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Sky Bet review
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Skybet breaks the mould of our British-based bookmakers with a unique setup that is entirely focused around their digital radio broadcast.
No business address, no betting stall, just modern digital betting services that fill the Stakersland sky from the aptly named Skybet. The ability to get their name across all forms of media in Stakersland continues to amaze the team here at Stakers HQ. Street signs, tv adverts, tannoy speakers on the corner of every avenue, and you can even find Skybet officials shouting the latest bets and odds as you walk throughout the park. It is a digital masterclass and simply put, you can’t not see the Skybet logo or hear the Skybet officials during your journey around Stakersland. Taking full advantage of the free digital broadcasting services across the park, Skybet has managed to build up a huge virtual staker community of almost 458.7K. Most of the stakers here are British and this is all down to the license restrictions from the UK and Alderney authorities. Recent agreements with AAMS has also enabled their Italian community to grow up to 70,000 and this number looks set to increase as more Italians connect in with the Skybet digital revolution. Horse racing and greyhound racing are both major markets for British stakers, but it is football that holds the most influence at Skybet. Due to the younger generation of stakers here, there is also a large number who enjoy the in-play markets while they watch the live broadcast action across the weekend. That younger generation has also spearheaded the growing esports markets here with a wide variety of markets based on CS:GO, League of Legends, Dota 2, and Overwatch, all of which come with extensive live in-play markets.
The limits at Skybet are notably lower than their rivals we just looked at and their maximum limit of £500,000 for one staker per day is well below the £2 million at William Hill. Elsewhere, the limits still look to be on the low side with horse racing capped at £250,000 and specials dropping to £50,000 which basically means all other bets outside the win and each-way betting markets. Greyhound racing is even lower with a £100,000 cap and drops down to £10,000 for all other side bets. For any wrestling fans out there, you can only win up to £10,000 per day on all events. Therefore, we found these overall limits to be quite a disappointment considering the size of Skybet and their status within the park. So, not much value for stakers but at least Skybet will always have enough funds stashed away to pay those top limits. It would only take them five and a half hours to compensate for a £500,000 winner and only 5-7 minutes to clear a winner on wrestling or a horse racing special. Considering the status of the Skybet owners, Stars Group, who in turn is a subsidiary of the Stakersland powerhouse Flutter PLC, we can confidently say that there will always be cash available in relation to the above winning limits.
Skybet rakes in around £74 Million a month and £815M a year in gross gaming revenue. These numbers are fuelled by a staker community spending £35-45 per month on football dominated markets with maximum winning limits of up to £500,000 available.
The Stars Group owners welcome around £74 Million per month and this relates to around £35-45 from each of the 458.7K stakers. It is a stable cash flow for the digital bookmaker that adds up to an impressive £815M in gross gaming revenue per year, from which they take around £101 million in profits. Various costs such as sales at £215 million (21%) and operating expenses at £282 million (34.7%) are currently taking a significant slice off their profits but the overall numbers make for good reading. Skybet’s major rival is William Hill with the second largest community in Stakersland at 2.9 million stakers. Our sales ticket stats show that Will Hill make around £25-30 per staker a month with annual gross gaming revenues of £870 million from its online operation. The final profits are estimated at around £143 million which is in the same ballpark as Skybet, but it is obviously a little more profitable overall. To get a bigger picture of the Skybet numbers we will look at Ladbrokes and Coral who are both part of the loss-making GVC union. Collectively, the £656 million in gross gaming revenue from their community of 2.56 million stakers is still considerably smaller than Skybet. It just goes to show how well this ‘digital bookmaker in the sky’ is coping without a physical address at Stakersland.
Sky Bet Offers
Skybet is a British brand through and through and it revolves around a community of passionate football fans. This football-mad community loves nothing more than taking advantage of modern sports technology and betting from the comfort of bars, lounges, or simply placing a bet when walking through the green parks of Stakersland via mobile phone access:
| United Kingdom | Ireland | Italy | Spain | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| monthly | 415K | 7.3K | 3.5K | 3.4K |
| License |  |  |  |  |
Social Buzz
With only seven comments on the profile it is hard to gain a complete overview. But what we could see is that stakers are generally satisfied with the services that Skybet provide, however, one or two mentioned the lengthy withdrawal process and again the poor customer service team.
