Bet Butler are a revolutionary broker type betting service that allows you to bet at market leading odds from a whole host of bookmakers, all from one Bet Butler Account. This interested us a lot at Betting Tools when it was launched but there have been a lot of problems and negativity posted about their service. We decided to investigate by speaking to Bet Butler ourselves…
1) We were originally quite excited about the arrival of bet butler here at BettingTools.co.uk because getting the very best odds on each bet all under one account is very appealing. However, we’ve seen a lot of instances where the odds available on Oddschecker were better than those available on Bet Butler. Some of these better prices were with accounts thought to be available to you too and we have clicked through to check these prices were definitely available. Do you know why this might be?
An example of this is Newcastle at home to Sunderland at the Weekend. The best odds on Bet Butler are 1.9 but Oddschecker shows at least 10 bookmakers offering better (best price 2.0) than this.
It was never our intention to give the impression that we could always offer best odds. We compare over 60 bookmakers and the prices we offer are based on a number of factors. While we can’t offer the best odds 100 percent of the time, however, we do offer them more often than our competitors. This table, based on 319 games of football in the UK in December 2013, demonstrates this:
2) How does the Bet Butler business model work? Why would bookmakers want to give you their best price and let you take a cut when they can be seen as the best price on Oddschecker? What’s in it for them?
Bookmarkers don’t always want us to give us the best prices. We work in competition with them rather than with them.
3) Bet Butler want punters to win because they make commission but doesn’t this compromise your relationships with the bookmakers? If there are big winners betting with Bet Butler then the bookmakers surely won’t be very happy?
We don’t want to give away all our secrets, but as we said above, we work through bookmakers but are also in direct competition with them.
4) Some bookmakers have banned or restricted winning accounts for a reason? Why are they happy to allow them to be masked by betting via Bet Butler?
Again, we work hard to ensure that our customers bets are placed, but we can’t give every detail about how we achieve this or it will become much harder to achieve.
5) Are you able to tell us which bookmakers you currently have a deal in place with to take bets on behalf of them?
Unfortunately we can’t reveal all the details here. We have a number of bookmakers we work through and while not all are high street names I can guarantee that they are all fully licensed and established firms who will pay out to our customers when they win.
6) When you see a price on Bet Butler what is the limit likely to be? Is this likely to be different from the limits seen for the best odds on Oddschecker?
This depends on the size of the bet. We have a VIP operation and a regular operation. If the bet is big enough we’ll explore all avenues to get it placed. Mainstream bets are done automatically so there is a lower limit. In general our odds will be different to Oddschecker, but if a certain bookmaker does an offer price and imposes a limit on the bet, that’s all we can offer too.
7) Some of our readers have had bets taking a long time to be settled. Is there a reason for this and how long can punters expect to wait?
As a bet broker we place our bets through third parties and this means that we need to claim winnings from the bookmaker before they can be credited to a customer’s account. We always try to make this process as rapid as possible.
8) Several punters have expressed their frustrations with payment delays from Bet Butler. How long do payments take to be processed and what is the reason for the delays?
Due to the way we operate, we do stipulate a five working day period for payments to be processed. It is very unusual for payments to take longer than this. If there is a delay for some reason, such as the need for additional security checks, we will always let the customer know.
9) If anybody still has an outstanding payment related problem what is the best thing they can do?
We did have some issues with a backlog of security checks at the end of January and these delays have now been resolved. Alternatively our customers can contact our dedicated support team on 0333 900 2000 and we’ll do everything we can to help.
10) Why don’t Bet Butler offer best odds guaranteed when many of the bookmakers they use do?
This is due to the complication of placing and settling bets. We may for example have a bet split across four different bookmakers, in which case it’s very difficult to reconcile. Sometimes this can work against us. For example, bookmakers may have worse each-way terms than we offer, but we will always offer standard terms, which is to the customer’s advantage.
11) How does using Bet Butler for your betting compare to say using Betfair or Pinnacle Sports each time? Do you have any reliable data?
As I mentioned earlier, we aim to offer the best odds most of the time and the latest football figures bear this out. Pinnacle Sports are an excellent bookmaker, but they just don’t offer the breadth of markets that we do.
12) Why should people join Bet Butler and can they trust them?
We offer a service that we thinks sets us apart from the average bookmaker, offering tools and insight to help our customers bet and win. We did have a few hiccups with the launch of our new platform back in October 2013, but the end result is a wider range of bets and a much more intuitive site. In January, we became a victim of our own rapid growth and some customers did experience delays, but we’re now back on track offering a rapid and reliable service to our members.
13) Are there any special offers or regular deals that might interest people thinking of joining Bet Butler?
We offer regular promotions based on big matches, racing and other topical sporting events. Most of these are available to both new and existing customers, which also sets us apart from many industry rivals.
14) Is there anything else that is unique about Bet Butler which makes it different to other bookmakers/exchanges?
We work hard to make every aspect of our service efficient and intuitive for experienced gamblers and occasional gamblers alike. We have a dedicated team of experts who offer free insight to players on what’s hot and what’s not in the betting market. In effect, we view our members as a community and we want them to make the most from the association with Bet Butler.
15) You also offer a VIP service. How does this work, what benefits are there and how much do you need to be betting to qualify for this?
The VIP service is for primarily aimed at people who stake over £25,000 per month. We offer an individual service with a personal account executive, giving much more likelihood of getting large stakes placed. There are no hard and fast rules on who we will accept for the service, so anyone with an interest is very welcome to enquire.
16) What does the future hold for Bet Butler? What are the goals for 2014?
We’re constantly developing the new platform and the next big project is our mobile site, which will offer enhanced access for our customers. We’re also looking to further enhance the bets we offer and, of course, there’s the World Cup to look forward to, which is going to be big news this year.
Thank you to Bet Butler for answering the questions and concerns of us and our readers. It certainly helps to know what we can expect from Bet Butler. The table provided in the first response does demonstrate that using Bet Butler can be very valuable indeed but the nature of the business means that patience may be when it comes to withdrawals. It’s important to remember that Pinnacle Sports only offer one withdrawal per month and this doesn’t deter the more professional minded bettors.