English bookmakers are very popular with betting friends. But who is an English bookmaker – and what makes them special? In no other country in the world have sports betting a greater tradition and a higher status than in England, so since the 19th century “gambled” is. “The daily punt” is a fixed part of British everyday life – right across all levels of society. As the Internet reached its mass suitability towards the end of the 1990s, it also became interesting for sports betting. Until then, you had to try in “classic” betting offices to place their tips … Most of the UK`s sports betting companies – even companies such as Ladbrokes and William Hill, with their almost 100-year-old tradition – jumped on the train of online bets in no time.

The best and biggest English bookmakers

Bet365

→ The bookmaker from Stoke-on-Trent was founded in 1974 and is today considered one of the largest and best-known bookmakers – not only on the British Isle, but now also worldwide. With more than 10 million betting customers around the world, Bet365 today is even the industry leader – especially in the context of football betting ! In contrast to the majority of competitors, who are now based in Malta or Gibraltar, the actual family business still has its headquarters in Stoke. Bet365 convinces with a very extensive betting offer, very good odds, an attractive offer for live bets and a competent customer service. The web portal has hardly any weak points. Perhaps the only point of criticism is usually that due to the large extent of the offer the clarity suffers a bit.

Betfair

→ Already the founding year of 1999 suggests that Betfair must be blessed with a wealth of experience in the field of online sports betting. The Betfair story started as a pure betting exchange, only later did the company from London commit itself to the “actual” sports betting. Betfair got a real boost from the merger with Irish bookmaker giant Paddy Power – the betting offer was much more extensive and varied at a stroke. Previously, there was usually only football. The betting offer of this English bookmaker is now one of his great assets. Also fits the odds level and the performance in the field of football live betting.

Ladbrokes

→ The “Big Red” is the classic among the betting operators. Its roots go back to the year 1886. Ladbrokes has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1967. The English traditional provider has been represented on the Internet since 1998 and is one of the greats on the British Isle. In addition to online betting, the English bookmaker is still represented with its numerous betting shops, especially in the UK, but also in many other European countries. Like the other English bookmakers Ladbrokes convinces with a generous betting offer. However, the website is somewhat brittle, especially for betting enthusiasts from Central Europe, who are often used to a different design at betting operators. In addition, the telephone customer support is offered only in English.

William Hill

→ In 1934, William Hill began as a bookmaker under his name, resulting in a small empire. How big the traditional bookmaker is meanwhile, this number shows: In August 2013, the stock market value was quoted at 4.07 billion pounds. “Willie” has been online since 1998.

The Monty Hall paradox is a well-known task of probability theory, the solution of which contradicts common sense and does not fit into the logical judgments of an average person. Knowledge of this paradox will be very useful for all players of bookmakers’ offices, will help to avoid mistakes in estimation of chances and will teach correct understanding of probability of occurrence of events.

The conditions of the Monty Hall paradox task

The world first learned about this paradox through the American television game “Let’s Make a Deal”, hosted by Monty Hall. Actually, in honor of the presenter of this TV show and named this paradox. The Monty Hall paradox gained popularity after the publication of the problem of probability theory, which was the basis of the TV game, in one of the magazines. The conditions of this problem were as follows:

Imagine that you became a participant of a TV show where you are offered to open one of the three doors to win a prize. The presenter informs you that behind one of these doors there is a car hiding, and behind the other two there is a consolation prize – a goat. You make your choice and point to, for example, door number 3. After that, the leader, who knows where the car is hidden, opens one of the other two doors, behind which there is a goat. Suppose this is door number 2 and asks you if you want to change your choice and open door number 1.

And the main question of the task is: should the participant accept the offer of the presenter and change the door? Will the chances of winning a car increase if you change your choice?

It should also be specified that manipulations are excluded and, accordingly, the organizers of the show can not change the prizes outside the door, everything is fair. At this point, you should not pay attention when considering this task.

Correct solution of the problem

What is the right thing to do – to stay on your initial choice, i.e. to open the door number 3, or to accept the presenter’s offer and change the choice by opening the door number 1? Most of the participants in this TV game did not change the door, trusting their intuition. Most people who are asked to do this also say that they will stand on their own and do not change their choice.

