worst bookmaker

2021 SBC Awards – The Best & Worst Bookmaker voted for by you

Posted on by Peter Ling

Tuesday saw the grand unveiling of the 2021 SBC Awards – featuring the results of your votes across 7 different categories from Best Free Tipster to Best Betting Website, Podcast & more.

In today’s article I have a bit more detail to share on a few of the winners, including that of just who you voted for in the Best & Worst Bookmaker Categories as well as Best Exchange.

Don’t forget you can download your copy of the Free 2021 SBC Awards Report via this link.

Best Bookmaker – Bet365

It is perhaps little surprise to see Stoke’s finest – Bet365 top of the Best Bookmaker charts once again with a whopping 37% of the votes cast. They continue to set the standard against which many bookmakers are judged these days with value odds and a slick betting experience.

It was another big firm – Betfair Sportsbook who took the Silver with 14% of the vote share with Bronze going to sharp bookmaker, Pinnacle, which is likely quite the achievement when you consider that UK punters are still unable to bet directly with them.

A full rundown of who you voted for can be found below. As ever experiences do vary wildly and it was telling that despite 37% of you voting for Bet365 as the Best bookmaker, another 3% of you rated them the worst firm!

Worst Bookmaker – Ladbrokes (again!)

There were several repeat winners throughout the SBC Awards and the Worst Bookmaker category is no different with the consistently disliked Ladbrokes winning it for the fifth year in succession!

The bad news doesn’t end there though as Ladbrokes stablemate – Coral (who are part of the same company – GVC Holdings) took Silver with 12% of the vote. A new ‘winner’ this time out was the Bronze Award victor, 888sport who squeaked into third with 11.2% of your votes.

It is worth noting how competitive this category often is – Ladbrokes aside, with very little separating second place Coral (12.14%) with seventh placed Unibet (8.51%). A telling stat about the lack of love many punters have for so many bookmakers in 2021.

Best Exchange – Betfair

Although there are only 4 major betting exchanges to choose from, this is always an interesting category as it helps to highlight any changes in market share away from the obvious big firm – Betfair.

Whilst the Betfair Exchange did take Gold with 70% of the votes, this was down on the 74% taken last year and indicates that their rivals are slowly eating into their market share. Matchbook took Silver with 16% of the vote, whilst the biggest growth came from Smarkets who went from 6% to 9.5% in third position.

Here at SBC we welcome this increased competition as it usually leads to better choice and lower costs for us punters. We have already seen Betfair reduce their base rate from 5% to 2% in response to Smarkets and Matchbook’s pricing and we remain hopeful this will come down further in time.

For more on all the other public voting categories, including that of Best Free Tipster, Best Betting Podcast, Writer & Website, make sure you download your free copy of the 2021 Awards Report.

How To Access The Expanded Awards Report

For those of you interested in reading more on the 2021 SBC Awards results, including who won the prizes for several vital ‘Best Tipster’ categories, you can also access all of this with our special expanded SBC-members-only Awards Report.

This includes details on the Gold, Silver & Bronze Award winners for:

  • The Best Horse Racing Tipster
    The Gold winner made a 33.4% ROI from all advice supplied last year
  • The Best Sports Tipster
    The Gold winner made a 22.20% ROI from all advice supplied last year
  • The Best Overall Tipster
    The Silver winner made a ridiculously good 63% ROI from all advice supplied last year. Best of all SBC members can enjoy a huge discount if joining them.
  • The Best Tipster Newcomer
    The Gold winner is free to follow to all SBC members and made a 8.24% ROI from 491 bets in 2020 alone.

If interested in reading this extended SBC members Awards Report, you can gain instant access with a Smart Betting Club membership – now available at the lowest ever prices for 2021.


Best Regards

Peter Ling
Smart Betting Club Owner and Founder

2020 SBC Awards Results – Your Best and Worst Bookmakers

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Tuesday saw the grand unveiling of the 2020 SBC Awards – featuring the results of your votes across 7 different categories from Best Free Tipster to Best Betting Website, Podcast & more.

In today’s post I have a bit more detail to share on a few of the winners, including that of just who you voted for in the Best & Worst Bookmaker Categories as well as Best Exchange.