The 2.3 rating comes with five comments and 38 votes, all of which are neutral and show no major negative on the Skybet brand. It has been quite a consistent rating with very little sway in how stakers view the bookmaker.
Bonus clash
The Skybet bonus strategy is based on a daily mix of the existing market tactics such as welcome deals and price boosts being assigned to premium teams like Arsenal, Manchester City and United, or all Premier League teams when linked to the ‘Saturday only' deals. As such, it does help to build up excitement when uncovering the ever-evolving bonus program as you log in each time.
“I really enjoyed their welcome bonus. All that I need is a £5 bet with the odds of 1/1 and two free bets of £10 were credited to me. Two free bets for such a small requirement - that’s a great exchange.”
“Their ITV7 deal is amazing. It’s free, it’s easy to play, and the reward is huge. That is what all customers need. The live boost on Thursday is cool too, but the events schedule is a problem.”
“I haven’t found any other decent promotions except their welcome bonus. No free bet clubs, no simple promotions with free bets for placing a specific bet – there is just nothing to play for.”
“I’m afraid their promotion list is not what anyone would like to see. The tournaments are good, and the welcome offer is decent, but a serious lack of regular bonuses will not attract new customers.”
New stakers are greeted joyfully by professional tipster Alex Hammond with two free bet rewards to the amount of £10 each should you a simple bet £5 to test the waters. They have a weekly club with 20% cashback in the form a free bet which proves to be popular amongst stakers. You will also come across four other promotions which are in the shape of cashback, live boost, and horse racing insurance deals which are all branded to specific events which may or may not be to your liking.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Receive £20 in Free Bets when Staking £5  | free bet club | £5 on a single or each way bet at odds of 1/1 or greater | Customers using Neteller or Skrill will not qualify |
A good start for new stakers accessing the Skybet virtual broadcast at Stakersland. To unlock the freebet of £20 you are first required to complete verification by entering your debit card details and wagering £5 on a single or each-way bet with minimum odds of 1/1. The free bets will then get credited in two installments of £10 each and these will be freely available for betting on all sports.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Freebet Club | free bet club | Opt in and bet £25 or more before 23:59 on Sunday, Odds must be 1/1 (2.0) or greater | Cashed out bets are excluded |
For those who enjoy the free bet approach, SkyBet offers a wagering club with a decent 20% cashback. To receive a reward of £5 in the form of the free bet you are required to wager £25 on the odds of evens (2.0) or more. All free bets are credited by 7pm on Monday and these bets are non-withdrawable and bet amounts are excluded from returns. Fortunately, there is no specific expiration and so free bets will remain in your account until claimed. It is not a bad offer here actually, as they are offering a real-time tracker that follows your progress and shows how much more you need to bet to hit that free bet target.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
If your horse finished 2nd or 3rd | FROM £1 | Place a bet on selected Royal Ascot races - first bet only | Bets placed on additional markets such as Price Boosts will not qualify. Free bets and cashed out bets excluded |
Under this Stakersland market-standard promotion you will be rewarded an insurance refund in cash on selected Royal Ascot races if your horse finishes 2nd or 3rd. The maximum refund you can claim here is £10. The promotion applies to Win singles or the Win part of each-way singles only and you are also further restricted to the time when bets are accepted. Again, it is all quite standard and should keep the racing fans happy.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Live Boost | boost | Opt-in is required. Place a bet on in-play events before 23:59 on Thursday each week | Only cash stakes qualify and only net winnings on in-play markets will be eligible |
It’s a bit of a secret this one. Wager on sports during the live in-play markets on Thursday and for those who know, Skybet will reward you with 10% added to your winnings. Cash is credited to qualifying accounts on each Friday by 7pm. The most significant part of the story is that the maximum weekly credit amount is £50 per customer, but as we said, these details are hidden away in the small text so a closer inspection will be required to understand the offer fully – or just take our word for it and wager in-play on Thursdays!
