PHONE BETTING
The online betting sites are offering online betting services, therefore their services can be accessed and used only through the internet (by using any device: computer, notebook, netbook, smartphone or tablet), but some of them have decided to overcome their limits and offer an alternative: phone betting.
Phone betting is not such an enjoyable service, but it's offered as an alternative for online betting when unpleasant situations occur which prevent you from accessing and using the internet for a short period of time: your computer breaks down, you are on the go and you don't have a smartphone, your tablet's battery runs out, you are having problems with your internet connection, there are technical issues with the betting site, etc. These kinds of situations can happen at any time and can negatively influence your betting activity if, for example, you follow a betting strategy and you can't place a bet on a event/game at a specific time.
Some online bookmakers have thought about such kind of unpleasant situations and they have created special departments in order to accept bets by phone: William Hill, Paddy Power or Ladbrokes. Other online bookmakers, such as Bet365, don't have dedicated phone departments or betting lines - but when issues occur (for example, the website becomes unavailable for several hours), they open special lines in order to offer the possibility for the customers to place their bets until the problems are fixed.
William Hill offers a UK-based telephone betting dedicated service which is available in 3 modes:
1. You can deposit using a debit/credit card, open an account and place your bets by phone.
2. You can apply for a credit limit and bet by phone. This is useful if you don't want to make many transactions using your bank account.
3. Pay as you go telephone betting, meaning that you can deposit using cash or cheque in any William Hill shop (in the UK or Ireland) and call a special number to place your bets.
Ladbrokes gives you the possibility to fund your account or withdraw money from your account by going to any Ladbrokes shop. If you already have funds in your account, you just have to call a special number (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) and place your bets.
Paddy Power has a special Dial-a-Bet service which offers you the possibility to place your bets by calling a special number from the UK and Ireland. What's great is that Paddy Power even offers a 10 GBP free bet for your first bet placed by phone (you just need to say "FREE Tenner" when you call in order to be eligible for this promotion). Apart from Dial-A-Bet, there's also a Text-A-Bet service which enables the opportunity to place your bets by sending text messages to a special number (the minimum bet stake is 1 EUR).
In conclusion, phone betting may not be such an extraordinary feature, but it can definitely help a bettor when he doesn't have access to the internet and he wants to place a bet immediately.
You may also want to read the following:
