PaddyPower UK – Overview & Rating

Paddy Power, one of the loudest and most controversial bookmakers on the market, is notorious for its irreverent advertising and its willingness to offer markets that others won’t touch. But beneath the flair for generating headlines, is Paddy Power a good place to have a flutter?

Formed in 1988 after a merger between three leading Irish bookies, Paddy Power adopted a fierce marketing stance from day one. By 2001, it had a 33% share of the Irish off–course betting market and was on its way towards becoming Europe’s biggest bookie by total share value (achieved in Nov. 2011). Along the way, surely, Paddy Power moved online and soon added poker, casino and bingo services to the web version. The 2016 merger with Betfair consolidated its position as a market leader. Since 2018 Paddy Power is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority. Its UK operations are regulated by the British Gambling Commission.

Life online absolutely fits the Paddy Power brand. Paddy Power is never slow to use its social media channels to take the mickey, regularly trolling defeated teams or puncturing the pomposity of post–match interviews. But chuckles don’t pay the bills, and the offer is backed by a steady stream of bonuses and boosts to help bettors turn a profit on their investments. Whether its an arcade game offering the chance of winning free bets, or a free shot at a ‘beat–the–drop’ game offering up to £1,000 in prize money, there are multiple ways for a punter to pick up a few pennies.

Paddy Power website is paddypower.com. Perhaps surprisingly for such a big player, Paddy Power is restricted in several significant markets – most prominently the USA and Canada. Other big–name absentees include Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Australia. A list of restricted territories can be found at https://helpcenter.paddypower.com/app/answers/detail/p/6/a_id/2/, although this may not be entirely up to date (for example, Russia is not listed there but, according to a different customer help page, the company closed its Russian operations in May 2020 – https://helpcenter.paddypower.com/app/answers/detail/p/6/a_id/3870/)

And what about the finances? Details for Paddy Power alone are not easy to come by, but its parent company, Flutter Entertainment – the new name for Paddy Power Betfair, following that merger – posted net profits of £111.9 million in 2019.

Design and layout

Paddy Power’s site follows the classic design for betting websites: a sidebar steers you to the most popular sports, while dropdown menus give access to casinos, poker and lotteries. The account management pages of Paddy Power are very similar to Betfair’s, making it easy for users of both sites to switch between the two.

The Paddy Power app offers gambling on the go for iOS (iOS 11 or above) and Android (version 5.0 (Lollipop) or above).

Services

The sportsbook does everything you’d expect, sweetened with a few specials each day and attainable price boosts that enable bettors to tweak the odds slightly in their favour on their chosen markets. But the bit that makes Paddy Power stand out is the commitment to novelty bets. Though the ability to generate headlines away from the sports pages plays a great role in securing Paddy Power’s stance of one of the most visible bookies in Europe.

Paddy Power offers markets on more than 20 areas, including most major sports, current affairs, politics and entertainment. That’s not as many as some competitors, with relatively few minor sports included in the offer. However, the decision to group some events under a broader umbrella – eg Gaelic Games, Winter Sports – boosts the overall range of events covered without adding extra options to the Paddy Power A–Z Betting menu.

Live

Most of those sports markets will move in–play. Big events in Paddy Power routinely get switched to the live pages and, especially at quieter times, it’s possible to find in–play action on Russian junior ice hockey or Romanian third division football. It’s worth noting, of course, that these smaller markets offer far fewer betting options: you won’t find a first goalscorer bet for Bristol City u23s, for example.

Paddy Power also offers a fair range of live streams. As usual, though, availability is subject to local TV rights arrangements and, typically, it’s not easy to get access to big games from your own country via the site. The streams themselves tend to be good quality, with the screen size comparing favourably against Bet365. Most live streams in Paddy Power are available without placing a bet. However, to watch horse racing from the UK or Ireland,

Bonuses and offers

This is where Paddy Power really stands out. The sign–up offer is a cash refund of up to £10 if your first bet loses – just make sure the first bet is at odds of 1.5 or higher. It’s not unusual to see a free £5 flutter available for big races, and the Paddy Power site is famous for constructing specials markets that promise boosted odds for combinations of the correct score, goalscorers and card bets on the weekend’s top football action.

One of the most attractive features of Paddy Power for a regular punter is the offer of a free £10 bet every week. Simply place five £10 bets (at 1.5 or higher) between Monday and Sunday, and you’ll get the prize credited on the following Monday morning. Five £5 bets bring a £5 freebie.

Other ways to boost your pot include Beat–the–Drop, a free–to–play game where Paddy Power gives you a pot of £1,000 and invites you to make 12 yes/no calls (of the ‘Will team X win this game?’ variety). Choose how to weight your money and pocket whatever is left at the end of your 12 questions. Play safe and hedge for a small prize, or go all in every time and hope you can pick 12 winners to land the jackpot.

In Paddy Power, there’s also the Skill Zone. Due for a revamp in November 2020, this offers a suite of arcade sports simulators – basketball, football and golf – with the carrot of free bets or free bet boosts for top scorers. It’s not clear how long you need to practice to become good enough to win significant money on this, but it’s an amusing diversion with the prospect of a small prize.

Customer care

There’s no live chat available in Paddy Power, although the website has an extensive searchable FAQ. For other direct queries, the @AskPaddyPower Twitter tag enables you to message directly to an operator. A query about the currencies available to a user based in Russia was answered within five minutes, albeit with information that contradicts the answers about access from Russia in the FAQs.

However, this appears to be the only way to easily reach customer services – potentially problematic for bettors who don’t use Twitter.

Registration in Paddy Power

Joining Paddy Power is fairly painless for most users. The application form is standard, requiring name, DoB, address, email and phone contacts. For most users, an automatic series of electronic identity checks via the ‘Know Your Customer’ programme will suffice, and you can be up and running in just a few minutes. In some cases, though, Paddy Power might need additional information – typically submitting a scan of a photo ID and proof of address will be enough.

Financial information

Accounts can operate in Pounds sterling or Euros. Deposits can be made through your bank card or various online payment systems. Bank transfer is possible as well. Some fees and restrictions may apply to certain transactions.

The minimum stake is 10p or 10 cents. Maximum payouts are capped at various levels depending on the sport type and the profile of the market. Top–level horse racing and football markets have the highest probable payouts of up to £1 million. The lowest payout limits start from £50,000.

Reliability

Paddy Power has attracted some criticism over the years. Much of this revolves around deliberately provocative advertising campaigns, or decisions to pay out on bets well ahead of time (notoriously, the company paid out on Stoke City to exit from the Premier League after one game of the 2008/09 season; Stoke stayed up, and Paddy Power took out a full–page advertisement in the city’s newspaper to apologise for its lack of faith. For a bettor, though, that’s trivial stuff. More significant allegations relate to a 2010 incident when a hacker obtained personal info from more than 649,000 users. Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office was unhappy that it took four years to disclose the incident. In 2018 there was a £2.2 mln fine from the Gambling Commission for failing to follow the rules concerning social responsibility and money laundering. The fall–out from that case continued with claims that William Hill and Paddy Power allowed a gambling addict to wager thousands of pounds of stolen money.

The website claims to have various security measures in place, from data protection and encryption provided by Thawte to credit card verification to combat card fraud. In addition, there is online advice about keeping your account safe and secure.

What’s missing?

To be honest, not much. The site offers a reliable, user–friendly betting experience and its marketing has an irreverent sense of humour.