Coral (along with William Hill and Ladbrokes) are traditionally regarded as one of the ‘Big Three’ bookmakers in the UK. They claim to be the fastest growing bookmaker in Britain and now have roughly 1500 betting shops in addition to their telephone and online operation.
Coral have been online since 1997, joining forces with Eurobet.com in 1999 to become Coral Eurobet. Despite being acquired by the Gala Group in October 2005, Coral continues to lag behind its competitors in terms of user interface, site navigation and range of markets.
On the plus side, their odds are generally more competitive than Hills and Ladbrokes, so they do recognise that their brand cannot be too heavily relied upon in an increasingly tough marketplace.
Despite often having the best odds about a particular horse or football team, there’s no doubt that Coral are let down by their website. This is because finding a particular market within the depths of the site is often a frustrating experience.
It’s fine if you want to place a bet on one of the next five races or sporting events, otherwise you have to deal with a somewhat fiddly horizontal menu to find your selection.
Coral are well-respected with regard to their horse racing service. They regularly have early prices available and often provide enhanced place terms on selected races.
As far as football is concerned, they're determined to compete with the more price-driven firms such as Blue Square, bet365 and Paddy Power. Therefore, you’ll often get a stand-out price with them for an odds-on favourite. A downside is that their range of football markets is limited.
Due to a heavy involvement with sponsorship, Coral also have a quality service for rugby union betting.
As you’d expect for a company of this size, customer service is 24 / 7 although it’s better to speak to somebody as the email response time can often be slow. Coral also offer a callback service where they guarantee someone will call you back within 30 minutes.
When you sign-up to Coral use the code CHELTPRO on the application form. This will guarantee you get £25 free on your first deposit of £25 on the sportsbook plus all the bonus offers in their other gaming channels.
Coral provide a bit of everything to their customers. They are one of the most-established bookmakers in the UK, with their origins dating back to 1926. Out of the Big Three, their prices are probably the most competitive, while they also tend to offer the best free bet promotions to new customers. The downsides are the website functionality, the limited range of markets for football and an ordinary In-Play service.