StarSports have continued to evolve following their establishment in 1999, where they launched under the name “Star Racing”. Their exponential growth over the years – combined with an ever-widening sports portfolio – have seen the bookie thrust into the limelight within the UK betting scene. But how do they compare to the veterans of the game? And how will they stand up in ThePuntersPage’s in-depth StarSports review? Let’s take a closer look below!
How We Rate Operators
At ThePuntersPage, our commitment to providing clear and comprehensive sportsbook reviews is paramount. We meticulously assess each bookmaker during our future-proof review procedure, focusing on several critical aspects:
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1.
Odds and Margins
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2.
Bonuses and Terms
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3.
UK-friendly Payment Methods
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4.
Betting Markets
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5.
Live Betting and Streaming
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6.
Betting Features
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Simple process
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Basic information required
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Emphasis on responsible gambling right away
There is nothing complicated about creating an account with StarSports. To kickstart the process, the bookie asks you to list the email you’d like to associate with the account and create a password. You can also add any promo codes that you might’ve been able to get your hands on.
After clicking ‘Create Account’, you’ll then be asked to list all your personal information. This includes your name, date of birth, phone number, home address, and preferred currency.
You can then decide whether you’d like to receive notifications regarding any promotional offers.
Once that step is complete, you’re pretty much done. You can set a couple of account limits (deposit limits and a reality check) in step two before the bookie encourages you to make your first deposit.
We opted against making a deposit, so we clicked skip. Now, you’re ready to begin betting with StarSports!
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Minimal payment options
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Simple depositing process
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Verification before first withdrawal
Payment options are limited with StarSports, as customers are only able to deposit funds via debit card (Visa/Maestro/Mastercard), bank transfer, or cheque.
£10 is the minimum deposit with all payment method options.
Withdrawals with all methods are usually processed between two to five working days, but new customers will have to be verified before they’re able to withdraw. To complete this verification process, all customers need to do is email StarSports an image of their driver's licence, passport, bank statement or other similar document.
Unfortunately, there are no cryptocurrencies accepted by this betting site.
Depositing Funds
To make a deposit with StarSports, first you must click the yellow ‘Balance’ icon located in the top right-hand corner of the homepage. That will bring up the below deposit screen.
If you’re depositing via a debit card, all you have to do is confirm how much you want to top up your account with before clicking the ‘Pay Using Debit Card’ button.
To finish off the quick and easy process, merely fill in the basic card information (card number, expiry date, security code, cardholder name) that you’ve done a thousand times before.
After clicking ‘PAY NOW’, your StarSports account should be funded.
Withdrawing Winnings
Fortunately, we were lucky enough to win our first bet placed with this bookmaker. As you can see below, we now have £14.71 in our account which we wish to withdraw.
To withdraw our funds, we once again clicked the ‘Balance’ icon and backed out of the deposit screen that immediately pops up. A drop-down list then presented itself and, unsurprisingly, we clicked ‘Withdraw’.
To conclude the process, all we had to do was confirm how much we wished to withdraw and click the distinct ‘Withdraw’ icon.
We immediately received confirmation that our withdrawal request is pending, and that our funds should arrive in our account within 3-5 working days.
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No welcome offer for new customers.
Unfortunately, StarSports currently doesn’t boast a welcome offer for new customers.
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Promotions constantly updated
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Not the most original offers
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No VIP programme
There’s no dedicated promotions page on the StarSports’ website, but punters can access their current offers via an advertisement slider located right in the middle of the homepage.
Nevertheless, StarSports’ promotions are frequently updated to maintain a sense of freshness and excitement. At the time of writing, there’s a heavy emphasis on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. They are offering football bettors the TWO GOOD football offer, which is widely seen across bookmakers. If your team goes two goals ahead at any stage of the match, your bet will be settled as a winner no matter the final outcome.
Overall, StarSports does a good job of updating their promotions to retain the interests of punters. The promos they boast may not be the most exciting, but at least they’re always up to date.
VIP/Loyalty Programme
Unfortunately, StarSports currently doesn’t boast a VIP or Loyalty Programme of any kind. Sorry, seasoned punters.
