SBK REVIEW 2024 - BOOKMAKER RATING & SIGN UP BONUS
OUR OPINIONS ABOUT SBK
- Price+ shows when SBK is offering the best market price over competitors
- Strong social features including Tipster interaction
- High-Quality betting app
Online-Betting Rating:
Our SBK review looks at a bookmaker that has come in with a different approach to things. Encapsulating a modern approach to the industry, SBK is only available via their app with no web-based sportsbook.
What does that mean for punters in terms of odds and features available at SBK? This SBK sports betting review will examine the modern mobile betting app for functionality and features.
Our betting experts also look at things like customer service, betting markets and odds and provide ratings for each of the areas.
What Is SBK?
SBK is a betting platform that is accessible only via its dedicated mobile apps. They have their betting apps available for both iOS and Android. An apk download for SBK is also available.
The markets within the SBK app are powered by Smarkets, which is an online betting exchange. The app is operated by them, which means that it often leads to SBK offering punters some impressive sports betting odds value.
Table of Contents
- 1. The Signup Process - 4/5
- 2. Depositing Options - 4/5
- 3. Withdrawal Times - 3.5/5
- 4. Betting markets & Odds - 5/5
- 5. How Good is SBK For Football? - 5/5
- 6. In Play Betting - 5/5
- 7. Offers For Existing Customers - 1/5
- 8. Customer Support - 4/5
- 9. Website - 5/5
- 10. What Do Other Sites Say? - 3.5/5
- 11. Safer Gambling
- 12. Overall Review Summary - 4/5
The Sign-Up Process – 4/5
How do you sign up with SBK? If you go to their website then you will only be directed to download the mobile betting app relevant to your device.
If you put in your email and contact number on their website using a computer, it will trigger the sending of a text message to you, with the relevant download link.
Calling up their website on your phone is the quickest way to get started with them. It saves searching around the App Store or Google Play.
The sign-up process at SBK is straightforward following the download.
The first time that you open the SBK app, you will be asked to create an account. The first step is to enter an email.
Following that, you will need to create a strong, secure password for the account.
Then plug in your name and select your location. The next step to getting registered with SBK is to then confirm your date of birth, before wrapping up the sign-up process by giving them your phone number and physical address. That’s all the personal details they will need.
The final step is then creating the Account Information, such as Username and currency.
Depositing Options & Process - 4/5
Deposits at SBK can be done in a variety of ways, ranging from Debit Cards through to online payment portals like PayPal. For the SBK sign-up bonus, only Debit Cards and Trustly are eligible methods.
You will be directed to make a payment on your SBK account following registration. You can also do this at any time by going to your account management and clicking on the Deposits link there. All the payment methods that SBK provide are instant transfers aside from a Bank Transfer.
Deposits
| Method | Minimum | Maximum | Processing Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa Debit Card | £10 | n/a | Instant |
| Solo/Maestro card | £10 | n/a | Instant |
| Mastercard/Eurocard | £10 | n/a | Instant |
| Neteller | £10 | £5k daily max | Instant |
| Skrill | £10 | £5k daily max | Instant |
| Bank Transfer | £10 | n/a | 3-5 business days |
| Trusty | £40 | n/a | Instant |
| PayPal | £20 | £200 daily max | Instant |
SBK Withdrawals - 3.5/5
For withdrawals, the process is simple enough as well. Everything is managed through the SBK app. Just click on the withdrawal link and you will be asked for the amount, along with the destination of the withdrawal. That should be back to the initial funding source.
Withdrawals for cards take between 1-6 business days, while e-wallets like Skrill and PayPal can be completed in 1-2 business days. There’s a good low minimum of £10 for most withdrawal methods that SBK have available.
| Method | Minimum | Maximum | Processing Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa/Debit card | £10 | n/a | 1-6 business days |
| Solo/Maestro card | £10 | n/a | 1-6 business days |
| MasterCard/Eurocard | £10 | n/a | 1-6 business days |
| Neteller | £10 | n/a | 1-2 business days |
| Skrill | £10 | n/a | 1-2 business days |
| Bank Transfer | £20 | n/a | 5-10 business days |
| Trustly | £40 | n/a | 1-2 business days |
| PayPal | £10 | £5.5k max | 1-2 business days |
SBK Betting Markets And Odds - 5/5
Because the markets on the SBK are pulled in from the extensive Smarkets betting exchange, then the variety of markets is fantastic. There is a big focus on the major markets of football.
