Introduction
The following is a review of the betting agency 12BET. I will update this review periodically to keep the details up to date. The Betting Agencies section provides information and reviews for other sports betting agencies.
12BET targets the European and Asian markets, but they offer AUD accounts, which makes the service perfectly suitable for Australian users. The service is owned by Pacific Sea Invests S.A. Limited. Their Europe operation is based and licensed in the Isle of Man while the Asian operation is based and licensed in the Philippines. The 12BET website is in available in numerous Asian languages, as well as English and Spanish. Because they cater for the Asian market, the website offers the Malay, Indonesian and Hong Kong odds formats on top of the standard decimal format that Australians are familiar with.
Overview
- New member offers – New users who sign up with an AUD account and deposit $40 or more can get a $40 free bet by entering the code 1210025 during registration. An alternative promotion for Australians is a 20% deposit bonus up to $315 when you enter the code ONE228 during registration. One major warning is that the turnover requirements are twelve and ten times the combined deposit and bonus amounts, for the first and second promotions, respectively. This is one of the toughest rules I’ve seen in the industry.
- Deposit options – wire transfer, Moneybookers, credit card (via Moneybookers), POLi (via Moneybookers).
- Withdrawal options – wire transfer, Moneybookers
- Transaction fees – none
- Minimum bet – $1.00
- Sports – A decent range of sports, racing, and entertainment betting options are available. Because the site isn’t based in Australia, betting options for sports like rugby and cricket are limited. At the time of review I couldn’t find any AFL markets, but did see ANZ Netball odds on offer. On top of sporting events they do have live casino and slot games, but that section of the site disappears once I log in, which suggests they aren’t available to Australian users. I may be wrong, however.
- Live betting – Live online betting during matches is available.
- Credit – Not that I’m aware of.
- Upsides
- No transaction fees on deposits and withdrawals.
- Online betting during live events
- 12BET TV displays live streaming of selected sporting events.
- The site displays the maximum permitted stake for each bet, which avoids the disappointment of having a bet rejected.
- They offer a Mobile version of the website.
- The site features a Live chat feature to provide support.
- Downsides
- The turnover requirements for bonus funds are excessive.
- You require a Moneybookers account in order to make a credit card deposit. It’s only a minor inconvenience, but this is the first bookmaker that I’ve reviewed which doesn’t support direct credit card payments.
- The odds types are displayed using acronyms (FT. HDP, FT. O/U, etc). This makes the service less suitable for beginners, however seasoned punters will appreciate the condensed display of numerous odds options for multiple live events.
- Bottom line – 12BET a bookmaker that I recommend to seasoned punters only. The high turnover requirements give little chance of making a profit for beginners, while the heavy use of acronyms to display odds types will confuse newbies. Veterans, however, will appreciate the condensed display of numerous odds types across multiple live sports. With the changes of background shading to reflect updated odds and the scrolling news feed at the top, you feel you are using financial software rather than a sportsbook (see screenshot below). Seasoned Australian punters will also appreciate this service to take advantage of odds disparities between this and Australian bookmakers.