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26 sports available
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Competitive and consistent odds
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No esports
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Great specials offering
A broad sportsbook is imperative for bookmakers, and while StarSports may not excel in this regard, they certainly don’t disgrace themselves. Punters can select from 26 sports, each complemented by a wide selection of leagues, games, events and markets.
Competitive odds, meanwhile, would hand StarSports a major advantage over its competitors.
Thus, to measure the quality of their margins, we used the odds overround. The overround is a calculation that combines the total percentage probability of all selections in a match coming true. Naturally, the result of this should come to 100% – however, this does not factor in the profits made by the bookmaker. For this reason, it is widely accepted that any figure below 110% is considered to indicate fair odds.
So, we picked three games at random from the Champions League, EFL Championship, and Italian Serie A to determine the quality of StarSports’ odds, and found them to be at 105.74%, 105.69%, and 106.02% respectively. This confirmed that StarSports' odds are not only competitive, but also consistent, meaning there’s little to fault the bookie in this regard.
Punters can display their odds as decimals or fractions with this bookie.
Placing a Bet
After topping up our StarSports account, we explored their sportsbook and decided to place a bet on one of the midweek Carabao Cup fixtures. Thus, we accessed the bookie’s football coverage and navigated to their Carabao Cup offering.
As you can see, we are hovering over Manchester City to beat Chelsea at 40/85 odds. Once clicking the odds, the bet immediately went into our bet slip – located down the right-hand side of the page.
To place this bet, we confirmed our stake in the white box with the pound icon and clicked the yellow icon below.
That was all we needed to do to place a bet with StarSports. Our bet receipt is shown above.
Esports
If you fancy yourself as a master of the gaming world, StarSports certainly isn’t the place for you. Their esports offering is minimal, and on the day of writing, there were no events available to bet on despite several events and tournaments going on across the world.
Nevertheless, if you’re intrigued by the possibility of betting on esports, be sure to check out our top esports tips and strategies.
Other Specials
StarSports certainly doesn’t miss a beat with specials, however. Customers can bet on a variety of political markets with this bookie, ranging from British to US politics as well as several novelty events. Furthermore, I’m A Celebrity 2022, Strictly Come Dancing 2022, and Sports Personality of the Year 2022 markets are available.
You can also bet on who you think will be the next James Bond!
Cash Out & Bet Builder
You’re able to take full control of your bets with StarSports’ Cash Out and Partial Cash Out features.
The bookie’s bet builder feature, meanwhile, is available in the form of ‘Build-a-Bet’. This feature grants punters the freedom to customise their football bets, with StarSports allowing customers to utilise as many markets as they feel necessary to do so.
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Pretty basic live offering
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Simple match tracker and statistics
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Livestreaming on UK and Irish racing events
StarSports’ live offering isn’t majorly advanced, although it’s undoubtedly sufficient. There were a mere 27 in-play markets for punters to enjoy in the above example; however, it’s important to bear in mind that this was a Bulgarian Cup clash – a fixture unlikely to garner any serious interest.
The live match tracker and statistics are both fairly basic, with no livestreaming provided for football matches. However, those who like to dip their toe in the horse-racing world can enjoy a livestreaming service for all UK and Irish meetings.
The site’s in-play markets are easily accessible via its own tab at the top of the homepage.
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Licensed by the UK Gambling Commission
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Several account limits available
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SSL encryption
Security is paramount with the top-tier bookmakers, and StarSports certainly doesn’t fall short in this regard. Licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, the site boasts a comprehensive Privacy Policy that runs through data collection, personal data rights, and cookies.
There’s also a clear emphasis on Responsible Gambling, which, as we noted earlier, is noticeable upon registration. Customers can set Deposit Limits (daily, weekly, monthly) and take breaks via StarSports’ Play Break (Time Out) and Self-Exclusion options. Reality Checks, meanwhile, interrupt your session to discretely remind you how long you’ve been playing for.
Any information regarding Responsible Gambling can be accessed under Help & Support on the left-hand side of the homepage, as well as via the Account tab in the top right-hand corner.
