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Virgin Bet Review

Bet £10 get £20 in Free Bets

Although using one of the most recognisable logos in the business world, that of Virgin, sports betting brand Virgin Bet was only launched in June 2019 having gained its licences the previous month.

As a start-up, they are entering a very competitive market but they don’t do so completely cold as part of a group that contains other well-known betting brands.

Overall rating

As a fairly new platform there are obvious areas of improvement for Virgin Bet. As of right now, this is how we rate them, section by section:

Bonuses & Promotions

Deposit & Withdrawal Speed

Betting Markets

Mobile Experience

Customer Service

Overall Rating

For our part we reckon this is a pretty strong score for such a new sports betting website. Live streaming, an app, in-play, cash out and a decent range of promotions are all offered. If you’d told us this brand was ten years old, we’d have believed it.

Virgin Bet Pros and Cons

Despite being part of a betting group with sister brands, Virgin Bet offers something just a little bit more and luckily not everything has been standardised by the group. These are the main ups and downs of Virgin Bet as we see it:

Pros

Cons

Despite being part of a betting group with sister brands, Virgin Bet offers something just a little bit more and luckily not everything has been standardised by the group. These are the main ups and downs of Virgin Bet as we see it:

Virgin Bet Passport

Virgin Bet

FANTASTIC EXTRA FEATURES
Bet £10 get £20 in Free bets

Company

Virgin Bet Limited

Phone

No

Live Chat

Yes

Founded

2019

Location

Gibraltar (headquartered)

Licence

UK Gambling Commission

Mobile App

Yes – for iOS and Android devices

In-Play Console

Yes

Live Streaming

Yes

Minimum Deposit

Customer Support Types

Live chat, email, social media

Overall Experience

It is certainly not an unpleasant or frustrating overall experience using Virgin Bet.

There are a couple of irritating areas, such as the lack of available payment methods, but all in all this is a thoroughly comprehensive online betting service.

Lots of markets are offered, the in-play and streaming services are excellent and the range of promotions is pretty decent considering how new this brand is. The app and mobile sites are also very good.

Virgin Bet Bonuses

Given that they are owned by the same group, it’s no real surprise that Virgin Bet’s new customer bonus mirrors that of LiveScore Bet, however it makes it no less disappointing when that happens.

We always like to see different brands offering different things, otherwise why split them up? In this case, Virgin Bet like their sister brand has decided to keep things simple and not offer a particularly valuable sign-up deal. Here’s how the bonus works:

  • New Members’ Offer – the headline is ‘bet £10 and £20 in free bets’. In overall value, this isn’t the best or worst new member deal out there, but it could be so much better. You do have 14 days from joining to take the bonus, but for a £20 value we’d expect the entry bet limits to be smaller, maybe £5 instead of £10. The initial bet would need to be placed at odds of 1/2 (1.50) or greater.

 

To break into the elite group of the best betting sites on the market, Virgin Bet will need to do more than this. From their point of view, they are using a world-class brand identity to get business, yet they have set-up a new player bonus that screams small-time start-up.

The £20 value matches up to a few other bonuses around, but those tend to require a £5 bet and not £10. You can look for a supposed certainty of course at 1/2 to grab the bonus quickly and make an extra £5, but none of this makes the offer look at all valuable.

Virgin Bet Promotions

One of Virgin Bet’s real positives, at least in terms of quantity, is the number of ongoing promotions they offer. Casino bonuses are mixed with sports offers to give just a little bit of something to everybody.

While naturally bonuses and promotions for existing players will change from time to time, the sort of deals you will find on a weekly basis at Virgin Bet look a little like this:

Blackjack bonus

Blackjack Bonus Cards

Available Wednesday and Thursday, players are tasked with betting on Virgin Bet Blackjack Trebles in order to win a £5 bonus.

Goal scorer odds

Virgin Bet Fives

A free game to play, this deal mirrors the ‘Squads’ game at other brands. Reveal up to five football players each week, putting together a squad. If any of your players score in real games, you can win cash prizes.

Free spins bonuses

Daily Free Game

Customers can play slot game Search of the Phoenix and earn the chance to win some free spins on the slots.

Odds Boost promotion

Price Boosts for Days

Virgin Bet are attempting to offer numerous price boosts on sports markets. The maximum bet is £20 but your odds could be increased significantly.

Acca Loyalty promotion icon

Weekly Acca

Get a £10 free bet when you place 2 or more accas of £10+ each week. Accas must contain 4+ teams and be at odds of 5/1 or greater.

