Sportsbook - PartyBets
PartyBets - JOIN NOW!
Background
With 888 muscling in on the sportsbook scene, it was inevitable that PartyGaming would do exactly the same thing. In fact, it's puzzling that it's taken these poker and casino giants so long to establish a sportsbook product, although they'll certainly make the landscape very interesting.
PartyGaming are best known for PartyPoker, which is just about the biggest online poker room in the world. PartyCasino, PartyBingo and PartyGammon make up their portfolio, and they are licensed and regulated by the Government of Gibraltar. The company were founded in 1997 and were one of the first gaming operators to produce a significant online offering. They continue to lead the way with their propietary software and are renowned for cutting-edge graphics and functionality.
Website
Like Bodog, it's clear that Party view having a sportsbook as a cost-effective way to cross-sell their gaming products to existing customers. At the time of writing, the PartyBets homepage promotes a poker tournament taking place, which is the focal point of the page (never mind the Premier League football taking place!). There's a distinct lack of compelling sports betting opportunities being promoted, something that will need to be addressed.
Nevertheless, when you find it (!), Party's In-Play console is pretty neat, although the range of markets are somewhat limited. A solid range of sports appeared to be covered from a pre-game point-of-view, despite the navigation being confusing. For instance, clicking on 'football' in the left-hand menu brings up one antepost market, so you have to use a drop-down menu to access which competition you're selecting. Once again, the antepost markets are shown by default - shouldn't it be the other way around with match markets showing.
At least they have the bet placement part figured out, which you would imagine has been replicated from the gaming side of things.
Odds and Markets
It's clear from their homepage, especially the live betting, that football is the big driver for PartyBets and as such, their odds are particularly competitive. This is especially the case for the big matches - it's always worth visiting these new sportsbook sites as this is where they'll try and stand out from a PR point-of-view. It appears as though they're betting to around 107% on the pre-game markets which is a competitive margin.
The range of markets varies widely, depending on a) the sport in question, b) how big that event is within the sport and c) how near you are to the event taking place. On the first point, Party have good coverage for soccer and the US Sports and perhaps less so for horse racing, rugby and cricket. Secondly, you can expect around 20 markets for Champions League matches and just a handful on some of the more minor matches. Finally, they appear to be in no rush to price up the whole array of markets, which is a bit frustrating as they list the markets and 'grey out' the ones they haven't gotten round to pricing up.
Customer Service
As you'd expect from a company of this size, their customer support is 24/7 and covers a wide range of languages, including English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. In addition to email and telephone, there is also an FAQ Search facility, whereas it might be preferable to ave a list of FAQ's like everybody else. After all, using a search engine to find something is one thing, but you don't exactly want to be ploughing away to find a solution to your query. Nevertheless, the support team are well-trained and friendly.
Betting Pro Verdict
The one area that currently makes PartyBets stand out is their odds on the big sporting events. It's clear that one of their acquisition strategies is to draw new customers in by offering 2/1 when other bookmakers have 15/8 available. Nevertheless, it's still early days for PartyGaming, who are at least getting the basics right with their attractive zippy website, solid range of markets and odds, along with a round-the-clock customer services. They also have the added advantage of being a trusted and reputable brand who won't be going anywhere in a hurry, while there are sure to be plenty of customer promotions on the go as they try to expand this product.