Sky Bet Best Chance For October Money Back Offers

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October 2014 Money Back Offers

• Sky Bet rolled its sleeves up in October to give punters the best chance of receiving a free bet on

promotional offers according to the latest report on money back offers from Freebets.com.

• While Paddy Power takes the overall plaudits for Money Back Bookmaker and Money Back Offer

of the Month in October, it’s refreshing to see another big name in the world of internet betting

coming to the fore and giving a extra back to sports punters.

• It’s something of a surprise that it’s taken so long for Sky Bet to make the headline in the industry

analysis into money back offers. It’s not as if the gambling arm of the mighty BSkyB corporation is

a lightweight player. Far from it, the sportsbook has a generous sign up offer of a £20 free bet for

staking only £5 on the first bet and gives regulars a £5 free bet every week with its customer

loyalty scheme, Free Bet Club.

October 2014 Money Back Offers

• The marketing team came up with another winner in October when its offer of a refund if Wayne

Rooney scored anytime for England v Estonia was the most likely money back trigger last month.

This is not the first time that Sky Bet has dipped its toe in the money back waters, the website

usually features free bet refunds during big race meetings such as Cheltenham, Royal Ascot and

Aintree and also got involved during the World Cup with a variety of money back and free bet

offers. But in comparison to the likes of Paddy Power, bet365, William Hill and Betfair, they tend to

play it low key giving preference to a loyalty scheme that ensures all its customers can get a free

bet each week without the limitations tied to money back offers which is more like free insurance

on selected bets.

• The record for the total of money back offers was broken for the second consecutive, a high of 843

was reached in September and the figure was beaten again in October when there were 905

money back offers available on Freebets.com.

The Top 10 Findings From Freebets.comOctober 2014 Money Back Offers Report

• Paddy Power ranked October 2014 Bookmaker of the Month, 2nd bet365, 3rd William Hill.

• It’s the seventh time in the last 12 months that Paddy Power has been rated Bookmaker of the Month.

• Paddy Power’s ‘Pick Your Own Money Back’ was available on live televised Premier League football matches

throughout the month and is rated Money Back Offer of the Month in October 2014.

• Sky Bet’s ‘Moneyback if Rooney scores anytime’ (Estonia v England) was the most likely free bet trigger in

October 2014.

• Betfair and Coral tied to provide most Unique Offers (9 each) ahead of Boylesports (8).

• Bookmakers provided a combined total of 78 Unique Offers in October, down 22 year-on-year and up 3 on the

previous month.

• Coral ranked first for Total Bookmaker Offers (115) ahead of Betfair (105) and 888sport (94).

• Bookmakers provided 905 Total Bookmaker Offers in October, beating the previous record of 843 set in

September.

• Six bookmakers, Betway, Betfair, Boylesports, Ladbrokes, Stan James and William Hill, each offered a mobile

exclusive money back offer in October.

• Paddy Power provided five of the top ten unique Money Back Offers in October.

October 2014 Bookmaker Of The Month

• Paddy Power has dominated Bookmaker of the Month almost from the beginning of Freebets.com analysis and has been rated number one eleven

times in 18 months.

• However, the Dublin-based bookmaker was outranked for the number of unique offers for the first time this year. Betfair, Coral and 888sport all

offered more unique offers during the course of the month, but undoubtedly the determining factor in October was the range of matches eligible

for its Pick Your Own Money back on live Premier League games. With typically four and sometimes five matches qualifying each weekend, it

represented a significant increase in the availability of refunds compared with Paddy Power’s usual money back special on the main Sunday game.

• Despite the efforts of the aforementioned sportsbooks to compete in the money back arena, so far it’s proving beyond their reach to haul back

Paddy Power, bet365 and William Hill who have become an almost permanent feature in the top 3 in the Bookmaker of the Month rankings.

• It will require more than the introduction of one or two new offers each month to shake up the money back triumvirate. With many of the

pretenders’ triggers having less than 10% chance of occurring, there needs to be a dramatic increase the number of events and markets that qualify

for free bet refunds and/or increase the maximum free bet value to make a bigger impact on the rankings. Free bet refund values tend to be set at

£25 with most online firms while the big three will gladly refund £50 and upwards on their money back offers.

• Take bet365’s Bore Draw offer against 888sport’s Cashback if Number 8 scores as a specific example. The former makes its offer available on any

match, almost anywhere in the world. With three markets per match qualifying and no limit on the amount refunded it’s plain to see why a £25 free

bet for a similar number of markets per match, but limited to Premier League and La Liga games, falls short in comparison.

October 2014 Bookmaker Of The Month

Money Back Offer Of The Month

• Despite Paddy Power offers occupying five of the first six places in October, the Top Ten Money

Back Offers saw a wider of variety of bookmakers appearing in the rankings last month. bet365

appear regularly with its Sky dogs 2/1 offer but it’s the appearance of Sky Bet, Ladbrokes and

BetVictor that gives a new look to the top table for Money Back Offer of the Month.

