Betsafe Casino & Sportsbook Review

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Well, when they slipped this site in front of me, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The name alone gives me some confusion. It’s always the goal of someone who gambles online to win money, which in itself isn’t safe at all. On the other hand, playing at a safe site is also the goal I have for all my readers. Okay, maybe I am just overthinking this whole thing.

I started to get really excited about this review the second I brought up their website. There, staring at me, was MMA superstar Conor McGregor. I can only imagine what the company had to pay to sponsor him, so I already know the owners have some deep pockets. Now, let’s get into this review and see if the site has any money left to spend on its players.

Betsafe is owned and operated by the BML Group, a well-known company in the online gambling world. They have been in business for well over a decade and are probably best known as the owners of industry giant, Betsson.

Betsafe has managed to acquire three different gaming licenses. They are licensed by Alderney, the UK and also by the Malta Gaming Authority. I used to think that having more than one license was overkill for a casino, but after seeing so many casinos disappear with player funds, I am happy to find sites like this that have multiple groups watching over them.

Who Can Play at Betsafe?

Well, I am not at all surprised to see a long list of countries whose residents are not welcome at Betsafe. Having three of the most stringent regulators on your side comes with many restrictions, starting with who is able to make a deposit and play the games.

Sadly, folks from the following countries are out of luck at Betsafe:

  • Antarctica
  • American Samoa
  • Austria
  • Australia
  • Aland Islands
  • Belgium
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Curacao
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Spain
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Alderney
  • Greece
  • Hong Kong
  • Hungary
  • Isle of Man
  • Italy
  • Jersey Kahnawake
  • Malaysia
  • Puerto Rico
  • Portugal
  • Singapore
  • Slovenia
  • Turkey
  • United States

Software Suppliers

Betsafe is using multiple providers across their different product lines. The sportsbook runs on a proprietary platform, while their poker site is part of Playtech’s iPoker network. For the casino, Betsafe has chosen to work with many of the top providers, including the following:

  • Amaya
  • Ash Gaming
  • Barcrest
  • Big Time Gaming
  • ELK Studios
  • Evolution Gaming
  • Genesis Gaming
  • Leander Games
  • Microgaming
  • Net Entertainment
  • NextGen
  • Play’n GO
  • Playtech
  • Quickspin
  • Rabcat
  • Red Tiger Gaming
  • Thunderkick
  • WMS
  • Yggdrasil

The Good Stuff

So Much Content!

Green Thumbs Up

This is probably the best part of the Betsafe offering, in my opinion. As someone who spends all day on casino sites playing games, I have come across too many operators who don’t have enough games to keep me occupied. This is definitely not the case at Betsafe, and as you will see in my breakdown of the different game categories, the site does a great job of picking the best games from each supplier to place in its lobby.

So Many Products!

Another simple concept that I just love at an online gaming site is giving players like myself the opportunity to deposit once and use that money across many different products. Betsafe knocks it out of the park with their product offering. You can choose from the following:

  • Sports
  • Casino
  • Horse Racing
  • Poker
  • Virtual Sports
  • In-Play Betting
  • Live Casinos

So Many Jackpots!

I will admit that I am not much of a slots player. That isn’t to say that I don’t like the games, but I just find myself gravitating to games where I feel like I can be more interactive. If I do play slots on my own time, it is usually ones where I can win a big progressive jackpot. At Betsafe, there are millions of dollars in jackpots on the line across dozens of slots titles. Jackpot hunters like myself will be thrilled at the number of choices with a bonus prize attached.

The Bad Stuff

No "Try before you buy"

Red Thumbs Down

So, this was a surprise for me. At Betsafe, specifically at the casino, there are no free-play versions of the games. This doesn’t cost the site any more from a licensing perspective, so I am puzzled as to why the free games aren’t an option. I suppose it’s designed to have people move right away to the real money side, but in my opinion, that is a bad business decision. For example, I don’t know much about Sic Bo, so if I wanted to play it, I would like to play some play-money hands first. Anyway, I am sure the site has a reason for this operational choice.

