Established in 1988, Paddy Power has grown into a titan of the sports betting scene, thanks in great part to their outlandish welcome offers, constant promotions, and very entertaining social media accounts. Covering an unfathomable range of sports, from football and horse racing to fishing and ten pin bowling, their regular and original promotions enable the Paddy Power players to enjoy a huge range of sports betting options.
The self-proclaimed “Home of the Money-back Special” will always have a promotion to either suit the sport that you follow or will be intriguing enough to get you into a new sport. Licensed by the Maltese Gambling Authority and the UK Gambling Commission and protected by Thawte, Paddy Power provides a safe, secure, and exciting gambling experience.
The many sports of Paddy Power
Despite there being so many sports markets to bet on, they’re all very easily found on the site, be it by scrolling or the search engine. Paddy Power is clearly in-tune with all of the latest sporting events as not only do they offer odds on them, they also openly discuss and comment on the latest events and games with their army of Twitter followers (some 630,000-plus strong) as well as update their blog very regularly.
When it comes to finding specific games, leagues, or events, it couldn’t be easier with the layout and search engine available. You can quickly navigate to the biggest in-play games in the middle section of the home page, with a link below In-Play Betting to take you to the full in-play betting page. Also, regardless of the day, the In-Play section will always be at the top of the Quick Links column on the left. There are simply too many Paddy Power sports to list them all here, so these are some of the biggest and the more unique options available to bet on with the jolly green bookies:
• Football
• Boxing
• Cricket
• Crossfit Games
• Fishing
• Ice Hockey
• Hockey
• Novelty Bets
• Politics
• Squash
• Ten Pin Bowling
• eSports
• … and so many more!
The Paddy Power site is specifically designed not just to show you the multitude of betting options available, but also to make it easier for you to find all of the biggest and most popular upcoming and in-play events. You can clearly see or locate the menus for the biggest sports, the next horse races, and the live in-play games. With so many markets along with a multitude of promotions available, it’s a wonder how Paddy Power have been able to build such an easy to use and speedy website. It’s truly remarkable. Down the left-hand side, you can see all of the most popular and biggest upcoming events in the Quick Links section, as well as the A-Z Betting section just below. The middle of the page is designated for the very top matches of the day across multiple sports. Above the top matches, however, is a very slick little menu of the best in-play betting currently available with tabs to see the next five horse races, and the top bets of the day.
Down the right-hand side, you’ll find some of Paddy Power’s ongoing promotions and competitions as well as your betting slip – which sticks to the left and follows you down the page. Possibly the best part of the site, given its many betting opportunities, is the search engine as it just makes everything so much easier. Having been a leader in the industry for decades, bettors automatically associate odds on a light green background with Paddy Power. The white on green layout of Paddy Power is very easy on the eye and allows for players to quickly locate the betting areas that they want to view. A brilliant site that has somehow managed to bring its customers all of its many markets and promotions without tarnishing the quality of the website. Paddy Power really has hit the nail on the head.
Licensing & safety
Paddy Power have gambling licenses coming out of their ears. They have a UK Gambling Commission license meaning they can serve UK customers, they’ve got a Maltese Gaming Authority License and to top it off they’ve also got an Alderney Gambling Control Commission license as well. Bottom line… they are heavily licensed, regulated and safe for punters to use. The stipulations set down in their various licensing agreements mean that, among other things, Paddy Power must:
- Ensure that all of the actions of the site are completely fair and unbiased.
- Make sure that those under the legal gambling age are unable to bet on the site until they are of an age whereby they understand the associated risks.
- Provide anyone with problems related to gambling with assistance and advice regarding how to sort out their issue.
The company was founded in Ireland back in 1988 and has since operated first in the high-street and now primarily online. They are listed on the London Stock Exchange as a public limited company and punters should have full faith they’ll payout and operate a fair bookmaking service.
Payment options
As one of the biggest bookies around, Paddy Power has a number of ways to deposit and withdraw. Once you go to the deposit page, you can pick what kind of payment method you would like to use, as well as access a help tab on the top right that has all the information you need. The page tells you what currency you are depositing in as well as the minimum deposit needed.
However, there is not always a maximum deposit stated so make sure you read the T&Cs before depositing to be sure. There is also an issue where Paddy Power does not tell you the maximum withdrawal limit. They can be found by contacting Paddy Power. Below is a run-through of each method of payment Paddy Power takes.
- Credit/debit card
All forms of credit and debit card you expect Paddy Power would accept are there.
Visa and Visa Debit are available, and you can deposit between £5 and £20,000.
The deposit is instant and does not ask you for any additional information. However, Paddy Power may ask for more details such as a photo ID or bank card before releasing the funds.
When you withdraw, you must use the same card which you used to deposit the money into your account to take it out.
- EWallets
Paddy Power allows you to use eWallets and there are three main ones it uses: Neteller, Skrill and PayPal.
