard wants to make a name for itself as a reputable operator. In fact, Bethard enjoyed a decent reputation in Europe since it launched in 2012, gaining prominence and eventually launching in the UK a couple of years ago. Its parent company, Bethard Group Limited, has made no secret about its ambition to challenge the traditional British bookmakers’ dominance. Hopefully, UK punters are the ones to benefit from such competition.

As Bethard has grown, so have its credentials. It began life as a small casino operation licensed by the Curacao Gaming Association. However, it’s now fully licensed and regulated for sports betting by the UK Gambling Commission, and even has credentials from Irish gaming authorities if you happen to be based on the other side of the Irish Sea. Links are provided to dispute resolution services at the bottom of Bethard’s homepage should there be any issue that you can’t resolve directly.

We like to see hard evidence of a company’s reputation, so it’s also reassuring to see that Bethard Group was nominated for Customer Services Operator at the EGR Gaming Awards in 2017. Player feedback seems to be generally positive on sites like AskGamblers. However, a recurring theme seems to be that Bethard is quite strict on I.D verification. Our advice is to contact customer service (they respond promptly) as soon as you open the account and deposit, get your account verified, then you’ll be good to go.

If you delve into the history of Bethard’s management, you will see that they are ‘tech people’, i.e. games developers and software engineers. Why should you care? Because they know what they are doing when it comes to the security of the site, your details and transactions. Bethard adheres to ISO27001 principles, also carrying out security audits on a quarterly basis to ensure everything is up to scratch.

You will find a decent selection of payment methods at Bethard, including options like Skrill, Neteller and the increasingly popular Trustly and Paysafecard. Admittedly, PayPal is lacking, but there are enough alternatives to ensure it’s not a huge deal. You should note that the majority of main payment methods can be used for deposit and withdrawal. The exception is Paysafecard, which can only be used for deposits.

The minimum amount for depositing is £10 across all types of payment methods, whereas the minimum amount for withdrawal is £20. It should be noted that Bethard has a policy that states it ‘reserves the right’ to pay in 10 monthly installments should you try to withdraw 50% of a balance exceeding £50,000. It is important to understand that this is not guaranteed to happen should you try to withdraw a large sum, but we would prefer it if Bethard was a little clearer in these circumstances.

One common theme pops up in player testimonials about their experiences at Bethard – fast withdrawals. It’s a huge gripe for punters having to wait days for their money after a win. One player cited a 15-minute withdrawal time for a direct bank transfer. That’s outstanding. At a minimum, it seems all withdrawal payments are processed inside 24 hours.

Bethard joins a growing list of newer operators who have decided to forgo a downloadable betting app. While we prefer the functionality of an app for phone or tablet, it’s not the problem it was a few years ago given the better compatibility of mobile sites. You can, of course, access the Bethard mobile site through your mobile device, and it works just as well as the desktop site. There is a slick, smooth feel when accessing betting markets through your handset, allowing you to place bets with ease. In terms of what sort of handheld device that you’ll need, Bethard mobile seems to work well with any fairly modern Android or iOS smartphone. However older, slower tablets can be a bit problematic.

Of course, one issue with not having an app is that the sportsbook operators don’t differentiate between the mobile and desktop sites, so there are no special betting bonuses for Bethard mobile. On the other hand, having a mobile site that directly replicates the desktop site means you do not miss out on any betting actions, as exactly the same markets are covered, including in live betting.

As mentioned earlier, Bethard takes a novel approach to its welcome offer for new players. Instead of the usual promise of free bets or enhanced odds, Bethard offers you £5 free cash for every £100 spent at Bethard.com. This £5 will re-awarded up to 10 times, meaning you can get up to £50 as part of the Bethard sign-up offer.

