The first step you should take before choosing an online bookmaker is to spend some time making your personal research. The table below combines all the crucial facts of every bookie reviewed on the BM website in one page and allows you to sort the companies in 20 different ways. After having completed your research, you will surely have found a bookmaker that suits your betting needs. On this list you can sort every bookmaker (ascending or descending) by any category you like: Foundation Year, Players Rating (this is the bookmakers rating as per the BM’s community members), Number of Players Reviews and Alexa Rank.

You can also classify the bookmakers by eleven different rating categories, which include the Overall Rating, Betting Markets, Odds, Live betting, License, Money Transfer Methods, Withdrawals Quickness, Customer Service, Bonuses/Promotions, Mobile and Website. At any point, you can click the “Review” button in order to view each company’s review and rating page, where you can find all the information you need. Don’t miss the up and down category, that monitor any changes on the bookmakers rating during the past three months. You can rate the bookies via this category to motivate them into improving their services and offers.

Signs of a reliable bookmaker

Licensing authorities (Betting Jurisdictions)
It is strongly recommended to check if the online betting company you are playing or are planning to sign up, is licensed in a legitimate gaming authority. In the above table, you can find quite a few of them, that are offering their services from many parts of the world and not only in the UK and depended territories. A license by a gaming commission, offers a guarantee to every player that a company is thoroughly and regularly checked and will always allow you to withdraw your money. A credible gaming commission is constantly there for every player, by providing useful advice and resolving any conflicts between companies and clients.

Alexa Rank
This is the global ranking traffic number of any website. If a bookmaker’s page has a low Alexa Rank, this acts as a sign of high traffic, as well as a high preference from the betting community. However, if a bookmaker has a high Alexa Rank, this does not always mean it is unreliable. Every newcomer betting company starts with a high Alexa Rank, due to its low traffic and it will certainly take some time before they are listed as on of the top visited websites.

Foundation Year
Pretty much like in any other business, experience and credibility always pay off on bookmakers. An online betting company that has been operating in a highly competitive market for many years, will far more easily enjoy the preference of any punter. This is because, despite all newcomers’ good intentions, it does take a considerable amount of time before they can earn the gaming community’s respect.

Players’ ratings/comments
We like to think that we offer a thorough, unbiased and honest review on every bookmaker. However it is through your initiative that we can better ourselves, as well as motivate the bookmakers into offering a better and more profitable gaming experience. We always encourage our readers to participate on the BM community, not only by reading our reviews and articles, but by letting their voices be heard. Feel free to offer any helpful piece of advice on our website and share any positive or negative experience from any bookmaker. Finally, we do understand that it is you, the punters, that participate in the betting activity and what matters first and foremost is your opinion.

Odds
The average payout may approach or even exceed the 90% limit on certain matches. When you are trying to find on which match you should bet, you must have seen that odds will rarely have significant changes. Opinionated lines are here to prove that there’s a compiling service behind every odd and that these are not simply copied from another bookie or by following the activity of the market.

Security
All money transactions are guaranteed and executed in a safe way. Any personal details you provide will remain private (i.e. for promotion e-mails, post material and phone calls). When you ask for a new password the identification procedure is clear and secure.

Transaction transparency
When you request a withdrawal, the transaction is executed within the time limit (perhaps even earlier) that is described on the bookmaker’s website. The bookmaker offers a variety of payment methods.

Credibility
The bookmaker has a high traffic on the Alexa Rank and the company’s share in the stock exchange market is either stable or rising.

Variety of bets & markets
The website should at least have 20+ different sports, including the most popular ones like football, tennis etc. There should be over 100+betting types on offer in certain matches.

User friendly website
Placing a bet must be easily executed and instantly confirmed. You must also be able to see your total balance, betting and transaction history, as well as payment methods and customer support channels.

Bonuses/Offers
Any bonus or offer is credited to your account immediately after you have claimed it, as long as you fulfill the conditions. No fine printed or non specified rules should exist, whatsoever.

Customer Support
A helpful and if possible, ever present live chat service must exist. Alternatively, any e-mail sent is answered within a few hours.

Signs of a scam bookmaker

Unrealistic bonus offers
Be aware of any tempting first deposit bonuses. Some bookies like Canbet used to offer those frequently, in order to lure customers into depositing money and then avoided giving them them their money back, by putting the blame on tech issues.

Extremely high odds
The most reliable Asian bookies will usually offer payouts close to 97%, while any other bookmaker will stay close to a 92-95% payout on every match. Scam bookies don’t care about payouts and odds, since they do not intent on giving you any winnings. They will offer extremely high odds, like Gobetgo did in the past as well as daily free bet, in order to attract as many players as possible before they grab all their money and make a run for it.

High bonuses at the beginning of each season
Some bookies will sometimes offer highly profitable bonuses only during August, when the most popular football leagues are set to begin. Although every bookie has his own promotion policy, bonuses and other offers are generally available to players for the entire season.

Spam e-mails
Remember that all the details you give before opening an account in an online bookmaker should under all circumstances remain private. The bookmaker has no right to use them in any way without asking for your permission. If you happen to receive promotional e-mails from a bookmaker, regardless if you’re registered on their website or not, you should proceed with extra caution. Some bookmakers use illegally obtained mailing lists, in order to promote their services.

Phone calls
There have been some promotional phone calls from bookies to potential players. Be aware of them and don’t listen to any offers they might give you unless you can verify that they come from a legitimate betting company. You must insist on knowing about where they picked your number from and check if any information they give you can be found on the internet, before proceeding.

Users’ reviews/comments
A significant change of a bookmaker’s rating on any reviewing websites should be treated with suspicion. Scam bookies tend to manipulate players’ ratings to improve their score by creating false accounts and giving a high rating on their company.

Limited number of payments options
A trustworthy bookie should offer a variety of payment options. If a bookmaker has limited transaction options or shows reluctance when you try to withdraw money (i.e. accepting credit cards for deposit, but will only allow withdrawals to bank accounts) then they are probably masking an expected unwillingness to pay.