Centre Bet Betting - A review of online bookmakers Centrebet - www.centrebet.com
BOOKMAKER REVIEW – centrebet
centrebet International (CIL) is an online wagering and gaming company. Its wagering business offers online betting on a wide range of Australian and international sporting, racing, entertainment and political events. The company’s gaming business offers online poker and casino products.
HISTORY
centrebet was initially established in 1967. Based in Alice Springs, central Australia, centrebet was the first Australian bookmaker to obtain a telephone betting licence, in 1992. In 1996, the firm was one of the first bookmakers, worldwide, to provide online betting. The current centrebet operation was formed in October 2003, as a result of a merger with SportOdds. The company has continued to expand its operations, including obtaining a UK betting licence. The group represents 15 years of successful operations in the global online bookmaking market. centrebet has many thousands of active customers. The majority of centrebet’s turnover, unsurprisingly, is derived from Australia (54%). A surprising fact is that some 30% of centrebet’s turnover is generated in Scandinavia. Contrastingly, business from the UK and Europe makes up a mere 11% of the company’s turnover. centrebet are renowned for accepting large bets, of a size that are likely to be turned down by other bookmakers.
ONLINE BETTING
centrebet’s offers a matched free bet of up to £20 for new customers. Signing up to the centrebet online betting site is straightforward. Site navigation is excellent, divided into sports, racing, poker, casino and games, each available via a tab in the top right of the home page. All parts of the site require only one betting account. Upcoming events and “in-running” markets are shown on the right of the screen. For the novice punter, very detailed betting tutorials are also offered. These include tutorials on racing and sports betting, including multiple bets. A detailed onsite “Help” feature is offered. 24-hour Customer Services can be contacted by e-mail or a freephone number. Generally, the speed at which the site responds is excellent. No minimum deposit is stipulated (unusual for online bookmakers).
SPORTSBOOK
The range of sports and markets covered is excellent (allegedly 4000 per week). centrebet’s prices on most markets are generally competitive. Navigation is great, via drop-down menus on the left of the screen. Finding the appropriate market and placing a bet is a simple process. Given that centrebet is based in Australia, some of the markets are uniquely Antipodean, with probably little appeal to European punters. centrebet is especially good for UK and European football betting. Betting opportunities are provided for the lower echelons of most countries’ leagues. Scandinavian football coverage is also excellent, providing football betting opportunities in the summer, when no-one else is playing. The only downside to football betting is that no “Asian handicap” betting is available.
CASINO
The centrebet Casino offers a free matched bet on the first deposit for new customers. The Casino offers over 100 games, available for “instant” play or downloading. Games include all the usual favourites, such as card games, table games, roulette, slots, video poker and craps. There are also some arcade-type games, including forms of bingo and keno. Navigation is simple, and games load quickly. Game play is speedy, with vivid, attractive graphics.
POKER
centrebet Poker offers new players 2 offers for signing up:
1. A free matched bonus of up to $100 on the first deposit.
2. Entry to 3 “Freeroll” tournaments, exclusively for new players, with guaranteed prize money of $1000 per tournament.
Access to poker can only be achieved by downloading 50MB of software, but this is a speedy and straightforward process. The poker room offers several games, namely Texas Hold ‘Em, Omaha and 5 / 7-card stud. Stakes are as low as $0.10. Fixed limit, pot limit and no limit games are available. centrebet poker also runs numerous tournaments, such of which have huge amounts of prize money.
With over 300,000 customers across 110 countries, centrebet is now considered a leading international online bookmaker. It is fully licensed and regulated to offer safe, reliable betting for professional and casual punters alike. Offering excellent sports betting coverage, and with a wide selection of secure payment methods, centrebet can be recommend to punters from Australia, the UK, Europe and Scandinavia.