• Paddy Power’s top ranked offer was a worthy winner, not only for ranking top on the criteria of

chance and refund value but it was also available for every live Premier League match shown on

Sky Sports and BT Sport during the month. Punters were given the choice of four money back

back triggers when placing first/last goalscorer, correct score and scorecast bets on qualifying

games. On the match between Chelsea and Arsenal at the end of the month, the options included

all three outcomes on the match betting market, Chelsea to win, Arsenal to win or the draw.

October Top 10 Money Back Offers

October 2014 Money Back Offers

• Sky Bet had two money back offers in the top ten which, along with Ladbrokes and BetVictor offers, ranked

higher when refund value was taken away, as can be seen in the table below which ranks offers solely on the

chance of the money back trigger occurring.

• Sky Bet, Ladbrokes and BetVictor free bet refunds are capped at £25 and when rated by chance, leap frog all of

Paddy Power’s money back specials in October. Which goes to show that punters staking up to £25 on the

qualifying betting markets have can find even better value than Paddy Power’s highly acclaimed money back

specials.

• England captain Wayne Rooney was strongly fancied by bookies and punters alike to get his name on the

scoresheet in the Euro 2016 qualifier against Estonia. Rooney obliged with his 43rd international goal, leaving

punters to collect at odds on while many Sky Bet punters received a free bet as consolation on losing first/last

goalscorer, correct score and scorecast bets.

• Both teams to score is another popular betting market with football punters, especially in accumulators as the

odds are generally less than even money too. So the level of insurance for Ladbrokes and Sky Bet punters with

money back if both teams score was almost as generous at the Rooney offer and goes to show the merit in

shopping around for betting offers. Over the course of time the savings can add up significantly.

October 2014 Money Back Offers

General Findings

• Total Bookmaker Offers is a count of each day there is a qualifying event for any specific offer, so

for example, Coral’s Second By A Neck or Less offer counts once for every day there is UK jumps

racing.

October 2014 Money Back Offers

• After a record month in September, sports bettors were given a further boost with another record-breaking

month in October - there hasn’t been a better time for value seekers. The total bookmaker offers for October rose

by 62 (7%) to 905. That is 184 more than the average over the last year which stands at 721 per month.

• The pie chart gives a graphical representation of which betting sites promote most money back offers. Coral

offered the biggest slice of the cake with 115, followed by Betfair with 105 and 888sport with 94.

October 2014 Money Back Offers

• Coral is another big brand challenging the offer-led approach of independently

owned online sportsbooks and introduced acca insurance on basketball and

Match Result & BTTS football markets plus free bets for winners on All Weather

races. This adds to a strong portfolio of promotions which already includes money

back for fallers, acca insurance on 2-ball & 3-ball golf betting and money back on

greyhounds beaten half a length or less.

• The upward trend continued with the number of Unique Offers increasing month

on month to 78 from 75. Overall, the number of unique offers remains significantly

lower than the peak of 114 in June 113 and is an indication that bookmakers are

not only targeting high profile one-off events but are opting for more inclusive

offers which their customers can take advantage of, again and again.

October 2014 Money Back Offers

About The Report

www.freebets.com conducts in-depth analysis of Money Back offers promoted on the websites of leading online bookmakers every month. The list of

monitored bookmakers reads; 10Bet, 188BET, 888sport, bet365, Betfair Sportsbook, Betfred, BetVictor, Betway, Boylesports, Coral, Ladbrokes, Paddy

Power, Sky Bet, Sportingbet, Stan James, Titan Bet, Unibet, William Hill and Winner. The analysis focused specifically on Money Back offers and other

promotions such as bonuses, concessions and guarantees are not included.

‘Money Back’ is a widely accepted term in the betting industry for real cash and free bet refunds on selected events and markets offered as insurance

against a scenario proposed by the bookmaker. A typical example of Money Back in December was a refund offered on losing World Championship Darts

Outright Winner bets if Phil Taylor won the tournament, i.e ‘Money Back if Phil Taylor Wins’.

The report introduced analysis of mobile exclusive offers from 1st July 2013 in addition to those promoted via bookmakers’ main websites which are

available to both web and mobile customers. Retail offers are not included.

In order to determine its Bookmaker of the Month for Money Back Offers, www.freebets.com uses an algorithm which takes into account the number of

offers available, the maximum free bet or cash refund value and the likelihood of the scenario to come true in addition to the number of events and range

of markets which qualify for the offer. The www.freebets.com team draws on over 50 years’ experience in the betting industry to attribute weightings for

the various factors in the formula in order to provide comparative values to the complex array of promotions.

DISCLAIMER – whilst every effort is taken to prepare detailed and accurate information, any third party relying on this information does so entirely at

their own risk.