As live professional sports begin to open up again around the globe, so do the bookmakers. Now more than ever, the people who help customers place bets on their favorite events need to up their customer service.
Picking a bookmaker isn’t like picking a sports team to support. There is no family tradition to follow, you’re unlikely to have a local one you support, and they don’t win leagues and titles that draw new customers in. So what is important when choosing a bookmaker?
There are actually a few different criteria customers consider when looking for one, and we’ll try to help identify what they are below:
New customer offers
Whilst it isn’t the most important criteria to consider, a new customer offer is one tactic that is used to draw in fresh faces. That’s because people love a good deal when they see one.
It may be the case that you get free bets, free spins on slot machines, or a match in credit deposited. These are the most common bonuses you see. Another is that inviting a friend to join the same bookmaker as you could also reward both parties with similar bonuses. You can easily find what sites offer what bonuses too at places like GTBets Review, saving you time from having to bounce from site to site yourself to find them all.
Be careful though, because many of these bonuses can come with catches. The main catch is wager requirements. Some may not be bad, they may just ask that if you get something free, you wager the entire value first, with any winnings after that completely yours. However, there are some bookmakers who will ask you to wager the bonus in excess of 600% before they will pay out. And what is worse, is that if you win anything from them, they use this for payment first before using the bonus funds. Meaning you’ll likely never get free money from it.
Not a new customer?
Don’t worry, plenty of sites also have offers for existing customers. These can range from offering guaranteed payouts if your team takes a certain lead, offering extra places if you bet each way on horse racing, or returning your stake as a free bet if you lose following certain circumstances.
You may also find some bookmakers if you bet with them and leave it a while, will tempt you back with free bets or free credit for slot games as well. So it can pay to take a break from gambling too, or using multiple sites and switching between them if you’re going to continue to place bets.
The best odds
As well as offers of free credit, another way to pick your preferred bookmaker is by choosing one that offers the best odds. With so many bookmakers out there, and all offering different odds on numerous events, it can be difficult to pin down the one that is right for you.
But as above with the bonuses, there will be sites out there that list the top odds on major events and how good they are compared to their competitors. Some people use these sites for things such as Armitage betting, which is when you use multiple bookmakers, sometimes taking advantage of offers to cover all outcomes of an event. You place different amounts of money on each, so no matter what, every single outcome will put you in profit.
To make that work long-term though, you need a lot of money. As you won’t make incredible amounts from small bets. In that case, the next best way of looking for the best odds is to see if an event is sponsored, if this is the case, that bookmaker may promise the best odds on that event. Price matching competitors or even bettering them when they’re notified.
Most important of all – Customer Service
Nothing is more important though than customer service. Good or bad customer service can make or break a bookmaker, and their customers.
Bad customer service will lead to a bookmaker losing customers, losing customers lowers revenue, and if it ends up paying more out in wins than losses, they could go bankrupt. As a result, people with outstanding bets or credit in their account could lose out on big winnings, or get their money back.
Not just that, but bad customer service also means if something occurs, like a match is cancelled due to a COVID outbreak, or a bizarre scenario happening at a sporting event that couldn’t be predicted happens, then they’ll state you haven’t won and that’s the end of that, and you might feel like they’ve robbed you.
Good customer service though can make a world of difference. It can make existing customers feel appreciated, and then by word of mouth, they’ll likely tell friends and family members who will also choose to bet with the same bookmaker.
It doesn’t have to be a case of someone going above and beyond either. It can be as simple as just listening to customers and responding to their complaints and concerns in a fair and helpful manner. Customers love to feel like they’re being listened to, and feel even better when they feel like you’re on their side. So if a bookmaker does this right, it can be a great selling point for them.
If you’re wondering where to find these golden bookmakers who appreciate customers, look for reviews online. Not by specialist bloggers, but customers themselves. Some will no doubt have horror stories about who to avoid, there will likely be more of these than good stories. But when you do find them, you’ll probably find a common theme that they all speak about the same place. And that’s when you know you’ve found a bookmaker worth choosing to bet with.
And there you have it, the most important criteria there is to consider when choosing a bookmaker. If you can find one that offers great offers for new and existing customers, has great odds and offers great customer service, you’ve hit the jackpot.
