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New UK/IE customers only. Full T&Cs apply. 18+ | GambleAwareYou may have heard of Bethard, a longstanding betting site available in Ireland that is based in Malta. With its distinctive yellow branding, it is hard to miss, but is betting with Bethard useful, or is the experience average? After closing in the UK, the platform can only be used in a handful of countries. Luckily for Irish punters, this includes our great nation, so read on to discover how we found it.
Pros
- Matched bonus up to €50 to be used for sportsbook customers in Ireland
- Almost 40 sports and a great range of betting markets for football
- Live betting on huge tournaments like the US PGA Championship and Ice Hockey World Championship
Cons
- No promotions apart from the early cashout feature
- Website is difficult to navigate because of sportsbook and casino integration on one platform
Free Bet Offer For Irish Customers
The Bethard welcome bonus is slightly misleading, as it displays on the website that if you deposit €50 you will get €100 to bet with. However, the new customer Irish bonus is a 100% matched bonus up to €50, so this essentially means that you will only get €50 in free bets and the total will be matched up to €100.
The sign-up process is simple, even for new customers that aren’t acquainted with sports betting, and only took us a couple of minutes. Just enter your email and make a password (which must contain a capital letter, lowercase letter, digit, and special character in order to be safer), and type in your bonus code if you have one. Then continue, where you will need to share personal contact information. Confirm, and you are done!
Now, you can use the free bet offer for Irish customers.
- Select the Sports Bonus option in the deposit menu as you can only claim one welcome bonus, the other being the casino welcome offer
- Deposit at least €20
- The maximum deposit bonus is €50
- Create a bet on any game in the pre-match or in-play betting markets with minimum odds of 1.90
- The wagering requirement is 15x which is very low for a welcome bonus and this is a huge positive
- Once this settles your free bet will be credited and must be used up in 60 days
Sports Covered
There is no doubt that Bethard has one of the most extensive sportsbooks we can have seen on the market. The usual sports you would expect to see like football, golf, basketball, and tennis are available with hundreds of betting markets, but there are also some unusual sports like pesapallo, surfing, and field hockey. Additionally, hurling and Gaelic football can be found on the list, which takes a good betting site to an exceptional one. Something we were surprised to see was ice hockey, which looked to be pretty popular on the platform.
Football
Four of the first five most popular competitions at Bethard are football. These are the Premier League, UEFA Nations League, Allsvenskan, and Serie A. Other leagues that we found included Ligue 1, Eredivisie, Eliteserien, and the World Cup Qualifiers. Whilst you can create bet builders for the majority of sports at Bethard, the pre-built bet builders are mainly related to football. Punters can also try out live betting, although there is no live streaming as of yet.
Basketball
There are many basketball leagues at Bethard including:
- NBA
- Basketligan
- Iceland Premier League
- ACB
- NBB
- EuroBasket
There is also the option to create a bet builder on any single basketball event, which is not only rare but also worthwhile as there are a plethora of betting markets. Selections you can add to your bet builder could include moneyline betting, point spread, total points, odds/ evens, and first-half betting.
Golf
As the US PGA Championship is held in May, it makes sense that the homepage had a section dedicated to golf. We noticed that the odds were competitive, especially for round betting. Other leagues that you can bet on are the Ryder Cup, the US Open, and the Open Championship.
Hurling
Under the Gaelic Sports section you can find football and hurling, but for some reason only hurling was available. In-play betting is available on these sports and a green icon that says LIVE will show up next to events currently on air. Also, green arrows will appear next to increasing odds, and red arrows next to decreasing odds. This is extremely helpful when monitoring the games.
The Remaining Sports
In total, there are almost 40 sports on the website, but we have noticed that only some of them have a substantial range of markets. The sports that have the option to add on a bet builder have plenty, but many events are underdeveloped. For example, Formula One betting only has one betting market for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and that is the winner. Likewise, disc golf is a niche sport and this would normally be a positive for Bethard, but there are again only two markets: the winner and the top three individuals.
Payment Methods Offered
Bethard accepts the following payment methods:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- Trustly
- MuchBetter
- MiFinity
- AstroPay
They are found at the bottom of the website and Bethard confirms that these options are available for funding your account. However, this can depend on the region.
The minimum deposit is €10, although it is €20 when you are claiming the welcome bonus for Irish customers. The deposits are processed instantly.
To request a withdrawal, go to your account and click the respective button. Many withdrawals are instant, but some can take a few days, depending on the payment method used. Also note that you can only withdraw using a method that you have previously deposited funds with. If you deposited with Paysafecard, note that you must withdraw using Trustly.
Why Choose Bethard
Bethard noticeably doesn’t have any promotions, but that’s not the be all and end all of a great betting sites. Below are some features that we believe Bethard excels in.
- Early Cashout
The cashout feature is perhaps the best integration at Bethard, although this could be because there aren’t many others. This can be used when you have already placed a bet, and there is cash out available that allows you to close it before it ends. Hence, no matter whether you win or lose in the end, the payout will be yours.
Using partial cash out you can keep a part of the bet active, whilst full cash out closes the whole bet. On the sports homepage there are lots of different events and selections. You will see a blue image with a dollar sign next to the wagers that cash out is applicable to.
Overall this will limit your losses, but is inaccessible at times.
- Football Bet Builders
Bet builders at Bethard are include football, which is the most popular sport for this type of betting. Nevertheless, you can create bet builders on any of the events which have a little lego image next to them, which helpfully indicates that the selection can be turned into a combo bet.
Even though the creativity aspect of a bet builder is the main reason it’s so beloved, you can choose bet builders already customized by Bethard and save yourself time and hassle. They include mainstream markets like the match winner, over 2.5 goals, anytime goalscorer, player to score 2 goals, and so on.
- In-Play Bets
All live games are displayed on the live tab, but unfortunately, only e-sports can be watched for free. There is no live streaming on other sports.
In-play betting is offered on football, basketball, tennis, ice hockey, cricket, cycling, volleyball, rugby, golf, hurling, table tennis, and American football. Once you click the sport you are interested in, all of the upcoming events will appear. Alternatively, a green image will appear if they are currently live, next to the score so far.
To make the process more efficient, you can filter the different leagues and market. This is especially useful for football because there are so many events going on and the same time.
- Statistics and Live Scores
Bethard doesn’t bring you live streaming coverage, but it does display live games and statistics which can help you to decide on your betting strategy. When you click an event, it will say how far into the game it is and what the score is. Additional information includes ball possession, shots on target, and total shots from each team.
Closing Points
Wrapping things up, we can safely say that Bethard is a reliable and opportune betting site for Irish punters. The many benefits include a sportsbook teeming with events, and plenty of bet builders and cashout wagers. In spite of that, it doesn’t quite make up for the lack of promotions and a loyalty program, because this is not a new bookmaker. Not even one odds boost came up when we reviewed the site, so this is definitely not the platform for you if you want to be kept on your toes.