Don’t forget you can grab your copy of the 2020 SBC Awards Report via the link below.

 

Best Bookmaker – Bet365

There was no contest this year when it came to your Best Bookmaker with Bet365 once again top of the pile taking nearly half of all votes cast.

There was notable movement below them as Skybet jumped from 4th to 2nd this year with 16.55% of the votes, whilst Pinnacle snared Bronze with 9.34%. The latter was quite the achievement when you consider that many punters are still unable to bet with them directly.

Of the other nominees, only William Hill polled a significant number with 7.15% of the votes in 4th spot. A full breakdown of the votes can be found below:

Best Bookmaker Votes

Worst Bookmaker – Ladbrokes (again!)

When it came to the Worst Bookmaker Award, the competition for places really heated up with 6 firms all attracting more than 10% of the vote share.

Despite the increased competition, it was Ladbrokes who once again won this Award – for the 4th year in a row no less, polling just short of 20% of your votes.

Up one place to Silver this year was Irish firm, Paddy Power, who increased their worst bookmaker vote share from 12.85% to 15.06%, whilst Coral took Bronze with 12.90%.

The 3 other firms each polling more than 10% each in 4th, 5th and 6th spot were Betfred, Boylesports and Betway respectively.

The issues put forward by those of you commenting after voting in this category surrounded the usual common themes of poor customer service, stake restrictions and account closures.

For balance it is worth noting that Best Bookie Award winners – Bet365 and Skybet both also polled about 2 to 3% each in this category. Reflecting the diverse ranges of opinions and experiences many of you have when it comes to bookmaker treatment.

Worst Bookmaker Votes

Best Exchange – Betfair

This year for the first time we also introduced a separate award for Best Betting Exchange to acknowledge the growth and increased competition in this market.

With only 4 contestants, we awarded prizes to the top two, with the Gold Award taken by the Betfair Exchange who took 74.05% of the votes.

Matchbook were their nearest competitor with 15.56% of your votes and took Silver, whilst Smarkets and Betdaq polled around 10% between them in 3rd and 4th.

It will be intriguing to see how the Exchange market changes in coming years with Betfair now adopting a lower 2% commission model for those that demand it – the same tariff as their 3 main rivals.

(It should be noted you have to choose this 2% rate as by default Betfair places you on 5%, whilst there is also an 8% option for anyone who wants it – not that you should, it’s terrible value. You can read more about setting your commission rate via this link.)

Of these exchange rivals, we have already seen how Matchbook continue to lead the way with impressive content – podcasts, articles and free tipsters, whilst Smarkets have been expanding their own remit with new sportsbook app – SBK and innovations of their own. Read our recent interview with Smarkets.

More competition is only a good thing as it ensures lower costs for us punters as we have seen with Betfair’s move from 5 to 2% commission last year. We therefore welcome this rivalry in the Betting Exchange sector.

Best Exchange Votes

For more on all the other public voting categories, including that of Best Free Tipster, Best Betting Podcast, Writer & Website, make sure you grab your free copy of the 2020 Awards Report.:

How To Access The Expanded Awards Report

For those of you interested in reading more on the 2020 SBC Awards results, including who won the prizes for several vital ‘Best Tipster’ categories, you can also access all of this with our special expanded SBC-members-only Awards Report.

Gain instant access with a Smart Betting Club membership – now available at the lowest ever prices for 2020.

 

 

 

The 2020 SBC Awards – All Your Winners Revealed!

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It’s a pleasure to share with you today the results from the 2020 SBC Awards – helping to recognise the very best of the betting and tipping world from last year!.

You voted in your thousands across 7 different categories from Best Free Tipster to Best & Worst Bookmaker with the top 3 in each category winning a Gold, Silver or Bronze Award.

Follow the link below to grab your copy of the 2020 SBC Awards…

 

About These Awards

The Smart Betting Club is an independent website dedicated to helping its members and readers make their betting a success. Primarily this is through our detailed tipster reviews & profit reports on the experts to follow to do just that.

