DirectBet Sportsbook Review
DirectBet’s servers are located in Singapore, but the company’s base of operations (their staff and management) is unknown. Like most crypto-based sportsbooks and other gambling sites, they are not regulated by a gaming commission. However, this isn’t a knock on them, as most gaming regulators are useless when it comes to helping players with disputes, particularly in the grey US market. DirectBet accepts Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin or Dash. In addition to an online sportsbook, they have a racebook. Their other options include a dice game and “All-in Poker” casino game.
Best Betting Site Alternatives To DirectBet Sportsbook
A Personal Opinion on DirectBet Sportsbook
What We Like About DirectBet
As we will go into further below, DirectBet is one of the few sportsbooks that doesn’t require bitcoins on hand or in an account for place wagers. Users will simply send their coins to an address for each wager they make and if they should win, their profits will be sent back to them at the Bitcoin address of their choosing.
This feature may not seem like much from the outside and does add an extra step for bettors in terms of placing wagers, but it’s ideal for protecting sports betting bankrolls and bitcoins. Although, bettors may prefer the added convenience of having their coins available inside their account.
DirectBet’s has extremely fast payouts and from our little time using them, strong customer service. Their sports offered are also quite expansive. They offer odds on just about every event in the world. Finally, as mentioned above, they do take several other virtual currencies besides Bitcoin. This is rare, with most other sites offering only one other form of crypto-currency besides the more widely accepted, Bitcoin.
What We Don’t Like About DirectBet
To put it bluntly, their odds just aren’t that great. They don’t offer anything special in terms of betting odds on larger or smaller markets and they are easily beat by the many BTC sportsbooks in the industry that have reduced juice. Also, while they offer a large list of sports to wager upon and live betting options for most of these sports, there’s not much in terms of bet types. They don’t offer teasers or other types of exotics, but do offer parlays.
As we’ve said with other sportsbooks that have only been in the industry a short period of time, bettors should exercise caution. Everything appears to be on the “up and up” with DirectBet, but with less than two years in the industry, it’s tough to ANY operator, even if they have rave reviews from customers.
Bitcoin gambling sites, in general, have major issues with this and it’s likely not something that is going to go away overnight. With that said, DirectBet is doing everything right from a customer service and cashout perspective and have showed no signs of financial trouble or issues with paying customers.
Online Sportsbooks Worth Considering
- Rating
- Deposit Bonus
- Live Odds
- Cashier Fees
- Accepts Crypto
- Banned Regions
- Live Support
- Deposit Bonus:50% Up To $1,000
- Live Odds:Yes
- Cashier Fees:Yes, But No Fees With Crypto
- Accepts Crypto:Yes
- Banned Regions:None
- Live Support:Yes
- Bet & Win at MyBookie
- Deposit Bonus:50% Up To $250
- Live Odds:Yes
- Cashier Fees:Free payout per month/ BTC free
- Accepts Crypto:Yes
- Banned Regions:DE, MD, NJ, NV
- Live Support:Yes
- Bet & Win at Bovada
- Deposit Bonus:100% Up To $500
- Live Odds:Yes
- Cashier Fees:Yes, But No Fees With Crypto
- Accepts Crypto:Yes
- Banned Regions:KY, LA, MD, MO, OR, WA
- Live Support:Yes
- Bet & Win at GTBets
DirectBet Betting Site – Deposits and Withdrawals
DirectBet’s system sidesteps the traditional cashier model as players don’t hold a balance at the sportsbook. If they win their wager, the coins are sent to the BTC address of their choosing and for losing bets, they simply lose their stake.
This system makes DirectBet’s grading especially important. They do an excellent job here and pay extremely quickly after events end. Some bettors report getting the bitcoins just minutes after their event concludes. Occasionally, they may lag behind or the block chain may have high traffic causing bets to be delayed an hour or so. But, for the most part, their withdrawals on winning bets are processed extremely quickly, usually in just a few minutes.
No Account Required
DirectBet takes anonymity to the next level as their system of sending bitcoins to different addresses to place wagers doesn’t require an account. To place a bet, all players need to do is send the coins to the appropriate bitcoin address and then provide a return BTC address if their wager wins. Players will also have the option to link their account to an email address or use the same bitcoin address to for all of their transactions to establish a history, the latter of which is not recommended.
