Coral Review
In this review we take a look one of Britain’s largest bookmakers and casinos, Coral. Their business has expanded rapidly with the growth of online sports betting and as a result their website caters to punters betting on a long list of sports from football and horseracing to futsal and snooker. Additionally, Coral offers a casino with a variety of slots, table games, and a live casino.
Coral's website has modernised quickly as they join the small elite of gambling sites with full mobile functionality, as well as excellently developed in-play betting and live streaming functionality on their website. They also offer decent welcome bonuses along with some interesting and often very valuable regular promotions.
Odds & Markets
Coral are particularly strong on their range of markets, especially for UK sports. Their odds are also not to be scoffed at and while they don’t always lead the markets they’re definitely reliable and consistent and you don’t have to worry about them going out of business like some of the newer players.
Football is a particularly strong sport for them, they regularly cover more correct score lines and anytime goal scorers in Premier League, Championship and lower division action than their competitors and, as ever, with very solid odds.
American Football is another sport which they’re leading the field in amongst UK bookmakers as its popularity takes off over here. They offer more betting options on NFL and college games than almost anyone else and they’re really driving to promote betting on the sport as its popularity grows in the UK through the International Series.
Features
Live Streaming
It was widely acknowledged that Coral were lagging behind their competitors in terms of their website before its overhaul but that’s really not true anymore. As part of their “Raising the Game” initiative that launched at the end of 2012 Coral modernised their site, improved their offers and added a number of nice features. The live streaming function airs more than 5,000 sporting events per year all of which can be bet on in the new look in-play betting console.
If you see a small play button icon next to a listing this indicates it’s available for live streaming. Sports streamed include football, rugby, basketball, tennis and snooker. This is one of the best services around in terms of live-stream capability.
Cash Withdrawals
Thanks to a large network of high street betting shops, Coral are also able to offer something to their customers that an online-only bookie cannot - the ability to deposit and withdraw in cash. In 2015, the Coral Connect card was launched through which you can securely manage your online Coral account through any Coral store.
Connect Card, Functionality & Offers
As a Coral punter you’re going to be able to get your hands on the all-new Coral connect Card. The card is linked with your online betting account, but it allows you to both deposit and withdraw funds from online within any of Coral’s high street stores. This allows you to link your account with online, mobile and high street bets.
The connect card is also going to allow you to claim some pretty exclusive offers. These offers are generally tailored to your account, but they will include things like bonuses and even moneyback specials. The card is free to get, so it’s well worth signing up, if only for the increase in offers.
Build Your Bet
Their bet builder is one of the more interesting innovations that we have seen from Coral. It basically allows you to pick out player or team markets for a certain game and then place different bets regarding performance. These bets could include things such as shots on goal, tackles, passes, booking points and loads more. All you need to do is make your selection and then choose your markets, the program will then create the odds for your bet automatically.
It’s also possible to combine bets or even players to create multiple bets. So, you might choose Phil Foden to score 2 goals, make 20+ passes, take 3+ corners and get a yellow card to create a form of accumulator bets. Alternatively, you can even include more than one player as well, so you might choose Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez to have 8+ shots between them, and so on.
Other Gaming
The website also has casino, slots and lotto sections which are integrated seamlessly across all platforms for those who enjoy more than one type of gambling, with much of this offering also available on mobile. In addition Coral has a virtual sports section which broadcasts virtual action 24/7 meaning you can bet on sports even when there’s no live “real” sport going on.
Casino Games
Coral’s casino was relaunched in 2012 and is now powered in large by the ever popular Playtech software platform, although there are also games from NetEnt, Ashgaming and Odobo. The new casino is a significant improvement as it means a smoother and more secure gaming experience as well as more available information on house edge percentages. If you check the help files for any slot game made by Playtech you can find the percentages and other relevant information, allowing you to make your own choices about what slots to play.
The casino has roughly 250 games available which is boosted to nearly 300 if you download the standalone casino client which is also made by Playtech. This is quick and easy to do, gives you access to more games and can substantially improve the appearance and functionality of your casino experience. If you take into account other games available on the site the number of games is closer to 600 - in other words you won’t be short of choice with Coral as they have one of the widest selections of games in the business.