Paddy Power will not charge you for any of these services but it does have minimum and maximum deposits.
Once you have aligned one of these eWallets to your Paddy Power account, you cannot change it for legal reasons.
You can deposit between £5 and £37,500 through Neteller and Skrill and £10 to £5500 on PayPal. There is a minimum withdrawal of £5 on each of the three eWallets, but no maximum withdrawal listed.
- Paysafecard
Paysafecards and vouchers can provide an easy way to make deposits into your Paddy Power account. Once you’ve bought your voucher, you can enter the code on the Paddy Power deposits page.
- Bank transfer
Bank transfers are possible with Paddy Power. You can deposit a minimum £5 but it will take 3-5 working days to go through.
- Paddy Power shops
Paddy Power boasts around 500 shops in the UK and Ireland where you can go and withdraw or deposit into your account. One of their customer service team will be on hand to help you with your request, but there can be busy periods where you may have to wait, which makes their online system more appealing.
Paddy Power Football
Navigating to the football betting on the Paddy Power site is very simple. On the website it is listed under the Quick Links option on the left hand side of the screen and you can often find many links here related to football betting, including links to betting on specific divisions, matches or particular types of sports bet (such as Paddy Power’s Acca Insurance Coupon). There is also the main Football Betting menu link here too.
Once you click on the main menu you can use the different tabs at the top of the screen to scroll through the different options (Football, Matches, Coupons, Outrights, Specials, Teams and Virtual). This is arguably the quickest way to navigate to the type of bet you want to place, unless your match is Live In Play at the moment (where it should be listed below in the In Play section), or it is one of the featured games taking place over the next few days, when again it should be listed below.
Football Promotions
In addition to a wide range of Money Back Specials that Paddy Power offers every day across a wide range of football games, the site also offers a number of longer-term football offers for its customers:
- Early Payouts If Your Team Goes 2 Up – Place a Pre Match bet on the Win-Draw-Win market with Paddy Power on any game in La Liga or the Premier League and if the team you back goes 2-0 up in the game, Paddy Power will pay you out immediately, regardless of the final score.
- Acca Insurance – Place a five-fold accumulator using selections from the Win-Draw-Win market of any of the top European Leagues with Paddy Power (minimum odds of 1/5 per leg) and if one leg of your accumulator bet lets you down, then Paddy Power will refund your bet as a free bet.
- Hit The Spot – accumulate points in this free to play game and if you finish high enough up the weekly leaderboard there’s free bet prizes to be won.
Paddy Power Horse Racing
Accessing the Horse Racing section on Paddy Power is very easy, simply click on the Horse Racing tab in the Quick Links section to bring up the main Horse Racing menu. From here you can use a number of different bars, links and menus to navigate to the race you want to bet on including a list of the current race meetings taking place in the UK, Ireland and often in countries beyond these borders too.
Clicking on a race will bring up detailed information about the course and the race, as well as a number of different bets available on each of the runners, plus the current price for the horse in that race at that time.
Horse Racing Promotions
Paddy Power offers just one longer term horse racing betting promotion and this is outlined below:
- Daily Extra Place Races – get paid out additional places on each way bets in horse races selected daily by Paddy Power (see promo page for race details).
- Best Price Guaranteed – Paddy Power are offering best price guaranteed on horse racing from the UK and Ireland. This means if you take a starting price on race day at 8am or later and your horse wins at longer odds you’ll get paid out at the bigger price.
Paddy Power Mobile App
You can download individual apps for Paddy Power Sports for the iPhone and iPad (there is one app each for these two devices, each optimised to work best on each device) and you can download these direct from the Paddy Power site or from the App Store. In addition, there is also a dedicated mobile app for Android devices which is downloadable from the Paddy Power site.
Sports betting enthusiasts can also download some other apps from Paddy Power which they may find useful including Paddy Power Onside (a handy bet tracker and offer services), Paddy Power Messenger (which allows you to bet via Instant Messenger or Text) and the Last Man Standing app, which is one of Paddy Power’s most popular football promotions.
What’s good about the Paddy Power Sports app?
The Paddy Power mobile app is great because it is optimised for use on both iPad and iPhone, which makes the best of the app on both machines and makes betting on the smaller screen iPhone easier. The Android app equally is very strong and all apps are easy to use using scroll bars to find the sport you want to bet on and then from here a series of menus allow you to navigate through the app easily to find and place your bet. There’s a very good In Play section available on mobile and at the foot of the page, the Cash Out option is readily available allowing you easy access to any bets that you would like to finish early and take the money on offer.
What’s not so great about the Paddy Power Sports app?
Paddy Power’s Live Streaming service is not available on the Sports betting app. This does diminish the appeal of In Play betting on some sporting events. Other than that, the only other improvement that could be made would be to offer easier access to the promotions available on the site.
