Betfair is a sports betting site that operates differently to others. It does have a fixed odds betting side, but it is mainly known for being a betting exchange. At Betfair, you don’t bet against the bookie, you bet against other Betfair betting site users. This Betfair review will outline all you need to know about the Betfair betting brand, fixed odds and exchange, plus details of any Betfred offers and promotional deals.
Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Football Bet Builders
Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Football Bet Builders
Betfair was created as a betting exchange in 2000 by Andrew Black and Edward Wray. The company was so successful that only six years later when investors Softbank purchased 23 percent of the company, it was valued at a staggering £1.5 billion. Betfair went from strength to strength and over time added fixed odds betting, an online casino, online poker and online bingo.
In 2010 the company floated on the London Stock Exchange, and by 2013 Betfair could boast of having over four million customers and was turning over £50 million a week. By then the company had, like many other betting companies, moved its headquarters to Gibraltar to take advantage of better taxation rates.
In 2014 Betfair UK partnered with the leading Swedish gaming company NetEnt, creators of such classic slots as Gonzo’s Quest and Starburst. In 2015 it was announced that Betfair was to merge with the popular Irish sports betting company Paddy Power. The merged company was initially called Paddy Power Betfair but soon changed its name to Flutter Entertainment. Flutter now owns Betfair and Paddy Power alongside other UK-facing brands such as FanDuel, Sportsbet and PokerStars.
Betfair were the first betting firm to sponsor a UK football team, sponsoring Fulham for the 2002-03 season. They have also sponsored Barcelona and even Conmebol, the governing body of South American football. They are the current sponsors of the Brazilian football team Cruzeiro.
Betfair is an undoubted success, coming close to a quarter of a century in the sports betting business. It is by far the world’s global leader when it comes to a betting exchange, having a market share of between 80 and 90 percent. It is highly unlikely that it would have proven to be so successful over the years if it had proven to be, time and time again, an unsafe site.
Betfair runs and has run under a number of different company names over its history, those being Betfair Casino, Betfair Limited, PPB Counterparty Services Limited (one regulatory action), PPB Entertainment Limited, PPB Games and TSE Malta. We can only find one regulatory action, enforced by the UKGC in 2023 for social responsibility failings (marketing to self-excluded customers) and resulting in a £490k fine, which in UKGC terms is barely a slap on the wrist.
As a UKGC licence-holder, Betfair UK complies with GAMSTOP meaning all customers registered with the self-exclusion service provider are not permitted to use any of Betfair’s services. The site has several useful responsible gambling links to providers such as Gordon Moody, BeGambleAware and the National Gambling Helpline. All information passed to the site as well as transmitted by it is suitably encrypted to keep your information secure. Taking all this into the equation we are happy to conclude that your usage of the Betfair site is perfectly safe.
If you like betting on football, then the exclusive Betfair new customer offer we can recommend to you will have you smiling. Just click on the button below and make the required deposit using the promo code ‘ZSKAHD’ and you will receive £30 to use on the Betfair football bet builder.
To claim this offer you must be a new customer at Betfair, and you must make a minimum £10 deposit using a debit card, and then place a minimum £10 football bet on the fixed odds betting side of this betting site (not the exchange) and the event must have minimum odds of 1/2 (1.5). Once this bet has settled you will acquire £30 in free bets that can only be used on fixed odds football bet builders. Your free bets will expire in 30 days if you do not use them in time. The £30 will be given to you in increments of £10, with each increment appearing in your account 24 hours after the previous one.
This is a simple offer that is easy to understand, but just so you know you are ticking every box when it comes to this offer, check the site for the latest terms and conditions.
10bet offer | Offer description | Wagering requirement | Minimum Odds | Offer expiry | Min deposit |
Welcome bonus | Bet £10 Get £30 in Bet Builder Bets | None | 1/2 (1.50) | 30 days | £10 |
We’ve taken a look at other offers at the Betfair site and have found the following deals you are probably going to be interested in. Please note that these were the offers valid at the site at the time of this Betfair review, so these promotions could have changed. Make sure that you take a look at the Betfair site itself for all the very latest promotions. Note that currently there is no Betfair exchange sign up offer, just the offer for fixed odds betting.
