BetVictor Review

BetVictor Summary

As one of the oldest operators in the sports betting industry, BetVictor is revered around the world – and its reputation is well-earned as it continues to offer a top-level gambling experience more than 75 years after it was founded.

Yet, while it arrives in Ontario armed with several redeeming qualities, it has plenty of work to do to compete in the province's cutthroat sports betting environment. Find out what our team thinks of BetVictor and whether you should sign up.

BetVictor Quick Facts

BetVictor Locations

BetVictor (BV Gaming Limited for regulatory purposes) operates in more than 49 countries, including Canada. It has a regulated presence in Ontario and the United Kingdom and is headquartered in Gibraltar. It also has offices in Gibraltar, Hungary, and the UK.

Sports Leagues to Bet On

In keeping with its reputation as a sportsbook for the people, BetVictor offers a remarkably long list of sports on which to wager in Ontario. Unfortunately, you can’t sort them based on the most relevant on the side menu; that’s limited to the main screen and only after you click on the main “Sports” header in the left nav.

Its numerous markets offered are equivalent to a lot of other global sportsbooks offered to Ontarians. It offers bet builders for the NFL, plus enhanced parlays and featured boosts for the NBA and MLB.

NFL Betting

The NFL is the king of the sports betting castle in North America, and BetVictor has you covered. BetVictor offers a wide range of betting options for NFL wagers, including moneylines, spreads, totals, quarter and half-specific betting options, in-game wagers, and a decent selection of player props each Sunday during the season.

NBA Betting

There’s no shortage of betting options for NBA fans at BetVictor. They offer ML, spread, and Over/Under plays for every game on the schedule. You can also wager on quarterly or halftime options and daily player props that are released closer to tip-off.

College Football Betting

If it’s college football betting you seek, you’ve come to the right place. BetVictor offers ML, spread, and O/U plays for the majority of FBS Division I games on every Saturday during the season. They also have a large assortment of quarter-by-quarter, halftime plays, and team props, though player props aren’t available.

College Basketball Betting

Like most other legal sportsbooks, BetVictor does offer NCAA Division I college basketball betting. Marquee games during the regular season are covered, while BetVictor follows the lead of the majority of sportsbooks by ramping up the betting markets ahead of March Madness.

NHL Betting

The NHL is important to Ontarians, and BetVictor does well to appeal to the puck fans that preside in this country. The sportsbook offers a healthy number of hockey markets every day during the season and into the Stanley Cup playoffs, and plenty of ways to bet on the Leafs. In addition to ML and puckline plays, bettors have access to team and player props, along with period-specific betting markets. However, I would like to see an easy way to access O/U bets on the site going forward. 

MLB Betting

Even bettors who don’t closely follow baseball will wager on it during the dog days of summer, and BetVictor offers the opportunity to do just that. BetVictor offers comprehensive MLB markets for pre-game bets (ML, runline, O/U) and in-game action such as five innings ML/RL, and team props. Its player prop market is also extensive, with everything from hits, total bases, strikeouts, singles, doubles, and much more.

Other Sports Leagues

BetVictor does not let bettors down with the sheer amount of different markets to bet on. People with a funded account can wager on Australian Rules football, boxing, cycling, Formula 1, golf, MMA, rugby, soccer, tennis, and winter sports like biathlon.

Its eSports offerings are slim compared to a competitor like bet365, featuring just Counter-Strike, DOTA 2, League of Legends, Overwatch, FIFA, and NBA 2K in late September.

Online Betting Experience

Website Experience

This might be set up conventionally compared with other sportsbooks (menu on the left, bet slip on the right, odds in the middle), but it can be hard initially to find the bet you’re looking for. For example, MLB live odds are displayed on the “In-Play” and not also on the “MLB Odds,” forcing the user to navigate to another page to place a bet.

It’s not the worst setup in the world, but it could be more aligned with how top sportsbooks lay things out. Still, once you find what you’re looking for, it’s easy enough to build your betting card; click the bet(s) you’d like to make, enter your stake and make your wager.

Mobile Betting and Betting App

The mobile website mimics the desktop website effectively and accurately. Live bets are displayed right at the top, a good feature for bettors looking to quickly place a wager. 

You won’t find BetVictor on either the App Store or Google Play — at least, not yet. That seems like a major missed opportunity given the rise in popularity of betting on your phone.