Many of the slot games operate progressive jackpots which regularly run into the six or even seven figures. Some of the most popular titles are Gladiator JP, Beach Live and Iron Man 2 all of which have recently paid out over £1.5 million – not bad for a spin that could have cost just a pound or less!
For those who are looking for a more authentic casino experience there are a range of table games including pai gow, baccarat and sic bo as well as dedicated sections for blackjack, of which there are 14 variants, roulette, of which there are 19 and video poker, available in 15 different guises.
Coral also has a Live Casino where you can watch real dealers via a live stream and place bets on roulette, baccarat, blackjack and a hold ‘em variant. This feature has its own mobile app available on all iOS and Android platforms as well as the main Coral mobile site which allows you access to slots and other casino games and the Spin casino app which is just for table games. Splitting the apps up like this has pros and cons because it means having to install lots of apps if you use more than one of their services but it does keep each app very clean and functional, although most of the games can be simply accessed in your mobile browser.
On the High Street
The Coral brand started life within the bookmaking industry way back in 1929. As the high street shops that we see today were still banned back then, the owner, Joe Coral, took to targeting dog tracks and racing tracks to satisfy his customer base. Later the company then took bets via courier and even postal bets, before finally breaking onto the high street in 1961.
The company had over 1,800 licensed betting offices at their peak throughout the UK. A merger with Gala allowed Coral to expand even further than that, mainly into the world of Bingo and Casino. Whilst these forms of gambling are more commonly associated with the brand, Gala, it’s essentially the same company as Coral. As a result, they currently have around 140 bingo halls and 25 casinos based around the world.
In 2016, Gala Coral merged with rival bookmaker Ladbrokes, to create the Ladbrokes Coral Group. In total the company had around 4,000 betting shops at that point but their individual branding remianded.
Banking
As we mentioned earlier in the review, one of the features that should appeal to UK customers is the ability to deposit and withdraw through any of Coral's 1800+ betting shops. The transactions are instant, but you need to be registered with the Coral Connect service first.
Other methods include all the usual debit cards, as well as Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Paysafecard:
- Debit Card - £5 Min Deposit / £5 Min Withdrawal
- Coral Connect - £5 Min Deposit / £5 Min Withdrawal
- Apple Pay - £5 Min Deposit / £5 Min Withdrawal
- Google Pay - £5 Min Deposit / £5 Min Withdrawal
- PayPal - £10 Min Deposit / £5 Min Withdrawal
- Paysafecard - £5 Min Deposit
Who are Coral?
Coral is a British bookmaker with around 1300 betting shops in the UK. The business was started by greyhound racing enthusiast, Joe Coral, in 1926 and reportedly set up using a small loan from a local cafe owner who was a fellow greyhounds man.
Over the years Coral has been bought and rebought many times and following a merger in October 2008 became the third largest British bookmaker. In 2005, Coral was taken over by the bingo operator Gala to create the larger Gala Coral group which also included the brands Gala Bingo, Gala Casino and Eurobet most of which are operated out of Gibraltar. In 2016 a merger with Ladbrokes created Britain's biggest bookmaker.
In 2018, the company was to go through another takeover, this time by GVC holdings who already owned the bwin and Sportingbet brands, in deal worth a report £4 billion. The group has since renamend as Entain and is one of the world's leading gambling operators.
Coral themselves still have UK headquarters in Stratford and Nottingham although the casino was until recently licensed and regulated by the government of Gibraltar. Entain are based on the Isle of Man. The regulatory authority in Gibraltar is generally considered to be one of the most stringent but Coral is regulated in Britain by the even more respected UK Gambling Commission, although the Coral name alone is a guarantee that you’re dealing with a trustworthy operator.
Contact & License Info
- Live Chat: Via website
- Email: Via website
- Telephone: 0800 44 0011
- Address: Suite 6, Atlantic Suites, Gibraltar, GX11 1AA
- Company Number: 106323
- License: UK Gambling Commission (54743) & Gibraltar Gambling Commission (RGL 059 & 060)