BoyleSports

BoyleSports UK Review (2023)

Headquartered in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland, Boylesports is one of the largest independent bookmakers in Europe. It is a private company founded in 1982 by John Boyle, who set up his first betting shop in Markethill, Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland.

The bookie’s reach has swelled ever since. They had 77 shops as of 2004 and 250 shops in 2018. Boylesports entered the UK market in 2019 through the acquisition of Wilf Gilbert. They have also acquired William Hill shops in Northern Ireland to become the country’s biggest retail bookmaker.

Boylesports has 340 shops today and boasts over 2,500 employees across Ireland and the UK. They are licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission under account number 39469. The bookie is also regulated by the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner (RGL 083 and 084), which caters for punters outside the UK.

The Boylesports website features a wide range of sports markets, online casinos, live casinos, and other games. In this Boylesports review, we dig into the bookie’s offerings, margins, promotions, payment methods, and much more.

BoyleSports Sportsbook

Boylesports offers a comprehensive sportsbook featuring over 40 popular sports and virtuals. The “sports” tab is conveniently located on the top right side of the website. In the sportsbook, you still get easy access to other betting categories such as games, live casinos, and the lotto.

The cash-out, results, and bet calculator are just under the betting categories tabs. Punters can feed the odds and stake their bet into the bet calculator to see how much they win.

Sports Available

The complete list of BoyleSports sportsbook had the following 42 listings, including popular sports and markets such as politics:

• American Football
• Cycling
• Greyhounds
• Rugby League
• Water Polo
• Athletics
• Daily Specials
• Handball
• Rugby Union
• Winter Sports
• Australian Rules
• Darts
• Horse Racing
• Snooker
• Badminton
• Entertainment/ TV
• Ice Hockey
• Speedway
• Baseball
• E-Sports
• Motorsport
• Squash
• Basketball
• Field Hockey
• Netball
• Swimming
• Beach volleyball
• Football
• Olympics
• Table Tennis
• Bowls
• Futsal
• Politics
• Tennis
• GAA
• UFC/ MMA
• Cricket
• Golf
• Rowing
• Volleyball

Betting Markets

Boylesports’s 42 sportsbook entries come with an extensive list of betting options. There are not as many markets as you would expect from other top betting sites, such as Bet365, but they are adequate for most punters.

The trend is that most of the less popular sports among punters get about 4 betting options across approximately 20 unique tournaments. However, there is also the option of designing a custom bet for yourself. The common ones have at least double that amount. The sports with the most markets are:

• Horse racing
• Football
• Dogs racing
• Rugby union
• Darts
• Golf
• GAA
• Tennis
• American football

In horse races, for example, there were markets in Australia, the US, UK/ IRE, and others, making a total of over 50 events at the time of writing. Within each event, you will find various betting options such as forecast (first and second horses) and trifecta (up to the third position). You also get a Win or E/W (each-way) bet, such that your price is guaranteed if the horse either wins or finishes in any of the top positions.

Football often boasts the most betting markets among bookies, and BoyleSports is no different. They feature popular tournaments such as the Europa League, Champions League, and UK Premier League matches.

However, it is a bit difficult to navigate to specific tournaments. You have to go to the “competition” tag and mostly find them by country. There are over 50 countries listed. Under England, for example, we found Premier League, Champions, League 1, League 2, and League Cup. Brazil had Serie A, Serie B, and Youth Matches. Women’s world cup was on the list as well. Among the bet categories were:

• Match betting
• Handicaps
• Both teams to score
• Both teams to score and match result
• Total goals O/U 1.5
• Total goals O/U 2.5
• Total goals O/U 3.5
• 1st half goals O/U 0.5

There is also a “pool” option under the “A-Z sports” menu. However, the betting pools were limited to football, American football, horse racing, and golf at the time of writing. One pool betting offer that stood out was “goal in 1st half of all 8 matches.”

Cricket had Popular, Draw No Bet, and Match options. There were a total of 8 competitions from Australia, UAE, New Zealand, and a few other international tournaments. In golf, punters get to wager on the outright, round leader, 3 balls, mythical 2 balls, and 18 hole group betting.

Betting Margins

The bookie has “best odds guaranteed” for all of the sports offered. Lower betting margins increase a punter’s returns over time. Since this is often different across sportsbooks and sports, we narrowed down and calculated the betting margins in various games to establish a trend.

The average betting margin of BoyleSports was 4.1%, which is competitive compared to other top bookmakers in the industry. American football had 4.5%, Tennis and baseball had about 3%, while football came in higher at 6.0%.

Live Streaming and In-Play Betting

Boylesports has a live streaming feature that allows punters to watch their favourite matches as they proceed. The live streaming access is only available for BoyleSports customers, such that you have to be logged into your account to use it.

