What are the essential things to look for when Choosing a sports betting site?

Sports’ betting is one of the most popular forms of gaming. Millions of people watch sports on their TV screens at home, or in a bar, or online or even as a spectator at the sports arena. There is a unique feeling when you see that your odds at winning are increasing, and then the heart pounding conclusion. A sports bet is identical to any gambling bet or wager on a certain event happening or not happening. A sports bet is therefore no different from gambling, and so it is essential that whichever site you select, it should have the same safety features as those found on any reputed gambling site.

Honesty and reputation
There are three ways you can judge the honesty, fairness, fair play and reputation of a sports betting site. The first is through your friend network. Ask around about sports’ betting sites that your friends use and find out what they have to say about it. The second way is to check out various online forums and reviews of sports’ betting sites. The third way is by checking out any auditing reports of the site.

Any sports’ betting site should be transparent about their services and should have a clear indication of how the betting is made and odds offered. Transparency in operations is the key to making the experience really worthwhile for its paying customers. You do not want to be spending a lot of money at a site that is not honest, transparent or does not believe in fair play.

Good track record
Consistency is a key to Choosing a sports betting site. You want the site to offer services that are recognized by professionals and amateurs alike. It is hard to pick a site where you see mixed signals of good and bad. It also depends on the games. They might have a nice record on one kind of sport but not in the other. See to it that you register at a site that has a good record for the game that you wish to bet on. Most sports’ betting sites will actually excel in just a couple of sports. See to it that at least they have around 50% of winning percentage so that you can have a higher chance of winning when you bet with them.

Years in business
A good track record should be backed up by years of satisfactory results to the bettors. For some bettors anything less than three years is not enough. The site you must choose should have been established and been in operation for at least a few years and they should have a good standing on a particular game you wish to play. Occasionally a new sports’ betting site may be set up by another sports betting site that is already in existence and having a good reputation. Such new sites will usually have good safety features and terms primarily because the parent company’s experience and reputation. Such new sites will (usually) also have fabulous promotional offers. So don’t entirely discard new sites.

Selection of games
Again, when Choosing a sports betting site, you need to be sure that they have a strong competency regarding that particular game you wish to bet on. Do you like horse racing? Do you like football? It is not about how many games the site can offer – it is all about the quality of the results that they offer for each game. You need to take the history of their results into consideration. Gain, check out peer reviews at various sites. Experts will usually point out the good sites that offer good results for certain games. Such peer reviews are a source of invaluable assistance especially for first timers.

What games do they handicap? Where do they excel? These are simple yet very important questions. Ask the right questions and a lot of the people at forums will respond. There are a lot of good Samaritans out there who are eager to give back something to the sport they love so much.

Bonuses and promos
Of course no one can deny the power of a little bribe. A little bonus when you make a deposit can be quite enticing. Check the list of bonuses that the sports’ betting site has to offer. Compare it to the list of other sites you have seen, start at around 10 pounds for each bonus percentage. Look at how much they offer and don’t forget to read the fine print. Some promos seem like a million dollars but you might find that they are more like the proverbial pot at the end of a rainbow i.e. the promos might have some impossible to fulfill clauses attached to it. Do a little bit of math and check how the promos and bonuses can actually give you more advantage. Make sure you can use the bonus on the game that you prefer to bet on.

Philosophy
Every betting site will implement a different system or approach. It is necessary that their approach coincides with your own style and ideals when betting. Do they use statistics? Do they rely on power rankings? When you find the answers to these questions, you will be in a better position to know how they handicap and understand whether or not it will be beneficial in your betting.

Customer service
Bad customer service is bad for business. Try their customer service – find out for yourself if their staff is courteous and efficient. Can they provide quick solutions that work? Do they have good people skills? Customer service is very important and you want to make sure that they are competent, can answer the simplest questions and address critical issues. Check if people have something to say about the service and if required, make a few calls as well; after all, better safe than sorry.

Security and safety
Of course, no one would like to bet on a site that is easy to hack and has a bad server. You need to know if they use a secure server and more importantly if they have a good privacy policy. Do they use 128 bit (or more) encryption levels and so on. It’s these simple things that often make a big difference.