In addition, the site’s use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption allows customers to feel at ease when transferring funds. This state-of-the-art technology ensures that every player’s transaction information is kept safe and secure.
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Available 24/7
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Fairly basic FAQ section
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Live chat function available
StarSports’ Help section isn’t exactly robust, with a minimal number of FAQs listed on the site. Thus, customers are likely going to have to utilise the bookie’s customer support in a bid to get any queries resolved. Currently, you can contact StarSports via email, telephone, live chat or Twitter. Such services are available 24/7.
To test the efficiency of their customer support, we first started up a ‘Trader Chat’ session with a member of the bookie’s staff.
We asked whether StarSports currently boasted a VIP programme of any kind. The support agent responded swiftly.
They immediately clarified that they did not offer any such scheme on the site. Within minutes, our interaction was over with our query being resolved. While their customer service perhaps wasn’t the warmest, they were certainly efficient.
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Professional design
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Promotions stand out
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User-friendly structure
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Top-notch blog
StarSports’ website is undoubtedly minimalistic, but appears slick, smart and professional, nonetheless. A predominantly blue-and-white colour scheme is followed throughout, although brighter colours appear in advertisements for promotions, helping them stand out.
Such advertisements are located down the right-hand side of the homepage.
Overall, the site’s uncomplicated structure ensures a user-friendly experience for customers. Popular events and an A-Z of all the sports offered by the bookie run down the left-hand side of the homepage, with horse racing events taking priority down the centre. Access to in-play markets, casino and virtual sports is also easy. They each have their own distinct tabs at the top of the page.
Significantly, the betting process is remarkably easy, aided by the fact that your betslip is always visible in the top right-hand corner – above the promotions.
‘Useful Links’, meanwhile, can be accessed at the bottom of the page. Here, you’ll also find links to contact information, responsible gambling, and so on. For new customers, the Sign-Up button is clearly visible in the top right-hand corner.
While punters can’t access any statistics to help them forge any bets with StarSports, they can enjoy something even better. Their blog, called StarSports Extra, is one of the best around, covering mainly horse racing but major footballing and golfing events as well. A number of articles are written every day.
This is a wonderful feature for horse-racing fans, with StarSports offering expert tips and previews of all the significant race meetings happening up and down the country. Famous jockey Davy Russell, meanwhile, is a regular contributor to the site.
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Available to download via Google Play and the App Store
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Faultless technical performance
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Superb for betting on the move
Both Apple and Android users can enjoy the StarSports mobile app, which is available to download via both Google Play and the App Store. The app itself is very well brought together, facilitating a user-friendly experience for customers who want to bet on the go.
The app’s design remains slick and professional, following the same blue-and-white colour scheme, with any promotions the bookie is currently offering standing out in the centre of the screen.
The coherent structure of the site allows punters to access all sports and markets in an instant, with tabs for in-play markets located clearly at the bottom of the app’s homepage. You can also access StarSports’ blog, as well as any other products – which will get into shortly – the bookie has to offer. We also have to commend what was a faultless technical performance all round. Top marks!
Other Products
There are plenty of other products for punters to enjoy with StarSports, including casino, live casino and virtual sports. While there are currently no welcome offers for new customers to enjoy, StarSports still offers over 500 casino, 30 live casino, and 10 virtual events.
Punters can enjoy a myriad of casino games, ranging from table games to slots.
If you’re a horse racing fan, then StarSports may be the optimal bookie for you. Their coverage of this particular market is superb and complemented wonderfully by a detailed and frequently updated blog. However, for those who like to dabble in the footballing world, it’s fair to say that you might want to explore alternatives. StarSports’ football offering is pretty basic, with their lack of promotions in this regard a major downside.
Nevertheless, as a result of their super mobile app, competitive odds and faultless technical performance, this bookie may well entice a few interested punters despite the lack of a new customer offer. Having said that, though, for StarSports to be considered a top-tier bookie, their customer service has to be improved. They could also stand to offer punters more when it comes to promotions – especially welcome offers.
Overall, this is a bookie that shines brightly in some respects, but is undermined by one or two glaring faults.