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Tournaments | Challenge | Held regularly (weekly and monthly) with both credit cash prizes | Specific to tournament conditions and opt-in is always required |
Skybet features various cash tournaments based with up to £250,000 in prizes available such as the iconic Super Saturday Super 6 where you are required to predict six correct scores on Saturday, or the ITV7 Royal Rollover £200,000 prediction challenge where you select seven racing winners every day. It is free to play and you will find many stakers open up Skybet accounts simply to play these two cash tournaments. It takes a lot of luck to win them but it is free, so you might as well have a go.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Tennis Returns | FROM £1 | Place a bet on the in-play tennis markets before 23:59 on Monday each week during the qualifying period | Only net losses on in-play tennis markets will be eligible for this promotion |
For those of you who enjoy losing on Tennis, Skybet will credit 10% back of all your net losses made on the in-play tennis markets as withdrawable cash from Tuesday to Monday, every week. Opt-in is required and the maximum amount that you can receive is £1,000 (from your overall loss potential of £10,000). It does look as though this offer is designed to simply add numbers to their annual turnover though with excessive amounts of wagering required to hit that top refund marker. Not much in the way of staker value here.
Conclusion
You cannot fault the artful approach that Skybet are taking with their captivating bonus program. They have managed to liven up the old favourite rewards for recreational stakers with 20% cashback deals in the freebet club to several event specific incentives that can boost those rewards up to 30-35%. While technically the Skybet bonus toolkit is not widespread, they are changing every day and week with a good cycle of accas, free bets, cashback, and tournaments. By comparing their standard welcome bonus with other offers available in Stakersland, that £20 in free bets as a reward from a simple £5 bet is decent. The reward also comes without nightmare bonus conditions such as those you can experience at Betvictor. This small yet rewarding mix of promotions looks as though they keep most stakers happy here at Skybet.
Sports betting
Skybet develop and manage their own in-house sportsbook software from their offices in Leeds.
The team here at Stakersland examine each bookmaker to ensure that they are doing all they can to keep up with the current betting standards. Betting technology is evolving fast and so we want to give you a quick and easy display on the betting tools and features available to you in the park.
Skybet develops its own technology from their offices in Leeds and these are based on the modern and up-to-date stack of Java 8 and Go to connect the front-end with API backends. We also found that MySQL and Kafka are being used for data storage and data transport. On average, the Skybet software engineer is paid £37,119 in gross compensation annually, £44,750 is paid to seniors and those in lead roles are pocketing around £60,000 per annum. The numbers are slightly below those wages being paid by Flutter in Dublin to Paddy Power developers, but they are above the salaries being paid in Austria to .NET developers working for Bwin and Bet-at-home. According to Glassdoor, employees of Skybet have rated the company 4.2 out of 5.0 and so in general they are and have been happy working there. Many reviews indicate that employees value the company’s approach to employee training rather than strict internal business practices. It is an uncommon aspect especially compared with their rival Bet365 from Stoke on Trent. The overall technology headcount of the Skybet team is around 500 which has expanded exponentially from a team of 50 back in 2010, which helps to prove that healthy and prosperous working environment of which employees talk about.
Sports
The major products are football, horse racing and greyhounds, and the major focus for football is on live in-play matches from the United Kingdom. The racing track events are well covered across the UK and Ireland and include Newmarket, Tipperary, Fairview, and others. There is not, however, significant coverage of the international race events.
Betting slip
A somewhat controversial implementation that looks to upload data with every click from the API and brings the actual odds to the betting slip, it does this even for those selections that you are trying to delete. Wagering options are standard with Single and Combined both available. They do also offer custom System selections such as Trixie and Goliath as well.
In-play stats
The live in-play events are featured with an on-pitch exclusive visualisation widget. Match statistics include attacks, shots on target, shots off target, possession, and yellow and red cards. The score center contains head to head information, results for previous matches by their team as well as an overall match timeline.
Betting markets
Skybet features football markets with up to 118 live markets and 176 markets before the kick-off. We could find other concrete sets of markets and that were 16 pre-live markets and 18 in-play markets for the tennis events, as well as 179 pre-match and 63 live markets for basketball games.
Margins
The sports betting margins that Skybet offer are relatively high in comparison with the market standard at Stakersland. If we take one of their biggest sports, then we can calculate a margin range of 4.48% lows for pre-live and 8.04% highs for live events.