VIP Program
In fact, the anonymity sort of goes out the window if players wish to be involved in their VIP Program. We highly recommend this option, as their odds aren’t especially great on their own and the program adds extra rewards. Players can earn up to 10 BTC per month using their VIP Rewards, but it would be quite hard to get to this level unless one were betting massive amounts. They will earn 1 loyalty point per 0.0001 BTC wagered.
Rewards are paid to players in the form of freeplays, which can be used to place wagers in all of their markets. Players can claim this reward by applying the VIP Reward at the bottom of the page when placing a wager.
DirectBet Review Highlights
Betting With BTC Addresses
To those that have only bet within an account with bitcoins, placing wagers by sending coins to bitcoin addresses may seem daunting. It’s quite simple, but there are a few caveats that bettors should be a way of before placing wagers at DirectBet or any other site that offers this platform.
Since bitcoin transfers vary in speed, (high traffic periods = lower speeds) DirectBet processes bets seconds after they receive them. The odds may change depending on how fast the transfer process, but they have a solution for this problem. Bettors can send a wager and tag it with the “Flexible Odds” option which will give bettors the current odds on the market, regardless of a line change. This isn’t recommended if you’re looking for the best price and are a keen line shopping, but it does guarantee you will get a bet in on an event no matter what. This option may be more useful when live betting as odds can change quickly.
The other option is “Negotiate Odds”. This allows bettors to only place a wager if the odds are equal to or better than the minimum odds specified. This selection allows players to be sure they are getting the price they want and if the market changes, they will get the better price.
Interface and Markets
DirectBet’s interface is dated and is frankly one of the ugliest layouts out of any offshore sportsbook online. Players will have to scroll down to the bottom of the screen to change their odds type. They offer decimal and American odds only. However, despite the lack of a new-age wagering platform, things work just fine. The look of the site certainly won’t wow people, as mentioned above, but from a nuts and bolts standpoint, there are no errors or bugs. Navigating their markets and placing bets is a painless process.
As far as markets go, DirectBet has an extensive list. They don’t quite match up with CloudBet or Nitrogen, but they’re close. Every major American sport is available for betting, both college and professional and that goes for major European sports as well, including soccer, rugby, cricket, etc. They go even further than that, offering tons of other sports including volleyball, Aussie rules football and many more. They even take wagers on political events and reality shows like the Eurovision song contest.
While they offer tons of sports, there isn’t much besides the basic sides and totals and compared to other sites, which may have a dozen or so markets on one game, they fall a bit short here. There are futures for most sports, but not much else. They do offer live betting for a large majority of their markets, which is nice. However, like many of our above issues at DirectBet, it’s just too basic. There aren’t any other options for betting besides updated sides and totals.
The same goes for bet types other than straight wagers. DirectBet doesn’t offer teasers for football or basketball, but they do offer parlays. Other than that, there’s not too much in terms of exotics. Overall, the odds in most major markets aren’t great. They don’t offer anything special with their parlay odds. It’s not that their odds are all around horrible, but there are plenty of better options out there in bitcoin markets.
Wagering Limits
DirectBet’s limits can be quite low for some markets, but for major events and sports, they have limits up to 40 BTC. All markets will have at least a 1.0 BTC betting limit. There is no minimum wagering amount. DirectBet’s limits as a whole will be on the lower end of bitcoin sportsbooks. Many sites take larger bets on smaller markets. They’re an excellent sportsbook for bettors who want to bet micro amounts since they don’t have a minimum wagering limit.
DirectBet Sportsbook Support
They don’t offer a phone line or live chat options, but their email support is excellent during their normal business hours. We had several questions for them during the writing of our review and they answered several emails throughout the day, each with about an hour in terms of response time.
The staff cares about helping players and is very knowledgeable. They have a thread at Bitcoin Talk Forum that has over 250 pages. Support is regularly active in the thread and it’s another venue for the sportsbook’s support staff.
100% Up To £30 Bonus
- Lots of promotions throughout the year.
- Betway Plus rewards program for players.
DirectBet Review Summary
DirectBet will never be in the upper echelon of sportsbooks until their odds improve, but they’re still a decent option for players. They have consistently paid players quickly since opening their doors and do have a VIP program for high volume bettors. Their bitcoin address wagering model will also be a draw for some who don’t want to store their bitcoins in an online sportsbook’s vault.
