Sports Betting: Can You Trust The Bookies?

 

 

Bookies have to have one of the most negative reputations of all the businesses (legal) in the world’s economy, save insurance companies and traffic wardens. So, is their reputation merited, or can they actually be trusted?

 

Despite the efforts of bookmakers throughout the ages- who have worked, laboriously to create a professional reputation of trustworthiness and efficiency- they continue to be viewed with suspicion by millions of potential sports bettors. The land-based bookies can often be seen fraternising with their community, they spend hours downing pints in the local, hang around the Sunday markets, and just generally make their presents felt. They do this because they want to be seen as an integral part of their community and at the same time be familiar to them in order to gain trust. They are genuinely (the majority of the time) honest stand-up guys; they need to be to stay in business.

 

Well, at least that was how they operated before the Internet began. Today, you will probably find that your local bookmaker spends a fair amount of time in the pub; but what about the online bookmakers, are they trustworthy?  They often have no land-based premises, there are some clear exceptions to this, such as William Hill, but the majority have no physical location in the local community- although they will have premises somewhere, but these could be on the other side of the world.

 

This means that the online bookmaker needs a way of building trust with its customer base in a way that people can believe in. Gamblers need to know that their money is safe and that they can seek recourse in the event that need to hold the company accountable for mistakes, errors and mismanagement.

 

Many online sports betting companies put in a lot of work to ensure that they can develop a trustworthy reputation. For example, they may use sponsorship deals to increase potential and existing customers trust in them; if a large sports brand concedes to sponsor a bookmaker then they are affiliating themselves with that company and would only do so if they believe that the sponsorship will benefit them in some way.

 

Bookmakers also frequently sponsor sport teams, this helps the fans to recognise the name, which builds rapport and camaraderie. Sponsorship also indicates that the bookmakers want to stay in the market for the foreseeable future, sponsorship is after all a long-term investment, and a good bookmaker will need to be trustworthy in order to stay in business, so something that shows that they want to stay in business also reflects their trustworthiness.

 

There is a dark side to the online sports betting industry; rogue bookmakers. They appear on the internet and their only intention is to use their customers’ personal information for identity theft or fraud, they steal money off the people who sign-up with them and clearly never payout a winning bet. They are a problem because, although they are not that common, there are enough of them to maintain a feeling of unease in the online sports betting community.

 

Just one rogue casino hitting the news headlines makes people weary of every sports betting site they frequent. And as stated above, this is one reason why the reputable companies go out of their way to prove their trustworthy through methods such as sponsorship.

 

A few key features that are associated with a rogue site make them stand out from the legitimate bookmakers. Because these ‘companies’ are not interested in long-term investment, they put less effort into their websites, so design is the first thing you should consider; if the site looks cheap, then it probably is and this does not bode well for their reliability. A lack of effort is reflected in the layout, is it a mishmash of images and texts? Are their many misspellings and does the language appear to have been written by someone who does not appear to know how to speak English (of course this is not true of foreign websites, so those of you who are bi/tri/qui...lingual should consider whether the language is written by a native speaker or not- if not then avoid them, they clearly do not care about presentation otherwise they would employ someone who can write correctly). Licensing is also fundamental to discovering the trustworthiness of a site; make sure that they have all the necessary licences to operate and that they are genuine licences.

 

Finally, use your common sense and follow your instincts, if something feels amiss about the bookmakers you have chosen, and then change companies. Try to join-up to those bookmakers who have a solid reputation already, those that you already know or that you have heard about, through sponsorship or friends for example. Fortunately, for you sports betting fans out there, the majority of bookmakers are safe to use. If you are concerned then research the company online to see how other gamblers have fared with that particular bookmakers.

 

 

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