A Quick Guide to Ladbrokes Sport
You will not find many names bigger than Ladbrokes within both the online and the traditional bookmaker markets. With over 130 years of experience, Ladbrokes are experts at knowing what their customers want.
Although Ladbrokes are a company that is steeped in history, this doesn’t stop them from being market leading innovators who bring new and exciting promotions to their ever increasing legion of fans.
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Overview of Markets and Bet Types at Ladbrokes
With over 30 sports and events you can have a flutter on, you will never be short of betting options. The major markets such as football, cricket, greyhounds and horse racing are easy to find and bet on, you will also find more unusual events to have a punt on, such as Gaelic Football, Handball, pool and Speedway.
List of Markets
- American Football
- Aussie rules
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Boxing
- Chess
- Cricket
- Cycling
- Darts
- E-Sports
- Football
- Gaelic Football
- Golf
- Greyhounds
- Handball
- Horse Racing
- Ice Hockey
- MMA
- Motor Bikes
- Motor Sports
- Olympics
- Poker
- Politics
- Rugby League
- Rugby Union
- Snooker
- Speedway
- TV & specials
- Tennis
- Volleyball
There is a huge range of novelty bets available and these can be a fun distraction from the more serious bets. Some of the highlights include;
The next James Bond, Hobbit star Aidan Turner leads the way at 4/7 but you can get higher odds for any female becoming James Bond (shouldn’t that be Jane Bond?) at 12/1. Benedict Cumberbatch is quoted at 50/1 and even more ridiculously we have Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and David Walliams at 80/1. As we go further down the list the choices become even more bizarre with Angelina Jolie (100/1), David Beckham (200/1), Matt LeBlanc (500/1) and even Boris Johnson or Donald Trump at 1000/1. I’m not sure what is scarier, the thought of Boris Johnson as James Bond or Boris Johnson as Prime Minister!
If the next James Bond is not exciting enough for you, how about betting on who will be the next Pope? I will be the first to admit that my papal knowledge is somewhat limited but I have it on good authority (no, not from the big man himself) that Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has a great shot at 8/1.
Bonus Offers and Promotions at Ladbrokes
If you use the code F50 when signing up with Ladbrokes, they will match your first deposit up to £50. What really sets Ladbrokes aside is that there are no wagering requirements attached to this offer. This is fantastic news as having a wagering requirement can seriously affect how much you need to wager before you can withdraw winnings.
The only requirement is that you have 7 days to use your free bet and it must be placed on a market with odds of at least 1/2. This welcome offer is one of the most generous in the business and definitely receives our nod of approval!
Other Promotions
As with any top online betting site, the promotions that they have on offer change regularly. This prevents the site feeling stale and also means that the offers reflect any tournament or events currently running. Let’s have a look at what promotions were running during Euro 2016.
MONEY BACK – EURO 2016
If any match featuring the home nations (England, Wales, Republic or Northern Ireland) ends in a draw then you will receive a free bet of up to £25 on losing correct score, first goal-scorers and half time / full time bets.
This was a life saver for us when England could only manage a draw against Russia, despite almost total domination. My overly optimistic predictions of 3-0 and 4-0 led to a free bet.
Price Boost – VARDY WINCAST BOOST
Price boosts are becoming very popular with punters, I like to think of them as like special offers you would receive at a supermarket. They are really simple to understand, in this example the odds for Vardy to score were 5/2 but with the Ladbrokes boost the odds have been enhanced to 4/1. These change very regularly and are worth grabbing if you see them.
HORSE RACING – BEST ODDS GUARANTEED PLUS
Time to step away from football related bets for a while and explore the best odds guaranteed plus promotion at Ladbrokes. The best odds guarantee is nothing new and ensures that if the starting price of a horse you are betting on is better than the price you took, Ladbrokes will pay out the better odds. What is different about this promotion is that Ladbrokes will enhance the price even further, so there really is no excuse not to get all your horse racing bets laid early.
GREYHOUNDS – BEST ODDS GUARANTEED
With the greyhounds BOG, you take the price – including early prices, board prices, singles and multiples – and if the SP returns greater then Ladbrokes will pay you out at the bigger price.
