Cricket Betting Sites in India
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of cricket betting sites available to punters in India. This is despite the greyness of online gambling in India in general. At present there is not a single authority figure who can provide a definitive answer on the legality of online gambling in India.
On one side there are those that consider gambling to be an immoral act that should not be part of society. On the other side you have those that bang on about the positive side of online gambling with regards to revenue generation and job creation.
Are Online Cricket Betting Sites Legal in India?
It was around two decades ago that the Supreme Court declared betting on horse racing to be legal. The explanation for the move was that it considered horse racing to be skill based rather than involving any luck. The real reason is that horse breeding in India is a lucrative industry and in order to keep it that way, the government decided to legalise horse race betting.
However, if the explanation given by the Supreme Court was true then any game could be considered as a game of skill including more popular games such as cricket, hockey and football.
The one good that that came out legalising horse racing was the acknowledgement from the Indian government that people of India love gambling. If the general public was against it then surely all forms of gambling would be deemed illegal.
Choosing the Cricket Betting Site that suits you
The team at cricketbettingpro has gone through and analysed every sports betting site available in India. This means that the team have put in real money, played real money games in an effort to narrow down factors that you must consider before settling on a betting site. Here are the factors that you need to consider –
Welcome Offer
All cricket betting sites in India will entice you with some form of a welcome offer. These usually come in the form of Free Bets or enhanced odds and may require you to input specific codes onto their site. One thing you need to consider when accepting these bonuses are the terms and conditions attached to them.
While some might appear enticing to start off with, they might also prevent you from withdrawing your money. It is crucial that you read the fine print associated with reach welcome bonus.
Similarly providing the biggest bonus does not necessarily translate into the best playing experience. A massive win using a promotional offer is useless if you are unable to withdraw your money because of the terms and conditions attached to the offer.
Ongoing Offers
One way to distinguish between a good and great betting site is to see the amount of effort they put into engaging with their existing customer base. This means going beyond the initial welcome offer and providing a consistent stream of bonuses.
These bonuses encourage continuous participation from the customers and include simple win bets to complex acca betting schemes. Speaking of offers, there are essentially five types of betting offers that are available to existing customers.
Free Bets to Existing Customers
These are given out around specific sporting events with the aim of reengaging with their existing customer base. A free bet in most occasions is enough for a customer to start betting again and this can be around the IPL season or specific horse racing events.
Money Back Specials for Existing Customers
Using the same logic as a free bet, with money back specials the betting site is happy to return your deposit if your bet does not come true. An example of this would be you placing a bet on horse that fails to finish at the top position. If this does occur, the betting site will return the money invested into the race.
Enhancements for Existing Customers
Betting sites will reward loyalty by improving the payouts if a certain event takes. For example you can earn extra if a specific bowler in the IPL ends up taking a hat trick.
Accumulators
An offer found in most cricket betting sites whereby the site provides you with an added bonus or insurance on your bet selections.
Loyalty Bonuses / Schemes
Some will also have loyalty schemes which as the name suggests awards the player for playing at the site. The simple logic is that the more engaged the customer is the more the betting site is willing to spend to keep them happy.
Betway is a perfect example of how they reward loyalty. The more you play at Betway the higher up you go on their customer tiers and the more promotions and offers they will provide you.
Streaming
Betting sites such as bet365 will even let you stream events via their platform. While some of the more lucrative matches might not be included there will always be tons of other cricket matches to choose from. The way to access streaming is either by having balance on your player account or placing a bet.
Markets
Always have a look at the markets that are being provided by the different bookmakers. Cricket is a game that has a huge selection of markets ranging from most sixes in an innings to method of dismissal.
Some betting sites might specialise in football or horse racing and may not be able to provide you with the markets you need. As a rule, always shop around to get the preferred markets for the game you want to bet on.
Odds
Same as above, you need to shop around to ensure that you are getting the best odds for the cricket match that you want to bet on.
As competition between the betting sites intensifies in India, each will try to entice you to sign up to their platform with enhanced odds. While being a loyal customer has its benefits, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot have player accounts on multiple betting sites.
User Experience
Seems like an obvious aspect to focus on but you will be amazed by how many betting sites forgot user experience to provide attractive odds. Odds, markets will be worthless if you are unable to place a bet on your favourite cricket match. A site riddled with bugs and clunky design will ultimately frustrate the customer and will most likely lead to them going to a competitor site.
Same applies to the mobile offering. In this day and age, it is crucial to provide customers with a good mobile experience either via the optimised site or cricket betting apps. Millions were spent by giants such as LeoVegas and Royal Panda in an effort to create the optimum mobile product. There is a reason why LeoVegas are known as king of mobile!
Customer Support
Having a knowledgeable and professional customer support team is crucial. Despite having the sleekest of products, it is possible for the customer to run into problems.
When this occurs, they need to be able to ask the relevant question to the customer support team. Promptness and accuracy of the reply will have a great impact on whether the player will return to the site.
Avoid betting sites that keep you locked in for hours all trying to answer the most basic of questions regarding withdrawals. Availability of customer support is another factor to consider.
All the cricket betting sites available in India operate from outside of India and therefore might not be able to provide round the clock support. Most will display their support times on the site, so it is worth checking these details out as well.
Banking and Payment Options
Last but certainly not least are the payment methods that are available to you both for deposits and withdrawals. It is extremely frustrating to go through all the points above only to find that you are unable to deposit using your preferred payment method.
A betting site that provides the most comprehensive list is generally preferred. Crypto currency is on the rise so for any site incorporating that will surely high praises from us!
Betway | Best Cricket Betting Site
Betway has been around since 2006 initially offering casino products to punters in Sweden. Then came a massive overhaul of their site and the addition of many products including sports and bingo. Another smart move made by the betting giant was make a move to the Indian market.
Needless to say, they were one of the first along with bet365 to provide their entire suite of products in India. While the other betting sites are good, we feel that Betway are just a step above. They have paid a lot of effort customising their product to suit the Indian.
You can read our complete review on BETWAY to see what the fuss is all about.
Are all Betting Sites to be Trusted?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if all betting sites were perfect and ticked the boxes listed above? You would not have to worry about issues with the interface or the payment methods they are using and would simply be a click away from betting on your favourite games.
The reality is quite different unfortunately. This is not to say that good cricket betting sites don’t exist. We have found quite a few that we can recommend.
However, there are quite a few that will lure you in with a slick interface using fake licenses. The level of deception goes even further and for those not regulated by MGA, Curacao and UKGC will even have their game software’s tinkered with.
This means that you are likely to lose a lot more at these cricket betting sites than you would on the legitimate ones.
Even if you do end up winning, these betting sites will draw you into a withdrawal battle making it extremely difficult for you to enjoy your winnings. Some might even bundle in extra charges that will lower your winnings.
Our advice would be to stick to the betting sites that are listed on cricketbettingpro. We have gone through each and every site and would only list those that are safe and trustworthy.
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