Marathonbet
The rise of the internet has enabled the internationalisation of sports betting. While UK punters were previously limited to local bookmakers, they are now spoilt for choice with new options from different regions around the world. Marathon Bet is a perfect example of an Eastern-Europe based online betting site that’s offering diverse betting markets on a wide range of sports to the UK market. The sportsbook covers football, baseball, American football, darts, cricket, athletics, basketball, politics, and boxing. The bookmaker also offers a decent range of bonus offers, excellent odds, as well as betting tips to help punters make the most of their wagers.
Marathonbet first established as a brick-and-mortar bookmaker in 1997, before moving online in 2002. Their parent company, Panbet Curacao NV, is based in Guernsey and is licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission for UK customers. For all other players, the company is licensed by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. They are also a member of the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS). Marathon Bet created massive brand awareness in the UK, thanks to impressive sponsorship deals with Manchester City and Dynamo Moscow, and previously, with Real Madrid, Liverpool, and Manchester United.
Visiting Marathonbet
When you access the Marathonbet online betting, as a new customer, without knowing anything about the bookie, you might think it’s a small start-up website which is trying to penetrate the market. The site abandons all attempts at looking creative but has a bare-bones look that prioritises functionality for the users. Most Marathonbet reviews are divided as to whether the improvement in loading speeds was worth throwing away all efforts at crafting an attractive design. However, all is not lost as you’ll still find that a typical online bookmaker layout is still applicable to marathonbet.co.uk. The Marathonbet login button is on the top right corner. In the middle of the site header, you’ll find links to live games, sports pools,
Marathonbet casino, live casino, and more. Just below the header, you get a horizontal navigation menu with links to services, languages, find settings, results, stats, and live chat. Unlike other betting sites that boldly advertise their bonuses and promotions, the Marathonbet online sportsbook Marathonbet hides the bonuses in a small services tab, along with betting tips, terms and conditions, and contact us links. In this Marathonbet review, you’ll find out if this bookmaker has what it takes to lure you away from the traditional British bookmakers.
To the left side of the page, you’ll find links to popular Marathonbet sports, separated into live and pre-match events. You’ll also find an A-Z list of all the sports that the bookmaker covers. There’s a search bar at the bottom of the list, in case you don’t find what you’re looking for. Below the search bar, you can find phone numbers for customer support and telephone betting. The left and right sidebars scroll independently from the middle section of the website.
On the right sidebar, you can find your bet slip, as well as a variety of leagues that you can bet on. The main Marathonbet games lobby has odds for live events to the left, and popular events to the right. The odds are categorised by sport, with Marathonbet football being the default selection on both sides. If you scroll down to the Marathonbet betting website footer, you can find the usual display for payment methods, responsible gaming, license information, and other useful links.
Marathonbet Bonuses
As many competing brands have found great success with offering a new customer offer, it is a bit surprising why there’s no Marathonbet welcome bonus. While there’s no welcome offer, you can always depend on Marathonbet promotions for existing customers.
These Marathonbet bonus offers are a bit tricky to locate on the website, but they do exist. In the Lucky 15, 31 & 63’s promotion, the bookmaker will:
- Pay 2x odds on one winner for all qualifying bets placed on greyhounds or horse racing
The promotion only applies to win part of your bet. Finishing place parts of a bet will be settled at the correct odds. The promotion will become invalid if there’s a non-runner in the race. No Marathonbet promo code is required to qualify for the bonus offer.
In the Double Result (First Past the Post) promotion, the online betting site will:
- play on an official result and a disqualified winner
There are no bonus code or promo code requirements for this promotion, but it’s subject to a few conditions, such as the reasons for disqualification. The maximum payout for the promotion is £200. Horse racing and greyhounds punters can also benefit from a Best Odds Guaranteed promotion.
The bookie also offers Marathonbet free bet offers from time to time. Punters can check the blog and advertising material for more detail on the free bet promotions. The sports betting site does not offer any Marathonbet no deposit bonus.
Another feature that can help you get more out of your bets is the Advancebet.
This feature lets you:
- Place bets exceeding your account balance
The maximum amount that’s covered by the Advancebet feature is £150. You’ll receive the winnings from wagers made using this feature, but not the stake. In case your bet loses, you don’t have to pay back the extra amount. In the casino section, punters can try their hand on a variety of slots using Marathonbet free spins.
Marathonbet Mobile
The Marathonbet app provides customers with instant on-the-go access to the best prices for a wide range of sports and markets. Punters can quickly and easily get the iOS and Android apps on the Apple App and Google Play Stores, respectively. The apps are compatible with mobile devices using iOS version 8.1 and above, and Android version 4.2.2 and above. In addition to an extensive selection of pre-match markets, the multifunctional mobile applications provide mobile access to a wide range of live events. The apps are easily the best offering in Marathon Bet’s whole betting product.
For a start, whoever designed the apps should have taken a crack at the desktop site too—the apps look way better. While the colour scheme is similar, the apps look more modern. The navigation is also more elegant. You can access the main sections from an ever-present menu along the bottom of the screen. Players can also reach different sports from an A-Z dropdown list or a menu on the app header. Markets within each sport are also divided in the same efficient way.
If for any reason, you don’t want to download the app, you can always have the best prices at your fingertips from the Marathonbet mobile website. However, while this option also looks and feels better to use than the desktop site, it pales in comparison to the app. Navigation is a bit clumsy, mostly due to the removal of the bottom menu.
Players have more options for making a mobile login to the betting site using the mobile site. More devices are supported, including ones that run older versions of iOS and Android, as well as Blackberry and Windows mobile devices. There’s also a long list of mobile browsers that you can use to log in to the online betting site.