It just so happened that at the time of this Betfair review the Cheltenham festival was just around the corner, and so the site was offering a special deal for day one of one of the most popular events for horse racing betting. If you placed a ‘win’ bet at Cheltenham on day one at the Betfair exchange UK of any value and at any odds and your backed horse lost, then Betfair would return your lost stake up to a maximum value of £10. Your free bet would be available after 24 hours and could be used on any Betfair horse racing market. The bet had to be used within seven days, and as usual with free bets stakes are not returned once the bet has settled, only any winnings.
This season-long football betting deal (at the fixed odds betting side of Betfair only) applied to the EPL, UCL, Europa League and the Euros. If you had placed a bet on a specific player – such as first player to be shown a card, anytime goalscorer or assist, or a player to have three or more shots, for example – and that player is substituted within ten minutes of the start of the game (we are guessing via an injury, or if the player is having a real stinker) then you will get your stake back. Note that your stake is returned as cash, and not as any kind of free bet.
Do you have betting buddies who are not betting at Betfair? Then you can educate them in the Betfair way by referring them to the Betfair site. For every wagering mate you refer to Betfair who then goes on to stake at least £10 at the sports betting site, betting exchange or casino you will receive £10 in cash. Again, just like above this is £10 in cash, and not free bet money. You can earn up to a maximum of £50 by referring up to five people to the Betfair site.
We hope that you have enjoyed what you have read so far in this detailed Betfair review. Now it’s time to explore a little more deeply just what makes this highly popular sports betting site and exchange tick.
As we have already mentioned, Betfair is primarily a sports betting exchange as opposed to a betting site. When you place a bet, your bet will be matched with your fellow Betfair punters who are betting the opposite way. Say you want to bet £50 on England at Evens to beat Germany in the Euros. Your bet could be exchanged with someone betting £20 for Germany to win, and someone else betting £30. Depending on the result, it’s the people backing the winning side who are paid via funds gathered from those who didn’t.
You can even set your own odds at the Betfair exchange, but if you set odds that are too outlandish it’s unlikely you’ll find anyone to take your bet. When you head to the exchange, you’ll be easily able to see the most popular odds for betting on teams, or for betting against them (or ‘laying’ which is the proper term). The amount of money available to place your bet against is known as liquidity, and at Betfair liquidity is important as if there isn’t enough to back the size of the bet you want to place, only the available amount will be covered.
One thing you may be asking – how does Betfair make any money if they are just exchanging their customer’s cash? Well, Betfair charges a small commission on all winning bets. Betfair commission is between five and seven percent depending upon several factors, including the market used and the size of the bet.
If you find the exchange side of Betfair too confusing or you are not interested in it then that is fine as you can use the traditional, fixed odds side of the site. This has undergone a redesign of late as Betfair has switched from using its own betting software (for fixed odds betting anyhow) and is now using third-party software provided by OddsMatrix.
