Coral are one of the most recognised sports betting companies in the UK and have had a presence on the UK high street for many, many years. Along with the likes of William Hill and Ladbrokes, they have been one of the most popular places for punters to bet for many years, including prior to the Internet age.
Now though, Coral have their own dedicated sports betting site and it looks rather impressive.
In this review, we will take a closer look at the site and how it works, what its top features are, how easy it is to bet and play, how the Coral Sports welcome bonus stacks up, and finally we’ll give you our view on just how the Coral site stands up as a sports betting site against the opposition.
Let’s begin with a general overview of the site, how easy it is to use and navigate and of course, place a bet.
An overview of Coral Sports betting for UK players
The Coral Sports Betting service has the same design and feel of all other Coral sites and like them, it is very easy to find your way around thanks to the simple design and interface.
Everything is operated either from the tab menu at the top of the screen, or the links down the left hand side. The key information is displayed in the larger central column with bet information and promotional details on the right hand side.
The first thing to note about Coral Sports is that serious punters will not be disappointed with the amount of sports available, nor the amount of markets available across each event in each sport. There are many different sports available on the site, although there is a strong focus on the more popular sports such as horse racing and soccer in particular.
The Quick Links section in the top left corner of the screen is very useful as it gives you easy access to the most popular sporting events taking place at that time. In addition, the My Coral section underneath, looks at your history of bets with the site and provides you with links to bets or markets that historically you have been most interested in.
Finding your markets is simply a case of navigating using the coupons, quick links, or other shortcuts to your preferred market and then finding the bet you want to make. You then click on the odds of the selection you wish to back and this adds that selection to the bet slip in the top tight corner.
Once you have added all your selections you can then use the bet slip to finalise your bet, picking what type of bet you wish to make and deciding how much you want to stake on that bet. Once complete, you just need to click the green Place Bet button and your bet will be made.
Once you have made bets, you can view them in the Open Bets section of the bet slip and in addition, if you have any bets that can be cashed out, you can view these by clicking on the Bets That I Can Cash Out tab, which lists all bets you can cash out and how much you can cash out for.
Joining the site is also very quick and easy and the simple design and distinctive blue livery does make the site somewhat eye-catching, both when accessed via a PC and also when used on a mobile or tablet device.
There are several features of the Coral site that are well worth taking note of and we’ll take a look at some of the best of these below.
Coral Live Streaming
Coral now offer an extensive Live Streaming service to customers. The site has access to a number of live football, tennis, snooker, rugby and basketball streams and when a stream of a game is available, a green play icon is displayed next to the event.
Provided that you have a positive cash balance with Coral, you can then view these live streaming events for free on your PC.
One nice touch is the ability to “pop out” the event from the smaller window in the top right hand corner of the screen below the bet slip. This brings up a larger window, which allows you to view the sport on a larger screen.
You can also view a live stream of any horse race in the UK, Ireland or Dubai that you have placed a bet of £1 or more on via your PC, mobile or tablet device (Apple or Android compatible).
Coral’s live streaming service may not be as extensive on some other sites, but it is a high quality product for the sports it offers and of course it ties in well with their In Play betting service, which we shall learn a little more about below.
Coral Stats Pack
One of the key aspects for any serious punter on a site is the quality of statistics available about a wide range of sports. Coral’s stats package is certainly up there with the very best, boasting a huge database of stats for 25 different sports and events.
It’s not just the number of sports that is extensive however, but the information contained for each sport. Using one example, snooker, you can bring up information on any of the big tournaments played across the snooker season, plus a host of smaller events and you can further sort this data into other categories.
Few sites offer such a comprehensive and detailed stats package that is so easy to sort through and find what you want so Coral’s stats pack certainly gets a big thumbs up from us here, especially if you are a punter who likes to thoroughly research your bets before placing them.
Coral Radio
Another nice touch is Coral Radio, which allows you to click on a choice of sports for the latest commentary. Horse racing, football, cricket and greyhound coverage as well as stations for the latest sports news and football scores.
This is a particularly useful service for keeping tabs on an event on your mobile when you don’t want to hog bandwidth by streaming live video.
The radio service may be basic, but it does provide an incredibly useful service and is handy to have on, especially on the news service, when you are placing bets to catch any last minute news or information that may affect your choices.
Coral In Play Betting
We’ve already talked about the quality of Coral’s Live Streaming service, but tied to that in many ways is the sites extensive In Play betting service.
You can view all the in play events available at any one time in the List View option which is a great way to scan through all the events to find one that you wish to place a bet on.
All major sports are included on the list as well as several smaller, less popular sports and for each sporting event, there are usually a large number of different markets that you can bet on in play.
As always, the key is placing your bet at the right time to gain maximum value, so the fact that the betting slip is so easy to use and locate also helps you use the In Play betting service very smoothly. Indeed in play betting on Coral is perhaps the easiest to enjoy of all sites I’ve looked at over the years.
Certainly, if you are a fan of in play betting across the most popular sports, you will find everything you need at Coral.
Coral UK new player offer
Coral offer new customers a simple offer when they sign up.
All you need to do is register with Coral and then place your first sports bet of either a £5 win or £5 each way. Your selection must be on a sports betting market of odds of 1/2 or better.
If your bet complies with this, then Coral will give you a single free bet of £20, which you can use within seven days on any win or each way bet, as well as double, treble, 4-fold and upward accumulators, forecast bets and combination bets.
If you win with your free bet stake, then your free bet of £20 is not included in any returns due back to you.
This is a simple and very appealing promotion as there’s no withdrawal requirement should you win with your free bet. If you do, the cash you receive back is yours.
Other notable promotions
Coral also run extensive promotions across a wide range of sports.
They have a Golf Guarantee offering customers the best odds on a number of pre-match and in play golf bets. There’s also an acca insurance offer on any tennis bet, a best price guaranteed offer for horse racing enthusiasts plus a whole host of promotions run throughout the year based on different sporting events, such as the US Open Golf, Wimbledon Tennis, the start of the football season and more.
Coral have a high number of promotions available at one time, although many are short-lived, so you do need to be on the site and betting regularly to take full advantage of them.
Payment options
Coral offer a number of payment methods with which you can fund your account and make withdrawals to:
- Visa or Mastercard Credit Cards
- Visa Debit Card
- Visa Electron
- PayPal
- Skrill
- Maestro
- Ukash
- Neteller
- ClickandBuy
- Eco
- Paysafecard
- Instant banking
- Prepaid card
Mobile users will be happy that they can deposit and withdraw using ewallet services (such as PayPal and uKash) and both these services provide instantaneous transfer of funds both into and out of your Coral account.
Other services, such as credit cards are usually processed within two to five days.
Conclusion
There is no doubting that as sports book sites go, Coral is one of the best available.
It has a massive range of features, a huge number of markets, generally strong odds and a wide number of varying promotions throughout the year that offer a typical punter genuine value for money.
The site is user-friendly, easy to use and navigate and has all the key features, in play betting, live streaming, cash out options and more, that you would expect from a top drawer service.
In short, if you enjoy sports betting, Coral is a fantastic choice whether you bet via your PC or via your tablet or smartphone.