Live Betting

No matter what sport you like to live bet on, BetVictor has you covered. Everything from baseball, soccer, basketball, hockey, rugby, and even table tennis are up for grabs. Users can either explore the markets for that matchup, check out a different matchup, or click the “See Upcoming Events” button, which displays future live betting opportunities coming up within the next 12 hours.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a live stream option here. Aside from esports, you won’t find many sports you can watch in real-time on the site.

Casino, Poker, & Other Gaming Options

BetVictor has a solid option of casino and live casino games to choose from. It has approximately 245 different slots to choose from, including one centred around Jimi Hendrix and even one based on ring announcer Michael Buffer. Along with various Drops and Wins and Megaways, they are constantly adding new games for you to try out.

Its live casino has eight different blackjack tables, featured games like Boom City and Mega Wheel, plus five roulette and baccarat table.

BetVictor History

Founded in 1946 by William Chandler, BetVictor has a long history in the bookmaking industry. After the death of William in 1946, the business was passed down to his sons Victor and Jack. That continued until 1974 when Victor died, and the company was subsequently taken over by Victor’s son, Victor Jr.

After establishing itself as one of the most well-respected gaming brands in Europe, the company shocked many by leaving the United Kingdom and becoming the first sportsbook to set up its headquarters in Gibraltar. Many believe that step, which was made to avoid paying the UK gambling tax, led to then-chancellor Gordon Brown eliminating the levy in his 2001 budget. That move has been copied by many of their competitors since.

The company rebranded several times over the next decade before settling on BetVictor in 2012. Renowned British businessman and horse owner Michael Tabor, who was a majority shareholder in the company, bought it outright two years later.

BetVictor has 400 plus employees and has established partnerships with several sports organizations in the past, most notably English Premier League sides Chelsea and Fulham.

Customer Ratings & Reputation

It will take more than a 75-plus-year presence in the sports betting space for BetVictor to win over Canadian players as the top-rated sportsbook — and there are two areas where this sportsbook needs to improve immediately.

The first is in its quality of odds, which lags behind the top options in the space. Pre-game odds aren’t so bad — usually 1-2 cents shy of the industry standard for major North American markets like the NFL and NBA — but the live odds are routinely unkind to bettors except for major European soccer markets, which are only slightly behind what the rest of the North American market is posting. For example, a live bet on the Los Angeles Dodgers ML tied at five against the Arizona Diamondbacks is -400, compared to -290 at bet365.

It needs to amp up the juice to maximize its profit margins, but players who get wise to what’s going on will simply sign up for other sportsbooks and wager elsewhere.

Customer Service

BetVictor's Help Centre is chock full of answers to the most popular questions bettors have, divided into eight sections — sports, casino, bingo, safer gambling, verification, customer support, payments, and legal topics. There is a section devoted to the most frequently viewed articles, and its sports help section is actually quite informative on how bets are paid out.

The live chat is available 24/7, and inquiries are dealt with promptly and efficiently. We used the live chat to verify the details of their banking, and the staff was accommodating. Players can also send BetVictor an email, request a callback (which also happens with little delay), or reach out to the company via Facebook or Twitter.

BetVictor Contact

• 24/7 Live Chat
• [email protected]
• Facebook
• Twitter: @BetVictorCanada

BetVictor Legal Betting

In Ontario, BetVictor is fully regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario. They also hold licenses in Great Britain and Ireland.

Responsible Gambling

BetVictor is among the best in the industry at providing numerous resources for players to promote responsible gambling. Here is a list of some recommended resources.

• ResponsibleGambling.org: The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) is a respected, independent non-profit organization. They have been a leader in preventing problem gambling in Canada and globally for more than 35 years. Operators in Ontario are required to register with RGC to operate in the province.
• ConnexOntario: ConnexOntario provides service information for people experiencing problems with gambling, drugs, alcohol, or mental health. Helpful, supportive system navigation specialists answer all calls, emails, or web chat requests 24/7. Call 1-866-531-2600 for more info.
• BeGambleAware.org: offers free, confidential help and support to anyone worried about gambling for themselves or others.
• Gambling Therapy: a global service provided by Gordon Moody offering free emotional support and advice to anyone affected by gambling.

Why Choose BetVictor?

BetVictor deserves significant credit for remaining relevant three-quarters of a century after first launching its sportsbook.

Having said that, being behind the curve when it comes to the quality of most odds is a significant problem here.

Despite these downsides, BetVictor's attention to customer care and the top-notch live betting platform once you get your bearings is valuable enough to warrant consideration for most sports bettors in Ontario.