Many old school betting shop punters will be very familiar with Coral, one of the oldest and best-known bookmakers in the business.
Even now, with most bets taken online, Coral still stands as one of the best around with a wide range of betting markets, promotions and features.
Coral was expected to be strong overall, and indeed they are. Their apparent let-downs are, in theory, easy fixes so it’ll be fascinating to see whether they change in future. Making customer service 24 hours a day and adding more banking options would be the first steps they should take. This is a good score overall, if just a tad behind some of their major competitors. Bonuses could be more valuable we feel, but the mobile offering is terrific and there are so many betting markets to choose from.
They do have some very strong and positive points, leading us to rate them section by section like this:
There is no smooth route to the very top, and Coral experiences its peaks and troughs just like any other major bookmaker. We’d definitely prefer to stick more to the positives with them, these being the main ups and downs of the brand:
Coral’s basic company info under the spotlight.
Company
Ladbrokes Coral (part of Entain plc)
Phone
0800 44 00 11
Live Chat
Yes
Founded
1926
Location
London (headquartered)
Licence
UK Gambling Commission
Mobile App
Yes – for iOS and Android devices
In-Play Console
Yes
Live Streaming
NYeso
Minimum Deposit
Customer Support Types
Freephone, email, live chat, FAQ
Especially when comparing it to other major online bookmakers, there is precious little wrong with Coral. The negatives we did find aren’t really game-changers, more like small irritations, although it does give the brand something to work on.
The website, mobile site and especially the app are all fun and easy to use. Markets are plentiful, odds are fair but not spectacularly good, and promotions are very good if you’re a horse racing fan but just average if you prefer other sports.
We found that the new customer bonuses aren’t very valuable, and the one thing punters (and us) hate about the merging and buying out of bookmakers within the industry is the standardisation of products.
In this case, the new player bonus will be exactly the same as the one you get at sister brand Ladbrokes so we’d like to see something new.
All-in-all, there are a lot more positive points about Coral than negative ones and it’s certainly a brand we can recommend overall.
Coral already has a strong reputation and could probably survive without too big an introductory offer. A pleasant surprise then, that we actually found not one but two new customer bonuses.
As is always the case; the new customer bonus for casino players is bigger than the deal offered to sports bettors, but both allow for a bonus amount that sits well versus Coral’s major rivals:
It would be great to see a bigger cash bonus from Coral, as offering four times the initial bet is good in terms of a percentage, but £20 in free bets to be used quickly isn’t really particularly valuable.
Always look out for better new player bonuses around the time of major events however, the Grand National, Cheltenham Festival and major football tournaments being the main ones Coral concentrates on.
There are some shop exclusives with Coral as well as some very much ‘of the moment’ promos based around specific football games and the like.
Ongoing promos you’ll find for existing customers however look something like this:
Available on Thursdays; pick a horse to place in selected races and earn the chance to win a share of £25,000. Free to play.
Another one for racing fans; every day of the jumps season, if the horse you’ve backed doesn’t finish for any reason, you get your money back as a free bet up to £10.
More concentration on horse racing; enhanced each-way on selected races means you can take slightly lower odds but add an extra place or two to your each-way bet.
A range of boosted prices are available across a number of sports on special selections.
One more for horse racing; take the price about your horse in a UK or Irish race and if it wins at a higher starting price, BOG will ensure that you are paid at the bigger odds.
Football fans need not fear too much. As mentioned above, some specials are offered on specific games meaning a daily look at the promo page is needed. Most ongoing promotions surround horse racing though, something that is in line with Coral’s history as a top high street bookmaker concentrating on that sport.
If you’re after a wide range of banking options featuring all sorts of new, weird or wonderful payment options then frankly Coral won’t be for you. Their overall options are limited in truth, though with most players depositing via debit cards they are covered.
Visa, Mastercard and Maestro are all accepted, all with instant deposits available from as little as £5 which is in line with the initial bet needed to land the new customer bonus.
