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Joe Halliday
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In this article, we truly encounter a clash of the titans. In this Bet365 vs Betfair showdown, we’re pitting two of the biggest names in British betting against each other. These famous brands will slog it out across nine rounds before we crown one as the overall winner. En route, we’ll tell you which bookie provides the best odds, mobile app, payment options, market selection, and more. 

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21/03/22

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The Criteria

This Bet365 vs Betfair battle isn’t being decided by our ‘gut feeling’. Instead, it’s being fought according to a strict set of criteria. Below, you can get an immediate overview of all nine categories. You can also see how our two brands stack up in each area, based on a simple 1-10 rating. 

Category Bet365 Betfair
Available Markets 8 9
Odds Value 8 9
Betting Features 9 8
Betting App 9 8
Betting Offers 9 7
Payment Methods 8 9
Live Betting 8 9
Live Streaming 9 8
Customer Support 9 7

Round 1 – Available Markets 

This is the perfect way to kick off our Bet365 vs Betfair clash. That’s true not only because this is a vital category, but also because it shows how evenly-matched these pairs are. 

At the time of writing, there are 28 different markets on the Betfair sportsbook. Bet365 has slightly more, with its market selection sitting in the low 30’s. Both cover all the biggest markets, including football, cricket, golf, tennis, and so on. Each brand also lets you bet on horse racing, in the UK & Ireland and further afield. 

Bet365 vs Betfair - Betfair markets

When it comes to the variety of bet types, this pair are also hard to separate. Both provide outstanding selections of outright markets, with Bet365 having 15+ outright wagers available on the Premier League alone, and Betfair providing around 20. For regular, pre-match betting, you can place regular Match Result wagers, handicaps, player and team props, and specials wagers. 

Betfair vs Bet365 - Bet365 markets

With all that said, Betfair distinguishes itself in one key way. Its sportsbook markets are already competitive with those on Bet365. In addition though, it has an entire betting exchange section too, which has another 20+ markets you can bet on against other users. This is just enough to give Betfair the edge in an extremely tight round. 

Winner: Betfair

Round 2 – Odds Value

In this Bet365 vs Betfair duel, we encounter two bookies famous for delivering top-notch prices. As in Round 1, this really is an area in which both brands are very closely-matched. 

Football and horse racing are – by far – the most popular betting markets. We took a series of matches from the former, and upcoming races for the latter, and compared the Bet365 vs Betfair odds. The odds were almost identical in every case and, if Bet365 shaded one comparison, Betfair would win the next one. Just take a quick look at the odds for the upcoming round of Premier League games, at the time of writing, and you’ll see exactly what we mean. 

Bet365 vs Betfair - Betfair odds

 

Bet365 vs Betfair - Bet365 odds

In addition to this, both brands like to inflate their already-excellent odds. Bet365 does this via ‘Enhanced Prices’, while Betfair’s ‘Odds Boost’ feature serves the same role. Each competitor also provides special offers relating to your odds, including a Price Promise on Bet365, ‘My Odds Boost’ on Betfair, and Best Odds Guaranteed on both sites.

Once again though, while the sportsbooks are almost perfectly-balanced, it’s Betfair’s exchange which gives it the edge here. You will need to pay a small commission to place wagers against other users, but – in return – you can basically get whatever odds you please. There’s simply no way for Bet365 to compete with that flexibility. 

Winner: Betfair

Round 3 – Betting Features

We’re comparing two massive brands here, both of which certainly qualify as being feature-packed. Once more, there’s little to separate our two heavyweights in this area. 

Both sites provide a bet builder, to help you craft same-game multiples with ease. Bet365’s is slightly easier to use, but Betfair has a specific bet builder special offer in place, which can earn you a £5 free bet. 

Both have betting apps, live betting tools, and live streaming too, each of which we’ll investigate in more detail shortly. In addition to their sports betting areas, both sites also provide sections for casino games, bingo, poker, and more. 

Each brand also has a virtual sports section, and we’d give Bet365 a slight edge here. Again, Betfair does provide a specific promotion for this feature, but Bet365 simply gives you far more betting options. It provides all the sports Betfair does, but with basketball, darts, cycling, tennis, and even American football thrown in on top. 

Bet365 vs Betfair - Bet365 features

Betfair claws its way back into this scrap, however, with its tips section. While each site has a blog, Betfair’s is comfortably ahead. It provides a constant stream of high-quality, informed advice for punters, on football, horse racing, cricket, golf, and more. 

Bet365 vs Betfair - Betfair features

Overall, both brands provide an outstanding range of tools and features to improve their users’ experience. We narrowly prefer the technical tools available on Bet365 though, and found them slightly easier to use. 

Winner: Bet365

Round 4 – Betting App

Following on from the last section of our Bet365 vs Betfair showdown, it will come as no surprise to learn that – alongside their many other features – both brands have betting apps in place. These are available for iOS and Android devices, and can be downloaded directly from the App Store or Google Play. 