It would seem that nothing would change if the moderator’s proposal were accepted. Initially, the chances of winning the car were 33.3%. After the presenter opened one of the doors with a goat, the chances of winning the main prize became 50/50. So why choose the door number 1, the chances are the same.

In fact, people mistake that changing doors does not increase their chances of winning. In fact, participants who change their choice win twice as often as those who decide not to change their decision.

The main logical mistake is that people reevaluate the situation after the leader opens one of the doors and think that the chances of winning 50%. But that’s not true, your chances were originally 33.3%, and after one of the doors is open, the probability of getting a car is still the same 33.3%. But if you accept the presenter’s offer and change your choice, the chances of winning are 66.6%.

It can blow your mind. There is confidence that many readers will call this article and the paradox a delusion. But could thousands of mathematicians have made mistakes? The solution of the problem really contradicts intuition and common sense, but the truth is that the change of the initial choice doubles the chances of winning the car – from 33.3% to 66.6%.

In order to better understand the Monty Hall paradox, let’s combine the probability of two doors that were not chosen by the contestant. It turns out that the probability of finding the car behind the chosen door #3 is 33.3%, and the total probability of finding the car behind doors #1 and #2 is 66.6%. The anchor opens door #2 where the goat is hiding, so the probability of the car being behind this door is 0%. All 66.6 per cent are accounted for by door No. 1, which the driver proposes to open.

Unibet is one of the best known bookmaking companies in the market. It was founded by Swedish Anders Strom in 1997, making it one of the oldest existing bookmakers. It is based in Malta. The company has a Maltese MGA license number MGA/B2C/106/2000 from 1 August 2018, which ensures legality and full security.

General information about Unibet

Everything is done in accordance with the law in force throughout the European Union. The company is also licensed in the UK, France, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Estonia and Romania. It is most popular in the Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavian countries. Unfortunately, there may be problems with logging in to the website in Poland, as they still lack a national license. It belongs to a large, international company Kindred Group, which currently has more than 10 million customers all over the world. This group is one of the largest online gambling companies in the world.

In the past, the company was only involved in sports betting, but an online casino was also introduced. Generally speaking, Unibet is quite universal and offers many types of services. In addition to betting, we have a casino and a live casino, a game or a poker platform. The bookmaker offers almost 40 different sports disciplines that we can bet on, while online casino fans can play more than 600 different slots. In addition to the usual betting and casino services, there are of course live bets that not only allow you to bet live, but also watch match broadcasts. Unibet also has a smartphone app and a good mobile site, which allows customers to play anywhere, anytime. The company operates in more than 100 countries and has already had 16 million customers using its services. Unibet has won fourteen major awards for all its achievements, including the title of Best European Sports Betting Operator and many others.

Discipline and course heights

As mentioned above, there are more than 40 sports disciplines available on the website, which are only waiting for you to bet on them. Among them you can not miss such popular sports as football, volleyball, basketball or tennis. There are also winter sports, boxing, handball and even golf. Interestingly, animal lovers will find here horse racing and dog racing. It will certainly be difficult to find any sport that you want to bet on so that it is lacking in the offer of Unibet.

Younger customers will certainly be happy to bet on sports matches of such games as CS:GO, FIFA or Overwatch. Apart from sports, you can bet on some political events, and in the ‘Unsports’ tab you can find music, TV and even weather events. Each category can have hundreds of events each, so if you start playing at this bookmaker once, you may have a problem with breaking away and returning to reality later.

Bookmakers’ odds are always what interests their clients the most. In this case, however, they may be a bit lower than on competitive platforms, but they are still relatively high. Unibet’s margins are medium, not the highest and not the lowest. For example, when looking at favorite matches in popular leagues, odds tend to be in the top half of the best companies on the market. This may turn out to be slightly lower than for domestic bookmakers raising their odds, but all of this is not very important given that we are exempt from 12% stake tax.

