Originally founded in 1999 under the name of Simon Bold (Gibraltar) Ltd., bwin was taken over by the Austrian company bwin Interactive Entertainment AG in 2001. After a merger with PartyGaming Plc in March 2011, the company became an integral part of the bwin.party group.

They are based in Gibraltar and the Government of Gibraltar issued sports betting and casino licences, where they have over 100 staff, most of whom are multi-lingual, to help run things smoothly.

They have recently signed a long-term sponsorship deal with MotoGP and also have sponsorship deals with football clubs around Europe, most notably Real Madrid, which helps bolster interest in their sports book, casino, poker room and games suite.

bwin have a wide variety of sports markets well covered, including a few lesser-followed sports such as floorball, table tennis and water polo. Of course, bwin also cover the more popular sports including football (soccer), tennis, cricket, rugby (union and league), boxing and golf, and each is covered in enough depth to keep the most eager of gamblers happy. For instance, Premier League football matches tend to have in the region of 65 betting options available, while even the less popular matches (such at the Oman Premier League) will have at least five markets available to back.

At the time of writing there were almost 14,000 possible sports bets available on the site. But how do the odds compare? Well, pretty darn well. They are not afraid to go out on a limb (for instance, at the time of writing they offer the joint best odds on Manchester City to win the English Premier League).

The main free bet offered to new customers of the sports book from bwin changes from time to time, but they currently offer a 100% bonus of up to 25 GBP that is matched against your first deposit. You need to wager the full amount of the deposit once, and the bonus five times before withdrawing, which is better than some.

They are a little thin on the ground when it comes to ongoing promotions and bonuses, and despite offering sign-up bonuses for the poker and casino products, this is definitely an area that requires improvement. They do frequently offer small "reload" bonuses to dormant accounts but they still need to do more if they are to challenge the best in the industry.

The live betting options available at bwin are very good and the look and feel of the area of their site dedicated to it is impressive (as long as you don't mind the particular shade of green they use for the background). The markets are updated efficiently and it is simple to access information on upcoming events and the markets being covered.

To access the excellent mobile betting portal bwin offer, you can either get them to text the link to your phone (via the website) or simply enter wap.bwin.com into the phone's browser. The portal itself is free from the clutter than appears on one or two of those of rivals, and the steps you follow to place bets are as simple as they come. It is also available to access using iPhones and Androids.

Telephone: 00350 200 777 61
Email: support.en@bwin.com
Address: bwin, ElectraWorks Limited., Suite 711, Europort, Gibraltar
Other contact methods: Fax - 0043-1-205330-18000

For a bookmaker with bwin's backing, we would have expected more from their customer services. These days most of the serious players in the industry are available 24/7, but bwin's phone lines are only open for 12 hours per day (10.00-22.00 GMT +1). On top of that, they do not offer live chat or Skype options, and as they do not publish the customer services email on the website you must use the form on their website to send them messages (though see above for the email address we acquired).

When speaking to the customer service staff during our research, we were placed on hold by two different operatives despite us asking what we thought were fairly rudimentary questions. Also, we had to wait between four and 16 hours for replies to our enquiries through the online form, which is far from ideal when many of their rivals offer instant chat responses.

Overall, bwin cannot be faulted when it comes to the number of markets and the odds they offer on those markets, which stands them in good stead. Unfortunately, they disappointed in other key areas, namely customer service and the frequency and generosity of their free bets, promotions and bonuses.

One positive is that, like many bookmakers these days, bwin have a dedicated horse racing section. It gives loads of information to customers, including a very useful 'betting school' section and a chat room that allows you to make contact with other users to share tips or just, well, chat.

All in all, we would say bwin are just about worthy of your custom, especially if you love betting on handball!