Yet, in recent years our remit has expanded beyond simply reporting on the best tipsters to uncovering the truth on the betting world itself – be it the bookmakers/exchanges you bet with or the resources, websites & podcasts that help you make informed betting decisions.

Therefore to recognize those making a positive impact on your gambling – at the start of each year we now publish these Awards to help showcase the very best of both the betting & tipping world.

These Awards are important as they are based on the fundamental SBC principles of honesty, fairness and independence, with no bookmaker affiliations or advertising requirements to cloud opinions. They represent the true judgement of the general betting public and SBC members on what is out there of merit.

Best Website, Writer, Free Tipster, Podcast, Exchange & Bookmaker Awards

In this Free report you can read the results of the following categories:

  • Best Free Tipster
  • Best Betting Website
  • Best Bookmaker
  • Worst Bookmaker
  • Best Betting Exchange
  • Best Betting Podcast
  • Best Betting Writer

A Gold, Silver or Bronze Award was given in each category based on the percentage share of votes received. You can read the exact breakdown of votes cast plus a summary of who won what and where you can find out more.

Follow the link below to grab your copy of the 2020 SBC Awards…

How To Access The Expanded Awards Report

For those of you interested in reading more on the 2020 SBC Awards results, including who won the prizes for several vital ‘Best Tipster’ categories, you can access all of this with our special expanded members only Awards Report.

This expanded members 2020 SBC Awards Report also reveals the Gold, Silver & Bronze Award winners for:

  • The Best Horse Racing Tipster
    The Gold winner made a 38.7% ROI from all advice supplied last year
  • The Best Sports Tipster
    The Gold winner made a 27.57% ROI from all advice supplied last year
  • The Best Overall Tipster
    The Silver winner made a 22.41% ROI from all advice supplied last year
  • The Best Tipster Newcomer
    The Gold winner made a 147% ROI from all advice supplied last year
  • Plus!! It also provides the lowdown on why 79% of SBC members made a profit last year from their betting.

If interested in reading this extended SBC members Awards Report, you can gain instant access with a Smart Betting Club membership – now available at the lowest ever prices for 2020.

SBC 2019 Awards – The Results Are In!

Posted on by Peter Ling

The results from the 2019 Smart Betting Club Awards – featuring details on who you voted for in 4 public voting categories: Best Betting Website, Best Betting Podcast, Best Bookmaker & Worst Bookmaker.

And as these Awards are based on your votes and with more than 3000 of you casting them in each category during December 2018, the results are widely representative of the best and worst of the betting world.

In particular – the Worst Bookmaker Award (AKA the ‘golden toilet’) is always hugely competitive and this year was no different with your votes spread closely amongst all 8 nominees with the worst firm polling only 10% more than the 8th ranked.

You can read the full rundown on the 4 public Awards and the winners now via the 2019 SBC Awards page.

Why These Awards Matter

Because these 4 categories are voted for by you – the general public, they are also truly representative of those in the betting world that are worthy of greater recognition and making a real difference to your punting.

Far too many award ceremonies at this time of year simply serve to recognise those companies with the biggest profile, deepest pockets and ultimately those making money at punters expense.

This is where the SBC Awards are different, because they are based on the Smart Betting Club ethos of helping ordinary punters make money betting.

They recognise those really helping you make ‘an edge betting’ whether it be in the information and resource they provide OR by simply offering you the best place to bet itself.

Through the Worst Bookmaker Award, we are not afraid to name and shame the bookmakers deserving of criticism, because lets face it – many still treat punters as second-class citizens, especially those with the temerity to want to make money betting.

You can read the full rundown on the 4 public Awards and the winners now via the 2019 SBC Awards page.

Read More Including ‘Best Tipster’ Winners In The Full Awards Report

For those of you interested in reading more on the 2019 SBC Awards, including who won the prizes for several ‘Best Tipster’ categories, you can access all of this with our special Awards Report.

 

 

 

Available only to Smart Betting Club members, it reveals:

  • The Best Horse Racing, Sports & Overall Tipster (Gold, Silver & Bronze winners)
  • The Best Free Tipster (Gold, Silver & Bronze winners)
  • The Best Tipster Newcomer (Gold, Silver & Bronze winners)
  • The Outstanding Contribution to Tipping Award (recognising some of the best tipsters and betting experts)
  • The lowdown on why 75% of SBC members made a profit last year from their betting.

