Ladbrokes Review, Free Bets and Offers
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After purchasing rival firm Gala Coral Group to become Ladbrokes Coral in 2016, this gambling leviathan was acquired by an even larger one in 2018, GVC Holdings. Generating around £2.5 billion in annual revenue, Ladbrokes Coral is now the largest bookmaker in the UK by revenue. Ladbrokes itself has around 1900 shops nationwide, making it (with no small thanks to its fire-engine-red decor) the second most visible bookmaker on UK streets, after William Hill, which has around 300 more.
As well as dominating the high street, Ladbrokes have a significant online presence, with an equally colourful website boasting sports, games and casino betting, and figure-headed by the face of all the brand’s UK advertising, Kelly Brook.
Ladbrokes Sign-up offers for new customers
Like most of the larger online bookies, Ladbrokes usually offer some generous free bet deals for new customers making their first deposits. Standard free bet offers Ladbrokes have given new customers recently include a ‘bet £5 get £20 in free bets’ deal. These are normally redeemable when you enter a certain promo code, upon sign-up – but these type of offers come with a range of required stakes and free bet credit.
You can find Ladbrokes’ latest sign-up offers on the Timeform Free Bets page.
Another type of deal Ladbrokes regularly offer are the £1-max-bet enhanced odds offers. These usually come in the form of a few short-priced selections – or sometimes even just the one ‘dead cert’ – that seems very likely to come in. The odds offered are often vastly longer than they would be were you to place a normal single or multiple bet on them, the catch being that the maximum allowed stake is £1. In addition to this, any winnings are often also paid out in free bets, and only after these are staked are any eventual winnings allowed to be withdrawn. So as with all free bet offers, it pays to read through T&Cs thoroughly, before placing any bets.
Generous Ladbrokes free bet offers
Ladbrokes have also offered some extremely generous bet-through-the-card deals in the recent past, which can be a fun and potentially lucrative way to enjoy a day’s racing. One Saturday offer in 2018 involved betting £10 on the first televised (free-to-air) race of the day, then a further £60 in free bets on that meeting’s races – plus an additional £10 free bet on the evening Premier League kick-off! Unsurprisingly, sign-up offers like this do not come around too often, so it can even be worth biding your time until one does, and picking another bookie for the time being, instead.
Having said that, there’s plenty to make being a Ladbrokes customer worthwhile, that may encourage you to join sooner rather than later.
Ladbrokes betting features for existing customers
One of the most satisfying features of betting online with Ladbrokes is their betslip odds boost. Regular bettors are often rewarded with an ‘odds boost’ button at the bottom of their digital betslip, the pressing of which will result in a longer price than that which was previously being offered. The more selections you have on the slip, and the longer the prices of your selections, the greater amount the odds tend to be boosted by. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean Ladbrokes will always have best prices, even with the boost, and as always, it’s worth shopping around.
Ladbrokes odds boost and money back on accas
As an extension to their odds boost feature, Ladbrokes ‘acca’ betting is renowned for being great value, and even refunding you if your accumulator goes very close, but doesn’t win. As the website explains, you can boost, track and get money back on your acca. After you’ve added your selections and used the Odds Boost button to enhance the price of your accumulator, you can track it, keeping an eye on scores and results, cashing out, or editing and removing legs.
Possibly best of all though is the money back feature – so long as there are five selections or more on your acca (all of which must meet minimum required odds, usually 1/10, but check T&Cs), you will get your stake back as a free bet if just one leg lets you down.
Best odds guaranteed on horse racing from Ladbrokes
Like many bookmakers, Ladbrokes also generally offers a ‘BOG’ – best odds guaranteed, on horse racing. So if you take the early price, board price, single or multiple, and the SP is longer, they will pay out at the bigger price.
Withdraw real cash at Ladbrokes betting shops
Another great reason to bet with Ladbrokes, this point isn’t so much a betting feature as a customer perk. With so many shops across the country, Ladbrokes were one of the first bookies to offer real cash payouts, for online customers. In other words, if you make a bet online and it wins, you can go into one of their shops and request to withdraw your funds then and there, in cash – rather than withdrawing online and having to wait for the money to appear in your bank. You can also transfer credit from your account back onto your card, instore.
Ladbrokes casino, slots, games, exchange…
Ladbrokes is fundamentally a sportsbook betting company with an enormous number of other gambling products, which aims to appeal to the mass market. Their size and experience means they have a smooth website with a wide variety of markets, that’s easy to use, and they often have generous offers to draw you in. If you’re a casual punter that likes to get a few bets on of a Saturday morning, in the knowledge you can have any winnings in your pocket come Saturday night, then Ladbrokes could be the site for you.
For all the emphasis on fun, and with a vast array of other products on offer, its drive for mass-appeal may come across distracting for those who prefer to spend longer at their screens, searching for value. Games and casino-style offerings are many, and are advertised frequently and colourfully throughout the site.
With that said, they do have a betting exchange, which although dwarf in comparison to Betfair, contains no shortage of markets and surely warrants investigation for more serious bettors looking to broaden their opportunities.