That in and of itself is extensive, covering all the big European leagues and competitions that you would expect to see, down to more niche football betting markets from around the globe.
That is indicative of the overall quality and variety that can be found at SBK. That includes horse racing betting from the UK and Irish scenes, along with cards from international racing.
SBK does provide a lot of different sports for punters, from the likes of Boxing, Darts, Cycling, Golf, Rugby, and Cricket to the big North American fare like the NFL and Baseball betting.
One of the big features of the overall presentation of the betting markets at SBK is their Price+ feature.
This is a superb feature because it offers clarity and transparency for customers. Any market that has been marked with the Price+ icon, means that SBK has the best price available for it.
That is in a comparison against other major bookmakers SkyBet, Ladbrokes, William Hill, Unibet, Coral, Betway, BetVictor and Paddy Power. Look for the green triangle on the market that indicates the SBK Price+.
Some non-sports markets can also be found in the SBK sportsbook. They cover markets like TV entertainment, awards and Politics for anyone looking for a little aside from sports betting.
Another excellent aspect to highlight in this SBK review is the Tipster section. This is a great social angle because with the SBK tips you can follow punters who are on a hot streak.
You can also see when several punters are perhaps jumping on a trend of an option in a certain market. It is also possible to engage with tipsters and friends through the platform via messaging.
How Good Is SBK For Football? - 5/5
SBK is very good for football betting. There is obviously a big push towards that, especially during the Premier League season. In terms of variety, we commonly saw well over 150 betting markets available for an individual match from the English top flight.
That’s from the regular fare of Correct Score, Under/Over 2.5 Goals, Half-Time/Full-time, Asian Handicap and winning margin. One big angle that we saw at SBK football betting is the separation of markets into halves.
There are a lot of options for things like First Half Exact Goals, First Half Handicap options and Second Half Over/Under. So betting angles into a Premier League match can really be nuanced at SBK. It certainly gives punters a lot to explore.
The odds for football betting markets at SBK are superb as well. That is again because they are from a betting exchange. Also of note is that in a Premier League football match, for example, SBK displays the percentage of bets that they have, which carry more favourable odds than their competitors.
For example, 97% of bets compared for a Man Utd v Liverpool Premier League fixture in 2022 beat their competitors’ prices.
Auto Acca is something a little different. The SBK Auto Acca tool lets a user randomly generate a football accumulator. The user doesn’t haven control over the selections that are put but can refresh the tool to get an entire new bet. Auto accas of three, four or five legs can be created.
In Play Betting – 5/5
What punters will have in their hands is a sleek, modern betting app which gives access to great in-play betting. This is an extremely highly-recommended area of SBK. They have put a lot into their app, making it user-friendly, and that translates well into in-play betting.
Looking at the layout of the screen for live betting compared to pre-match markets is just the same, so everything has a nice flow to it. It’s a very intuitive app, which punters will likely find efficient for in-play betting.
Taking a closer look at live betting opportunities on a football match, there was a good variety of extra markets Totals, Double Chance, Match Result & BTTS, and Next Goal Soccer. A feature of in-play betting is that the odds change due to the circumstances that are happening in the match.
SBK has made this clear for users to notice when odds have fluctuated as after they have been refreshed, they will be indicated by colour as to which are shortening and which are lengthening.
Rapid markets are also available for in-play betting at SBK. These are dynamic markets which have a short expiration period. It could be something like whether there will be a corner in the next 5 minutes from the set time of the bet.
The in-play service is rounded out with good insights into the action that is happening. A graphical interface and stats help guide punters to get a basic overview of what is going on in the game.