Game Selection

With so many products and even more software partners, my time spent playing and testing Betsafe was considerably longer than at other sites. That doesn’t bother me at all because the lobby is laid out so well that I was able to move back and forth between categories with ease.

The casino is available as a non-download version, which is not surprising given how many different vendors need to be integrated into the lobby. The majority of the games, including the poker network, are mobile-compatible so you can play the games with ease on your tablet or phone.

Let’s take a look at the different categories in a little more detail.

Poker

As I mentioned earlier, the poker site at Betsafe is connected to the iPoker network. This means that there is increased liquidity, so if you choose to play poker, then you will find some decent-sized tournaments and cash games available at every buy-in level.

While I am happy to see the poker skin for Betsafe, I think that if you are looking to play more than the occasional tournament, you would be better served heading to one of the poker-first sites. Still, if you choose to play some poker, I suggest playing the qualifiers for the Battle of Malta. That land-based tournament is a lot of fun to attend, and Malta is a beautiful country.

Video Poker

Okay, onto the casino side of the business. I tend to start most of my playing sessions with a long look at the video poker games. This is because, if you don’t already know, I am a video poker junkie. I love the gameplay of video poker machines, and the rush of chasing Royal Flush jackpots is infectious.

I would have put in a much longer session at these machines, but to be honest, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of variety in the section. Now, I understand that the primary market for Betsafe is Europe, where video poker isn’t as popular as it is in North America, but that isn’t a great excuse for not adding more to the lobby. Several of their suppliers have video poker games, so they could easily integrate a few more (I hope the management reads this review).

At any rate, here are the variants you are going to find in the Betsafe lobby:

  • Joker Poker
  • Jacks or Better
  • Deuces Wild
  • All American

Table Games

Next on my review are the table games. After being a bit disappointed by the video poker catalog, I felt the need to play my favorite casino game, Pai Gow Poker. While the odds of winning in this game aren’t great, the odds of losing are also not bad (you can tie a lot). So, for me, this is a great palate cleanser before I jump into some blackjack.

Thankfully, I was able to find a table, and as it turns out, I hit a bit of a hot streak, netting myself a decent-sized win! I took that to blackjack and promptly gave most of it back. That’s okay, though; that is how it works, after all! The table games at Betsafe are excellent and play without any issue. Here are tables you can choose from:

  • 3 Card Poker
  • Around the World
  • Baccarat
  • Blackjack
  • Blackjack Pro
  • Blackjack Surrender
  • Blackjack Switch
  • American Blackjack
  • Caribbean Stud Poker
  • Casino Hold ‘Em
  • Casino War
  • Craps
  • Cyberstud Poker
  • Double Attack Blackjack
  • Double Exposure
  • Let it Ride
  • Lucky Blackjack
  • Oasis Poker
  • Over Poker
  • Pai Gow Poker
  • Pontoon
  • Red Dog
  • Roulette
  • Sic Bo
  • Single Deck Blackjack
  • Spanish Blackjack
  • Tequila Poker
  • Texas Hold ‘Em Bonus
  • Three Card Poker
  • Triple Action Hold ‘Em
  • Triple Chance Hi-Lo
  • TXS Hold ’em

Slots

Okay. I needed to take a step back and check my eyes after I first looked at the slots category in the Betsafe lobby. The site boasts 894 different titles. Yes, you read that right…almost 900 to choose from! On top of that, 100 games have a jackpot attached to them.

Now, I didn’t play all the games, of course, or else I would have never gotten around to writing the review! I did scroll through the games looking for titles I recognized, brands I like and, of course, those juicy jackpots. What I can tell you is that if you are a slots player, this is the kind of site you want to find. Having multiple providers offering their games means that not every title will feel the same.