The following sports are the markets you can bet on at Betfair. Markets that are starred are available at the betting exchange too:
This is a very good list with only tiny markets such as pesapallo being absent. As previously explained, at the exchange side of Betfair the odds are set by the punters themselves, with the most popular offered odds being shown up front and central. We checked through the odds at the sports betting platform and found them to be at acceptable levels. As an illustration, we checked the odds offered by Betfair for the 2024 FA Cup and compared them to the best odds we could find anywhere. As you can see, Betfair odds not only gave the best prices for the tournament favourites Manchester City, but their prices for the other teams in contention were only half a percent out from the best prices available anywhere. Betfair also offers Best Odds Guaranteed on all UK and Irish racing singles from 8am on the morning of the race, fixed odds betting only. This means winning bets will be paid at the best price possible – the starting price or the price at which you placed your bet (up to a maximum of £1,000 per day). Best Odds Guaranteed does not apply to Greyhounds. With the exchange at Betfair, your bets are limited to the amount of liquidity available which can sometimes be zero. So, if you want to bet £10 on Anthony Joshua to win his latest bout at 3/1 and no one has bet for Joshua not to win his latest bout at those odds, your bet’s not covered. For fixed odds, there’s practically no limit, and the site will accept bets for as little as a penny. The maximum payout varies by sport, it being £1 million for top-class horse races and elite Betfair football markets. That maximum drops down as low as £10,000 for some low-grade events, but for most sports it’s between £25,000 and £250,000. The minimum accepted deposit for debit cards, eWallets and Apple Pay at Betfair is £5, then £30 for all other available methods. There’s no minimum withdrawal but very small withdrawals will have to be requested via the site’s help channels. Live betting is available at both the exchange and fixed odds sides of Betfair. At the exchange, live betting is only available on a ‘1X2’ basis. With fixed odds there is a lot more to bet on live – for example with snooker it could be the player to win the next frame, the total number of frames in the match (over/under), player handicaps, correct scores and so on. The fixed odds live betting side of Betfair is easy to use and very responsive. It’s an intuitive interface that should not cause you any problems. Betfair offers a great deal of live-streaming video from both the fixed-odds and exchange betting platforms. You can head to the live video section at any time to see what’s on offer, and what is coming up. As is the custom for the UK’s leading sports betting sites, all UK horse races are available for live streaming, as are most greyhound races. Other sports covered include football, tennis, basketball, volleyball, cricket, darts and snooker. You shouldn’t need us to tell you that you won’t get EPL or EFL live streaming at Betfair. We took a look at what was available in terms of Betfair football live streaming and found German cup matches, coverage of the CONCACAF Champions League and matches from Poland, Lithuania and Montenegro! We’ve covered most aspects of the Betfair site – both fixed odds and the exchange – but here are a few Betfair bonus features we’re laying you won’t be interested in. Betfair Multiples – These are pre-selected bet builder style bets, sometimes with boosted odds. They are usually available for the biggest football matchups, so click on any match to see the Betfair multiples that are on offer. If you like what you see, it takes only one click to transfer the bet to your slip, after which you can set your stake. Match Odds 90 – This is another aspect of Betfair football betting. If any football match has the ’90’ icon then this means it will pay out early on 90 minutes. For example, say you are betting on Man City to beat Real Madrid in the UCL and City are 1-0 up on 90 minutes, then your bet wins even if Madrid go on to equalise or even win in stoppage time. Virtual – Betfair has a small number of virtual sports that you can bet on such as horse racing. The horse racing markets include flat races, jumps and sprints. There is also World Cup and Club football, greyhounds, and motor racing. The help pages at Betfair are very, very good. If you become unstuck, then you should be able to find the answer to whatever is ailing you there. If you don’t, then interactive support is available via the following channels: Whether you’re interested in the sportsbook or the exchange, you’ll find the entire Betfair platform extremely easy to navigate from the very first time you use it. We’re pleased to say that this user-friendliness extends to the Betfair welcome offer too. Even