SportyBet is an attractive-looking sports betting site readily available for sports bettors in Kenya and is run by a company called SportyBet Ltd. This company has a slight global reach but mostly focuses on Kenya and Nigeria for its sports-betting customers.
This online sports-betting resource has a number of sports-betting opportunities, including both traditional and live betting, plus betting on virtual sports. There’s also always a number of decent promotions to be taken advantage of for newbies and returning punters.
SportyBet is licensed by the Kenyan BCLB under the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act, as it needs to be.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Decent welcome bonus
- There is also at least once interesting promotion on the go
- Virtual games plus the 5M Jackpot prediction game
Cons
- Not really enough sports to wager upon
- No app for iPhone or iPad users
SportyBet Bonus
The most interesting facts and figures for newcomers to the SportyBet sports book surround the welcome deals available for new users of the site.
The most exciting deal available for newbs is the maximum 1,000 KES first deposit deal which is available to anyone who deposits at least 50 KES at the site.
This is a sliding scale deal that works as follows:
- Deposit 50 KES to receive 150 KES in gifts
- Deposit 100 KES to receive 300 KES in gifts
- Deposit 200 KES to receive 600 KES in gifts
- Deposit 300 KES to receive 1,000 KES in gifts
The gifts you receive are in the form of betting tokens of specific amounts. For example, if you go for the 600 KES bonus, you will receive 4 x 3 KES tokens, 4 x 7 KES tokens, 2 x 30 KES tokens, 6 x 50 KES tokens 3 x 100 KES tokens. You should also note that the bigger the deposit you make, the more time you are given to spend your tokens. Someone who makes a 50 KES deposit will have six days to spend their tokens, and someone making the full 300 KES deposit gets twice that amount.
Your gifts are not all awarded at once. Instead, they are released on a daily basis, in the sequence as outlined on the deposit offer page. All bets that you place using a deposit bonus gift token must have odds of at least 3.15, which is pretty tight, to be honest.
As well as all the usual stuff you get at a sports betting site, SportyBet – somewhat uniquely – offers a complete results and live scores service, so you can keep up to date with all the latest sporting action.
Is SportyBet a Reliable Betting site?
It’s important that when you sign up to any sports betting site, you are confident that the site you are using is one hundred percent reliable. If you use a “dodgy” site then you only have yourself to blame should you end up with problems.
Firstly, SportyBet is properly licensed, as legally it needs to be. The site has full and proper licensing from Kenya’s BCLB, which is a legal stipulation for all gambling and sports betting sites in the country.
As for your important information, the site says that it uses adequate technical and organisational controls in order to keep your personal and financial out of the hands of those who would wish to use it for nefarious purposes. They, however, do not guarantee that any piece of data transmitted over the internet to them is completely secure. To this end, we recommend that you keep the information you share with the site down to a minimum and that you use M-PESA for your financial dealings with them.
Bonus Offers
This online sports bookmaking site always has at least one decent offer on the go, aside from the welcome bonus offer which is available to new bettors at all times. These include bespoke deposit offers, bonus odds boosts, cashback deals and free bets. Check out the Promotions page at the site so that you can keep abreast of the very latest deals.
At the time of this review, the main promo that was running was a reward for referring your friends to SportyBet. You will receive a bonus for every friend that you recommend to SportyBet who then goes on to register with the site and make a deposit. Your referred friend will receive an extra bonus too.
How to log in? Register and create an account on SportyBet
There are three ways you can register at SportyBet – via the site, via Facebook and via SMS. Here are the steps to register using the website:
- Go to the SportyBet website at sportybet.com
- Click the red ‘Register’ button at the top right-hand corner of the screen.
- Fill in your mobile number and set a password
- You will be sent a six-digit verification code to your mobile phone. Simply enter that code at the website to verify your mobile phone number
- You will be sent a PIN and a confirmation message
- Your registration is now complete! You are free to start with SportyBet today!
To use Facebook to register simply go to the main page as detailed above and click on the red ‘f’ as part of the Facebook logo. You will be transferred to Facebook where you will need to give SportyBook the ‘OK’ to access your account. Note that this will only work if you are resident in Kenya, and you have your mobile phone number set within your Facebook profile.
You can bypass the above steps by easily registering via an SMS message. To join, send JOIN to 29123. You will then be sent a message with your username (your mobile phone number), your password and your PIN. You will be required to change your password the first time you sign into the site.
