How We Rate Betting Sites

Every betting site we review gets a score out of five. Our Hollywoodbets review, the first on the site, gives it 4 out of 5, crediting its licences, its cash banking and its racing, and marking it down for a small welcome offer . The six checks behind every score are set out below, and each one is something we can see for ourselves on a phone in South Africa. Nothing about the score is bought, and operators read their reviews at the same time you do.

The licence comes first

A betting site with no provincial licence gets no score at all, because it is not on the site. For the ones that are, we record which board issued the licence, the licence number and the company that holds it, all from the operator’s own footer or terms page. Betway’s footer, for example, names two companies, Raging River Trading (Pty) Ltd with Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board bookmaker licence 10181496-012 and a second company licensed by the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator, and our Hollywoodbets review names the boards its footer lists, among them the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator and the Gauteng and Limpopo gambling boards. A site that makes the licence hard to find loses marks. A punter should not have to dig for it.

Sports coverage and odds

We look at the sports that South Africans bet on, from local and European soccer to rugby, cricket and horse racing, and we count how many sports and markets have events on the day we check, as our Hollywoodbets review does in its fast facts. We check whether live betting is there, whether cash out is offered and on which bets, and whether the site runs promotions that matter on a Saturday, such as money back on soccer bets or acca insurance. Odds are judged only where the prices show without an account. On our Hollywoodbets test no fixtures or prices appeared while logged out, so the review says so and leaves the odds unjudged.

Paying in and paying out

• Deposits: we count the methods that work for people without a bank card as well as with one. Instant EFT and Ozow, the bank apps, USSD, and the cash vouchers sold at Shoprite, PEP, Boxer and the fuel stations all score. A site that only takes cards scores low here. Betfred’s deposit page, for example, says you can buy 1Voucher at PEP, Shoprite and Checkers and Blu Voucher at Boxer and fuel-station shops, and Betway lists USSD and MTN Mobile Money among its deposit methods.
• Withdrawals: EFT is the baseline. Cash at an ATM through Standard Bank Instant Money, FNB eWallet, Absa CashSend or Nedbank Send-iMali scores higher, because it reaches people with no bank account. Betway pays out through all four, and Betfred can pay out as cash at a bank ATM, using a PIN it sends by SMS.
• Speed and limits: where the operator publishes a processing time or a minimum withdrawal, we record it. Where it does not, we say so, and the site does not get the benefit of the doubt. Hollywoodbets, for example, caps cash withdrawals at R3,000 a day and R25,000 a month, and its review sets both out.

The app and the mobile site

We open each betting site on a phone view over a South African connection, logged out. The Hollywoodbets test was done on an iPhone 15 view . We check whether there is an app to install or only a page saved to the home screen, where the Android, iPhone and Huawei versions come from, and how big the download is where the store listing gives it, as the App Store listing did for the Hollywoodbets app.

The welcome offer after the terms

The big number on a banner counts for almost nothing. What counts is the offer after you read how many times you must bet it, the minimum odds, the expiry and the maximum you can take out. A R20,000 match that you must bet 30 times on casino means R600,000 in bets before the bonus can be withdrawn, so the headline figure says little about what you will clear. We score the offer on what an ordinary player would actually clear, and we say when the terms can only be read after you log in. Hollywoodbets’ R25 sign-up bonus, for instance, has to be bet in full on a single bet at odds of 0.5 or more within 24 hours, and the review’s cons count its R55 of free play as small.

Support and the small print

We record the ways to reach support that the operator lists, such as live chat, phone and email, and the hours it gives, as the Hollywoodbets review does with its live chat and the 24/7 support its app page lists. We check whether FICA verification is explained plainly and whether the responsible gambling tools, deposit limits, cooling-off and self-exclusion, are set out on the operator’s pages. That review gives the copy of your ID the Hollywoodbets help page asks for, and a cooling-off break of anything from a couple of days to several years. A site that makes these hard to find scores lower than one that puts them a tap away.

What has no effect on the score

• Commission: what an operator pays us has no bearing on its score, its position or the wording of its review. Our affiliate disclosure explains the arrangement.
• Advertising: how big the billboards are, or which team shirt has the logo.
• Size: a small licensed bookmaker with fast payouts can outscore a large one that keeps people waiting.

When a score changes

We re-read the operator’s offers and terms on a rolling basis and whenever a reader tells us something has moved. If an offer gets worse, payouts slow down or a licence lapses, the score changes and the review says why. Ratings on this site are the editorial team’s opinions, formed from the checks above. Your own experience with any one bookmaker may still differ from ours.

18+ only. Gambling can become a problem. The National Responsible Gambling Programme runs a free helpline day and night on 0800 006 008, or WhatsApp HELP to 076 675 0710. Winners know when to stop. More on our responsible gambling page.