Event results
The upcoming events are featured with head to head information as well as competition and the overall form. Further information with detailed statistics is available for major leagues and contains overall info such as goals scored, goals cancelled, shots, corners, etc. The extensive list of results for all matches are available at the external skysports.com site.
| Sports | margins | live margins | markets | live markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tennis | 7.35% | 6.29% | 16 | 18 |
| football | 4.48% | 8.04% | 176 | 118 |
| basketball | 2.55% | 8.14% | 179 | 63 |
| ice hockey | 6.59% | 7.17% | 44 | 35 |
Skybet stakers could do a lot better with their returns if they took the time to research the market, but this is why we are here, so let us explain the results of our own in-depth research. All of Skybet’s main football events across live and pre-live markets come up slightly higher than the market average here at Stakersland. Take the live markets on the English Championship for example, on average you can expect a margin of 9.12% which is close to double of that at Boylesports (5.83%) and Betfred (5.62%). Even the Champions League is slightly higher with 6.15% on the live markets when compared to 5.88% at Betfred and 5.7% at Unibet. It is a case of weighing up the pros and cons of these margins against the other notable features at Skybet such as the free bets and bonus refunds.
Financial Limits
It is our aim to give you only verified and fact-checked information in relation to financial processes and procedures at the park’s bookmakers. With this in mind, we have taken the time to gather up all the information on how Skybet run their financial team, so please read on to find out what you can expect when managing your accounts and finances on this site.
Payment Method Restrictions
Which payment methods are valid when claiming my bonuses?
As is common to all bookmakers at Stakersland, using Neteller or Skrill will not qualify for the Skybet welcome package. This also goes for any other promotions connected with depositing of funds and in accordance with each of the bonus terms and conditions.
The Influence of Third Party Agencies
What checks are being made and do they use any third party agencies?
Apart from the routine KYC verification, Skybet may supply staker information to authorised credit reference agencies and the check may leave a soft footprint in your credit history. Skybet also reserves the right to share information with credit reference and fraud prevention agencies for use in credit decisions, identity checks, and for any fraud prevention situations. Additionally, some of the third party providers they use include The Stars Group Inc, Flutter Entertainment Plc, and a number of its affiliated companies that are based in, or carry out their activities in countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA), and as such you agree to transfer your personal data overseas. For the record, your personal information is shared for marketing purposes with Silverpop (now IBM Digital Marketing), Fabric Engine, DoubleClick, Google Tag Manager, Income Access, and Urban Airship.
The way your personal information is collected, used, and stored at Skybet is described in all details within its privacy policy, which does show a decent level of transparency for stakers looking to track their privacy.
Personal Data Transparency
Will they inform me about the automated checks being performed?
Automated checks are performed as stated in their terms and conditions and upon such checks, a staker will be allowed to deposit up to £1,500 within the following 30 days. The automated checks are performed against the databases of Iovation Inc, CallCredit (in the UK and Germany), Experian, and GB Group (in the UK), who in turn, may check your details against any databases (public or private) and may also keep a record of that check. However, stakers will only be allowed to make a withdrawal once the full account verification process is fully completed.
Social Media Communication
Will my financial disputes and complaints be answered on the social media profiles?
Skybet representatives do not communicate with their stakers on Trustpilot or Askgamblers. We have not found any evidence of Skybet working on resolving finance-related issues outside of their complaint’s procedure structure either.
Gambling Anonymously
Are my banking transactions with the bookmaker private?
All banking documents in relation with Skybet will show either the Skybet or The Stars Group names in them and so there is no generic code currently in use, unfortunately.
Withdrawal Timeframe & Common Complaints
How fast are the withdrawals and what do stakers complain about the most?
All Skybet transactions under £1,500 will be approved and sent instantly. Larger amounts may also be subject to security checks before approval; however, they do not specify how long your funds might be held. It will then take on average around 2-5 working days to accept and send the payment. Stakers often complain about the long verification process that begins after your withdrawal is initially requested, thus extending the time it takes for your winnings to get into your personal account.
Player-Friendly Withdrawal Limits
What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal limits available?