CASH OUT
The ability to cash-out bets early has totally changed the way we bet! It brings a new level of risk and reward and is without doubt one of my favourite features of an online bookmaker. Before an event has even finished, you can decide if you should take a return on your bet. More and more sports now have the cash out option including football, cricket and snooker.
Live Betting with Ladbrokes
Hot on the heels of Cash Out is Live Betting, live betting adds another dimension to your online betting experience that simply wasn’t possible even a couple of years ago.
In the olden days, once an event started, then all betting on that particular market was closed, not so with live betting! You can now bet whilst the action is happening. This gives the armchair sports enthusiast a chance to assess the action in real-time and react. So rather than being a passive activity, betting becomes an interactive experience that is not only engaging but also lots of fun.
If the opposition defender has received a yellow card within 10 minutes, this plays right into your hands as he will have to be a lot more conservative with the tackling. If the keeper is flapping more than saving, time to bet on the other team. All these elements can have a bearing on the game and the astute among you will be ready to take advantage.
The screen design for in play is set out in a logical way, being incredibly easy to find the market you want to bet on is a must and Ladbrokes do this to great effect. The popular markets are all on one screen and you can select a bet with just one click.
If you are looking for more market options then clicking on the arrow will expand all the markets, the choice of what you can bet on is outstanding with often more than 100 events (such as next goal-scorer, next team to score, number of corners) easily accessible.
Whilst a game is being played you can see a graphical representation of the game taking place, at a glance it’s easy to see who has the most possession, the number of cards, total number of shots and any substitutions made.
Mobile Fun with the Ladbrokes App
With the Ladbrokes mobile app, you can place a bet on the move, no matter where you are. If you are a La Liga fan then you’ll be delighted to know that you can stream live action direct to your mobile or tablet! It’s not just Spanish football either, you can also follow Australia’s A-League, Polish Ekstraklasa and non-football events such as NBA basketball and NHL ice hockey.
Building your dream acca is easy with the app and with Ladbrokes Money Back 5+ Acca offer, they will return your stake as a Free Bet if only one team lets you down. This has saved our skin on a few occasions.
If horses are your thing then you can receive tips from Racing Post experts delivered direct to your device. These include detailed runner information plus PostData, TopSpeed and Spotlight tips for every UK & Ireland race.
Cash out is supported via the app and in our testing the app was remarkable fast and responsive and is a valuable companion to the full desktop experience. Even if you have a mobile that doesn’t support the app, you can still use m.ladbrokes.com and enjoy an optimised version of the website for smaller screens.
Payment Methods for Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes are one of the very few bookmakers that allow you to make a £5 deposit, this is great for betting on a budget. Ladbrokes also cater for the other side of the spectrum with the maximum deposit for Visa set at a high roller friendly £99,999.
The range of payment methods available is what you would expect from one of the UK’s biggest and most respected online sports sites. Cards accepted include Visa, MasterCard, Maestro and Electron. Other payment options such as PayPal, Skrill, Western Union, paysafecard and bank transfer are also accepted.
With over 800,000 online customers, which ever method you choose, you can be sure that all your transactions are fast, encrypted and totally secure.
A Friend in Need – Support at Ladbrokes
As Ladbrokes have over 2,500 betting shops, they are old masters at customer service. They bring this expertise to the online market and have methods of support that will appeal to everyone. Live chat is perhaps the most popular means of contacting Ladbrokes and you can expect prompt, friendly and knowledgeable staff. One quirk we did encounter when using live chat was that we needed to be logged in before we could use it. Any attempt to contact them without logging in gave a “Customer Support is currently unavailable, please try again shortly” message.
If live chat is not for you then you can also telephone, email or even write a letter to the customer service team, the mail option is becoming quite rare for online companies but as it’s a method preferred by older customers, we applaud Ladbrokes for not alienating the golden generation.
Whichever way you choose to interact, Ladbrokes have one of the best support teams we have used. Response time is speedy, the staff knowledgeable and when they haven’t been able to give us an answer instantly, they have contacted us back with a reply.