Live Streaming Betting Sites
In this article we clarify the various forms of sports streams and the sports that legitimate bookmakers in the United Kingdom broadcast. We expound on procuring access to live video content.
Types Of Streaming
Betting site media content can be divided into three types.
Video Streaming
This is almost the same as television, but it provides a lower quality. You go to a chosen betting site, torn on a broadcast and watch a match. When assessing bookmakers, the Match.Center team primarily takes into account the range of live streams available.
Audio Streaming
This is a pretty rare service that takes us back to the radio days when sporting fans listened to match streams accompanied by commentary and imagined unfolding events. So, audio works the same way: you turn on a stream and listen to commentary without video. More often, radio is available for horse racing and greyhounds, less frequently – for football, and very rarely – for other sports. The second trait similar to the radio is the necessity to select one channel that will stream particular events: such a format is typical for horse and greyhound racing streaming, when several races are commented on the same channel. For other sports, there is normally a separate stream dedicated to a specific event.
Infographics
In case of the lack of video or audio streaming, most bookmakers provide infographic streams as an alternative. For instance, with tennis match infographics, you can see how the ball moves from one side of the court to the other, or how Formula 1 cars race along the track. Infographics do not show unfolding match events in detail, i.e. the tennis ball movement is not synchronised with the real event, and instead, infographics reflect the main ones.
Infographics allow having a certain insight on a particular match. For example, in a football match, the feature can show, which team owns the ball and conducts attacks, or a tennis player making a double fault. Moreover, infographics are tightly connected with statistics: Normally, during such a “broadcast”, you can see particular statistical data, like the outcome of a football attack (dangerous, not dangerous, shots on target), and the number of such attacks, winners of tennis serves etc.
What Sports Do Bookmakers Stream?
The streaming policies of UK bookmakers are very similar. For instance, two major betting grands will stream almost the same set of matches. The only difference lies in the scale: a small sportsbook can stream nothing, but horse racing, but the number of streams will be at the same level as on the top betting platform.
In terms of sports and leagues, the betting sites’ content is uneven. Some fans don’t need to pay for sports channels in cable TV packages and purchase subscriptions, as they can watch everything on betting sites with the minimum expenses. Others shouldn’t even hope to watch their desired games.
Sports and tournaments streamed by betting platforms:
- Football. Grands and mid-scale bookmakers share the following range: tier-2 cup finals (UEFA Super Cup, FA Cup, League Cup), some playoff matches of these tournaments, European cup qualifiers, tier-2 and tier-3 football (second divisions of Spain and Germany, top division of China, and others). Top bookmakers like Bet365 and William Hill also add live streams of some matches from major European leagues to this list, but you will always have a better chance of watching an AC Milan vs Bologna game than a Brighton vs Newcastle one, as the rights to broadcast the English Premier League are the most expensive in the world.
- Tennis. In case of the availability of tennis streams, the range of them is usually decent: normally, you can watch top-level matches of the Masters 1000 and Grand Slam levels, as well as Challenger and ITF/UTR tournaments. At the same time, if there are no broadcasts of tier-1 tennis, it likely that they will also be unavailable for less popular competitions.
- Horse racing. Many betting sites stream horse racing meetings from the UK and Ireland. However, streaming of competitions from other countries, like the USA, France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa etc., is typically available only on top betting platforms.
- Greyhounds. Even major bookmakers normally broadcast only UK and Irish competitions, while mid-scale betting sites may not offer greyhound streaming at all.
- Cricket, darts, snooker. Streams are available only for top events and at top bookmakers.
- American leagues. Major sportsbooks gladly broadcast the NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL. Some of them stream all or most of the games of these leagues.
How To Get Access To Streaming?
Having a registered account doesn’t necessarily mean that you can watch streams (although, normally, that’s the case). In terms of access, streams can be divided into two categories:
- Free-to-watch without signing up. This is a very rare type of stream that can be watched or listened to without having a betting account. Audio streams are often available to unregistered punters. Video streams without registration are extremely rare. It’s worth noting that William Hill falls into this category: you can watch live videos of some greyhound races and listen to all audio streams without an account.
- Free-to-watch for registered users. This is the simplest category. You sign up on a site and can watch broadcasts. However, bookmakers don’t want to provide their streaming service for free, that’s why we move on to the paid categories.
- For users with a funded account. To watch broadcasts, you have to have a positive balance. It’s pretty logical, as the bookmaker wants you to place bets and not just watch sports streams. Betfred, Unibet, Livescore Bet, and Virgin Bet stick to these policies. You can also watch racing broadcasts on Livescore Bet and Virgin Bet, if you have an unsettled live bet and unused Free bet bonus – these are the cases when sportsbooks consider your account funded.
- For active users. This is a very vague concept that live chat agents like to refer to when they actually don’t know how to watch streams on their site. You need to stake a certain amount – that’s for sure. But the number and amount of such stakes depends on a particular bookmaker.
- Bet-to-watch. This is a pretty popular format of horse racing and greyhounds streaming. To watch a live race video, you have to bet on it. Normally, the qualifying stake amount doesn’t exceed £1. Such requirements can be found on 888sport, Parimatch, Betfair, Sky Bet, BoyleSports and many other platforms.
Presentation And Indication Of Streaming
Streamed matches are marked with a special icon or label.
Sometimes betting sites don’t broadcast matches but can indicate a channel to watch it, which is also quite useful. However, we’d prefer the stream availability on the betting site.
Typically, streams are available on match and race pages.
Also, streams may be gathered in the media centre, where you can switch between channels or matches.
We like it when, in the live section, there is a category with all streamed matches collected.