The minimum withdrawal at Skybet is £10. There is no max limit applied to specific payment methods but a £50,000 cap per staker per day is in place. Also, if you withdraw over £1,500 in 24 hours then Skybet will ask you to provide an official form of ID before proceeding.
Withdrawal Options & Additional Costs
What are my banking options when withdrawing my funds and do they add fees?
Skybet offers just two available payment options for UK stakers which are banking debit cards and Apple pay. Additionally, Skybet do not include any charging fees for both deposit and withdrawal transactions.
Regulatory Check Transparency
Are they clear about the Source of Funds and Source of Wealth procedures?
The Skybet Help Centre pages explain in detail why the Source of Funds procedure is in place and what documents may eventually be requested from stakers. The information requested may be in the form of: Proof of earnings: Payslip/director remuneration/dividends/pension; A bank statement/savings account that clearly shows consistent incoming funds from an identifiable source; a trust deed showing a consistent entitlement to funds; dated proof of an award/payment made to you; or any other clear evidence in relation to your betting business with Skybet. In summary, all details are clearly outlined, and this shows stakers exactly what will be expected from them in the case of any checks being made.
Conclusion
Skybet offers only two withdrawal methods for their UK stakers which is significantly lower when compared with their rivals in the UK. On the other hand, debit cards take up around 95% of all the deposits anyway, with Skrill and Neteller restricted from welcome packages across all operators in the park. A bank transfer is the usual go-to option for larger amounts and the Skybet withdrawal/deposit limits are able to satisfy all types of stakers, but there were still a few complaints about withdrawal times taking longer than stated on the website. Additionally, some stakers complained about unmotivated SoF checks and account suspension with a lack of detail being given, but whether those complaints were valid or not remains unseen due to the lack of social profile interaction carried out by the Skybet team.
Customer Support
Our customer support testing results showed that the Skybet customer service team are polite with a neutral tone being held throughout most of our conversations. The bonus here is that they do interact with stakers who are yet to own a Skybet account although most of the replies are still based on generic templates. As to be expected from this digital betting bookmaker, all the typical contact channels are available such as live chat, phone support, email, and other options like Twitter and Facebook Messenger are also open for use. On the surface, the Skybet customer team look to be well equipped to supply a useful support service but there is no official SLA in place to determine what you can expect each time you contact them. So, read on for our official summary of the Skybet support team with various pros and cons outlined to give you all the relevant information you need:
Support Speed & Resolution
How fast do they reply to my general queries?
The live chat starts in 1-2 minutes depending on the time of the day and the agents reply both with generic templates and their own words - when they have enough knowledge to do so. There is also an extra chat button for Responsible gambling queries which is useful for those who need extra support.
Live Chat Access
Is the online live chat tool available on the site?
The live chat feature is available for stakers without accounts, but the representatives refused to credit any ‘no deposit’ bonuses. The average response time is 1-2 minutes which is respectable but replies to our emails were less acceptable with it taking up to 5-7 days for a human reply (automated confirmation emails are instant).
Support Team Competency
How quickly will the support team reply to complex queries?
It might take them up to three minutes in total when looking into complex issues so you will need some patience while they search out the correct answers you need.
Level of Technical Expertise
Are the support agents sufficiently trained to answer technical queries based on odds, margins, and markets?
The support agents often only provide you with general information. They are obviously trained for basic customer relations, but they seem to be missing that level of technical expertise as the first line of customer service.
Unregistered Staker Support
Will the customer service team interact with unregistered stakers and will I get a free bet?
The communication was polite on most occasions and we were given explanations on almost all our requests. In relation to bonus bagging, they only ever reply with information on their ongoing offers and so again no free bonuses can be found here.
Professional & Friendly Service
What type of response will I get when requesting a bonus from the service team?
The overall level of replies from our repeated bonus requests were a mixture of generic templates and unique responses from the agents. The tone remained neutral throughout and they often referred to the Responsible Gambling policy as the main reason for their bonus refusal.
Customer Service Knowledge
Will the agents provide the correct information about payment limits when compared to the terms and conditions on the website?
In relation to withdrawal and deposit limits supplied by the agents, the information provided was partially incorrect and incomplete when compared to the terms and conditions published on their official site.
Willingness to Help Out
Will the support representatives help me navigate around their website?