Offers For Existing Customers - 1/5
One area where SBK perhaps don’t come in as strong with a rating as the likes of a bookmaker like Paddy Power does, is with existing customer offers.
Beyond the SBK welcome bonus, there’s little else to dig into. SBK lack in this area.
To use the bonus funds that have been collected from the SBK welcome bonus, you need to apply it in the bet slip when ready to use it. When you have opened the bet slip, if you have an available promo balance then it will be shown in a box next to the stake box.
A click on that yellow box will then indicate how much of the promotional balance you can use towards the bet. From there you can select how much of it to use in a bet.
Note that you don’t get the free bet stake returned should the bet win. Cash-out is not available for bets struck with bonus credit.
Customer Support & Security - 4/5
Customer Support
In terms of help and support at SBK that can be accessed through the mobile betting app of course, as with everything else. It is possible to browse their help section on their website too.
There is quite a good knowledge base to look through. A nice thing about it is that their help pages are nicely presented and are easy to read with concise information. It is possible to filter through topics or dive straight into a search.
There are direct ways to get in touch with SBK support. An SBK live chat can be started up if you are logged into the app. The availability of the SBK live chat is 24/7.
Alternate methods are telephone support, email, regular mail or through their Twitter. Their telephone support is available from 9 am – midnight.
- Live Chat: 24/7
- Phone: 020 7617 7413 (09:00-00:00 UK Time)
- Twitter: @sbk
- Facebook: @SBK.bet
Security
There are some good features in terms of security to back up the SBK app. Part of that is setting up two-factor authentication. Within the SBK app, you can navigate to ‘Sign in Details” and enable the function. 2FA can be set to Authy, Duo Mobile and Google Authenticator.
Funds at SBK are protected by Smarkets (Clients) Limited, and that offers a high level of protection according to the UK Gambling Commission. All transactions that are made between the customer and SBK are done using Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL).
Any documents that you upload through the app to the SBK Customer Support team are encrypted in transit as well. So they have a lot in place in terms of security. SBK is fully licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission.
Website - 4/5
It is the SBK app that is the key area of focus here in terms of layout and usability. Their actual website is for information, including help pages, about the app only. The SBK mobile betting app is very good. Considering that it is their only focus of development, little else would be expected.
Also importantly for them with only one channel, SBK needs the app to be strong. It is, it both operates well and looks fantastic. The overall style of SBK is very modern and clean. That does make it easy on the eye as it’s simple and cool, with nothing garish jumping out of the screen.
Markets are laid out very clearly. The menu filters to get to different betting areas, say within a football match, help nicely with navigation. The main colour scheme of SBK is black, white and grey and so that helps the flourishes like the Price+ icons (which are green) stand out.
The main navigation is handled at the bottom of the app, where you can switch between Home, Browse, Funds, Open Bets and Account. Everything is easily accessible and the app scrolls very nicely, even with big markets, and we found it to be very responsive and quick to use.
It is all very nicely user-friendly to swipe and scroll around in. There is also the social betting aspect of this with other tipsters. You can also get into chats with your friends and tipsters on the platform
What do other sites say? 3.5/5
Perhaps because of their more innovative approach to the online betting scene, SBK has attracted plenty of attention. They have been given a lot of other positive reviews by sites like ThePuntersPage which give them a 4.5/5 rating.
They gave them a resounding compliment as “one of the best sportsbooks that have entered the UK market in recent years.”
At Betting.co.uk, SBK was given a huge rating of 96/100 for their services, stating that when it came to the odds provided by Smarkets, they “found that SBK UK lived up to the hype”.
There are many similar reviews across different review sites that say a lot of the same positive things about SBK. Namely that their app is excellent and that the odds are very strong, two of the biggest elements of their entire operation.
In total though, we weren’t able to find as many online reviews of SBK as other major players like bet365.
| SBK Compared | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
bet365 | |
bet365 review | |
|
Betvictor | |
Betvictor review | |
|
|
BetitOn | |
BetitOn review | |
|
888Sport | |
888Sport review | |
|
Boylesports | |
Boylesports review | |
SBK Safer Gambling
SBK goes the extra mile in providing an extensive range of safer gambling tools, demonstrating their commitment to customer well-being. These tools empower users to implement specific restrictions on their accounts, granting them control over their spending and promoting responsible gambling practices.