Here is just a very small sample of the titles that you will find in the slots section of Betsafe:

  • An Evening with Holly
  • Avalon II: The Quest
  • Batman
  • Battlestar Galactica
  • Beach
  • Cowboy Treasure
  • Crazy Cows
  • Dragon’s Myth
  • Dragon’s Temple
  • Dragon Born
  • Fu Dao Le
  • Full Moon Fortunes
  • Jack Hammer 2
  • Jungle Jackpots
  • KISS® Shout it out Loud!
  • The White Snake Lady
  • Luck O’ the Irish Fortune
  • Mega Moolah
  • Mega Moolah Isis
  • Merlin’s Magic Respins
  • Monopoly
  • Monty Python’s Brian
  • Playboy
  • Polar Picnic
  • Puss’N Boots
  • Pyramid: Immortality
  • Rainbow Riches
  • Robin Hood
  • Scary Friends
  • Stellar Jackpots
  • Super Fast Hot Hot
  • Super Graphics
  • Taco Brothers
  • The Wizard of Oz
  • Tiger vs. Bear
  • Toki Time
  • Tomb Raider
  • Wild West
  • Wolfpack Pays
  • Wonder Woman
  • …and so many more!

Live Casino

After combing through the hundreds of slot machines in the lobby, I felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head. Thankfully, it was time for me to review the live dealer section of the Betsafe Casino. Here, the Evolution Gaming tables and dealers are on display, and there are just over 100 different tables to choose from. Being able to play with a real human dealing the cards is a growing segment of the online casino industry, and I tell all my readers that they are doing themselves a disservice by looking past these games.

The 103 tables available at Betsafe are grouped into these game categories:

  • Baccarat
  • Blackjack
  • Roulette
  • Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em
  • Three Card Poker
  • Casino Hold ‘Em
  • Dream Catcher

Sportsbook

BML Limited is really known for being a sports betting operation first and foremost. As a result, the sports betting section of the Betsafe website is top-notch. My first impression was very positive, as I am generally looking for an easy-to-navigate interface. On the left-hand side of the screen, you can toggle between games starting within one hour to 12 hours, and on the right side of the screen, you can switch the way the odds are displayed. That piece is important to me, as I prefer to gamble in American odds rather than decimals or fractions.

Moving on to the types of sports offered, here is a sample of what you can currently bet on at Betsafe:

  • American Football
  • Australian Rules
  • Badminton
  • Bandy
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Boxing
  • Cricket
  • Cycling
  • Darts
  • Esports
  • Football
  • Formula 1
  • Golf
  • Handball
  • Ice Hockey
  • Mixed Martial Arts
  • Motorbikes
  • Motorsports
  • Politics and Business
  • Pool
  • Rugby League
  • Rugby Union
  • Snooker
  • Tennis
  • Virtual Sports
  • Volleyball
  • Winter Sports

From there, you can drill down into dozens of professional leagues in many of the sports, so if you happen to be looking to make a bet on your favorite 3rd division English soccer team, you will be in luck!

There are a couple of sports I want to highlight. The first is esports, which is a rapidly growing segment of the gaming world. Betting on the outcome of professional video game matches may seem as foreign as a different language to many of you, but trust me when I say that this is here to stay, and as a wagering option, it is a lot of fun.

Next are virtual sports, which are computer-simulated versions of sports like tennis and soccer. These games take in the skill sets of the real teams and players, but compress the action into only a few minutes so you can have a result much faster than watching the real event. Both of these categories appeal to the younger gambler, who has far less of an attention span than the traditional bettor.

Betsafe has a mobile betting platform, which is the perfect way to connect with their live, in-play betting games. If you want to make a bet on who will score the next goal at the soccer match you are attending, it’s as easy as pulling up the website on your mobile device, logging in and searching out the in-play odds. This is another way that companies like Betsafe are making sports viewing far more interesting.