Navigational requests were met with supportive replies and we were given both links and detailed directions to help us find our way around the site. It was both useful and efficient and they clearly know the site well.
Tolerance Levels
Does the support team have a high tolerance level for repeated bonus requests?
The tolerance levels of the agents remained professional with a patient level of service held throughout, however, most of their answers were generic. We often received short extracts from both the Skybet and Sky Vegas welcome offers with no clear reasons given as to why free bonuses are unavailable.
Onsite Support Efficiency
How efficient is their onsite Helpdesk compared to the competition?
The Help section at Skybet is divided into popular topics such as Recommended, Trending, and Twitter (latest Skybet tweets). There is also a ‘Contact Us’ button and a search box to help you find professional advice or find your own solutions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we found that the customer support team at Skybet are qualified to a sufficient level and they are obviously well trained in their daily routines. They reply quickly in most of the cases and try to investigate any staker problems that they are not overly aware of themselves. This does mean that it takes them longer to assist you on financial and technical queries as these do seem to be escalated in real-time to the relevant internal teams. We enjoyed the fact that they gave detailed instructions on how to navigate the site though and they always remained polite despite our bonus bagging attempts and repeated queries on the same topic. It is not the most knowledgeable support team, but they do offer a useful service though multiple contact points which is a big benefit to the modern day staker.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we found that the customer support team at Skybet are qualified to a sufficient level and they are obviously well trained in their daily routines. They reply quickly in most of the cases and try to investigate any staker problems that they are not overly aware of themselves. This does mean that it takes them longer to assist you on financial and technical queries as these do seem to be escalated in real-time to the relevant internal teams. We enjoyed the fact that they gave detailed instructions on how to navigate the site though and they always remained polite despite our bonus bagging attempts and repeated queries on the same topic. It is not the most knowledgeable support team, but they do offer a useful service though multiple contact points which is a big benefit to the modern day staker.
Should you run into any issues with any of the Skybet services then we hope this short FAQ can help you in finding a suitable solution as quickly as possible:
Are you able to complain with Skybet?
According to the terms and conditions a staker should notify the Customer Experience Team about their complaint within 12 months of the incident. The complaints team will then issue a final response within eight weeks.
Where to complain if they refuse the withdrawal?
If a complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, a dispute may be addressed to their ADR for Great Britain which is IBAS, the UK Gambling Commission, or there is the Alderney Gambling Control Commission for all non-UK residents. Stakers may also submit their disputes via the Online Dispute Resolution platform or the online Resolver tool is available as well.
How do stakers rate the Skybet customer service?
Stakers have left negative feedback about the Skybet customer care as they were unable to get information about their accounts from the support team. Some other stakers could also not find any useful help in relation to their financial queries either.
Up or down
The gatekeepers to Stakersland are especially meticulous when it comes to cyber speeds. The journey of stakers must be as entertaining as possible and so we inspect the premises of every bookmaker with great attention to the technology being implemented. The Skybet CTO targets a 99.95% uptime as the overall goal, but it is a lot harder for the technical team to achieve this overall uptime level. Throughout our testing, the Skybet cyber doors failed dozens of times with an average uptime rate hanging around the 99.92% mark. It is still an excellent indicator that the company can be proud of though and it is well within the upper reaches of the top uptime rates here at Stakersland. Furthermore, Skybet scores 82/100 in the Google Page Speed rating for the initial opening of the website. It is yet again an impressive marker, but this does not take into account any further journeys through internal pages, preloads, and the constant betting slip reloads, which we now know incurs additional waiting times with that irritating ‘loading’ issue.
TECHNOLOGY
Skybet is based on Java 8 and uses Go to connect the front-end with the API backends. MySQL and Kafka are used for data storage and data transport, and for incremental updates Skybet uses websockets while http queries are being used for the first initial load. The content through websockets is coming via JSON, with parts of the updates coming as html which is the old remains of the previous sportsbook. The front-end is based on native JavaScript without frameworks which runs on top of the html generated by the browser. As a result, the size of the JavaScript files that each browser downloads are around 2mb, which is a fairly large number in relation to current standards.
