888 Betting App Review
Whilst 888 aren’t one of the newest betting companies on the market, they certainly aren’t one of the oldest. Since its introduction in 1997 888 have seen unprecedented levels of growth not only in the sports betting market but also that of bingo, casino, poker and various games.
It was only a matter of time before this fast paced company took it’s hand to the mobile betting markets and produced their first betting app. Whilst it’s not strictly an ‘app’ of such, more a mobile site, it still has most the functionalities of an app, just doesn’t load the same. For the purpose of this review we will be looking at it a functional 888 betting app.
Bonuses and promotions
By registering a new 888 account today you will become eligible to a £50 free bet. All you need to do is open an account using any of the links on this page, deposit up to £50, place a wager of £10 or more and your first bet will be matched 100% in the form of a completely free bet to use at your disposal. It’s worth noting that qualifying bets must be placed at odds of 2.0 or greater and the bonus will expire after 30 days.
It’s also worth noting that mobile suers can claim a £5 free bet upon their first deposit. If your opening deposit and bet on your mobile loses, then they will refund your account with the equivalent bet up to £5.
We do always recommend that you register your account via your PC, laptop or mobile browser before downloading the 888 betting app. This will basically ensure that you can claim your £50 free bet where doing so via the app will not guarantee this.
Overview, design and feel
The first impressions of the 888 betting app are generally pretty good. Understandably they have remained with their black and orange colours of which they have become renowned for and the contrast certainly doesn’t lack any spark.
It does look a little sickly on the eye as the overload of orange can get a little over the top. Looking back at their betting website it certainly is in keeping with their brand, but doesn’t have that really polished look some of the higher end apps possibly do.
The being said they have a really nice mix of image based icons and text based icons making browsing through sports and markets very simple. We are defiantly fans of adding a few icons into the mix as page full of text just isn’t appealing. Also on the plus side they have opted against adding any of the grey navigation areas which they have disappointingly decided to add on their actual website. A solid effort from the 888 betting app without ever really taking our breath away.
Interface and features
If we go back to what we mentioned at the start of the review about it not being an actual ‘app’ as such, well let us expand a little on this. The pages itself never leave the browser in which you would view normal web pages on your mobile. For the majority this will not be a problem and neither is it for us, but it does look a little unprofessional. On the upside of this is that it makes navigation a whole lot easier.
Many apps are distinctly let down by their lack of navigation and more importantly, the use of a simple back button. But as we never really leave our mobile browser, back buttons are their aplenty and you can even access your history to back track if you wish. So, we have decided to turn what could have been a negative into a nice little positive feature for the app.
From the home screen you can dive straight into the live betting portal which is again a feature of the app itself. It’s a trend with most major betting apps these days that they offer a good live betting section and the 88 app is no different.
You can quickly access an array of sports that are all hosted with live betting markets for the current and next day and what’s nice is that they are not only listed in time of kick off, but also each specific sport allowing you to quickly determine your preferred market.
Also included on the app is a ‘football coupon’ that brings up a quick view list of a stack of football matches from around the world of which you can add or subtract to your coupon as you please. The concept is really good as many people often like to place football accumulators on a match day, however the apps execution leaves a little be desired.
There’s little structure in the coupon with games and leagues randomly scattered about. The layout isn’t particularly brilliant either with a random yellow blob with less than clear text. It all just looks a little random and not really in keeping with the rest of the app, unfortunately.
Sports and markets
As you may or may not know, we like to use this section too look at how comprehensive a sports betting section the app has. Let’s face it, that’s what it all comes down to really. To do this we often compare how the app fairs against its online betting and 888 have fared pretty well.
Their website boast around 30 betting markets (not all sports) and on their app we found a smidge over 20 betting markets to choose from. The main absentees were a White Christmas market, Politics market and Racing I Card, all of which aren’t high priority for us, anyway.
Their main markets come in the form of football and horse racing, which is little surprise as most UK and European based bookmakers tend to follow this trend. But a point worth noting is how thorough their football market is. There are leagues from Greece, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Italy and even Ecuador, including all your major UK and European leagues to go alongside. The 888 betting app certainly packs a punch in the football betting department.
Cashier, account and support
The cashier section of the app is pretty basic. In fact, it’s almost nonexistent. To deposit money you have to ring up their telephone banking service and then speak with an advisor. Some argue that it’s safer to do it this way, but we would rather give our personal details over a secure connection and encrypted page rather than to some random person who could be scribbling your details down as they punch them into a computer. This may be a little extreme, but it would be nice to at least have the option.
To accompany a lack of depositing options via the app also comes with the lack of withdrawal options. In fact, there are no withdrawal options and not even any instructions on what to do. We assume you ring the same number as the deposit, but no instructions is simply lazy.
The 888 app does have a really nice betting history page where you can track down each bet you have made over a specific timescale. It may be little but it’s surprising just how many apps don’t actually include them even today.
Navigation and placing a bet
On the whole navigating is pretty good. We’ve mentioned about the ‘app’ not really being an ‘app’ and more of a mobile browser, will it’s for this reason that navigation works so well. At all times you have a simply back or forward button and they very accessible, especially for those of us with slightly larger fingers.
Placing a bet again works nicely and without complaint. Selecting markets is easy to do and finding your way through to your bet slip takes just seconds. One thing worth noting is that when you get to your bet slip you can’t actually see your potential winnings. So unless your odds are really easy to work out, you use a calculator or a maths whizz, then knowing these potential returns will become tricky.
Verdict
The 888 betting app is a solid starting point for the 888 brand but you can’t help but feel that it’s a little rushed and that they may have missed the boat a little with it. There are few features that really stand out in what’s becoming an extremely competitive market place and for a company that has based its foundations around innovation and expanding; we were left a little disappointed.
That being said, there is no major gripes that’s particularly wrong with the app. There are additions we would like to see certainly, such as better cashier section, improved layout and the transformation into a ‘real’ app.
It’s an app we feel we would defiantly have on hand, if not for the football betting markets alone, but highly doubt that the 888 betting app would be our number 1 choice in terms of mobile betting experience.