Deposits made via Connect card or prepaid Paysafecard are also instant and also from £5, though those wishing to use an eWallet are more limited. Only PayPal is accepted, there is no Skrill or Neteller, with the minimum deposit standing this time at £10. You may deposit up to £20,000 via debit card, £5,500 with PayPal or just £770 with Connect and Paysafe.
The maximums are exactly the same for withdrawals, which is fair, while all minimum withdrawals stand at £5. Withdrawals are free of any charges, Paysafe and Connect being instant, PayPal being similar but potentially taking up to 24 hours while debit card withdrawals may take 2-5 days, though are often quicker.
While the speed, minimums and maximums are all OK with us, we’d love to have seen more options offered. Many punters are moving in a different direction these days, especially migrating towards eWallets, so the addition of Skrill and Neteller with £5 minimums would be a real plus in future.
When looking for variety, Coral is as good as they come. Not all categories are very deep, other than football and horse racing, and odds can be described as fair rather than good. That said, there are around 60 sports and events available to bet on at any one time, just about the most we’ve seen. They include:
American football, archery, athletics, Aussie rules football, badminton, bandy, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, bowls, boxing, chess, cricket, cycling, darts, eSports, equestrian, fishing, football, Formula 1, GAA, golf, greyhounds, gymnastics, handball, hockey, horse racing, hurling, ice hockey, karate, lotto, motor sports, netball, politics, pool, rowing, rugby league, rugby union, sailing, shooting, snooker, softball, speedway, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, water polo, winter sports and wrestling.
That is quite the list, and there’s more besides! Football and horse racing are major focuses, with many markets offered on sports ‘in focus’ including rugby during the Six Nations and track and field events during the Olympics.
Our Coral reviews found a plethora of markets, reasonable if not amazing odds value and a whole different section for those into online casinos with many more games available to play.
Coral is fully licenced and regulated by the Gambling Commission in the UK, something that puts them under the auspices of one of the strictest regulators around. They are fully licenced in all of the territories in which they operate.
Coral is obligated to provide assistance to anyone using their site who may begin to show signs of suffering from gambling-related harm. To this end they are partnered with organisations Take Time to Think, BeGambleAware.org, Gambling Therapy and GamStop.
They also work with IBAS, the betting adjudicator, meaning any customer or account related problems or disputes can be dealt with by an independent third party.
Their system is safe and secure, SSL encryption utilised to keep all of your data and financial information where it should be.
Another security blanket for punters is to know that, as Ladbrokes Coral operate under one brand and are owned by the huge Entain Group, they can share and utilise lots of security features with no corners being cut at any time.
To help their reputation even more, Coral has often engaged in betting related charity events, especially when it’s connected to horse racing. Coral were one of a number of bookmakers who decided to give their profits from betting on the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot to charity, doing something similar at the height of the pandemic when giving Grand National profits to the NHS.
Customer service is always crucial, regardless of the betting odds and features available with an online bookmaker.
Coral does have a detailed FAQ section which will answer most questions, though many customers need specific answers and this brand does not disappoint in the number of ways one can get in touch.
You can email Coral’s team at [email protected]. Emails will be answered typically within a day but most answers to queries given this way will mirror the FAQ’s.
Calls to the Coral team are free on 0800 44 00 11, being answered pretty swiftly, usually within minutes, by a friendly expert who will almost certainly be able to deal with any query type there and then.
As is always the case, the way we recommend you get in touch with Coral is via their live chat system. This way, you can get in touch with the team pretty much instantly and have any questions answered not only live and in real time, but also in writing which always helps. The same knowledgeable and friendly staff man the live chat.
Coral has a good social media presence too. They recommend that you get in touch this way to speak to a team member. You can tweet @CoralHelp any time of the day, though there is no guarantee that replies will come instantly so we still think that live chat via the website is best.