The company has a full racebook to complement their sports betting operation. I offer the full disclosure that I really don’t know much about betting on horses, but I can see that the site takes bets on tracks around the world, so if this is your thing, then I think you will find this section to your liking.

Promotions

I am happy to report that on top of having an excellent product offering, Betsafe has gone above and beyond with their Promotions department! I am blown away by all the different offers I found when I went to this tab of the website.

Let’s have a look at the bonuses and promotions that are currently available at the site:

Sportsbook Welcome Match Bonus

The Sportsbook Welcome is a simple one: make a deposit and receive a 100% match bonus of up to $30 to use in the sportsbook. This is a tidy little bonus that you need to wager through six times in order to convert to cash that you can withdraw. The bonus expires 30 days after the initial deposit is made, so you need to stay alert to ensure you don’t lose the bonus amounts from your account. Also, please note that this bonus does not apply to initial deposits made through Skrill or Neteller.

Poker Welcome Bonus

There are several offers that apply to the poker section of Betsafe, and it all starts with the Welcome Bonus. Here are the details:

Once you register your account and select a screen name for poker, you can head to the cashier and select one of the 5 bonuses for poker. Here is an overview of each bonus:

Now, it if were up to me, I would make the maximum deposit so I can hit the tables and play my way to earning the bonus. You have 60 days to earn the bonus dollars in poker, so you’ll need to play a fair amount, but seeing as this is a skill game more than many of the casino games, you may find that you have a better chance to complete the achievement.

Banking

While the list of payment methods at Betsafe is shorter than many other sites I have reviewed, there is actually something I really like about the efficiency being shown by the site. Since the most important thing is that players are able to have their deposits approved, I have to assume that this is taken care of by the payment methods offered to enough of a level that Betsafe doesn’t feel the need to add any more processors at this point.

I have not heard of any complaints about their payments, so I think it is safe to say you will be able to receive your withdrawal requests in an acceptable amount of time.

Deposit Methods

  • Entropay
  • MyCitadel
  • Trustly
  • iDEAL
  • Neteller
  • Visa
  • Maestro
  • Paysafecard
  • Mastercard
  • Skrill

Withdrawal Methods

  • Bank Wire Transfer
  • Visa
  • Entropay
  • Neteller
  • Skrill
  • Trustly

Customer Service

Customer service is a high priority at Betsafe. However, the site goes out of their way to make sure you don’t actually have to contact them. I was totally shocked by the Frequently Asked Questions section of the website. In fact, when I had a question, I went there first (as you all should) and was able to find the information I was looking for within minutes. This is great for both sides, as you don’t have to waste time contacting the casino and the site can be more efficient by not dealing with simple issues.

If you need to contact the company, you can do so via live chat, telephone or email.

Would I Play at Betsafe?

Oh, this is one of the easiest times I have had to answer this question. Without a doubt, I would play at this site. They come with a great ownership pedigree and have excellent software partners. I am able to play my favorite casino games, poker tournaments and bet on my favorite sports teams all from the same wallet. Throw in some great promotions, and you have all the makings of great player experience.

Personally, I am surprised that there isn’t a VIP program at Betsafe (unless it is private and not promoted at all). Adding that would have likely given this site a perfect score in my review. As it stands, if you live in a country that is able to access this site for real money, then you should definitely give it a go.

Jim Beviglia
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About Jim Beviglia
Jim Beviglia has been a gambling writer at LegitGamblingSites.com since 2018. During that time, he’s written just about every type of article related to gambling, including reviews of betting sites, guides to popular casino games, betting tips on both casino and sports betting, sports and casino blog posts, and game picks. In addition to online gambling, one of Jim’s other major interests is music. He has been doing freelance work for various music sites and magazines for two decades. Among his outlets past and present are American Songwriter, VinylMePlease, Treble, and The Bluegrass Situation. Jim has also written five books on music that were published by Rowman & Littlefield.