Unibet is the fundamental part of the Unibet Group Plc organisation that incorporates sports betting, casino and poker suites and various bingo and games products. The group serves customers in over 150 countries and has over 5.9 million customers worldwide, making it a major player in the gambling industry.

Started in 1997, Unibet now employs over 500 staff in their Malta offices and beyond, and are steadily increasing their presence in the hope of becoming an even bigger, more trusted brand than they currently are.

One of the big positives for Unibet is that they offer a competitive payout ratio of around 90-95 per cent, depending on the specific sporting event. There are in the region of 500 different events, covering a very decent array of sports. Their focus is on football, ice hockey, racing and tennis, but they have a large number of 'minor' sports covered too. These include such things as extensive basketball coverage, handball, ice hockey, volleyball and the Olympics.

When compared with their rivals, their odds stack up very well for many of their main sports markets. They occasionally (rather than habitually) lead the odds on some markets for big football, tennis and - in particular - basketball matches, and don't lag far behind the market leaders in the ones in which they are not the frontrunners.

Unibet also have a pool betting product called Supertoto, which uses betting coupons with football or tennis matches, which has a payout ratio of 80 per cent. This compares favourably to some of the monopoly pool betting operators in European markets.

The standard free bet offer available to new customers of Unibet is a 'no lose' bet of up to 20 GBP. At present this is only available to UK-based customers, but there could be variations available elsewhere.

It's a simple offer in which your first bet will be refunded up to 20 GBP if it loses. This is all well and good, but others offer a free bet irrespective of whether a customer's first bet wins or loses, so it could be seen as a little on the tight side. Also, the free bet must be turned over six times (at odds of 1.40 or greater), which is not overly generous.

Other than the opening offer, Unibet tend to keep promotions and bonuses to a minimum. Having said that, when I contacted the customer services department to ask about current promotions, they noticed I hadn't been on the account for some weeks and offered me a free 20 GBP bet if I deposited and bet 20 GBP of my own money. So existing customers should definitely try simply asking for freebies from time to time.

Unibet's live betting product is up there with the best of their rivals. They have a dedicated area of the website that has plenty of information available including current scores updated in real time, details of upcoming events and a calendar that also shows which events are bring streamed to watch live on the site.

They also offer a very simple and well designed mobile betting service available on iPhones, Androids or other handsets. To access, simply go to mobile.unibet.com, where you can view odds, scores and live betting options, and bet to your heart's content.

Telephone: 0800 013 1571 (UK freephone) / 00 44 207 949 0088 (International)
Email: info@unibet.com
Address: c/o Camilleri Preziosi, Level 2, Valletta Buildings, South Street, Valletta, Malta.
Other contact methods: live chat, Fax - 0800 331 6049 (UK Freefax)

Unibet take their customer service duties very seriously and are available to contact 24/7, though payment and e-mail services are limited outside 'office hours'.

When I used the live chat facility, I was first in the queue, but it took an inordinately long time for an agent to appear. The agent then managed to copy and paste the wrong stock reply to my query (for which he did at least apologise). But after the initial wobble (and with subsequent conversations with other agents), Unibet's staff proved themselves to be knowledgeable, polite and helpful, and only too eager to offer me extra free bets, which always goes down well.

Unibet are getting closer to being part of the upper echelon of bookmakers, and will no doubt join the very best in the business before long if they continue to invest heavily in their products and services.

At present, though, they fall just a little way short of the best of their rivals, most notably in the lack of free bets, promotions and bonuses available to both new and existing customers. This could be easily rectified, of course.

Other than that, Unibet offer a fine sports book with good odds and a website that is as user-friendly as any. We would definitely recommend this bookmaker to customers, but remember to ask them for extra free bets every few weeks to get the most from them.