Payments – Deposits and withdrawals

Unibet offers its customers several payment methods, so deposits and withdrawals should not be a problem for any user. Please note that different platforms have their own specific limits, fees and lead times, be it when depositing or withdrawing funds. And so on the list of methods we have: payment cards, bank transfers, Przelewy24 and Trustly. Unfortunately, there was no Paysafe Card, Neteller or Skrill, which is a big minus, considering that in Poland dozens of services have free access to bank accounts. The minimum amounts are usually around several dozen zlotys, but the maximum amounts are very diverse and may vary between 5,000 and 60,000 zlotys. The fee, according to the manufacturer, may be variable or not at all. In most cases, the implementation is immediate, only bank transfers can take a little longer, up to a few days. Maybe the number of these methods is not very impressive, but among them we will surely find a few that will suit us best and that we will use. Definitely, however, Unibet could do better in this respect.

Betfair is a well-known and valued brand that has been present on the market since 2000 and it distinguishes it from the competition that it is mainly the world’s largest betting exchange, which gives customers much more opportunities than a regular bookmaker. The company functions as a traditional bookmaker, a betting exchange and a currency market, which has an enormous impact on its popularity and high ratings among players and experts. In addition to these companies, the company also offers a casino or virtual games, poker.

At the very beginning, as usual, we will take a look at the company’s website and its functionality. For people less fluent in foreign languages this can be a big problem, although in this case only basic knowledge of English, German or Russian is required. The offer also includes languages: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Romanian.

Despite the lack of our language version, a big surprise may be the fact that our players are greeted with an advertising offer. Perhaps this is the beginning of the creation of a bookmaker lobby. After entering the bookmaker’s website, the difference between the bookmaker and companies focused mainly on the European market can be immediately noticeable. The competition in this case focuses most on football matches, and here football is not overly promoted. Popular sports include NBA and Tennis, although due to the wide availability of football, football betting is often seen in the Betfair lobby.

The company promotes numerous promotions on its website, which can be used by players. These are the promotions that come to the fore. In addition, you can also see the latest bets, the most popular sporting events or live scores. In contrast to typical European companies, horse races are presented here much more often, including live races, which affects the attractiveness of this sport. Definitely, the website looks very impressive and despite many elements placed on it is very simple and functional to use. Simple colours and graphic design influence the positive perception of the website. The entire betting and wagering system and the use of the website is carried out exclusively through a web browser, which also contributes to better access to Betfair.

The company has not forgotten about the mobile betting experience. A special application for mobile devices and mobile phones with IOS or Android system is available for download from the website. Thanks to it you get the same access to the bookmaker as from a web browser. Using the application is simple, comfortable and at the same time can be associated with additional promotions and benefits for the player.

Betfair betting Offer

Betfair is a place where you can count on an incredibly wide range of sports. At the moment, the company offers over 30 different sports. Customers can place bets on basketball, football, volleyball, tennis, cycling, motor racing, horse racing, e-sport, boxing and other combat sports. Additionally, you can find here a few bets that are not related to sport, but concern music, film and political events.

Betfair Bets Bonuses and Promotions

As far as football betting is concerned, the company’s offer includes leagues from practically every corner of the world. Of course, there is also our native Ekstraklasa. The system of betting on football matches is practically identical as in the case of other bookmaking companies. Customers have at their disposal simple forms of betting, i.e. betting on the winner or the exact result, as well as more advanced – shooters, number of goals, first goals, or both teams will score a goal, number of cards in the match, corner kicks. In addition, you can bet on events that can take place during a specific period of time. A similar situation can be observed in live matches. You should not forget that Betfair is mainly a betting exchange, so it is an opportunity for many people to earn a lot of money. However, this is not the place for beginners, as it can take quite a long time to learn the rules and regulations of the stock market. It is mainly about predicting the movement of exchange rates on the stock market and the highest possible earnings from them.

Many players have not praised Betfair for its customer service so far, but the company is slowly changing its strategy so you can count on a faster and more professional approach. Players can contact our consultants 24 hours a day via live chat, telephone or email. The average response time for chat and phone is 30 seconds, and for e-mails from 2 to 4 hours.