Aron Wright - May 22, 2025
Meta: Here are three key features that almost every top-tier online bookmaker will offer to help sports bettors in various ways and enhance their experience.
When deciding which new online sportsbook (aka online bookmaker) might be worth joining, there are many things to consider. The most important thing to determine is whether it is fully licensed and regulated.
If it’s licensed and regulated by a reputable gaming commission/licensing authority, then it will be controlled by a reputable operator and worth joining. Let’s now take a look at three other key features that every top-tier online bookmaker will normally have.
A top-tier online bookmaker controlled by a globally renowned operator with good standing in the iGaming industry and overwhelmingly positive expert reviews will offer numerous standard features, products, and services.
However, three of the main features to look for in a world-class online bookmaker are the following:
Live/in-play betting services enable people to place wagers on a live event as the action unfolds, meaning they can make more informed wagering decisions. In comparison, pre-match betting is the traditional way to wager. It’s when you place wagers on an event long before it has started.
When an online bookmaker provides a broad range of highly competitively priced markets and numerous bet types per event with accurate and reliable sports data and statistics, it can help people improve their wagering strategies.
The other sign of a good sportsbook is that the website and mobile application will be well-designed, and the user-friendly interface will be easy to navigate.
Some of the other key features that are tell-tale signs you have found yourself a decent online sportsbook worth joining may include a guaranteed, rewarding loyalty program.
The top-tier sites will provide top-notch, built-in player support that are easy to reach 24/7. You should be able to contact a friendly and professionally trained player support agent via toll-free telephone, email, and/or live chat, and they will always demonstrate above-average customer service standards.
Other things to look for are regionalised content [for local sports] and wagering options for almost every other major professional sport in the world. That’s not forgetting to mention cross-platform and multi-device accessibility and a range of other services and features, such as system betting, accumulators, teasers, and ordinaries.
They should also accept a broad range of popular online payment methods to suit all types of people, such as credit & debit cards, bank transfers, eWallets (also known as mobile wallets, web wallets, digital wallets or electronic wallets), prepaid cards, and possibly one or two other trusted online payment methods.
They will process deposits instantly, and they should be quicker than most other sites when processing withdrawals. They will also have a quick and easy sign-up process, be transparent in their funding and day-to-day operations, and have various cybersecurity tools to protect each player’s account.
You will also now find on a growing number of trusted online sportsbooks that the operators of those sites are fully committed to protecting players by offering a range of safer gambling tools to help players remain well within any initial spending budget they decide to set before depositing.
If the site you have just joined doesn’t yet have any of these tools, then it means you will personally have to take much better control of your bankroll by gambling responsibly and remembering important things, such as never gambling while tired or intoxicated.
Also, take frequent session breaks. Don’t treat sports betting as a job, and consider setting yourself a sensible daily, weekly or monthly deposit limit. Doing so will help keep things safe and fun and will ensure you never overspend.