Betfair Casino Review

Since first opening their doors in 1999, Betfair has made it their business to offer new and innovative options to their customers. They were in fact the very first company to come up with the concept of a betting exchange. In this system players can bet against each other rather than the house. This type of dedication to their customers has won them quite a following over the years and now they are hoping to tempt those fans with their latest venture, the Betfair online casino. They are not a newcomer to the online world, but they have held their cards very close to the chest when it comes to a casino version of their fun. Betfair kept their fans waiting until late in 2006 before first opening those virtual doors. Now we get to see, did they used that time wisely to learn from the mistakes of others, or are they just another late entry?

One thing is for certain, they didn’t skimp on the design budget! The Casino is located on its very own tab right at the top of the Betfair home page. Once you give it a quick click you find yourself whisked away to all the gaming fun you could ever ask for. Betfair has gone with an upscale design that is almost professional in appearance. You won’t find any crazy graphics or cheesy animations cluttering up this casino. Customers have their choice of several different languages for their fun, but French is not included on the list. While navigation for the most part is very straight forward and easy to follow, don’t get distracted by the enticing links running down the left hand side of your page. Some of these are links, while others are merely graphics, and none of them take you where you want to go. Be smarter than we were and just avoid the area all together.

Registration is a pain no matter where you go, but at Betfair they keep it very simple and direct. You won’t find yourself tied up here for long, and in no time at all you will be one your way to the games. All the games on the casino floor are offered using the non-downloading Chartwell software. This means that the games stream from the site and there is nothing for you to install on your own system. One very nice thing about Chartwell is that the software is not limited to just PC users. This means that unlike other casinos, all of our Mac friends out there can join in the fun at Betfair. We have to say that we are always impressed by the overall quality of the games that Chartwell delivers. The whole set up is flawless and the games always play just a smooth as you could ever want. One very interesting feature that Betfair offers that you won’t find at any of their rival casinos is its Zero Lounge. In the Zero Lounge all the games have been configured so as to have zero house edge. This means that they are as close as possible to the real odds of the game. We looked at this from every angle and we just can’t find a downside. In this case Betfair has really gone all out to offer something truly great and unique for their players. You do need to remember that all bets in the Zero Lounge are excluded from the regular promotions on the site. That is a small price to pay for the great action in this special room.

While we’re on the subject of promotions we were disappointed by the fact that we didn’t come across any new player bonus during our stay. If you search the web long enough you might be able to find some kind of code floating around out there, but there is nothing freely offered by the casino it’s self. There is a player loyalty promotion that allows you to build cash back on qualifying wagers, but as we already mentioned, that is only available in the main casino. There are some very interesting signs pointing towards coming promotions and if those come to fruition then they could make up for the lack of a new player offering.

If you find that you need some assistance during your time with Betfair, then they have set up several avenues for you to get help. Players have their choice of phone, fax, or e-mail 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You do need to note, that although the site is available in several different languages, the help desk only speaks English. Though if you are reading this review then that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. We would also like to point out that while there is phone support it is not free, so make sure you remember that before you sit on hold for 20 minutes!

Even though Betfair chose to hold back their entry into the online casino race, we think that they are well worth the wait. They continue their tradition of innovative offerings with their amazing Zero Lounge. Players will have no trouble finding the new place as it is easily accessible from the main Betfair site. And to top it all off, they are ready for alternative systems and languages. Betfair is doing a wonderful job of providing something to tempt even the pickiest player. We found a few minor snags, but they were very very minor. We think that this would be a great first choice for players of any level.