Virtuals and Jackpot Game
Most people use an online sportsbook for simple betting and live betting, but with SportyBet you get two further betting options. Virtuals and the Jackpot Game.
You have five options when it comes to virtual sports – greyhounds, horse racing, speedway, football and bike racing. All sports are represented in a real-time (aside from football) and new events start every three minutes or so. You can place your bets just like you would on real-time action, and you can then watch the video feed of the virtual event taking place.
The virtual football section has six leagues: National, England, Italy (‘Calcio’), Turkey, Nigeria and Germany. You can bet on any match and then watch any game. Note that you will only see the highlights of the game and not the full ninety minutes.
The jackpot at SportyBet is a prediction game where you can earn 5 million KES if you strike lucky and you know your football. Each week you are required to predict the 1X2 result of twelve selected football games. If you get all twelve right than you win the 5 million KES jackpot. There are ‘close miss’ prizes if you get eleven or ten results correct, too!
How to deposit and withdraw at SportyBet
There is only one way to get money in and out of your SportyBet account and that is via M-PESA. Here is how to make a deposit at SportyBet:
- Open your M-PESA app on your mobile phone (or dial *234#)
- Select ‘Send Money’
- Use the SportyBet paybill number which is 202202
- Select the amount that you want to deposit
- Enter your PIN
- Select ‘OK’
- You will receive an SMS stating that your transaction has been successful
- The money should appear in your SportyBet account
You can only withdraw cash via the SportyBet website or mobile app. Go to “My Account” and then “Withdraw”. Select how much you wish to withdraw and then click “Withdraw”. Once processed the money will be set to your M-PESA account. Note that if you withdraw less than 500 KES a ‘carrier fee’ of 16 KES will be added to your withdrawal.
SportyBet Mobile App for Android or iPhone
The good news for Android phone users is that SportyBet provides its own dedicated Android-based app. The bad news for iPhone or iPad users is that there is no dedicated iOS-app. Owners of iPhone and iPads do not have to miss out though as you can use the SportyBet site directly in any browser, such as Safari. The software at the site will recognise that you are using a mobile device, and it will optimise the site accordingly. All the functionality of the PC or laptop site or the Android app will then be available to you in full.
- Here is how to get the Android app onto your Android-based phone.
- Go to the main SportyBet website on your device and click on “App”
- Click on the button that says “Download for Free”
- An apk file will download to your device. This is an Android package file.
- Open the file, which will then ask to install itself. You may need to change your settings on your device in order to install programs from unknown locations.
- The app will install and will be available in your app menu and on your home screen
If you have an Android-powered device and you don’t want to install the app, you can still use SportyBet via any suitable mobile browser
Frequently Asked Questions
Q, How does SportyBet Work?
SportyBet is a fully-functional online sports book that is operated automatically via computer software. The official website or app is simply an interface that allows you to use the software to find sporting events to bet upon. All wagers (as long as they meet approval criteria) are placed automatically once the user has completed all necessary information. Bets are also settled automatically once the relevant event has been completed.
All the sports available at SportyBet can be found on the top menu of the welcome screen. The most popular bets can be found on the landing page itself. To find any specific event, you need to drill down into the menus until you find it. The most popular bets for that event are listed, but there is usually a secondary page for each event with further options.
Q. Which Sports and Events are offered for betting?
At SportyBet you can bet upon football, basketball, tennis, rugby (union), cricket, volleyball, ice hockey, handball, darts and beach volleyball.
Q. How do you place a bet at SportyBet?
Once you have found the specific bet that you want to place a wager upon, all that you need to do to place a bet upon it is click the relevant odds. This will transfer the specific wager to your bet slip. To bet on doubles, triples or accumulators add your selections to your bet slip and then combine them as a single wager.
Your bet is not placed until you specify how much it is that you want to bet. Enter that in the ‘Total Stake’ box then click on ‘Place Bet’. Your wager is now confirmed.
Overall Rating of SportyBet
There is plenty to like about SportyBet, but there are a handful of things that leave a slight bad taste in the mouth. The lack of an iPhone app is a bit of a puzzle, especially as there’s a fully functional Android app available. More sports would be good as well.
Saying that what SportyBet does well it does do very well. That 5 million KES jackpot game looks very tasty, and the virtual sports action is very pleasing to the eye. The site and the app are both easy to use, and we never encountered a single problem such as downtime or the odd software glitch.
Why not sign up to today and see what you feel? We genuinely wish you the very best of luck when it comes to wagering at Sporty Bet.