About 888Sport
The 888Sport bookmaker has been in operation since 2008 and is run by 888 Holdings Group. The group has actually been running since 1997 but in the years leading up to the sportsbook, the company mainly focussed on both casino and poker. A natural progression for any successful casino or poker room is to move into the online sports betting sector and this is exactly the route 888 decided to take.
The 888 Group is run by CEO Brian Mattingley and Chairman Richard Kilsby. It’s fully based out of Gibraltar and in 2014 reported an operating income of $80 million. The company have spent a lot of time and resources into the promotion of the 888Sport getting some high powered names on board to push the brand. Probably their most notable was that of Spanish goalkeeper, Santiago Canizares as brand ambassador and Ian Wright just a year alter in 2012.
Marketing has been the main reason 888Sport are where they are today and this is down to a range of huge campaigns run over the last 5 years or so. Their biggest and likely most successful has been that of their welcome bonus, offering treble the odds to punter placing their first bet. It was an industry first and has been so successful that several bookmakers have jumped on board offering similar, if not quite as lucrative, promotions themselves.
888sport are the betting arm of the giant 888 Holdings plc which was founded back in 1997. As one of the biggest online gambling companies on the planet, the company have some huge brands in the worlds of online casinos and gaming and they are trying to make 888sport, their sports betting brand, as successful as any of them. Started by two sets of brothers, Avi and Aaron Shaked and Shay and Ron Ben-Yitzhak, 888 grew by acquiring other companies and they even have a presence in the highly regulated American market.
Founded in 2008, 888sport have worked hard to create their own distinct look with the orange and black that adorns their site but they are actually powered by Kambi Sport Solutions, a part of the Unibet group. That means you’ll find almost exactly the same markets and prices on 888sport as on Unibet so the company have had to find other ways of distinguishing themselves from the competition.
Odds & Markets
888Sport have probably been the biggest success story in the gambling industry over the last 5 years. The company have managed to establish themselves as one of the best and the main reason behind that is how competitive they have been with their pricing. 888Sport’s bread and butter is undoubtedly football, with the odds on offer being right up there with the best. From the bets that we tested, 888Sport actually came out best priced on 2 of the 10 markets with the other 8 all being within top 10 within the industry. Whilst more in-depth data would be needed for a truer reflection on the odds structure at 888Sport, it at least gives you an indication of how they are improving and how good they are these days.
The market coverage on offer is also very strong and it’s another area they have looked to improve. Top grade football matches are going to get well in excess of 250 markets to bet on and that sort of coverage runs through sports such as tennis, horse racing, baseball, ice hockey and American football, to name but a few. The overall market coverage on site is very impressive and they are now a force to be reckoned with.
Features
The 888sport site looks great and is definitely unique. Navigating through the different sports and markets on their black, orange and white site is a doddle thanks to the navigation panel which includes direct links to the most popular competitions. The site has everything you would expect from a major online betting site and extras including a live sport calendar, a blog including previews and news and a whole host of statistics to help inform your betting.
In terms of the betting markets on the site, 888sport does very well. The list of sports that you can bet on goes on and on, ranging from football to surfing. When you dig down into the main sports you will find a strong market coverage and the odds available are very competitive. Individual events have up to date information and stats both in-play and before the event starts and you can always place a bet easily thanks to the betslip that stays on the right hand side of the screen.
888sport have live streaming available on many of the major sports that they cover which is available simply by logging in. You can access the streams via the event page or from a separate link both of which allow you to bet on the event whilst watching the action unfold.
As is befitting a huge company, 888sport have invested heavily in their mobile platform. It is incredibly easy to bet quickly via their mobile site which looks and performs just as well as the main desktop site. No matter what platform you are using you will find the customer service very efficient and helpful should you have any issues that need resolving.
IN PLAY BETTING
The in play betting section at 888Sport is one that has seen huge improvement over the last few years. Not only has the design of this section been totally changed, but also the number of sports and markets that are on offer. What’s really cool about it all is that it works in a column view now, where you can click the match you want to see information on and then it opens up to show the markets available to bet on and the match centre for that game giving you live updates of what’s happening.
This section also includes a number of markets that they highlight which could be of interest. As you log in and start betting, 888Sport remember which markets you have bet on, moving what they think will be your favourites to the top. A sweet, sweet addition if you ask us!