inexperienced punters will find these straightforward to trigger, but – to give you some extra guidance – here’s a four-step guide on how to claim a free bet on Betfair. Before you can claim a Betfair free bet, you naturally need to create an account. Fortunately, doing so requires barely a couple of minutes of your time. To get started, head to Betfair by clicking on the ‘Visit Betfair’ button below and click ‘Join Now’ in the top right. As you can see, the entire registration section is contained in one simple screen. Here you must enter a series of personal details, including your name, date of birth, and home address. You also need to set a username, password, and security questions. Crucially, this is also the point at which you must enter a Betfair promo code. For the sportsbook offer, use the code ‘ZSKAHD’. After clicking ‘Join Now’ on the first screen, your account will already have been created. Now, you need to stick some money in there. When triggering the Betfair sign up offer, you must use either a debit card or Apple Pay. Your first deposit must be at least £10 for the sportsbook deal. To make a deposit, log in to your account and click the grey ‘Deposit’ button at the top of the screen. Then simply select your chosen payment method, say how much you want to deposit, enter your payment details, and click ‘Deposit’. Click on the odds to add that selection to your bet slip, then – for both betting offers – you must set a stake of at least £10. Check that everything is in order, then hit the ‘Place Bets’ button. For the exchange offer, this will already have been enough to earn you £30 in free bets. For the sportsbook offer, you must place four more £10 single bets to get your rewards. To use your Betfair new customer offer, simply add an eligible selection to your bet slip as usual, but – for the stake – select the free bet token instead of your real-money account balance. There’s no requirement to verify your ID before either making a deposit or placing your first bet. You will need to do so, however, before you can withdraw any winnings, due to UK Gambling Commission rules. Once again, this is an extremely straightforward process. To get started just log into your account, select the ‘My Account’ dropdown menu at the top of the screen, then click ‘My Betfair Account’. Now click ‘My Details’, then ‘Document Uploader’. You must take photos of two documents – photo ID proving your identity, like a passport; and evidence of your home address, like a utility bill. After doing so, simply use the Document Uploader to add them to your account. Your identity should then be verified within 24 hours, and you’ll be free to make withdrawals. Like a good number of the very best betting apps, the Betfair app is available for all Apple-based and Android phones and tablets. The best way to get the app on your phone is to head to the Apple App Store or Google Play and search for ‘Betfair’. Once you have found the app, install it to your device as you would any other app. IMPORTANT! The apps for the exchange and the betting site are different, so choose which version of the Betfair app you want to download and install. Of course, there is nothing stopping you from downloading and installing both to get the best of both betting worlds. The full functionality of both sides of Betfair is available via both these apps. Whatever you want to do on the desktop version of Betfair you will easily be able to do via the apps, including placing bets (of course) and accessing any feature of your account. You can make deposits and request withdrawals via these apps too. For exchange betting ‘on the go’ these apps cannot be beaten. Sometimes when sports betting sites promote special offers to online customers, they require you to enter a bonus code or promo code when you claim the offer, usually with your deposit. If you forget to enter the code you might not get your deal, although if you explain your faux pas to the site’s support group they usually grant your bonus as long as you can quote the code. The Betfair promo code is exclusive to the offer in line with this Betfair review, and is ‘ZSKAHD’. If you don’t enter this code, you won’t get this extra special Betfair bonus. We make it our mission at SafeBettingSites to find all the best bonus codes for our site users. You can find all the latest and greatest codes listed below.