If interested in reading this full SBC Awards Report, you can gain instant access with a Smart Betting Club membership – now available at the lowest ever prices for 2019.

SBC Awards: Vote for your best & worst bookmakers, websites & podcasts

Posted on by Peter Ling


Vote In The SBC Awards & Win A Brand New Dell Laptop

Public voting has now opened for the Smart Betting Club’s 2019 Tipster & Betting Awards, and we want your help in deciding the best (and worst) of the betting world from 2018.

This year – not only do you have the chance to name and shame the bookmakers you both like and dislike, you can also vote for your favourite betting website and podcast.

Best of all, those of you taking 60 seconds to cast your vote can also enter a special prize draw to win one of 3 prizes including a brand new Dell Chromebook Laptop (Worth £200) and lifetime SBC Membership (Priceless!).

Click Here To Cast Your Vote

 

3 Special Prizes Up For Grabs – Simply For Voting

To encourage as many of you to take part as possible, there are 3 prizes to be won simply for casting your vote as follows:

1st prize: A brand new Dell 11 3000 Chromebook Laptop (Worth £200) – Ideal for placing your bets on.

2nd prize: A lifetime membership to the Smart Betting Club – A prize money can’t buy.

3rd prize: A brand new Amazon Echo (Worth £60).

At the end of the Awards voting, you will be prompted to put your email address in to enter the prize draw. The winners of each prize will be drawn at random once voting ends.

Click Here To Cast Your Vote

4 Categories To Vote In

There are 4 public categories in the 2019 SBC Awards you can now vote on as follows:

  • Your Favourite Bookmaker
  • Your Worst Bookmaker
  • Your Favourite Betting Website
  • Your Favourite Betting Podcast

Voting itself should take you no more than 60 seconds of your time and will help us highlight those companies doing the right (and wrong!) thing by you and all punters generally.

Perhaps its the bookmaker or betting exchanges offering the best odds and service or even the betting website providing a superb resource for punters.

And because we know not all bookies play fair – you can also nominate your worst bookmaker of 2018 to help us expose the firm that let you down the most. Perhaps they restricted your stakes, closed your account or simply offer the worst odds and service going. If so we want to know who they are!

We also have a category to recognise your favourite betting podcast to highlight the growing number of quality betting shows being produced these days.

Click Here To Cast Your Vote

A Truly ‘Ordinary Punter’ Representative Awards

We will be publishing the results of your votes early next year in the SBC Awards big reveal with a special focus given to the winners of each category.

Because these categories are voted for by you – the general public, they are also truly representative of those in the betting world that are worthy of greater recognition and making a real difference to your punting.

Far too many award ceremonies at this time of year simply serve to recognise those companies with the biggest profile, deepest pockets and ultimately those making money at punters expense.

This is where the SBC Awards are different, because they are based on the Smart Betting Club ethos of helping ordinary punters make money betting.

So we are looking to recognise those really helping you make ‘an edge betting’ whether it be in the information or resource they provide OR by simply offering you the best place to bet itself.

It’s not just the ‘best of’ in our sights either as we are not afraid to name and shame the worst bookmakers through these awards, because lets face it – many still treat punters as second-class citizens, especially those with the temerity to want to make money betting.

So if you want to help reward the best and decry the worst- make sure you cast your votes now.

Best Regards,

Peter Ling

Smart Betting Club Editor

The Votes Are In: Your 3 Best & Worst Bookmakers Revealed

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As promised, I am back today with the results of the final 2 categories as voted for by you in the 2018 SBC Awards, that of Best and Worst Bookmaker.

These awards offer a unique insight into those firms attracting both your praise and ire based on the service (or lack of) that they have offered you over the past year.

As ever these awards are based on your votes (not mine or SBC’s) so represent the general consensus of what the majority of you think on both the good and bad of the bookmaking world.

