Few betting sites can match Coral's pedigree. The bookmaker been about since 1926 and have come a long way since working on the racecourses throughout London and the South of England.
Even though they are best known for their work in the sports betting sector, and this is what we are looking at today, they offer a wide range of gambling products, including casino, poker and bingo.
The merger with Ladbrokes to form “Ladbrokes Coral” and then another takeover in 2018 with GVC Holdings, now values the brand at over £5 Billion and one of the biggest in the world.
As you would expect from a company the size of Coral, they are very active when it comes to sponsorship of both competitions and sports teams. Their most recent has been to become official betting partner of Fulham FC, along with tournament sponsor of the Coral World Grand Prix (Snooker), Coral Tour Championship (Snooker), Coral Cup (Horse Racing), Coral Sprint Trophy (Horse Racing) and the Coral Scottish Grand National, to name but a few.
| Pros | Cons |
| Great looking site and app | Pricing can be iffy with lower-profile sports |
| Huge range of betting features | No search function on desktop site |
| Trusted, established brand |
New accounts to Coral can enjoy £20 in free bets when you place your first bet of just £5. All you need to do is open an account, place your first bet at odds of 1.5 or greater and then your account will be credited with 4 x £5 free bets.
You get 7 days to use all four of your free bets and they must be used in their entirety for each bet. Any winnings from the free bet will not include the stake returned. You can also cash out your free bets when in play and profit the winnings (one of very few bookmakers to offer this!).
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Registration can be completed online, or it can be done via the Coral betting app. Simply click the “Join Now” button to get started in the 2-step process.
The first part will require you to enter your personal details. This includes things like name, DOB, address, mobile, email etc. Please make sure you use the correct details here as you’re going to need to verify these later in the registration process.
The second step is to enter your player details. For this you need a unique username and password, then you need to set your currency and any promo code (not needed for the welcome bonus).
You will also be asked to set any deposit limits on the account. You can alter things after you have signed up if you wish.
The final part of this step is to verify your account. To do this you need to send in things such as the driving license, passport, national ID card, utility bill, bank statement etc. You don’t have to do this right away, but you won’t be able to make a deposit or place a bet without doing so.
This may seem like an arduous task, but it’s one that is going to be mandatory for all bettors signing up to new accounts. It’s a positive thing for the industry and even though it takes a little longer to sign up than it might, it’s all for responsible gambling.
You've got a strong range of banking methods at Coral beyond the usual debit cards. Paypal, Skrill, Neteller, Eco, Paysafecard and Coral Connect are all available as payment methods.
Deposits start from just £5 for all methods apart from PayPal, which is £10. Transactions are processed instantly and there are no fees to pay.
You can withdraw via each of these methods except the Paysafecard. Withdrawals can be made from just £0.01, which is as low as you can get, and we think they could be the only bookmaker going this low across the board.
Banking takes up to 2 days, but we’ve noticed it’s usually processed much faster. E-wallets such as Neteller, Skrill and PayPal are pretty much instant. For larger transactions, you can also use bank transfer here as well, but you may need to contact customer support to get this set up.
Payment Method
Name
Deposit Amount
Withdrawal Amount
Withdraw Time
PayPal
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Up to 24 Hours
VISA
£5 Min
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2-5 Days
MasterCard
£5 Min
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2-5 Days
Visa Electron
£5 Min
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2-5 Days
Maestro
£5 Min
-
2-5 Days
Paysafecard
£5 Min
-
-
Bank Transfer
£10 min
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1-5 Days
One of the world’s biggest bookmakers has one of the worlds best-looking sportsbooks, without a doubt. The design has changed a lot over the years and is now right up there with the very best.
It’s a fairly simple look when you break it down; it comes with a familiar three-tiered site, with sports down the left, markets in the middle and betslip down the right.
There is no search bar, which is probably the only downside here, but they use the “breadcrumb” layout at the top of the page, which means you can jump back one if needed, instead of going right back to start when you’ve clicked too many times.
The Coral app is where you need to be though. You can download the app directly from the App Store for Apple products and the Google Play Store for Android.