We mentioned above that Betfair offers a casino alongside its sports betting and sports betting exchange offerings. We also mentioned it offers bingo and poker but we are going to leave them to one side for the moment as we take a detailed look at Betfair’s casino. First up, Betfair seem to have seen fit to adopt a ‘cheeky cockney’ mascot – a young Delboy-like character in some banana-coloured gear. Luverly jubberly? We … think not. The casino has slots, card and table games and a live casino. The software providers include Playtech, IGT, NetEnt and Pragmatic Play which guarantees plenty of top-quality slots such as Reel King, Cleopatra Grand, Eye of Horus, Hit Bar Gold and Action Bank. Big Time Gaming are on board too so all of their Megaways titles can be found at this site. The table games section has some exclusive titles only available at Betfair, including Money Back Roulette, Original Blackjack and Cash Out Blackjack. Other games you can enjoy are baccarat, hold ’em poker and even 3 card brag. The live casino has exclusive Betfair tables too, so you can enjoy blackjack, roulette, baccarat and casino poker with live dealers. We have to say though the live casino options here are not as thorough as we usually expect to see at online casinos, but they will do. All in all a top casino that seems to concentrate on providing high-quality games as opposed to just filling the site with hundreds of titles in the hope that quality will reveal itself. The list of available payment methods at Betfair runs as follows: Debit cards, Skrill, Neteller, MuchBetter, Paysafecard, Rapid Bank Transfer, PayPal, Apple Pay and normal bank transfers. You can also deposit in person by taking your cash to any Paddy Power (and yes, that is not a typo as Betfair and Paddy Power are owned by the same company) betting shop. The minimum deposit for debit cards, instant bank transfers and Apple Pay is £5, but it’s £30 for all other methods. We think a minimum £30 deposit for Skrill, Neteller and PayPal is a little excessive. You can withdraw via any method that you have previously deposited from. Note that Betfair is one of the few betting sites that allow withdrawals via bank transfers. There is no minimum withdrawal amount, but withdrawals for small amounts may not process automatically and you will have to contact support. We are fast approaching the conclusion of our Betfair review, so now’s the time for us to look at what we like best about this site, and what we think needs improvement. Betfair is the UK’s, and indeed the world’s biggest betting exchange. If you are accustomed to betting with fixed odds then we can recommend that side of Betfair too, but we think you should at least take a look at the exchange side of things and even give it a go. Even with that Betfair commission between five and seven percent, you should find better returns with your winning bets at Betfair, and we can’t say (bet) fairer than that! Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Football Bet Builders Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Football Bet Builders It's a Betfair £30 free bet offer sportsbook, which you can gain by betting just £10 of your own money. Betfair does occasionally create ongoing promotions which also dish out free bets for the exchange, but at the time of this Betfair review, there are none available. On a sportsbook, you’re betting against the bookies - they set the odds, and you decide whether to take them or not. On an exchange, you’re betting against other users - you can take whatever odds you like, and Betfair simply takes a small commission. There aren’t many restrictions - you’re generally free to use Betfair free bet tokens on any markets you please, at whatever odds you like. That said, they still come with an expiry date, and your free bet stakes won’t be returned with any winnings. For the free bet welcome offers, you simply enter the relevant code during the registration process. For other Betfair promotions - including those in the casino section - you can get a full explanation of how to use a code here.
Betfair Odds
2024 FA Cup winner
Betfair odds
Best odds
Manchester C
7/5 (2.40)
7/5 (2.40)
Liverpool
3/1 (4.00)
7/2 (4.50)
Chelsea
6/1 (7.00)
13/2 (7.50)
Manchester U
8/1 (9.00)
17/2 (9.50)
Betfair Limits
In-Play Betting
Live Streaming
Other Features
Betfair Customer Service
Betfair review – How to Get Started And Claim Your Betfair Free Bet
Step 1 – Sign Up
Step 2 – Fund Your Account
Step 3 – Use the Offer
Step 4 – Verify Your ID
Betfair Betting App
Betfair Promo Code
Betfair Casino Review
Betfair review – Payment Methods
Banking Method
Fees
Min Deposit
Min Withdraw
Betfair Withdrawal Time
Visa debit
None
£5
No minimum
20 mins to 3 days
MasterCard debit
None
£5
No minimum
2 to 5 days
PayPal
None
£30
No minimum
2 to 5 days
Apple Pay
None
£30
No minimum
2 to 5 days
MuchBetter
None
£30
No minimum
2 to 5 days
Neteller
None
£30
No minimum
2 to 5 days
Skrill
None
£30
No minimum
2 to 5 days
Paysafecard
None
£30
Unavailable
Not applicable
Bank Transfer
None
£30
No minimum
2 to 5 days
Betfair review – Pros & Cons
What We Like:
What We Don’t Like:
Final thoughts on Betfair
Betfair Free Bet Offer
FAQs
What is the Betfair welcome offer?
Can I get a Betfair free bet on the exchange?
What’s the difference between Betfair’s exchange and sportsbook?
What rules are in place for using a Betfair free bet?
How do I use a Betfair free bet code?