So, without further ado – here is who you voted for as both best and worst bookie…

2018-SBC-Awards

Revealed: Your Favourite Bookmaker

Let’s kick things off firstly by examining who you voted for as your best bookmaker from last year, with the results as follows:

Best Bookmaker SBC Awards 2018

The winner of the Gold award for best bookmaker by a very clear distance was Stoke-based internet behemoth, Bet365. With a very user-friendly website, huge numbers of betting markets and a massive presence both online and on your TV screens, it’s no surprise to see Bet365 scoop this award for the second year running.

Best_Bookie_Gold

Holding onto the Silver award for this year is Betfair, who despite increasingly focusing on their sportsbook, remain very popular especially for those using their betting exchange.

To give some context as to the popularity of both Bet365 and Betfair – it should be noted that between them they took 66% of all the votes.

Making up the best of the rest and winner of the Bronze award with 7.6% of the votes was Paddy Power (who it should be noted merged with Betfair in 2016).

Mentions here must also go to both Pinnacle & Smarkets who polled around 7% of the votes between them to be the 4th and 5th best rated firms.

Your Worst Bookmaker

Onto one of the most anticipated ‘Awards’ – that of the Worst Bookmaker, where once again you voted in your droves as follows:

Worst Bookmaker SBC Awards 2018

The common element between the winner of this year’s Gold and Silver Awards is the fact that both Ladbrokes and Coral are now part of the same firm, following their merger in late 2016.

Ladbrokes also scooped the worst bookie award last year, so it seems whatever they are doing wrong at the magic sign has rubbed off on new stablemate, Coral, who appeared from nowhere to take the Silver award this time out.

Worst Bookmaker Gold Award - Smart Betting Club

The Bronze award this year also went to perennial worst bookie candidate, Stan James, who drop down a spot from Silver in 2017.

It must be noted how competitive this field was with very little to choose between the top 3 and those who finished 4th and 5th respectively – Betfred and Boylesports.

To illustrate this clearer, here is the percentage breakdown of votes from the top 5:

  • Ladbrokes: 20.08%
  • Coral: 16.73%
  • Stan James: 16.6%
  • Betfred: 14.67%
  • Boylesports: 13%

What the closeness of this vote helps indicate is just how widespread punters issues remain in general with how they are treated by bookmakers. This is not just about one rogue firm, but a malaise affecting the whole industry, where practices need to improve across the board.

Last Year’s Results:
Gold – Ladbrokes
Silver – Stan James
Bronze – Boylesports


“My Net Profit Was In Excess Of £58,000”

“I have just conducted a review of the tipster performance for 2017 and my net profit was in excess of £58,000, the majority of it coming from horse racing.”
Michael – An SBC Member For 5 Years

Read more from Michael on his profits last year

michael2

 

For of you interested reading more, you can gain full access to the complete 2018 SBC Awards Report with a Smart Betting Club Membership.

Here is what else you can read about:

  • The Best Horse Racing, Sports & Overall Tipster (Gold, Silver & Bronze winners)
  • The Best Free Tipster (Gold, Silver & Bronze winners)
  • The Best Tipster Newcomer (Gold, Silver & Bronze winners)
  • The Outstanding Contribution to Tipping & Editors Choice Awards (recognising some of the best tipsters and betting experts)
  • The lowdown on why 79.8% of SBC members made a profit last year from their betting.

2018 Discount 468X60

See you on the inside.

Peter Ling
SBC Editor

Pete_HeadShot_SMall

The ‘Oscars’ For Worst Bookmaker: Gold, Silver & Bronze Winners Revealed

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As promised, I am back today with the final 2 categories as voted for by you in the 2017 SBC Awards – that of Best Odds Comparison Website and the biggy: Worst Bookmaker.

For those of you that missed my email on Friday with details on who you voted for as Best Bookmaker & Best Betting Website, you can read that here.

SBC Awards 468X60

 

Best Odds Comparison Website

Kick-starting things today with the Best Odds Comparison Website, a new category introduced for the first time in 2017, you voted as follows:

Best-odds-comparison

The inaugural Gold Award was taken by Oddschecker, who have quickly become the go-to website for many of you keen to seek out value for your bets. With a quick, easy to use odds comparison matrix and the ability to bet without leaving their website, it’s a very useful resource for punters keen to find the best odds.