Let’s delve into the safer gambling tools available on SBK:
- Deposit Limits: Punters can set limits on their spending by establishing daily, weekly, or monthly deposit caps on their SBK accounts. Additionally, users have the flexibility to adjust these limits whenever they deem necessary, ensuring they stay within their desired budget.
- Take A Break: With SBK’s convenient “Take A Break” feature, users can easily opt for a temporary break from the platform. By simply clicking a button, they can select the duration of their break. It’s important to note that during this period, users will be unable to access the SBK site, aiding in self-control and responsible gambling.
- Loss Limits: To prevent significant losses within a short timeframe, SBK implements loss limits. Users have the autonomy to determine the maximum amount they are willing to lose. Once this limit is reached, further losses are prevented, fostering a safer gambling environment.
- Self-Exclusion: SBK recognizes that some individuals may require a permanent break from their gambling activities. Through the self-exclusion option, users can easily exclude themselves from the site. Opting for self-exclusion is a straightforward process, instantly applying the necessary restrictions to the user’s account, and no additional inquiries are made by the operator.
- Gambling Self-Assessment: SBK offers a comprehensive gambling self-assessment form for users who suspect they may be at risk of developing a gambling addiction. By completing this assessment, individuals gain insights into their gambling habits and behaviors. Based on the assessment results, users can make informed decisions regarding the most suitable safer gambling tools to utilize, promoting responsible gambling practices.
The availability of these safer gambling tools on SBK showcases their dedication to customer protection and responsible gambling. Users can take advantage of these features to maintain control over their gambling activities and prioritize their well-being while enjoying the SBK platform.
Overall Review Summary 4/5
We can’t pinpoint any major negatives as such when it comes to the SBK betting app, because it checks so many boxes. The functionality of the app is simply brilliant and the transparency that they have through their Prices keeps punters in the know.
They have hit the ground running with that unique social interaction and allowing tipsters to integrate with others. Even if you didn’t want to get into that, just getting access to user-generated tips is a nice additional feature to the SBK services.
Innovative features like their Auto Acca, Tips and Price+ strengthen a very good platform that is easy to use and navigate. They have built the app from the ground up themselves, so it’s just quality all the way.
The overall rating of the SBK experience would go up a little bit more had we discovered things like live-streaming and more in the way of promos for existing users. Even something like a Rewards Program would have given a boost.
But overall, simply rating the experience on the operation of the SBK app and the odds that can be found within it, they are highly recommended.
FAQs
How long do withdrawals take at SBK?
A: All withdrawal transactions are normally processed within 48 hours. However, that’s the time that SBK allows for their check of the request. It’s only once they approve it, that are the funds released, so the process can take up to six working days for some formats. Check out the withdrawal table above.
Is SBK betting legit?
A: SBK is a perfectly legal, licensed and regulated betting platform. Even though they are just an app-based platform they are in line with the Gambling Commission.
Does SBK offer cash out?
A: There are cashout options available at SBK. You can take a look at the bet slip for any Cash Out Value that the operator is offering on a bet. It is not always going to be available, and even if it has come up once at a particular sporting event, it could still be pulled. As is common with online betting, SBK doesn’t guarantee the availability of cashout.
Who owns SBK?
A: The SBK betting app is a platform that is operated by Smarkets. So it is a product of the betting exchange, but a completely separate platform. For example, if you already have an account at Smarkets, it’s not interchangeable with SBK, you’ll need a separate one. Both SBK and Markets are regulated and licensed by the Gambling Commission.
Do SBK offer the best odds?
A: Throughout their markets, you will see their Price+ icon. This indicates that the odds on offer are better than some of their cited competitors. While the feature is mostly available on football, it does cover all sports in the SBK sportsbook. The best odds feature doesn’t include in-play markets.