Like all of the best betting apps, they have the menu conveniently positioned at the bottom of the page so you can use one hand to search and find what you need. Part of the menu disappears as though scroll down and then comes back when you flick up to not clutter the page.
It will come as little surprise to hear that punters are very well catered for at Coral. They include just about every sport you can think of. One thing Coral have focused well on is regional sports. Aussie Rules, American Football and GAA are all available. Of course, football and horse racing are the top dogs, and other favourites like golf, tennis and cricket are available, but less widely available sports like fishing and volleyball can be found here too.
When testing the pricing section out at Coral we found that they were regularly up there with the best prices for sports such as horse racing and football. However, they lacked a little with some of the markets within these sports and were also oddly hit and miss with some smaller sports that we tested as well.
Overall, they are a strong package and with the regular betting boosts (Smart Boost) that they run daily, they do offer good value.
We wanted to start with the “Build Your Bet” feature that Coral has been able to push well on site. This is a little like an accumulator, but you can take markets from the same game and combine them into one single bet, where usually you wouldn’t be able to.
It’s probably best suited for betting on football, but it can theoretically be used on all sports. If there are markets or games that you want to include separately, then you can Tweet Coral and their traders will come up with a price for you.
Coral Connect is the next thing that we wanted to talk about, and this allows you to link an online account to the high street. You can place a bet in any of their betting shops and then log into your Coral app to track the progress of that bet as if you’d placed it online.
It allows you to cash out, track your bet and also find where your local shop is at to get your winnings. It links to the Coral Connect Card which means that you can get instant access to any money in your account and can withdraw from any Coral betting shop. So, as soon as your bet is settled, you can get your winnings!
The horse racing section is a feature all of its own. It’s one of the best in the business and we can see why so many people flock to Coral just for this. They have a big influence in the industry, sponsoring plenty of events all over the world, and this has clearly had a positive effect on the online betting section of the site as well.
It comes linked to the Racing Post, so not only can you get a “verdict” section taken straight from the Racing Post, but you also get a “spotlight” for each horse in each race in the UK and Ireland. On top of all this, you have free live streaming as well. You need to have placed a bet of £1 or more before the start of that race and you will be able to enjoy a 15-minute build-up of your race and then the race itself.
Bet Filter is the final feature that we want to talk about and it’s one of the best. This allows you to work through a criterion of info about a potential bet to find exactly what you need. It includes things like the meeting (can choose all), the odds, form, going (proven or not), digital tipster filters and then the star rating. You just click “find bet” and it will find a horse from the days racing that fits your criteria.
Few bookmakers do promotions better than Coral. Here are a few ongoing ones that you can take advantage of:
Correct 4 – This is a free game where you can win up to £50 in cash. All you need to do is answer 4 questions ahead of the Saturday afternoon kick-offs to win. Prizes are paid for 2 or more correct answers.
AccaPlus – Place an acca with 3 or more and if it wins, get a free bet worth 10% of your overall winnings up to £100.
Bet and Get Club – Bet £25 or more between Monday and Saturday, and get a £5 free bet on a Sunday.
It's always a good idea to find and compare top promotions like the latest Grand National free bets at the best betting sites.
The customer support is one of the best in the business and there are lots of ways that you can get in touch with Coral. For a quick response, we recommend using Twitter, as Coral are very active here. Phone and email (via an online form) are also available.
There is a full mini-site on offer all about how Coral is working to encourage responsible gambling within the industry. On-site you know they are taking their role seriously as you can’t even access it once logged in without your account being verified first.
There are a few other features that they include as well, such as deposit limits, time out and GamBan among others.
Tons of info is available on the responsible gambling page and it’s an interesting read as to how seriously they are taking their role in responsible gambling.
There is so much to like at Coral that it’s easy to see why they have become one of the best in the industry. It’s a site that is packed full of sports, markets and betting features that it never feels dull. The promotions section is as good as you’re going to get for existing users, there's a great welcome offer for new customers, and they've got a great looking betting app as well. As a result, we would have to rate them as one of the best bookmakers that we’ve tested!
Visit Coral Sports"I've worked in the betting industry on product, operations and customer service for several years. A class operator will deliver on many aspects and we cover them all."
Reviewer since October 2015
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