SPORTINGBET REBRANDED AS WILLIAM HILL AUSTRALIA
William Hill, Britain's largest high-street bookmaker, recently bought SportingBet, Tom Waterhouse and Centre. SportingBet is now known as William Hill Australia and offers an improved horse race betting section for iOS and Android.
Read our William Hill Horse Racing Review or download the app by clicking below.
Read our William Hill Horse Racing Review or download the app by clicking below.
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SPORTINGBET AUSTRALIAN RACING
Overview
SportingBet are one of the oldest Australian bookmakers after its formation in 1998. But unlike many Australian based bookmakers the company have gone on to be much more of global brand branching out into countries in and around Europe. However, like a lot of Australian bookmakers they have been bought out by one of the bigger players in the global market, William Hill. |
Whilst this only occurred in 2013, it’s likely this sort of added exposure and more importantly resources will likely make them into an even bigger brand around the world then they already are.
The addition of mobile betting has definitely helped the company move into the 21st century and this is the aspect of the company that we will be focusing on for this review. More specifically we will be looking at how horse racing has an effect on the app and what punters may expect from this section.
As sports betting continues to grow in Australia, SportingBet are one of the companies behind this growth, so it will be interesting to see how well the app delivers on this front. The horse racing side is obviously something SportingBet feel their customer are interested in and how it compares to its rivals will be worth noting.
Features
First impressions of the app are good and one thing we particularly liked was the simplicity of the home page. The last thing you want from a mobile app of any sort is something that is cluttered and hard to navigate between. These will reduce load time on a platform that often won’t have the connection speeds that a home computer is likely to have on a Wi-Fi connection. Being able to choose exactly where you want to go and with the minimum amount of fuss is clearly an aspect that SportingBet have been keen to address.
It’s obvious how popular a sport like horse racing is on the app as you can select the sport from one of the 8 initial quick links from the homepage. In fact, three of the eight are all related to horse racing which include Races, racing multiples and racing features. The bottom of the home page also allows you to shoot directly to the horse racing section if you wish. If feels a little unnecessary to be honest and whilst we are looking at how well the app performs for horse racing for this review, we would question as to what exposure other sports get from the app. However, without looking further into to this it would seem silly to comment really.
The Races tab seems the most obvious place to start for horse racing punters, so this is our first port of call. You get four options with the first being the ‘next’ tab that gives you an overview of the upcoming races from meetings around the world. This includes the number of the race at that meeting and also a countdown as to how long it is until that race starts. By flicking across to the ‘Horses’ tab you can get a more detailed look at which meetings are happening on that day. You can flick between the racing for the current day and the next day here. Finally you can choose between Dogs and Trots which work in a similar layout to the horse racing section.
One of the more exclusive features to the SportingBet app come from the four sections found at the bottom of the racing tab; these include Favs, GetOutSki, Scratched and Big Bets. Now these were new terms to us but they are actually pretty simple to follow. The Favs tab takes you to a page where you can pick between favourites for up to four races. SportingBet combine the odds for these four horses before being able to bet on them all to win as a multiple. You may reduce your picks to just three or even two horses if you wish, but these will obviously reduce the odds in which you get.
The addition of mobile betting has definitely helped the company move into the 21st century and this is the aspect of the company that we will be focusing on for this review. More specifically we will be looking at how horse racing has an effect on the app and what punters may expect from this section.
As sports betting continues to grow in Australia, SportingBet are one of the companies behind this growth, so it will be interesting to see how well the app delivers on this front. The horse racing side is obviously something SportingBet feel their customer are interested in and how it compares to its rivals will be worth noting.
Features
First impressions of the app are good and one thing we particularly liked was the simplicity of the home page. The last thing you want from a mobile app of any sort is something that is cluttered and hard to navigate between. These will reduce load time on a platform that often won’t have the connection speeds that a home computer is likely to have on a Wi-Fi connection. Being able to choose exactly where you want to go and with the minimum amount of fuss is clearly an aspect that SportingBet have been keen to address.
It’s obvious how popular a sport like horse racing is on the app as you can select the sport from one of the 8 initial quick links from the homepage. In fact, three of the eight are all related to horse racing which include Races, racing multiples and racing features. The bottom of the home page also allows you to shoot directly to the horse racing section if you wish. If feels a little unnecessary to be honest and whilst we are looking at how well the app performs for horse racing for this review, we would question as to what exposure other sports get from the app. However, without looking further into to this it would seem silly to comment really.
The Races tab seems the most obvious place to start for horse racing punters, so this is our first port of call. You get four options with the first being the ‘next’ tab that gives you an overview of the upcoming races from meetings around the world. This includes the number of the race at that meeting and also a countdown as to how long it is until that race starts. By flicking across to the ‘Horses’ tab you can get a more detailed look at which meetings are happening on that day. You can flick between the racing for the current day and the next day here. Finally you can choose between Dogs and Trots which work in a similar layout to the horse racing section.
One of the more exclusive features to the SportingBet app come from the four sections found at the bottom of the racing tab; these include Favs, GetOutSki, Scratched and Big Bets. Now these were new terms to us but they are actually pretty simple to follow. The Favs tab takes you to a page where you can pick between favourites for up to four races. SportingBet combine the odds for these four horses before being able to bet on them all to win as a multiple. You may reduce your picks to just three or even two horses if you wish, but these will obviously reduce the odds in which you get.
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The Getoutski section works in a similar fashion but instead SportingBet simply give you four chosen races and then you can pick any horse you choose from those four races. It’s simple enough to do and the page will take you to a dedicated betting slip to make selections really easy. The Scratched section shows which horses have been pulled and from which races. It looks like this page is updated pretty quickly so should give you an early indication as to any non-runners for each meeting. Finally the Big Bets section shows punters what sort of big bets have been rolling and for which horses. This is a bit more of a novelty section in all honesty, but it’s always good to see where the big money is heading in a race.
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The race cards for the app have been well thought out and are really well designed in our opinion. It’s pretty simple to use; information on there includes the meeting, name of the race, time, length, horse criteria (age etc.) and then obviously the odds. Probably the best section of the card has to be the iForm which gives you a massive amount of additional info to base your bets on. This will range depending on the profile of horse but can include things like trainer name, jockey, last 6 race results, form at the track and performances over certain ground types.
SportingBet Racing Screenshots
SportingBet Racing Screenshots
Offers & Promotions
SportingBet offer a wide range of betting promotions for both new and existing players. When you join Sportingbet, they will match your first wager with free bets to the same value, up to $200. They "Current Promotions" section features a range of ever changing betting offers that coincide with upcoming race meeting and large sporting events.
SportingBet offer a wide range of betting promotions for both new and existing players. When you join Sportingbet, they will match your first wager with free bets to the same value, up to $200. They "Current Promotions" section features a range of ever changing betting offers that coincide with upcoming race meeting and large sporting events.
Verdict
As there are now so many mobile betting apps in the industry these days, the punter really does have the choice when it comes to selection. They are definitely more of a majority now rather than a minority and it’s for this reason that bookmakers have had to work so much harder to try and win your custom. That’s why when companies with the background and history that SportingBet have release an app expectation levels are understandably high.
After giving this app the once over – and more specifically the horse racing section – we can safely say that they are easily one of the best in market for what they do. The depth and the design are both standout features but the inclusion of things such as the iForm section and the additional betting markets such as the Favs, Getoutski and Big Bets really manage to set them apart from the field.
Is this the complete app for horse racing fanatics? Well, it’s tough to say as it’s very much a personal touch. A better way to describe the SportingBet horse racing app is that it definitely won’t let you down or feel as though you are missing out when compared to other apps.
As there are now so many mobile betting apps in the industry these days, the punter really does have the choice when it comes to selection. They are definitely more of a majority now rather than a minority and it’s for this reason that bookmakers have had to work so much harder to try and win your custom. That’s why when companies with the background and history that SportingBet have release an app expectation levels are understandably high.
After giving this app the once over – and more specifically the horse racing section – we can safely say that they are easily one of the best in market for what they do. The depth and the design are both standout features but the inclusion of things such as the iForm section and the additional betting markets such as the Favs, Getoutski and Big Bets really manage to set them apart from the field.
Is this the complete app for horse racing fanatics? Well, it’s tough to say as it’s very much a personal touch. A better way to describe the SportingBet horse racing app is that it definitely won’t let you down or feel as though you are missing out when compared to other apps.
SPORTINGBET RATING: 4.5/5
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Reviews of the other top Australian bookmaker apps.