In each case, all the main features from the desktop site have been carried over. These include live streaming, in-play betting, bet builders, and so on. Both brands also allow you to enable notifications on your mobile device, and log in quickly using Touch ID. 

In terms of sheer usability, we preferred Bet365’s app. It’s a little cleaner visually, and we liked the options you have to customise the display to your liking. We also found it a little faster, in terms of both loading speeds for pages, and the responsiveness of the live betting tools.

We also gauged wider user opinions, and – in this area – Betfair comes out on top. Its app has a 4/5 average rating, compared to only 2/5 for Bet365. It’s the same story on the App Store, with Betfair enjoying a whopping 4.8/5 to 3.0/5 advantage. 

This is another area in which our two brands are neck-and-neck. Even bearing the public’s general criticisms in mind, however, we slightly preferred our experience with Bet365’s app.

Winner: Bet365

Round 5 – Betting Offers and Promotions

Betfair has welcome offers in place for both its exchange and sportsbook sections. The former is a standard £20 risk-free bet deal. The latter is more eye-catching, dishing out up to £100 in free bets. You need to place 5 x £10 qualifying wagers to receive one £20 free bet, and can repeat this five times to get the full £100. 

Bet365’s welcome offer is much more accessible. You can stake £10 and you’ll receive a £30 free bet. A 1x rollover requirement does come attached, but this can be completed at odds of only 1/5 (1.20). 

Betfair has several promotions in place for its existing customers too. Alongside a couple of odds boosts, these include an excellent ‘refer a friend’ deal, in which you earn £10 for each successful referral, up to a total of £50. There’s also a ‘free bet club’-style offer, in which you get a £5 free bet for every £20 wagered on multiples. 

Bet365 vs Betfair - Betfair offers

Bet365 has Betfair beat for ongoing promotions, in terms of both quality and quantity. Multiple early payout deals are in place, with the best one being ‘2 Goals Ahead Early Payout’ for football. There are also Accumulator Bonuses for football and tennis, a handy Substitute Guarantee for football. 

Betfair’s special offers are good, but Bet365’s are simply better. For the first time in this Bet365 vs Betfair competition, we have a (relatively) clear winner.

Winner: Bet365

Round 6 – Payment Methods

Both of our competitors here provide eight different payment methods for their UK customers. Interestingly though, there is some variation in the specific options you’re given. Let’s take at the biggest banking options, and see how the two brands compare.

Banking Method Bet365 Betfair
Debit Card fa shield fa shield
PayPal fa shield fa shield
Apple Pay fa shield fa shield
Google Pay fa shield fa shield close
Paysafecard fa shield fa shield
Cheque fa shield fa shield close
Neteller fa shield close fa shield
Skrill fa shield close fa shield
Cash (In-Person) fa shield close fa shield

As you can see, Betfair has better support for eWallets. While Bet365 lets you use the most popular of all – PayPal – you can also deposit using Neteller or Skrill on Betfair. Betfair doesn’t let you pay via cheque, but we’re guessing this won’t affect many modern-day punters anyway. The option to pay into your online account using cash on Betfair, in brick-and-mortar betting shops, is definitely useful though. 

The minimum deposit amount on both betting sites is a nice, low £5, and each brand provides ways to make instant deposits. Their withdrawal times are comparable too, although Bet365’s reasonable £5 minimum withdrawal is beaten by the mere £1 minimum on Betfair.

Bet365 is certainly no slouch when it comes to payment methods, but – as in a couple of other areas – Betfair is slightly superior. 

Winner: Betfair

Round 7 – Live Betting 

The Bet365 in-play section is simply enormous. 17 different sports were available to bet on live at the time of writing, ranging from football and tennis, through to volleyball and squash. The football subsection is absolutely packed, with over 100 individual betting opportunities available early on in the biggest matchups. You’re given plenty of statistics to keep you up to date with the latest goings-on, and the variety of bet types is also exceptional. 

Crucially, the responsiveness of the Bet365 in-play tool is very speedy, on both the desktop version and app. The only minor criticism we have regards the cash out option. The number of times your live wager is ‘blacked-out’ while the odds update – thus leaving you unable to execute a cash out – is frustratingly high here. 

Bet365 vs Betfair - bet365 in play

Betfair only had 10 sports covered in their live betting section as we wrote this. Its number of per-game markets is comparable though, and the actual live betting tools are also very quick indeed. 

Betfair vs Bet365 - Betfair live betting

Once more though, Betfair’s exchange section separates it in this Bet365 vs Betfair matchup. Live exchange bets are just as easy to place as those on the sportsbook, and – naturally – give you more flexibility in the odds you take. Betfair’s exchange is also one of the few places you can bet in-play on horse racing, which will certainly intrigue fans of the ‘sport of kings’.

Winner: Betfair

Round 8 – Live Streaming

Horse racing is a major priority for Betfair, and that’s clearly the case with its streaming too. You’ll find a constant flow of streamed races from around the world here, covering racecourses in the UK and Ireland, the USA, continental Europe, and elsewhere. 

