About Totesport.com:
Claiming to be synonymous with horseracing, Totesport is clearly focused on sports betting above all else. Commonly known as The Tote, Totesport is based in Manchester and has high street betting outlets all over the country. The company also has a lot of experience behind it; Tote was founded in 1928 by an act of parliament. Going online in 2002 as Tote BetXpress and re-branded in 2005 as Totesport, the company has had plenty of time to update and perfect their website. Offering betting, a casino and instant games, Totesport has a multifaceted but sports based gambling service.
Promotions:
Totesport offers two welcome bonuses. The first is a free bet up to the value of £50; you just have to register and place a bet of £10 or more and you'll receive a free bet of an equal amount. You initial bet has to be made at a price of evens or greater. The other welcome incentive is a 100% deposit based bonus of up to £100 for use in the casino. You must wager 40 times the bonus amount in order to convert it into cash that you can withdraw. The bonus can be used to help meet these requirements.
While the selection of promotions isn't huge, there are some more on top of the welcome incentives. The casino offers an additional 50% bonus on top of the first deposit made every month (up to a maximum of £50). Once again, you will have to wager 40 times your bonus in order to convert it into actual cash. The welcome bonuses are pretty good but there isn't an abundance of additional promotions to keep things exciting.
Sports Betting:
Like most websites with sports betting facilities, Totesport features these services on the home page. The site is reasonably well designed with a clean appearance on the main pages. A light green and white style dominates the aesthetics of the site and a black login/registration bar passes across the top, making logging in an efficient process.
Opening an account is split into four steps; not the most straight forward system but each step is easy to complete. An address finder is used to make entering your address easy but if any problems occur you can enter it manually.
The second step asks for a username and password, you'll also need to enter a security question and answer. The third step asks for your preferred currency along with any deposit limits you may want to set and the fourth step asks you to enter your deposit method and details. If you want to enter deposit information later you can skip this for now.
Once you've finished setting yourself up, you can get stuck in. The betting services on offer are of a good quality with sports split between football and others. One slight issue is that, rather than dropping down into more links, each main category links to a new page, slowing down the selection process- not a big problem but a bit slower than it could be. The list of sports includes all of the usual candidates and a specials section for cultural or political bets (at the time of writing only the American Idol winner was up for betting on under specials). The sports betting section is generally of high quality and provides everything that you would expect it to.
Casino:
The casino section of the website has a darker, more atmospheric look than the sports betting section. Casino games can be played either for fun or for money and the choice is offered as you open a game. The in browser games are very well presented with a clean and stylish look. There are no unnecessary animations but the design is attractive and fun. A quick explanation of how to play is made upon opening a game and the interface is easy to use.
A downloadable client is also available for use and is quite easy to set up. The downloaded casino is also very stylish and generally impressive for a website that focuses on sports betting. The variance of options is good and there is even an option to limit play time for player safety. The games themselves are once again nicely designed and fun to use. Comprehensive help is also available. Playtech provide software for Totesport casino games.
Payment Options:
The variety of payment options is where Totesport really drop the ball. Unfortunately only cards are accepted and of these only Visa, MasterCard and Maestro are permitted. This is an unbelievably small selection of payment methods for an otherwise well designed website. Currency options are also quite limited with only the UK pound and the euro being accepted.
Conclusion:
Totesport provide a high quality and fun to use service with a strong offering not only in their specialty area of sports betting but also in their casino. The game interfaces both online and in the downloaded program are excellent and easy to use. Help services are available and a 24 hour line is open to assist with any problem. Unfortunately, all of this is marred by a very poor choice of payment options and currencies. This isn't a disaster but it certainly damages an otherwise very good gambling service.
Tick Box:
Safe: Yes
24/7 Support: Yes
Demos: Yes
Download Required: No
Live Betting: Yes
Mobile Gambling: Yes
Promotions: Yes
Disclaimer: All deals and promotions listed were correct at the time of this review, and are subject to change. For current promotions, please visit the website as listed above. Please feel free to use the comments section to post details of current promotions including, where applicable, valid dates.