DATA CENTER
Skybet is protected from the outside world through Akamai, the market leader selected by Google and Facebook. It is a world-class solution and protects from all types of attacks associated with high data loads and security breaches. Static content such as images, styles, and JavaScript are served using their own CDN of Skybet, this is most likely to reduce the traffic costs through Akamai. By the way, this CDN uses the Apache web server which could theoretically cause a bottleneck in load balancing. All other API content is hosted on Nginx servers.
SSL CERTIFICATE
The certificate used by Skybet is issued by Sectigo Limited and applies to many domains and subdomains associated with Skybet (including eds.a.skybet.com, m.a.skybet.com, skybet.com, support.skybet.com). The estimated cost of the certificate is around $450 per annum. It uses a standard 256-bit encryption algorithm with a 2048-bit key which is the market standard for bookmakers here at Stakersland.
The development stack and overall technical approach used at Skybet allows us to conclude that this company is one of the leaders in our global park technology ranking, especially in terms of stack use and technology selection. It is an ideal environment to work in for developers and this opinion is in line with the Glassdoor feedback given by ex-employees. However, the overall cost is being paid for by the end users who suffer from the ever-loading sportsbook with every request going through to the backend. On the other hand, the quality of this betting product and the stability of the servers compensates the frustrating waiting queues with respectable uptime in parts. However, we will leave that overall judgement to you with the choice between a perfect environment for Skybet developers or an instant sportsbook available to stakers. All in all, the customer must always come first at Stakersland and so a slight adjustment by developers should be able to balance out the books and give both parties an enjoyable experience.
countries where Sky Bet is licensed
Skybet has four offices in total and all of them are in the United Kingdom (Leeds, Sheffield, Solihull, and Hammersmith). The main office is in Leeds and it is also this legal address that is registered by the gambling authorities. Skybet are licenced by the UKGC under the name Bonne Terre Limited and they are also regulated by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. These two licences allow them to operate and focus their sign-up form in the following countries and regions: United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. Skybet has also enjoyed a successful license application by AAMS in Italy. They had managed to enter the market after the acquisition by PokerStars and they now enjoy a growing community of 70,000 stakers a month. The companies that operate all the Sky Bet, Sky Poker, Sky Bingo, Sky Casino, Sky Lotto, and Sky Vegas brands are wholly owned subsidiaries of the betting behemoth that is Flutter Entertainment plc. It is all moving in the right direction though as their main office is currently expanding with 13 open positions which are mainly for technical specialists at this present time.
Skybet enjoy multiple betting licenses that cover the UK, Alderney, and Italy jurisdictions. This combination of licenses allow stakers access from various countries including the UK, Italy, Ireland, Germany, and even a few from the US as well.
A little bit of history now to show you how Skybet has operated over the years and which should also help to explain their overall business operation ideas. The owners of the sports broadcast corporation always had their business thoughts in line with the modern time, but they could not dream that free Wi-Fi was going to be installed across all the popular spots in Stakersland. So, in the early days, they relied on fixed phone lines as their ultimate goal. Sky Bet's origins lie in BSkyB's acquisition of the Sports Internet Group back in July 2000, which included the small telephone and online sports betting company Surrey Sports. It was this early Surrey Sports company that was eventually rebranded in July 2002 to create the Skybet that we know today. The company grew considerably in December 2006 when established online betting companies Totalbet and UKbetting were consolidated into Skybet, after BSkyB's purchase of 365 Media Group. It is a history full of takeovers and company consolidations and this continues into recent years as well.
In 2015, Sky plc sold an 80% stake in the company to CVC Capital Partners for £600 million, with Sky managing to retain a 20% stake and also approving a longstanding licence of the Sky brand as well. At that moment, they were likely thinking they had made their last betting profit but they still could not dream and not even imagine that 4G would ever come over to Stakersland, giving their stakers the chance to bet on and watch unlimited sports outside of the free Wi-Fi hotspots. Three years later in 2018, CVC and Sky agreed to sell Sky Betting & Gaming to The Stars Group for £3.4 billion. That left Sky corporation with an extra £0.7 billion that brought their overall profit to a very satisfying £1.3 billion. This is a great business example that shows you do not need to be wise or be able to predict the future to make a profit of £1 billion pounds. In recent years, the future-ready CVC group bought out Tipico, the largest operator in Germany. By wisely using that one billion in cash it is likely that they are going to make their profit-generating success repeat once again.