Bet365 vs Betfair - Betfair live streaming

You can also watch the likes of tennis, basketball, snooker, and more. A great selection of football competitions are also covered, including La Liga, Ligue 1, and the Bundesliga. You will need to place a qualifying wager to watch horse and greyhound racing, but simply require a positive account balance to stream all other sports.

Bet365 is equally impressive with its football streaming. Top competitions and lower league fare from all around the world are available to watch, including La Liga in Spain, and Serie A in Italy. All the same sports as Betfair are covered, but Bet365 separates itself by also covering premium contests like MLB baseball and international test cricket. 

Bet365 vs Betfair - Bet365 live streaming

Impressively, as well as providing normal horse racing streams, Bet365 also include feeds for both At the Races and Racing TV. As with Betfair, you must bet on a horse race to watch it, but only need money in your account to stream anything else.

In both cases, the streaming here is of the highest quality, and is available on both the desktop websites and mobile apps. Thanks to its slightly wider coverage though, Bet365 gets the nod in this part of our Bet365 vs Betfair slugfest.

Winner: Bet365

Round 9 – Customer Support

As in most areas of this Bet365 vs Betfair rumble, these two titans are very close in terms of their sheer number of contact options. There’s a big difference, however, in how easy it is to actually access the support teams. 

The quickest way to reach out on Bet365 is via live chat, which is available 24/7. Alternatively, you can send an email, open a support ticket, or even send a letter. 

Bet365 vs Betfair - Bet365 customer support

Betfair also provides live chat support, which – in fairness – is just as straightforward to use as that on Bet365. That’s where the similarities end, however. Finding out about the other contact options on Bet365 is effortless. On Betfair, despite extensive searching of the website, we could not find any other contact details. A Google search reveals a phone number you can call, but this seems to have been removed from the website itself. You’re funnelled straight to the live chat, and that’s it. 

Things become more even again when looking at the respective help centres and FAQs. In both cases, these are some of the best around. Each brand has a huge database of articles, covering every topic imaginable, and these are extremely easy to search through. 

Bet365 vs Betfair - Betfair customer service

Betfair’s reluctance to provide other contact information leaves a sour taste in the mouth though, so we’re handing this round to Bet365.

Winner: Bet365

Overall Winner

It’s hard to imagine two more closely-matched competitors being pitched against each other. While we did want to pick a winner here, we must also say that both brands are fantastic all-rounders, and you could have a top-notch betting experience on either. 

In the end, this Bet365 vs Betfair heavyweight bout went right down to the wire, being poised 4-4 heading into the last round. Bet365 took that category, and – with it – the metaphorical trophy. Throughout the comparison, Bet365 showed remarkable consistency. As you can see on our opening table, it never scored less than 8/10. Betfair has incredible highs, with its skilful combination of a sportsbook and betting exchange netting it wins for both betting markets and odds. It did also stumble in a couple of key areas though, and – ultimately – this cost it in this incredibly competitive Bet365 vs Betfair clash. 

Bet £10 & Get £30 in Free Bets for new customers at bet365

02/03/22

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  • Applies to win and each-way bets
  • Available to new and existing customers
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Registration required. Min deposit requirement. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits and are available for use upon settlement of qualifying bets. Min odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. Time limits and T&Cs apply.

FAQ

Betfair vs Bet365 - which is better?

Bet365 is our pick, but it could hardly have been closer. In the nine categories we analysed for this Betfair vs Bet365 grudge match, the former won four, and the latter won five.

Which brand has a longer track record?

These two prestigious bookies are roughly the same age. Betfair was first launched in May 1999, while Bet365 went live in March 2001. Both have established outstanding reputations in the two decades or so since then.

Are there mobile apps available?

Yes. Both Bet365 and Betfair provide mobile apps, for Android and iOS devices. Betfair’s version has better reviews from the general public, but - in our testing - we found Bet365’s slightly easier to use.

Which betting site has better special offers?

Betfair provides welcome offers for both its exchange and sportsbook users, along with a few ongoing promotions. Bet365 has it beat in both areas, though. We prefer the structure of its welcome offer, and the quantity and quality of its deals for existing customers are also superior.

How do the Bet365 vs Betfair payment methods compare?

Both brands provide you with a similar number of options. Betfair has slightly more though, and these include more eWallet options, and the ability to use cash in-store. Betfair also has a slightly lower minimum withdrawal limit.

Joe Halliday
Joe Halliday

Joe is an expert in both online casinos and sports betting sites. He has worked as a full-time online gambling content creator for over six years now, and has many more years of personal betting experience. He particularly enjoys betting on football, where he favours a stats-based strategy, but likes gambling on the NFL, NBA, and more too. Elsewhere, Joe carries his data-driven approach to Fantasy Premier League, for which he writes tips columns, how-to guides, and more. Joe has written for a wide variety of sports betting and casino sites including TopBettingSites, FootballBettingSites and OnlineBettingSites

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