The Silver Award went to Oddsportal, who offer up-to-date odds comparison on a huge range of betting markets, particularly useful for those of you betting on sports such as Football, NBA & NFL.

The Bronze award was taken by BestBetting.com, who provide odds comparison across several different markets including horse racing.

Your Worst Bookmaker Award

Onto one of the most anticipated ‘Awards’ – that of the ‘Worst Bookmaker’ whereby voting was extremely competitive!

Here is who you voted for:

worst-bookmaker

The somewhat surprising Gold Award Winner for Worst Bookmaker with 24% of the votes (I told you it was competitive) was Ladbrokes. Having taken the Bronze Award last year, whatever it is Ladbrokes have been doing in the past 12 months has clearly irked enough of you to put them forward as the worst bookmaker out there. Certainly the ‘Ladbrokes Life’ is not something many of you seem to be aspiring to!

Less surprisingly, the Silver Award went to Stan James, who continue to cement their place as one of the most universally-disliked bookmakers after claiming just under 21% of all votes. Stan James have long been known as one of the worst culprits for betting restrictions, a strong reason behind their poor reputation.

The Bronze Award this year went to last year’s Gold Winner, Boylesports who took 19.4% of your votes. Whether this is down to any improvement or just the fact other firms have got worse is very hard to say, yet the fact still remains there is much to dislike.

Other poorly rated Bookmakers included 4th placed Betfred with 16% of the votes and 5th placed Racebets with 8.41% of the vote.

Over $1 Million In Profits Betting…

“ My total profits since joining the Smart Betting Club are well over $1 million of which SBC approved tipsters account for about 25% of that amount.”    
As written by Billy McPherson – An SBC member since 2011

Click here to read more from Billy on his SBC experience


Why It Pays To Know The Best & Worst Bookmakers

As well as helping us have a bit of fun at their expense, there is a serious side to this award – namely to help raise awareness of those bookmakers treating punters poorly.

One of the main reasons these bookmakers are disliked so much is due to their notoriety as firms that both limit stakes and close accounts for anyone with even a modicum of ability.

Should you for example bother opening accounts with Ladbrokes, Stan James and Boylesports if you expect to win money betting?

In my opinion it is often not worth the time, unless you are keen to take advantage of new account opening offers or simply keen to try to win as much as you can, while you can.

In terms of our own tipster reviews, we regularly mark tipsters down who quote and settle bets to top prices available with the likes of Stan James and Boylesports.

Very often, such prices are a work of fiction as in reality they are not available to all but losing punters. And as the 2017 SBC Awards Report – over 80% of our members made a substantial profit betting last year, so these bookmakers will not be open to them.

Let Them Know They Won!

As it is extremely unlikely that either of Ladbrokes, Stan James or Boylesports will acknowledge their status as the top 3 most disliked bookmakers, it is up to us to raise awareness as the poor quality of service they offer.

With that in mind, feel free to share the following Gold, Silver & Bronze Award winner images on Social Media and link to this email (Via the SBC Blog)

worst-bookmaker-award
worst-bookmaker-silver
worst-bookmaker-bronze

The Best Tipsters & Betting Sites

Alongside revealing the Worst Bookmakers, in the 2017 SBC Awards Report, you can also read plenty that can genuinely help your betting.

Here is what can be found inside it:

  • The Best Horse Racing, Sports & Overall Tipster (Gold, Silver & Bronze winners)
  • The Best Free Tipster (Gold, Silver & Bronze winners)
  • The Best Tipster Newcomer (Gold, Silver & Bronze winners)
  • The Outstanding Contribution to Tipping & Editors Choice Awards (recognising some of the best tipsters and betting experts)
  • The lowdown on why 80.3% of SBC members made a profit last year from their betting.

You can gain full access to the complete 2017 SBC Awards Report with a Smart Betting Club Membership, on which you can currently save up to £35 on the cost of joining.

Sign-up here right now and gain access to the Report & a lot more besides!

See you on the inside.
Peter Ling
SBC Editor

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