Horse race bets

Free Bet Up to £20

If you back a winner at 3/1+ on selected races, you can get a free bet to the same amount up to £20.

Best Odds guaranteed

Best Odds Guaranteed

Virgin Bet has been careful to placate horse racing fans by offering BOG immediately. Take the price on offer for your horse when you back it and, if it wins at a higher SP, you’ll be paid out at the bigger price.

Those interested both in sports betting and online casinos will like most of these deals. It’s great that BOG is offered as many start-up brands won’t commit to this. We believe Virgin Bet reviews these deals regularly too.

Given that Virgin Bet have moved quickly to sponsor certain horse races, it is imperative that they get those markets and associated features and bonuses right. As we’ll discover later on, they indeed have developed a comprehensive offering from fans of that sport in particular.

Virgin Bet Deposits and Withdrawals

Regardless of being new(ish) to the industry, Virgin Bet’s banking options are disappointingly limited. As of now, first deposits are by debit card only, though after a first deposit is made PayPal is also accepted for future deposits.

More banking options are likely in the future, though we’ve no idea when. Visa and Mastercard then is your main choice, with deposits being available from £5 to £20,000. Once you have made at least one deposit, you can then use PayPal to top-up from £10 to £20,000.

While some payment types are a luxury, we would dearly love to see first-time deposits added for PayPal and for Skrill and Neteller to be added as soon as possible. Apple Pay and Google Pay would be a bonus.

Withdrawals are available from £10 and like deposits are instant. If your balance happens to be less than £10, you are invited by Virgin Bet to contact the customer service team who can help you further.

The minimums and maximums are absolutely fine for a brand of this nature. The timings are also very swift so we have no complaints there. Many mobile-focussed customers are increasingly moving to eWallets and even more now are getting used to paying by phone, i.e., with Apple Pay, so these would be great additions.

Virgin Bet Betting Markets

The first thing to note is that, even versus many more well-established brands, Virgin Bet offers a strong range of different betting markets. Around 30 sports and events are available to wager on at any one time.

The betting odds within those markets look fair for the most part, with the most popular sports such as horse racing, football and tennis containing many submarkets and side bets to keep you occupied. Currently at Virgin Bet you’ll find the following available in their sports A-Z:

American football, Aussie rules football, badminton, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, cricket, darts, eSports, floorball, football, futsal, Gaelic football, Gaelic hurling, golf, greyhounds, handball, hockey, horse racing, ice hockey, MMA, motor racing, politics, rugby league, rugby union, snooker, specials, table tennis, tennis, virtual sports, volleyball and winter sports.

The overall list is strong and within each sport, especially the major ones, there are many more choices. The bigger submarkets and in-play options come within tennis and football, while horse racing is well covered and strangely table tennis is very much taken care of.

We don’t expect Virgin Bet to be in a position to offer regular top-priced odds on market leading contenders in major events, but their odds to this point are fair and compare well to most rivals.

Virgin Bet Trust and Security

Virgin Bet has been granted licences by the Gambling Commission in the UK for bingo, casino, general betting – real event and general betting – virtual event activities so they are fully regulated. Also licenced with headquarters in Gibraltar, they are free to conduct betting activities overseas.

The platform is most certainly trustworthy, with major issues having sprung up to our knowledge in terms of breaches etc.

Virgin Bet is endorsed by various charities and organisations including GamCare, GambleAware and eCOGRA. They have a stringent responsible gambling policy in order to look after their customers, with links to organisations provided on the site for those looking for any help with gambling-related problems.

Security protocol is also notably strong; SSL certificates and encryptions being in order to protect all of your personal and financial data.

The brand has also been very quick to put money back into the sports it makes profits from. Whole race days, notably at Doncaster Racecourse, have been sponsored by Virgin Bet which we always appreciate as horse racing in particular is a focus for this brand in terms of income.

Virgin Bet Customer Service

There is a varied and extensive help section available on the main Virgin Bet site. A number of helpful links are available featuring articles and FAQ’s that will answer most questions on accounts, banking, promotions, responsible gambling, features, casino, technical issues and others.

Most general queries will be answered within these pages somewhere. If you cannot commit the time to reading these articles, which is more than acceptable, or your query is something personal and specific then there are ways to get in touch with the team.

Social media is one such way. You can contact the team via Twitter at @virginbethelp. There, your query will be answered within hours by a helpful team member.