CASH OUT
888Sport do now offer cash out features on site, although they call it ‘Cash-In’ for some bizarre reason. Not to worry though, the process is very simple and works with a good range of sports, but only works with live betting markets or markets that eventually turn live at least. There is no partial cash out option, which is a shame, but not a deal breaker.
STATISTICS
888Sport work together with Bet Radar for their statistics section and it’s here where you are going to get a great range of data for an awful of sports. What’s great about this section is that it ties into the bookmakers live scores, so you can not only browse stats on that match, but do it whilst the game is taking place to see how certain score lines or current stats are reacting to the game.
The 888 brand is one of the fasting growing in the gambling industry. The company offer a full range of products from sports to casino, with the latter being the main focus of this article. The 888 Casino is one that’s seen a massive amount of growth over the last couple of years and an area that they have clearly targeted to become a much stronger outlet than their previous attempts.
The company are based out of Gibraltar and are owned by Cassava Enterprise, who themselves are a subsidiary of 888 Holdings. They have been about since 1997, which makes them one of the oldest casino in the industry.
Software And Platform
One of the most unique things about 888 is that it actually incorporates a lot of their own casino games into the mix, which is very rare within the industry these days. They do use other provides such as as IGT, Cryptologic and Dragonfish to power certain aspects, but the majority of them do come from 888 Gaming.
The software is available in both download and instant paly versions, which can be accessed on both Mac and Windows based computers. You’re also going to be able to a play a good range of casino games via your mobile when you download the 888 Casino mobile app. It’s worth noting that not all games are available through the app just yet, but the site does highlight which games carry over to mobile as well as desktop.
What’s fairly unique about the casino is the inclusion of the Blog. Now, blog’s aren’t something new to the internet, They’ve been around for years, but to see an online casino incorporate their own in-house blog, is super rare. The blog includes a mix of strategy and industry news and is a really great place to start if you are new to 888 or just new to online casino games in general. In fact, some of the articles written are really in depth, especially the Blackjack, Roulette and Craps casino guides!
Casino Games
The casino doesn’t come with a massive range of games, it has to be said. You are going to be able to get your hands on about 200 titles in total, which isn’t huge, but should be more than enough for most casino players. We think that most casinos massively overstock when it comes to the games on offer, so this is actually a plus in our eyes!
The range of games don’t tend to update all that often and the lack of being able to sort between the ‘New’ casino games makes them tough to track. But they do sometimes announce new games via their blog and via social media, so be sure to check those out for the latest news on games.
SLOTS
The range of slots on offer is fairly good and some of the standout titles include that of South Park, Spartacus, Doctor Love and Kiss. The issue that we had was that the range in terms of diversity between the games was lacking. We’ve mentioned about sometimes that less is more, but the slots section is one that should be the main backbone in terms of whatever depth the casino has, and it does feel as though it’s lacking somewhat.
BLACKJACK
You get 3 blackjack games to choose from at 888, which come sin the form of Multihand, American and Classic. The games actually function very well and even though there is only so much you can do with blackjack, we thought they complimented each other very well.
ROULETTE
Roulette has a only a handful of games to choose from as well, which included European, American, 3D, Low Stakes and French Roulette. Again, you couldn’t really fault what games were on offer here and each came with the standard of gameplay that you would expect from a company like 888.
JACKPOTS
The jackpot games are where the site really comes to life in our opinion and with it you are going to get 10 games to choose from. Some standout tiles include that of Rise of the Pharaohs, Millionaire Genie and Gods of Gold, with each having just shy of £1,000,000 on offer for their jackpots. The games range from standalone jackpot games within the 888 network to games running across full networks from the game suppliers.
About 888
Set up in 1997, the company have had a fairly up and down run at the online gambling industry. They took a good while to really find their feet but had their first real break through with online poker amidst the poker boom in the mid 2000’s. Whilst they offer a range of products at this point, they were very much in the shadows of the poker section, which at one point were recognised as one of the biggest poker rooms in the world.
888 were to use this success as leverage to move into the sports, bingo and casino industries, seeing huge success in pretty much all parts. These days they have a player database of over 25 million worldwide and are the only casino to hold licenses in 3 US states.