It offers a great alternative to TV, allowing users to watch sports on the go so long as they have an internet connection. Moreover, live streaming is available on both the browser and mobile app versions of the bookie. 

They also support in-play betting. Punters can wager on various outcomes of the match as it proceeds, such as how soon the next goal will be scored. This allows you to bet confidently after having a feel of the match. The bookie changes and updates the odds in real-time according to what's happening in the competition. Among the games with live betting options are:

• Football
• Tennis
• Cricket
• Basketball
• Darts
• Baseball
• Badminton
• Ice hockey
• Table tennis
• Volleyball
• E-sports

Existing Customer Promotions

As is always the case in most online sportsbooks, Boylesports has several bonuses and promotions to keep things exciting for their customers. They are dominantly for horse races, though not always. Here are the bonuses and promotions that were on the site at the time of the review:

• Money Back: you get a refund of your stake in the form of a free bet if you wager on a horse or dog race, and it finishes second to the starting price (SP). The bookie offers this promotion on select racing events. The maximum refund is £20.
• Acca Loyalty: available for all sports, the Acca loyalty rewards punters when they place an accumulator on any combination of sports with at least 5 legs and combined odds of no less than 3/1 (4.0). The bookie rewards you with £5 once your fifth qualifying accumulator has been settled.
• Money back if one leg loses on your 5+ Acca: you get a refund in free bets of up to £20 in case one leg loses out of 5 legs on any market and in any spot.
• Best odds guaranteed for horse racing: you take an early or board price on UK/Irish horse racing, and if the SP is greater, BoyleSports will pay the best price.

Other Gambling Products on BoyleSports

This bookie offers a whole other range of casino games and lobbies. Succeeding the sports button on the menu are the vegas, games, casino, live casino, bingo, poker, and lotto tabs.

Boylesports Casino

The casino section has so many games that it may be difficult for new punters to find what they like. They offer an opportunity for great gambling action outside the sports world. There are a total of 123 slots and at least 39 card and table games. Among the popular options to expect are:

• Baccarat
• Bingo
• Blackjack
• Craps
• Keno
• Lotteries
• Roulette
• Scratch cards
• Video poker
• sic-bo

The bookie seems to have made a significant investment in the casino section, seeing as they feature high-quality graphics. They also work with renowned providers such as RobotSheriff, Playtech, Finsoft, IGT, NetEnt, and FlintRocks.

The jackpots on the casino are not humble either. You can expect upwards of £500,000 while the “Jackpot Giant” game goes as high as over £7,000,000. It is not something you see in most online casinos.

Live Casino

The live casino section helps humanise the online experience. Despite doing it on your device, you play alongside a live dealer, which provides the feel of a conventional brick-and-mortar establishment. It is also more simplified and easier to navigate than the previous section. It is grouped into various categories that make navigation a lot easier. They include:

• Roulette
• Games shows
• Blackjack
• Baccarat
• Sic-bo
• Jackpots
• Poker
• Spin a Win

Within each category are various other sections, each with a live dealer. For instance, poker has a section offering 3 Card Brag. There’s also one for Casino Hold’em. Looking at the game shows tab, you can find traditional-themed options as well as Hi-Lo and other variants of roulette and blackjack.

Vegas

Although it is technically part of the casino collection, the site has a separate tab labelled “VEGAS” with most traditional games. These are primarily offerings that have been in the online casino industry for a long time and, therefore, have a lot of fans. You will find categories such as:

• Jackpots
• New (for the newer entries)
• Dragons
• Power reels
• Slots
• Table and card

If you scroll the menu to the far right, there is a tab called “AZ.” It opens all the games in alphabetical order. What’s more, there are around 3 jackpots at any time, including super drop, hourly drop, and daily drop.

Among the popular games to expect under BoyleSports’s vegas collection are:

• Cash volt
• Vault Cracker
• Piggy Riches
• Bounty Raid
• Mystery Reels
• Reel King
• Joe Exotic
• Gonzo's Quest
• Dragon’s Luck
• Zeus’ Lightning Power Reels.

Bingo

A favourite among punters, it is no wonder BoyleSports has an entire tab dedicated to bingo on the site’s homepage. The bingo lobby is the most uncluttered and straightforward. It shows the rooms that will be active soon, from those that open in a few seconds to several hours.