The only negative we found here, and it’s an important one to us, is that customer support isn’t available 24/7 which is a big disappointment given the size of the Coral brand. You can contact the team from 8am to 11pm each day, something that won’t help if you have a live query on many American or Australian sporting events.
If a major, profit-making bookmaker doesn’t offer huge promotions or particularly generous odds, you would expect that they have all the features you’d want on a very modern platform and luckily, Coral does.
The brand’s added features are growing all the time, the brand as part of Entain being quick to add whatever new technology comes onto the market. Among their current features are:
Coral was one of the first brands to introduce this, theirs being branded as ‘Build Your Bet’. As usual, you can add numerous selections on one event into a purpose-built accumulator, helping to get the very best value out of a single game.
live, in-play betting is a big deal at Coral. Tons of markets are live at any one time with football being the main focus. In-running betting is available for Coral’s famous horse racing markets too.
all major bookmakers offer a cash out facility, Coral included. If there is a cash out value available on your live bet, it will be displayed and you can get the amount with one click. This is a great way to lock in some profit if your bet is doing well, or cut your losses if it’s not, all before the event is over.
Coral has a strong live streaming library, with football, tennis, rugby, snooker and basketball all being shown. Every British and Irish horse race is also streamed live every day, though in this case you will need to bet at least £1 on the race in question to be able to watch.
a dedicated Coral sports betting app is available – see below.
The mobile experience at Coral is a good one. If you’re using a browser on a smartphone or tablet, the mobile site will simply come across as a diminutive of the main site featuring all the same added extras, promotions, streaming, banking, bet limits and more.
Using the mobile site means no download of course, but for a quicker log-in and to save room on your browser, using the dedicated Coral sports betting app may be better.
The Coral app is one of the best we’ve seen in the industry. The app is available to download for any modern iOS or Android device, with biometric login available which adds some extra security.
The app works incredibly intuitively, has a great interface and offers all of the same features and services you’d get not only from the mobile site, but even the desktop version.
Customer reviews are good, in fact many Coral punters have said that they now exclusively use the app rather than choosing to bet via the website and we can see why. It’s simple to navigate, it’s dependable and it has had no known issues in terms of crashing or bugs.
Getting the bad out of the way first; more valuable bonuses, 24/7 customer service and definitely more banking options would shunt Coral up the ladder to pretty close to the top.
Even without those things though, they are safe and secure, have a solid reputation, offer all the markets and features we like to see and they have one of the better live streaming services around.
With Coral you will not struggle to find a bet on any major sport, some minor ones too, and better still you’ll get those markets and all associated features such as cash out and live streaming, via the sports app.
The app is one of the main reasons we like this brand, while we also love the fact that Coral has been for many a decade and yet still mixes its huge experience with a willingness to move with the betting times.
Yes. Coral is fully licenced and regulated, working alongside various charities and betting-focused organisations.
There is a huge range of 60+ sports and events to bet on, many with multiple sub-markets. Football and horse racing are the main focus.
Coral works with some of the top providers around, including Ash Gaming, Barcrest, Blueprint, IGT, NetEnt, Quickspin, Red Tiger and WMS.
New customer bonuses include ‘bet £5 get £20 in free bets’ for sports customers, or ‘deposit and bet £10 to get £50 free’ for casino players. Many ongoing promotions are available for existing customers.
Coral is fully licenced to operate retail shops and online betting by the Gambling Commission in the UK.
Customer service is good and help can be sought via email, phone, social media and live chat. This is available 8am – 11pm.
You can deposit from £5 with Coral (£10 with PayPal), putting in up to £20,000 at one time.
Via all banking methods, you can withdraw from as little as £5.
Debit card withdrawals can take 2-5 days, often less, with eWallet transactions being instant.
Coral does have a rewards scheme, focusing on casino and games rather than sports.
Yes, for both iOS and Android devices.
Yes, many sports are available to bet on live, in-play.
Yes. Football, rugby, snooker and horse racing are all popular sports streamed live by Coral.
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