If that still isn’t fast enough, then head to the help section and allow the live chat box to open up. Putting your details in and asking your question here will give you instant access to a customer service rep who in our experience is likely to be polite and friendly and will also be fully competent to solve your problem.

Virgin Bet, while not advertising it heavily, do have an email address you can use too. For specific account problems or questions, message [email protected] and you should get a reply within a day or two.

Given the timeframes here, we would always recommend that you use live chat. This means instant replies, in writing and in real time.

We found the staff to be knowledgeable and well trained on the whole. We would like to see more options, perhaps different email addresses for certain problems or a phone number or call back option, but to be fair there isn’t a whole lot missing.

Virgin Bet Extra Features

We don’t always expect anything more than the very basics from newer platforms, but in Virgin Bet’s case as a major sponsor already of top horse races they really need to back up their offering with some extra features.

They have. While a bet builder would be nice for football punters, the other main features we see with the top firms are indeed included here too. More technology is being developed every year for sports betting and the pattern here is that Virgin Bet will jump on board when it’s ready. For now, here’s what they offer:

Cash out

Cash Out Facility

Cash outs are offered at Virgin Bet on a number of live sports. As long as a cash out amount can be offered, it will be clearly visible on your live bet. You can take the amount offered with one click. This means that those whose bets are doing well can jump out before the end of the event and lock in a profit, while if bets are looking like losers some losses can be reduced.

In Play betting feature

In-Play Betting

Virgin Bet has a wide range of live, in-play betting options. In focus are tennis, table tennis and football though other sports are available to be on live too. Odds are fair, accurate and up to the second meaning you can accurately use in-play betting with Virgin Bet along with their cash out system.

Live Streaming

Owing to some great connections via the LiveScore Group, Virgin Bet has managed to jump into the industry and immediately offer live streaming which is a great bonus. Cricket, football, tennis and other sports are shown live every day. Horse racing is also shown; every UK and Irish race is live, although you’ll need to place a minimum bet of £1 in order to watch.

Dedicated Sports Betting App

The Virgin Bet Bet sports app can be downloaded for free. Full details listed below.

Virgin Bet Mobile Experience

It’s no secret, and prevalent here, that Virgin Bet and LiveScore Bet are designed and run the same way. By luck, so it seems, the LiveScore Bet main site is inferior to the app based on the colour scheme but here the main site and the mobile site are comparable.

So, while we won’t put you off using the desktop site, the mobile site is every bit as good and allows you to bet on the move. No download is needed and the site behaves perfectly regardless of what operating system you use.

You can also download the app for free for all iOS and Android devices. The layout is identical to the mobile site you’ll see on your browser and both work at the same speed and just as intuitively as one another.

In making the choice between them, you simply have to go for your preference. Some prefer no download, hence using the mobile site, while others prefer a one-tap option to open the app.

Either way, your experience of betting on the go with Virgin Bet will mean you have all the same bonuses, promotions, markets, live streaming, in-play betting, banking options, security and customer service support as you’d have by logging into the desktop site.

Conclusion

More eWallets added to the banking options, allowing PayPal for first deposits and reducing the qualifying bet down to £5 for the sign-up bonus would all be fixes that would bump up Virgin Bet’s score.

To move the brand to the top echelon, a bet builder and a 24/7 contact number could also be added but considering how new this brand is, we were very pleasantly surprised with what was on offer.

The interface is excellent whether you’re betting via desktop, mobile site or app, live betting and streaming is fully supported and odds overall are fair meaning there aren’t too many areas of concern. We could certainly recommend that you give Virgin Bet a go.

FAQ

Yes. Virgin Bet is fully licenced and regulated.

Many sports are available, around 30 in total. Football, horse racing and tennis are the main focus.

Casino software providers include Microgaming and NetEnt, though other reputable firms are used.

The sign-up bonus is a ‘bet £10, get £20’ deal. Ongoing promotions are also offered to existing customers.

Virgin Bet is licenced for all its activities including sports betting, bingo and casino, via the Gambling Commission in the UK.

Customer service is good and can be accessed via email, social media and live chat.

You can deposit between £5 and £20,000 with Virgin Bet via debit card.

The minimum withdrawal is £10, though if there is less in your account you are encouraged to email [email protected].

Most withdrawals are processed instantly.

Yes. The app is available to download on all iOS and Android-powered devices.

Yes, many sports are available to bet on live.

Yes. Tennis, table tennis, cricket football and horse racing are all streamed live with Virgin Bet.