Betfair, Sky Bet equal winners for mobile functionality
Leading tipster site bettingexpert.com evaluates the mobile betting platform and app offerings of 26 of the most popular bookmakers.
The popularity of sports betting the world over has seemingly grown hand in hand with the use of mobile devices. In fact the majority of bettors, particularly casual bettors, now bet via their mobile device, particularly when it comes to live betting platforms.
Placing a bet while watching a football match with friends at the pub or on the lounge has become almost a ritual. Debating live betting odds or the markets for the upcoming match has added an extra dimension of participation and enjoyment for sports fans across the planet.
But which bookmakers offer the best mobile apps and mobile betting platforms? To find out we researched and evaluated the mobile betting options available at 26 of the world’s most popular bookmakers. These included:
• 10bet
• 188bet
• 888sport
• Bet At Home
• Bet365
• Betfair
• Betfred
• Betsafe
• BetVictor
• Betway
• Boylesports
• Bwin
• ComeOn
• Coral
• Energybet
• Gentingbet
• Ladbrokes
• Marathonbet
• Matchbook
• NetBet
• Paddy Power
• Skybet
• Sportingbet
• Titanbet
• Unibet
• William Hill
• Winner Sport
Rather than undertaking a labour-intensive subjective review campaign, we decided to evaluate each mobile betting platform considering the following:
iTunes average review score
Number of iTunes reviews
iTunes ranking in the ‘sports app’ category
Size (MBs) of the app download
Number of languages available
Availability of an Android app
Availability of a mobile site platform
Availability of an exclusive mobile bonus offer
Availability of live streaming via mobile device
Availability of mobile cash out
Our data was collected between 29 May and 1 June 2018.
So which are the best bookmakers for mobile betting?
After evaluating our data, we determined that the top bookmakers for mobile betting are as follows:
Equal first: Betfair, Skybet
Third: bet365
It was a close call with a near three-way tie for first place. But after much consideration, both Betfair and Skybet shared the spoils, with bet365 not far behind in third place.
Betfair mobile betting
At the time of collecting our data, Betfair had an iTunes rating of 4.6, which placed it third in our rankings behind Bet At Home and Skybet.
A solid rating, and even more so considering the number of reviews given — a total of almost 19,000 at the time of collecting our data — ranking it second behind Paddy Power for the total number of iTunes ratings delivered for its Apple mobile betting app.
While ranking highly for overall rating and number of reviews given, Betfair ranked eighth among our 26 bookmakers for its ranking in the iTunes sports app category, with an overall ranking of 34.
In terms of app size, Betfair’s mobile app ranked in the middle of the pack at 46MB, while ranking in the top third for the number of languages its app is available in, with 11 languages on offer.
Lastly, Betfair has an Android app available for download.
Skybet mobile betting
Coming in equal first with Betfair, Skybet offers a superb mobile betting platform. Skybet ranked second behind Bet At Home for the highest iTunes average rating, with an average of 4.8, while ranking fourth in total number of reviews given, with roughly 5,300 at the time of collecting our data.
Skybet ranked number one among our 26 bookmakers when it came to its iTunes sports app category ranking, currently ranking seventh in the sports app category. Skybet also ranked middle of the pack in terms of app size at 41MB.
Unfortunately, Skybet ranked poorly when it came to languages available, with its app currently available only in English. Finally, Skybet has an Android app available for download.
Bet365 mobile betting
Coming in third place, just short of both Betfair and Skybet, was bet365. As one of the world’s biggest bookmakers, one would expect bet365 to deliver a great mobile betting platform.
At the time of collecting our data, bet365 held an average iTunes app rating of 4.0, placing it middle of the pack of our 26 bookmakers, with 1,500 reviews given, ranking it sixth.
Bet365 also ranked highly in the iTunes sports app category, ranking third among our 26 bookmakers with an overall ranking of 13, behind Skybet with a ranking of seven and William Hill with a ranking of 11. Bet365 also ranked in the top half for app size, with 36.4MB, putting it tenth among our 26 bookmakers.
In terms of languages, bet365 ranked fourth with a total of 18 languages available, behind Sportingbet (20 languages available), Bwin (20) and Unibet (19). Lastly, bet365 also has an Android app available for download.
William Hill mobile betting
William Hill ranked in fourth place among our 26 bookmakers for its mobile betting platform. William Hill secured an average rating of 4.5 from 3,200 reviews given on iTunes, ranking it fifth in each category.
William Hill ranked second in the iTunes sports app category with an overall ranking of 11, second only to Skybet with a sports app ranking of 7. The William Hill Apple app is, however, one of the largest apps at 68.2MB, placing it well down the list of our 26 bookmakers. In terms of languages, it ranked in the top half of bookmakers with six languages available.
While William Hill has an Android app available, it is also one of seven bookmakers with an exclusive bonus available for mobile users, with its current Bet Boost offer.
Paddy Power mobile betting
Rounding out our top five mobile betting platforms is Paddy Power. As one of the most popular bookmakers in UK betting, one would expect Paddy Power to offer a highly rated mobile betting app and mobile site. Paddy Power has received an average rating of 4.6 on iTunes, ranking it equal with Betfair in third place among our 26 bookmakers.
While ranking third for average rating, Paddy Power was the clear winner when it came to total number of iTunes ratings given for their app, with almost 26,000 ratings registered at the time of collecting our data — quite a heavy endorsement of its mobile app for Apple devices.
Paddy Power also ranked quite well in terms of its iTunes sports app category, with an overall ranking of 24, making it sixth among our 26 bookmakers. Paddy Power has one of the largest mobile apps at 56.6MB, while offering the app in just one language. Finally, Paddy Power has an Android app available for download.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the future of betting is in mobile access. Now more than ever before, bettors demand immediate access to markets both pre-event and live, betting offers, banking options and features such as cash out and live streaming.
While subjectively evaluating each mobile betting app is a task well beyond the time available of the average bettor, platforms such as iTunes make it easy to find the most popular and highly rated mobile betting apps, providing punters with detailed information so they can make informed choices when selecting their preferred mobile betting platform.
About bettingexpert.com
Providing expert tips and in depth betting theory, bettingexpert.com is the world’s biggest social network of sports betting tipsters. Its global community of experts compete for prizes by sharing their strongest tips on upcoming matches across 25 different sports to help millions of sports bettors place knowledge-supported bets, with the best odds available from a variety of bookmakers. Betting Expert is owned by Better Collective, the leading developer of educational platforms within the igaming industry.