There are hundreds of rooms listed at a time, which is probably why they also have boxes at the top for choosing the time, room, and day that you want to book. The entry rates range between £ 0.01 and £0.50 while the prizes fall between £10 and £70. Among the popular game types were:

• Speed Bingo
• Rainbow Riches Bingo
• Bingo UK75
• Deal Or No Deal Bingo
• 5 Alive
• Red Box Club
• False Start
• Fields of Green
• Gold Ticketnew
• Breakfast at Hera’s
• 3-2-1 Go
• Favourite 5
• Power 5
• Record Breaker
• Bankers Special
• 1&TG Bingo, among others

Lotto

Boylesports has a lotto section that provides the same experience as the national lottery. Their sweet spot is the Irish lottery Bet, although they have about 15 other lotto draws from around the world, including:

• German Lotto
• Daily Millions
• Polish Lotto
• French Lotto
• Irish Lotto
• Spanish Lotto
• New York Lotto
• Euro Lotto
• Lucky Stars
• UK Lotto
• Australian Lotto
• 49’S
• Canadian Lotto
• Greek Lotto
• Hong Kong Lotto

The procedure for entering a lottery competition on BoyleSports is fairly simple. You only have to select the lotto, choose your lucky numbers, enter your stake, and wait for the chance to win. The site also has a scheduling feature that punters can use to stay ahead of the game. You automatically join the next draw of the lotto you schedule.

Poker

For the poker lover, BoyleSports has a dedicated section for the game. The bookie employs Playtech iPoker technology to boost the gaming experience. They have various interesting variations of poker, including:

• Six Plus Hold'em
• Twister poker
• Speed poker

Twister poker is especially exciting. It is a variation of Sit-n-Go that involves only three players and a chance of winning up to a thousand multiplier from the buy-in. On the contrary, hundreds of players can join Speed Poker. You are transferred to another table after finishing each hand, and there is a rake of 4%, 5%, or 7%.

Additionally, Boylesports has tournaments for poker players. They feature big jackpots in the following poker variants:

• Twister Poker
• Progressive KO
• Age of The Gods Twister
• Wild Twister

Most of these games do not have a designated start time but rather begin as soon as three players join. Moreover, each game has a specific maximum and minimum bet. The maximum payout is dependent on the purchasing price. If the entry is £20, for example, and there are five players, the pot will be worth £100. Some games give the whole loot to the winner, while others split it between the first two or three places.

BoyleSports Mobile Betting

The BoyleSports site is generally easy to navigate. The colour scheme resembles Betfred, and the sportsbook is a bit dominated by Irish traditional Gaelic games. However, every other thing is still relatively easy to find.

Not forgetting, the site is mobile-optimised, so you can still use it on the go through your device’s browser. That being said, the bookie also has two separate apps for Android and iOS devices.

Android and iOS Apps

The mobile version of BoyleSports is available for both Android and iOS products on the Play Store and App Store, respectively. It is rated 3.9/5, which is considerably high. A good proportion of those ratings are on the five-star end.

What’s more, the mobile betting apps mirror the desktop version and are arranged in a logical, easily navigable order. The key features include:

• Live scores as well as goal updates
• 44 markets for every game
• Remote personal betting
• In-depth statistics and match analysis
• Flash bet (aka one-touch betting)
• Bet builder (you create a customised  in the sportsbookYoufootball bet)
• Live Streaming
• Exclusive mobile promotions

Customer Support

Boylesports offers support for customers via:

• Live chat: accessible in the help section
• Phone: 0800-22-00-66 (for UK users), 1800-22-00-66 (Ireland), and +353-42-939-3168 (rest of the world)
• Email: care@boylesports.com
• Twitter: @boylecare

Live chat is especially favoured among punters because agents are quick to answer questions and provide more quality information. The phone support depends on your location and is manned 24/7. It is the best option if you prefer to have a more direct conversation with someone.

As for the email, you want to use it when you have a less urgent question. Emails, too, are checked 24/7, and the response is not so slow either, usually taking a couple of hours.

The FAQ section of the website can also be viewed as a form of customer support. Their FAQ sitemap answers many common issues on most of their products. It is also a great place to start when you want to familiarise yourself with the site.

Boylesports Payment Methods

The bookie stood out for offering quick deposits and withdrawals, a wide range of methods, and popular e-wallets such as PayPal, Skrill, and Netteler. Additionally, all the deposit and withdrawal methods are free of charge. The only costs you may incur come from your provider's end if they charge any. Here’s what you get and the corresponding minimum limit:

• Visa (£5)
• Mastercard (£5)
• Maestro (£5)
• Neteller (£10)
• Skrill (£10)
• PayPal (£5)
• Google Pay (£5)
• Apple Pay (£5)
• Paysafecard (£10)
• Boku (£5 - £30 a day)
• Bank Transfer (£10)
• Sofort (£10)
• Giropay (£10)
• Instadebit (£10)
• Trustly (£10)
• Euteller (£10)
• Cheque (£20)

All the above channels can be used for either depositing or withdrawal, apart from Paysafecard and Boku. Most of the transactions are instant except for Bank Transfer, Giropay, SOFORT, and Intadebit, which take 3-5 days. Cheques may take up to 10 days to clear.