Coral is a UK based traditional bookmaker owned by the Gala Coral Group. It is one of the world’s oldest bookmakers. The founder, Joe Coral began taking sports bets (mostly horse racing) in 1926 and his business, Coral Retail became a legal entity in 1960 when off–course bookmaking was legalized.
It is currently owned by the Gala Coral group – having gone through quite a few acquisitions and management buy–outs over the years. There is news of an impending merger with Ladbrokes still in the works and expected to be tied up in the coming weeks.
Coral owned 1200 bet shops at the time of the merger with Gala and boasted 1800 of them as of 2012, employing over 19000 people in the UK alone. They own a handful more under the Eurobet brand name all around Europe.
They were named “Bookmaker of the year” at the 2006 UK Gambling Awards and have consistently come up with fresh marketing ideas from time to time including the RUN 4 IT campaign that helped them steal 2447 customers from 900 competitors in the space of 3 weeks.
Their headquarters is in the United Kingdom, but a great deal of the business has been moved to Gibraltar, the country of origin of their owners.
The Gala Coral Group’s merger with Coral Eurobet in October 2005 made them into the UK’s third largest bookmaker in the process.
In terms of gambling experience, Coral sports betting makes use of the Geneity software, which is the industry leader in enabling online betting with a focus on sports betting. It also allows for telephone betting and much more – but its focus is on enhancing sports betting experiences. It is owned by Playtech and one of its biggest selling points is its user–friendliness – something which Coral betting platforms take a lot of pride in.
Users are spoilt for choice with scores of events taking place at each time from sports like tennis, football, rugby league/union, basketball, horse racing, the Olympics and so much more – too many to list. The events available as well as markets playable in these events are also numerous: from outright to match wins, handicaps and thousands more depending on the sport of choice. Special odds crop up from time to time for “special events”.
Coral’s sports booking services are further enhanced by the quality of their website. An easy to use website with 3D graphics allowing users to enjoy the whole gambling experience even more. It is intuitive and interactive, and registering users is easy and quickly.
Mobile betting on sports is almost effortless as offered by Coral. There are several channels to choose from: ranging from an sms–based registration portal to the mobile site and the smartphone app dedicated to sports betting.
Downloading the cross–platform application gives new users an automatic £20 or €20 in free bets upon a £5 or €5 wager or more, it also puts betting at the palms of their hands and it makes monitoring and management of sports bets easy and in real time with updates as the game unfolds. Users can monitor every play, every foul, every serve, every piece of action on the Coral Sports Betting App. The app is available on Android iOS, and other major platforms but it won’t be found in the playstore due to Google and its rules regarding gambling content.
To enhance sports betting, users can use funds from winnings on casino wagers to play on sports events and markets.
There are several offers available daily, some of them reserved exclusively for the smartphone app users, including enhanced odds, winning bonus and much more.
Other bonuses offered on sports betting include enhanced odds sports accumulators and possible bet refunds. Refunds can be claimed on single result let–downs involving tennis accumulators of fivefold and above. There is also the possibility of cashing out bets when doubts set in, this is only available on select events and markets.
For football bettors, the super Acca insurance on 6 Fold + ‘Match Result’ football accumulators across every available competition helps users get refunds if one, two or three (yes three) teams let them down.
There are many other insurance offers on several other sports, including golf, cricket, basketball, racing, etc.
Tennis has their highest betting margin at 6.5% with football following with 5.8%.
What to expect from Coral by existing members.
There is a lot on offer from Coral to its users, to not only enhance their gambling experience but to make them enjoy it and build their trust. One of the ways this is done is via Coral Connect – a service through which users can claim their online sports betting winnings at nearby Coral shops. Users find this very convenient, and Coral obviously tries to keep them that way with new offerings from time to time.
The cash out option as mentioned earlier is also another fan favorite, there are few things worse than an Acca ruined by the last game – except maybe expecting the let down and wishing for a chance to cash out (or partial cash out) – coral lets users escape such pain. This is particularly useful in the case of long term wagers that may take up to a whole season to play.
The Coral Radio app provides updated betting information and tips to interested users, although there are no loyalty offerings, this service helps to reward ardent followers with betting updates and sports commentaries.
It must be said that Coral offers competitive odds across its wide selection of events and various markets. Their horse racing offers the best price among other bookies. The design of their website/app is such that the odds update regularly – be it pre match or in–play bets.
Coral keeps up with the times by embracing the most current trends in mobile gambling – in-play bets. Users want to make money from the sporting events they spend time watching by betting on the events unfolding as it goes on.
Their in-plays are optimized to offer special odds across all markets from match results to several other different match events. There is also a color coded system (for both in–play and pre–game selections) to let users know the state of the odds they are working with, if it is incoming or outgoing, so that they know they are getting the best value for their money.
The minimum stake amount varies with the type of bet and the amount pops up with the bet slip when users are about to place a bet. There is no specified maximum betting limit, just a maximum payout amount specific to individual markets.
In terms of security, card payments are authenticated using the “Verified by…” system, in a move aimed at helping to eliminate any possibility of fraud. All users’ account details and payment information are encrypted using SSL certificates. The mobile site runs on a secure HTML5 platform provided by Verisign for ultimate safety of use.
Deposits are accepted via most major debit and credit cards, as well as a many other online payment portals like Neteller, Ukash, PayPal and Skrill. Payout is also possible across that many platforms too except for those that only work for payments and not receipts.
Coral is licensed (as part of the Gala Coral Group) in both Gibraltar and the UK to offer bookmaking services and operate bet shops and casinos.