At first glance, a 5% cashback bonus seems a little miserly, but after some consideration, it reveals itself to be a stellar bonus. For a start, the money is yours to keep – withdraw it if you like – and there are no wagering requirements, maximum win caps or other stipulations that can often drive bettors around the bend. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, with a wallet that allows punters to bet on sports as well as casino, the bonus can be activated through all of Bethard’s products – sportsbook, casino, live casino. So, if you feel betting £100 on sports is a big ask for a £5 reward, feel free to mix it up with slots, video poker or whatever you like, as it will all count towards activating the bonus. In short, while some players might like the matched deposit bonuses and free bet offers of other online sportsbooks, others will prefer the constant boost of real cash, free from terms and conditions, from Bethard.

Bethard is a little light on other regular retention promotions, but it has a standout Enhanced Combo Boost promotion which applies to nearly all major football leagues. In a nutshell, you will receive a 7% boost to your winnings for five-fold accumulators, 10% for six-folds, going right up to 30% for 10-folds and above. The Premier League, Champions League and dozens of minor competitions are all included. You should note that each selection on the accumulator must have minimum odds of 1/5 (1.2).

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• Your welcome bonus consists of 10 bonuses of £5 up to a maximum total of £50.

• This offer is available for New Customers registering from the UK after the 1st of May 2018.

• Bonus will expire after 7 days from registering. • This offer is only available to New Customers from the UK making an Initial Deposit of £20 or more.

• Customers depositing via the following deposit methods are not eligible for the Welcome Bonus: Skrill & Neteller

WELCOME BONUS Welcome Bonus – Up to £50

• Bonus will be available for players after the initial deposit of £20.

• The bonus consists of £5 for every £100 wagered.

• The bonus can be triggered up to 10 times.

• The maximum total bonus amount permitted per player or account is £50

WELCOME BONUS GENERAL TERMS & CONDITIONS

• Wagering Requirements of Welcome Bonus: Please note the bonus is wager free and can be withdrawn instantly.

• Bonus in Casino and Live Casino have got a max bet restriction in place of £10 per game round or £.0.01c bet per line (or currency equivalent) and failure to adhere to this max bet rule may result in account closure and forfeit of the Bonus and any winnings attained during the wagering of the Bonus.

• Withdrawal of own funds will result in forfeit of the Welcome Bonus and eventual winnings.

• Certain games will have a higher % contribution than others and some do not contribute at all. The following is a list of contributions towards the bonus for each individual game type: Group A – 100%: Slots, Video slots, Scratch Cards = 100% Group B – Sportsbook = 100% with odds of 1.80 (4 / 5) or higher Group C – Live Casino = 100% Group D – Video Poker, Virtual sports, table games and other games excluding Live Casino = 0%

• Wagering on the following casino games will not contribute to the welcome bonus: Bonanza, Blood Suckers, Castle Builder, Castle Builder II, Cosmic Fortune, Jackpot6000, Super Monopoly Money, Mythic Maiden, Jokerizer, 1429 Uncharted Seas, Starmania, Dead or Alive, Kings of Chicago, The Wish Master, Simsalabim and progressive jackpots.

• If Bethard suspects or detects any Irregular Play (please see General Bonus T&C’s for examples of Irregular Play), Bethard may disqualify you from the Welcome Bonuses and withhold withdrawals and / or confiscate winnings and / or close your account. withdrawals and / or confiscate winnings and / or close your account.

• Failure to claim the Welcome Bonuses within 7 days of the New Customer making the Initial Wager will result in forfeit of the Welcome Bonus and eventual winnings. Wager will result in forfeiting of the Welcome Bonus and eventual winnings.

GENERAL TERMS & CONDITIONS

• The Welcome Bonus can only be received once per person/account, family, household, address, e-mail address, credit card number, IP addresses and environments where computers are shared (university, fraternity, school, public library, workplace, etc.).

• Cancellation of the Bonus will result in players forfeiting the Bonus and any winnings generated from the Bonus.

• In the event of any dispute, operations management’s decision shall be final.

• Real money is always deducted first when playing with any active bonus.

• This campaign is only valid for new registered players from the following countries: United Kingdom

• Bethard reserves the right to modify, alter, discontinue or terminate this promotion at any time for any reason and also reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of this offer at any time and it is customer’s responsibility to check for changes and updates.

• Bethard reserves the right to disqualify any player from this promotion and to close your account and confiscate existing funds if evidence of abuse or fraud is found.

• Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, Bethard reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus. In addition, Bethard reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the custome’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account. Examples of risk-free bets include betting on two teams in same game/match or placing bets on red and black on Roulette. In the event of dispute Bethard´s management decide whether a bet is risk-free or not. If player or players found to be colluding their accounts will be closed and all money frozen.

• Void/Cancelled or Cashed Out bets do not count towards the wagering requirement.

• The original text of these Promotional Terms and Conditions is in English. Should there be any discrepancies in the translations of the terms and conditions, the original English version will prevail. • Currency conversions are calculated as per the following example; €20, £20, $20, 200 kr.

• Bethard.comGeneral Terms and Conditions apply. https://www.bethard.com/terms-and-conditions

Navigating around the Bethard site is easy, with an HTML5 format making pages and pop-ups load quickly and smoothly. It’s a minimalistic style, set on a black background with yellow buttons and tabs. There aren’t any intrusive videos or pop-up advertisements which can sometimes blight other betting sites. All in all, Bethard has created an easy-to-use, attractive looking betting site, without being ground-breaking in its layout or style.

A lot of thought seems to have gone into the site navigation though, so you will find things like quick links and suggested bets that will help you get around faster. There is a big emphasis on football, but almost every sport under the sun is covered, including UK and Irish horse racing, US sports, cricket rugby and tennis. There is even a virtual sports section, which some newer online bookmakers tend to overlook. Helpfully, a link is provided on the site to load a pop-up screen with the latest statistics from Betradar. There are also handy extras, such as a results service, Bethard’s betting blog and links to betting rules.

There are a couple of minor criticisms. For example, while Bethard covers a huge range of sports, there seems to be no coverage of greyhound racing. In addition, we would like to see some dedicated campaign sections for the likes of the Cheltenham Festival. It’s one of the biggest betting events in the UK, so it would be nice to see it given more prominence than just listing the races under the ‘futures’ racing section.

In terms of betting markets, you could say that Bethard ticks all the main boxes. A typical Premier League football match will have just under 200 markets. There isn’t much missing from the selection of betting markets, but it would be nice to see Bethard offer something that none of its competitors do. Indeed, Bethard will need to add a build-a-bet/#YourOdds type feature before we give it full marks for its choice of betting markets.

If Bethard Group really hopes to achieve its stated goal of becoming the “biggest betting brand in the world”, it will need to challenge the likes of Betfair and Betway in terms of competitivity of odds. Bethard makes a statement on its site that it offers “High Odds on the Premier League”. So, let’s put it to the test:

Bethard has odds of 4/6 for Manchester City to win the Premier League, which is a little shorter than Bet365, SkyBet and Betway, who all go 8/11. However, Bethard matches the odds of other big names, such as Paddy Power, Betfair and William Hill.

When it comes to Liverpool, Bethard goes in at 7/5 for the Reds to be champions. This beats the odds offered by Bet365 and Betfair (6/5), Paddy Power (11/10) and Betway (11/8). In fact, it’s hard to find a major UK bookie that beats Bethard’s odds on Liverpool for the title. *Odds are correct as of 15^th Feb 2019.

In fairness, bookies are always going to disagree slightly on certain markets, so there isn’t going to be one that tops the odds in every market. However, as evidenced above, Bethard is matching and, in some cases, outmatching the biggest names in the industry when it comes to Premier League betting. This should be seen as a big plus for any serious punter.

Within a couple of moments of checking out Bethard’s live betting offering, you’ll possibly agree that it’s on a par with those online bookies, such as Bet365 and Betway, who have a superior in-play betting experience. Bethard offers real-time odds updates, visuals, statistics and a wide range of live betting markets. You should also look for the lightning symbol on different live markets, which ensures bets are processed extra quickly.

A rich variety of sports is covered for live betting, with the likes of table tennis, eSports and volleyball joining the more prominent sports like football, golf and tennis. Live streaming is available at Bethard, although it’s not made clear on the site which events are covered or if you must place a wager before watching. A simple icon on the event listings could easily fix this issue.