Marathonbet Betting Markets and Software
With close to two decades of experience in the online betting industry, Marathonbet UK has had enough time to perfect their sportsbook. The bookmaker offers odds on more than forty different sports, which is as good as what most bettors are looking for. The available sports include staples like football, horse racing, cricket, boxing, and tennis, as well as extras like darts, winter sports, and politics. Football and horse racing are the two primary focuses of the Marathonbet sportsbook. If you are a football fan, then you can bet on the major tournaments like the World Cup or obscure leagues like the Kuwait Premier League. The available bet types include the half-time/full-time scoreline, number of corner kicks and penalties, and goalscorers.
Cricket fans can bet on bet on Twenty20, ODI, and Test matches. Grand Slams and a variety of ATP and WTA tournaments are available for tennis punters. Under the Services tab, Marathon Bet offers betting tips to help players make more accurate and valuable bets. The bookie also runs a virtual sports section, where you can make wagers on fantasy football and tennis. Their Bet Constructor allows punters to bet on virtual teams that are made up from players taking part in real matches. Another option is the Toto game, which is a version of Tote betting. This is a form of betting where stakes go into a pool and then the winners will take a share of that prize pool.
Punters can find some hidden gems in the Marathonbet live betting section. The number of available markets depends on the sport and league, but you’ll generally find a wide selection. Apart from football, you can see live events on baseball, basketball, volleyball, and tennis. Players need to log in and have a positive account balance to access Marathonbet streaming. Live streaming, along with live scores, results, and statistics gives punters a competitive edge on in-play bets. You can also bookmark your favourite in-play markets and keep them on top. After a few years with only a sportsbook on the UK market, the online bookie managed to branch out. They currently offer Marathonbet slots in the casino, as well as poker and table games in the Marathonbet live casino.
Deposits and Withdrawals
Before punters can start placing bets on their favourite sports and teams, they need to be able to fund their sportsbook accounts. Again, Marathon Bet manages to deliver very nicely in this aspect, with a good range of payment methods to choose from which are:
- Visa
- Maestro
- MasterCard
- Skrill
- Paysafecard
- Jeton Card
- ecoPayz
- Trustly
- Neteller
Unfortunately, PayPal is not available. Deposits and withdrawals at this online sports betting site are all free of charge. All deposits are processed instantly. The minimum deposit and withdrawal that you can make are £5. Visa and MasterCard withdrawals take 3-5 banking days to reflect in your bank account. All the other methods take up to 3 hours. Such flexible banking terms provides customers with an enhanced betting experience.
Players on Marathonbet successfully get any challenges addressed regardless of the times they bet, via 24/7 customer service. You can contact customer support via email, telephone, live chat, and fax. While all other contact options are available 24/7, live chat is only available between 7 am and 10 pm.
Responsible Gaming
Marathon Bet believes that the most critical aspect of customers being part of their community is that they should enjoy their time on the betting site. For this to happen, players should have all the information and tools that they need to make informed betting decisions. The bookie first provides a list of warning signs that help punters assess if they have a problem gambling issue. These signs include finding it hard to manage your time when gambling and borrowing money or chasing losses.
To help their customers strike the right balance between gambling and other aspects of their lives, Marathonbet provides the following responsible gaming tools:
- Account history – You can access the complete history of your previous deposits, bets, withdrawals, as well as your current account balance. Filters make it easy to separate transactions by period and category.
- Set limits – Players can set limits on the amount of money that they can deposit, wager, or withdraw. Limits apply for a day, week, or month.
- Time-Out – You can use the time-out feature to take a temporary break from betting to assess your gambling behaviour. Time-out periods range from a few days to a few weeks.
- Reality Check – The reality check option is a pop-up to alert you to the time you have been spending gambling.
- Self-exclusion – The self-exclusion option is a voluntary option to be denied access to your account. During self-exclusion, you cannot make an online login or access your account manager to make payments. The period ranges from six months to five years.
If you are worried about your sports betting activity you can also access other sources of help. This includes organisations like GamStop, GamblingTherapy, and GamCare. Marathon Bet also encourages parents to use filtering software on home computers to protect their children from gambling content.
Conclusion
Marathon Bet has managed to make the most of the years that they’ve been operating their sportsbook. The betting site offers a decent selection of markets. Also, unless you’re looking for a particularly obscure sport, chances are you can find odds on any event you’re looking for. Their website makes a controversial trade-off for speed and utility and abandons all effort on aesthetics. Their mobile site and apps, however, are great to bet on and look very modern. The combination of apps and mobile website enables customers to bet on-the-go on a wide range of devices. Marathonbet does not offer the best odds in the market, but they provide enough value for bettors to make reasonable returns.
The bookie offers a decent range of bonuses and also allows punters to make bigger bets than their account balance via the Advancebet feature. Bettors can also find a few other extra features. Players can bookmark and mark live bets and can access live streaming and comprehensive stats. Marathon bet also offers an extensive range of payment options for both deposits and withdrawals. Withdrawals are quick and reliable, and there are no attached service charges. If you’re looking for a reliable betting experience with an excellent mobile presence, this sports betting platform is well worth a look.
Pros and Cons
So, does Marathon Bet have what it takes to make you sign up and place your first bet? We’ll make it easier for you to decide with a list of strengths and weaknesses.
Pros
- There is a decent list of sports and markets
- Ability to bet more than you have in your account
- Website is quick and navigable
- Low minimum deposits and withdrawals
- Live streaming is available
Cons
- No welcome bonus available
- PayPal is not available