888 Review

888 are one of the biggest gambling companies in the world. They’ve had to adapt probably more than most, initially starting as one of the integral founders of online poker, before now being much more well-rounded and offering comprehensive sports, casino, poker and bingo options.

The site offers punters a unique betting experience in what’s often thought as one of the best looking bookmakers in the industry. They cover a massive number of sports and with that markets, enabling them to rival pretty much any of the higher end bookmakers.

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The 888 Website

One thing that you can’t deny about 888 is their willingness to evolve. The sports betting industry is fiercely competitive these days and if punters aren’t happy with what’s on offer, there will be dozens of other bookmakers to cater for their needs.

They have been able to realise this and once upon a time the site actually came in for a quite a bit of criticism, especially in terms of how it looks and the range of markets that they have on offer. These days the site is almost unrecognisable, offering a modern look with a market depth that many competitors can only envy.

To bring the bookmaker into the 21^st century, they now offer up a mobile betting app. Again, it’s a great addition to this continually developing brand and pretty much everything that you find online can be accessed from the app.

Betting Markets

We’ve already spoken briefly about their market coverage, but we feel it’s that good we need to really break down what’s on offer here.

Their main attraction is undoubtedly football/soccer and it’s here where you are going to find the vast number of markets throughout the site. To give you an idea, at the time of writing there are currently over 25,000 markets for football alone. Pretty impressive, right? Well, it’s worth noting that we are also conducting this review outside of the main football season with limited at best games taking place, making this number even more impressive.

Don’t feel that 888 are just for football fans though. They are able to offer extensive markets on the likes of horse racing, tennis, darts, greyhound racing, cricket, golf, rugby union, rugby league, basketball, American football and so many more. In fact, looking through the site, there are very few sports that we have looked at thought that could do with improving.

Live Betting & Streaming

The live betting section actually runs adjacent to the main site, in that once you click on ‘Live Betting’ you are taken to a new section. Here you find them awash with hundreds of different matches from dozens of different sports based around the world.

It seems to be a common theme with 888, but it’s another area that has seen massive improvement over the last few years, particularly in the range of sports that they now offer. Interestingly, beach volleyball is a firm favourite with the site.

The match centre has been enhanced tremendously. Whilst some other bookmakers probably still lead the way here, 888 offer a fantastic alternative, especially for football. The centre shows you in real time what’s happening on the pitch at any point and the fact that it works alongside all the potential betting markets makes for a really great overlay.

The live betting section will also provide you with fairly in depth statistics on games that are taking place. You will be able to get a feel of what’s happened without even watching the match, which in turn allows you make more informed decisions on your bets, something we are big advocates of.

Casino Games at 888

In the early days of 888 they were famed for being able to create their own games and whilst times have changed somewhat in that they now have several developers on board, they are still unique in that some of their catalogue is made up from their in-house design team.

As soon as you land on the casino you get the immediate impression that they are a brand that has that x-factor. The black, green and white design is unlike any that you will find in the industry, which is actually very rare these days. It has to be one of the best on the market at the minute and whilst there are others that are up there with 888, we think that you would be hard pressed to find a better looking online casino.

The companies initial switch to mobile casino was not one of their finer moments, in our opinion at least. They struggled with both design and functionality and it took them a few years to really get it right, which we think they will likely admit themselves. These days it provides the modern, classic design that we have come to expect from 888 and again, are able to say that they are right up there with the best. We’ve also been informed that they are planning to add touch ID to the app as well, which will be another welcomed addition.

Game Variety

As we mentioned earlier, 888 used to create all their games in-house, but these days they utilise a number of major developers that include Cryptologic, IGT and Dragonfish. It’s interesting that they don’t actually have some of the more mainstream brands on board, such as Microgaming, but then we actually thinks this works in their favour.

You see, the range of games that are on offer isn’t huge, with around 100 games in total. In fact, it’s actually one of the smaller casinos that we have reviewed. But, it allows them to offer up games that very few other casinos do, which makes them unique. Given that there are now hundreds of online casinos to choose from these days, being unique is not something that is easily achieved in the industry and should be celebrated.

The slots section has around 60 games to choose from in total, a number that is a stark contrast to most. But, the games on offer are really good quality and we think are able to offer a depth that a lot of games cant. Standout features for us included South Park, Gonzo’s Quest and Kiss, to name but a few.

With just 8 table games to choose from, this is where we think the casino does fall foul of the competition though. Games include Roulette and Blackjack, and that’s your lot! If you are into your mixed table games, then it’s likely there are better options for you out there than 888.

It’s also worth noting that the casino offers up a number of tutorials to help you play some of the games. They are actually pretty in depth so if you are new and wanting to try a different game, then they will at least explain the basic rules, which is great!

Live Casino

The live casino section is one that is fairly new to 888 and it’s been a welcomed addition. You get to choose from Baccarat, Blackjack, Caribbean Stud Poker, Roulette Three Card Poker and Casino Hold’em. As you will see there are more table game variants here than in the standard section, so it might be worth trying this out for a bit of diversity.

Jackpots

Jackpot games include 10 titles in total and we think they are as good as you will find. The big jackpots come from game such as Rise of the Pharaohs, Millionaire Genie and Santa’s Super Slot, with each running across the game developers network to allow for bigger prizes and jackpots.

Banking

One of the good things about 888 is that it accepts a huge number of deposit options. In fact, it might just be the biggest list we have seen. They have all the usual candidates such as debit cards, e-wallets, pre-paid cards and bank accounts, both online and offline. They even include Apple Pay, which is still very new to the industry and we think they are one of the first to run it, which is pretty cool, especially for the Apple fanboy/girl.

Deposit limits will start as little as £10/$10 for most, apart from bank transfer which start from £/$100.

Withdrawals have a limited number of options to choose from, but still plenty on offer. It is worth noting that should you deposit by a certain method that isn’t supported for withdrawal then you will need to create another banking method that is supported on site. This could cause delays initially as they will need to verify both accounts, so bear this in mind.

Withdrawal times aren’t great, with debit card payments taking up to 8 days to get to you, although we have seen that it’s usually much quicker than this. E-wallets are surprisingly long as well, ranging from 2-3 days. Most bookies who will process these within a matter of hours, if not instantly. It’s likely that you will need to provide a few documents to get your money for the first time to prevent against fraud. These include photographic ID, debit card copies, proof of address and notarised documents.

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