Big in Betting
SportsBet.io is the flagship sports betting site of CoinGambling, one of the biggest names in Bitcoin gambling.
CoinGambling is one of the biggest companies in the world of Bitcoin-accepting gambling. SportsBet.io is CoinGambling’s betting site, so you’d be right to expect everything to be near perfect – it’s built with big money.
SportsBet’s betting coverage is comprehensive. That is, it has every sport (football, tennis, golf, horse racing…) and market (1×2, half time betting, goals…) you can think of. It also features eSports betting and even sponsors one of the better-known eSports teams (HellRaisers).
All these betting options wouldn’t be much help, if you couldn’t find them. Lucky for us, SportsBet.io’s website is very well designed. It has a clean, easy-to-navigate layout, where finding the events and markets you’re after is a snap. The website works equally well on mobile devices (phones, tablets) and computers.
Odds-wise, SportsBet is a strong contender. I’m not an expert on comparing odds, but looking up odds at SportsBet and some big-name fiat sites (like Bet 365) showed that SportsBet’s odds are either the same or a little bit higher. I assume the little-bit-better odds are thanks to Bitcoin, since using it saves the site a ton of money compared to credit card or PayPal transfers.
Betting limits at SportsBet.io are reasonable. The minimum bet you can make is 1 mBit (0.001 bitcoin), which is the standard at Bitcoin-accepting sportsbooks. The maximum amount you can wager on a single bet is… well, more than I can afford, that’s all I can say.
One downside to SportsBet’s website is that it has my biggest pet peeve, which I encounter at almost all online sportsbooks: you can only find the rules for each bet in the terms and conditions of the site, not where you make bets. While the rules are by no means hidden, it’s annoying to go look them up when making a bet that’s not clear or that has subtle nuances you should know (like “corners awarded but not taken are not considered for corner kick markets”). It would make sense to find them where you bet instead of having to look around for them.
Another small irritating thing is that the website uses American English. Come on now, nobody calls football soccer.
The oh-so-cool player prop bets explained
This cool feature lets you bet on the perfomance of a single player exactly the way you want to.
One of Sports Bet.io’s coolest features is player prop bets. This rarely seen feature (can’t remember seeing it at Cloud Bet or Bet Coin) lets you bet on a performance of a single player.
Here’s how the player prop bets work:
Let’s say you’re going to watch Everton-Tottenham on TV and notice how actively Wayne Rooney has been playing. To capitalize on your observations, you’d go to Player Prop Bets, choose Everton-Tottenham and pick Wayne Rooney. Then you pick what you want to bet on. Maybe, in this case, you would choose “shots on goal” and how many times you expect Rooney to shoot. The cool part is that you see the odds immediately as you change the number of shots on goal.
The prop bet system is very flexible. For example, you could combine your Rooney bet with another bet of how many times a certain player passes. Combining prop bets this way creates very high odds.
Personally, my favorite thing about the prop bet system is that it makes watching the matches more exciting. Instead of just caring about goals or other rare events, you can get excited over something like whether a player hits or misses the goal (“How could you miss, dumbass?!!!?”).
Overall, I really like the prop bet system. If you’re curious, right now in August you can try it with a risk-free bet (see below).
Bonus & risk-free bets 2020
SportsBet.io doesn’t have a welcome bonus (as of August, 2020). Instead, it offers you risk-free bets.
SportsBet.io sometimes hands out bonuses for its loyal bettors. You won’t get one as a newcomer though. Instead of a bonus, you’ll receive a risk-free bet.
Depending on if you’re on your computer or phone you get either a 10 mBit or a 20 mBit (mBit = one thousandth of a bitcoin) risk-free bet.
Taking advantage of the risk-free bet promotion is easy. Simply sign-up and place a bet. If you win, great. If you lose, SportsBet refunds your bet up to the 10/20 mBit limit the next working day.
On top of the welcome risk-free bet you also get a 5 mBit risk-free wager on my favorite feature, the player prop bet. Again, just place a bet and if you lose, SportsBet refunds you.
SportsBet.io runs other promotions from time to time in addition to these welcome bonuses. For example, you can expect to see event-specific free bets. Most big-time football matches (sorry SportsBet, I call it football and not soccer) like Champions League events get a 0-0 money-back guarantee.
Yes, there’s a casino
It’s a bit hidden away, but you’ll find a fully-fledged online casino at SportsBet.io.
With a quick glance, you wouldn’t expect to find a full-on online casino at SportsBet.io. It’s not advertised beyond a single link on the top menu, but the site has a casino with a huge selection of gambling games.
Tap that top menu link, and you’ll find that at SportBet’s casino you can play anything from slot machines to classic gambling games to video poker (Jacks or Better being my favorite).
It’s a bit surprising the casino section isn’t advertised more, as it is better than some Bitcoin-accepting casino-only websites. For example, you can play excellent Live Roulette and Live Blackjack games at SportsBet.io.
The slightly hidden nature of the casino is, of course, a plus for betting purists. If you’re at the site just to find out the latest NFL betting lines and couldn’t care less about slot machines, the casino section is going to distract you.
Send & receive Bitcoin
SportsBet.io is strictly a Bitcoin-only site. It doesn’t accept other coins or FIAT money.
You’re not going to find dollars or euros at SportsBet.io. The only currency SportsBet.io accepts is Bitcoin. If you’re looking to gamble in Litecoin or Dogecoin, the folks at mBitcasino are very friendly towards these crypto currencies.
Since the site has such a short list of supported currencies, you’d expect everything to work perfectly. And it does. Sending bitcoins to Sports Bet is lightning quick. You can start betting immediately without having to wait for blockchain confirmations.
Cashing out your winnings is equally fast. You only need to have three blockchain confirmations before you can start sending money back to your wallet. SportsBet processes cash outs quickly (in less than an hour in my test), so you don’t need to wait around for your money.
With ultra-quick deposits and cashouts like these, SportsBet.io is one of, if not THE, quickest betting sites on the internet.
(Not quite) anonymous betting
Betting is anonymous until you wish to cash out 1 bitcoin or more. At this point SportsBet.io may perform a KYC check.
SportsBet.io can be an anonymous site for betting. Just how anonymous it is, depends on how much you bet (and win).
In its terms and conditions, the site states that it reserves the right for a KYC process (KYC = know your customer, checking your identity) for customers who cash out 1 bitcoin or more.
If and when SportsBet does the KYC process is a mystery to me. I got pretty close to those limits, and nobody asked anything. If you require higher privacy than this, then your best choice is the completely anonymous CloudBet.
Legal & legit for sure
SportsBet.io is licensed by the government of Curaçao and operated by Coin Gaming, which has a great, legit reputation.
Like its sister site Bit Casino, SportsBet.io is licensed and regulated by the government of Curaçao. While it may not sound like all that much, a Curaçao license is the strictest one you can get when it comes to crypto-coin gambling. Getting a real license (something that dice sites especially rarely do) is a hassle and shows that SportsBet.io wants to operate in a perfectly legal manner.
More important than the license is the fact that SportsBet is owned and operated by CoinGaming.io. Coin Gaming has a long history of legit operating. It’s one of the oldest and biggest crypto-gambling companies in the world and known for its magic-like ability to pay even the biggest winners* on time.
* You need to win 50 bitcoins at SportsBet.io before it starts paying you in weekly installments instead of one lump sum. This limit is 5 times higher(!) than at many competitors.