We did find some sanctions recorded against the Skybet name though. On 28 March 2018, Skybet was ordered to pay £1 million for failing 736 self-excluded customers who were able to open and use duplicate accounts to gamble. Furthermore, around 50,000 self-excluded customers received marketing material by email, mobile text, or push notification within the mobile app, and 36,748 self-excluded customers did not have their account balance funds returned to them on closure of their account. In line with the UKGC rules for licensing and regulation, Skybet was eventually summoned and due to pay a penalty of £1,008,600 in total. Most recently, a Skybet Head of Enterprise IT executive was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. He had been found defrauding the company of more than £200,000 by purchasing unnecessary amounts of IT equipment. The crime was initially uncovered by colleagues and had they not intervened then the man in question might have carried on cheating his Skybet employer for many more years.
Questions
What documents do Skybet require for account verification?
Skybet requests that stakers provide a driving licence, birth certificate, or a passport as proof of age. A valid driving licence is also often enough evidence to complete the address verification as well. Other documents that can be accepted for the address verification are utility bills, bank statements, HMRC tax statements, tenancy agreements, council tax bills, rent cards, mortgage statement from a lender; bank, building society or credit union statements, and address confirmation from an electoral register. Skybet also maintains an established source of wealth procedure and the useful Skybet Help Centre page also explains in detail why the Source of Funds procedure is in place and what documents might be required. This SoF information may be in the form of any proof of earnings through payslip or director remuneration, dividends, pension; A personal bank statement/savings account that clearly shows regular earnings from an identifiable source; A trust deed that clearly shows a consistent entitlement to funds, dated proof of an award/payment made to you, or any other clear evidence in relation to your betting transactions with Skybet.
How long does it take them to settle the bets and payout?
Bet settlement may take up to 30 minutes and this will depend on the event and market, but in most cases this will happen immediately. Skybet uses a number of sources for sports data including Opta Sports who provide the official results for settling the relevant bets. The maximum time that you can expect to wait for the lower league events is 12 hours. British horse racing and greyhounds tracks are usually settled instantly as those are based on live feeds straight from the tracks.
How to request a withdrawal and how long it may take?
All withdrawals under the value of £1,500 will be approved, processed, and sent instantly but anything larger will be subject to the Skybet security checks. Unfortunately, they do not state how long your winnings will be held for while these checks are in place. Once all checks are complete, you can expect your payment to be completed within 2-5 working days. Additionally, there are no fees in place for withdrawals but the two available options for UK stakers should be noted - debit cards and Apple pay.
Are multiple accounts allowed?
No, you can’t use multiple accounts at Skybet. The terms and conditions are clear about not allowing stakers to create more than one account for use across all Sky Betting & Gaming services. If the Skybet team manage to detect the opening of multiple accounts then they reserve the right to suspend or withhold any funds that have accumulated in those accounts, and then make moves to permanently close those connected accounts all together.
Is it safe to open an account with Skybet?
Skybet is a fully licenced betting operator with all the necessary security features, checks, and verifications in place. They openly provide information about the documents they might request from stakers and any circumstances leading to such checks or account closure. Despite that, there are complaints about unmotivated account suspensions and/or excessively long verification processes. Additionally, there is a registered breach within the UKGC regulations by Skybet that took place back in 2018. In terms of financial procedures, they are stable and maintain sufficient cash reserves to payout the maximum winning limits in relation to the general terms and conditions.
VPN Usage - legal or not?
The Skybet website is accessible under VPN and its usage is not directly restricted by their terms and conditions. However, it is prohibited to use it in order to avoid country restrictions when registering an account. So, in our opinion it would be wise to remove any VPN access and ensure that your account keeps in line with all the relevant Skybet account rules.
gross gaming revenue
customer base
time to make £500K
Social Buzz
Up or down
It states that 73% of the 752 reviews are marked with the lowest rating possible and 4% are marked down as ‘poor’. These ratings have remained the same since the profile was created with most complaints being formed around the inefficient customer service and rigged games.