Paddy Power Review

Paddy Power Review – Introduction:

Paddy Power is currently the largest bookmaker in Ireland. Formed in 1988 they’ve enjoyed substantial growth to the point where they’re now considered one of the top three betting companies in the world. They are listed on both the UK and Irish stock exchanges. Paddy Power are constantly in the press with their publicity stunts which include the controversial Chav Tranquillizer advert and Niklas Bendtner flashing his Paddy Power Lucky Pants upon scoring for Denmark at Euro 2012.

Paddy Power definitely know how to stay in the limelight. Combined with the fact they offer generous money back specials and concessions makes them appear as the “punter’s pal”. They’re famed for their money back specials, even offering money back on bets on the Champions League Final in 2010 if Barcelona, who were odds on, won the match, which they did.

Down the years they’ve made several justice pay-outs. This is where they pay bets as winners even if they lose. For example, in horse racing, when a horse is going to win only for it to be bought down by a loose horse or for it to take the wrong course. In football, they famously refunded bets based on Ireland qualifying for the World Cup when they were denied by a Thierry Henry handball.

Reputation and Reliability:

Paddy Power have an Isle of Man license which allows them to take bets from key locations around the world. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Paddy Power also have a UK office in London.

Paddy Power operates their sports offering via OpenBet, the most reliable bookmaking software available. OpenBet is used by most of the major bookmakers. This ensures quick load times and simple page transitions.

The only time Paddy Power end up in hot water is when they do a controversial stunt and the busybodies turn their nose up. We think that’s part of their charm. Their online reputation is second to none. We’ve never encountered any issues and aren’t aware of hearing any issues for other bettors.

Paddy Power – CSGO Betting:

Paddy Power offer win markets, that is when you back team A to beat team B and vice versa. On top of this they also offer outright betting which is a welcomed addition to their offering because only a handful of bookmakers offer outright markets. This bet allows you to bet on the winner of an entire tournament. Fancy EnVy to win the next major? Back them to win and enjoy cheering them all the way through to another victory!

There’s no in-play betting as of yet and they do not offer handicaps, first map or first round winners just yet.

Paddy Power – eSports history:

Paddy Power were the first household name bookmaker to offer Esports betting. Back in 2011 CSGOBetting.com’s parent company, Trifecta Media, partnered with Paddy Power in order to set up Esports markets. This was done on an event-by-event basis and mainly focused on CounterStrike 1.6, Call of Duty and Halo, betting on events such as EGL and Crossfire Devotii Challenge.

By the start of 2012, Paddy Power had decided to take a hiatus from Esports betting. Despite some promising results, this was understandable considering CS 1.6 was on it’s last legs. LoL and Dota weren’t around yet and the scene hadn’t experienced the sudden transformation that was about to arrive off the back of these games.

Roll on 2015 and Paddy Power has a wide range of Esports markets for a wide range of Esports titles such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota2, StarCraft 2, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone and League Of Legends.

Payment Options:

You can expect to deposit and withdraw via all the major payment methods available today including e-wallets such as PayPal, Skrill and Neteller. Much like Ladbrokes, Paddy Power have their own loyalty card that will allow you to deposit and withdraw from your online account in any of their shops, which is great if you want to get hold of your cash as soon as possible.

Should you wish to access your funds via a shop, be sure to take your passport or driver’s license with you in order to verify your identity. You’ll receive a Paddy Power cash card that links directly to your account for easy access in the future.

Customer Support:

With Paddy Power being one of the biggest firms in the world you know their customer support is going to be world class and well, it is. You can email, phone or live chat your queries. Uniquely to Paddy Power, they have a status panel that tells you how quickly they’re responding to people via each method. Typically you’ll see live chat as miles ahead of any other method. If it’s a busy time of day you can check how long it’ll take to answer your call before you ring which saves you sitting on hold.

On top of this you can interact with PaddyPower on Twitter via @AskPaddyPower – we’re not sure why you would want to discuss bets publically, but if you want to draw attention to a problem, that’s one way to go.

Website & Betting Options:

Now, we must bring a pet hate of ours to your attention. Typically bookmakers have their list of betting opportunities in chronological order, so Esports would be above Football but below Basketball. For some bizarre reason Paddy Power has placed “e-Sports” underneath WWE, which is right at the bottom of the list of sports on the left. At least it’s easy to find.

Just underneath, you’ll be able to change the odds from fractions to decimals, if you so wish. Once you’ve found this section however, it’s a walk in the park locating your Esports title of choice to bet on.

Paddy Power allow you to put multiple selections into your bet slip to build accumulators, which is great. They’ll also show you the maximum stake allowed for a bet – just add the selection to your betslip and click “max”.

Sports Markets:

As you’d expect from one of the leading sportsbooks, Paddy Power have betting on every sport you’d imagine. They even go as far as offering betting on WWE. Paddy Power are well known for their novelty markets, which makes them stand out from the crowd. Want to bet on whether it’ll snow in London on Christmas Day? Want to bet on who the next James Bond will be? You can do with Paddy.

You can even bet on whether alien existence will be confirmed before 2025. They’re that crazy.

With traditional sports you expect a plethora of money back specials. Recently Paddy Power have offered their customers a £10 free in-play bet when they bet £20 on a televised Premier League match as well as numerous offers along the lines of money back if Cristiano Ronaldo scores first.

Other Products:

As well as their sports and eSports betting, Paddy Power offer virtual sports, poker, bingo and a number of casino products such as casino, live casino, games and their Vegas app. While we love betting with Paddy Power, we aren’t so impressed with their Casino. Their offers to tempt you across to the casino to try it out aren’t generous compared to their competitors. If you’d like to play casino, check out Karamba.

That said, their poker product is very successful and they enjoy a fruitful sponsorship of the Irish Open in Dublin which attract a lot of the big name players. You can qualify to the main event (worth €3,500) from as little as €5.50. You could follow in the footsteps of several Esports personalities who have prospered in poker down the years. That said, we do prefer the poker product at bet365.

Verdict:

Paddy Power boasts a really powerful sportsbook with a solid Esports offering. It’s safe to assume they’ll expand their range of CSGO betting opportunities as time passes. This site really is a one stop shop for everything sports related. Their casino and game offerings aren’t on a par with their competitors. That shouldn’t put you off betting on sports with them, but go for bet365 if you want to play casino as well as betting on CS.