New Players Only. Minimum stake £/$/€10, minimum odds 1.5, stake not returned. 10X wagering the winnings from the free bet. Wagering occurs from real balance first. Wagering requirement is calculated on bonus bets only, wagering starts from real funds. Free bet is valid for 7 Days from issue. Max conversion: £/$/€20. Excluded Skrill deposits.
In MapleBet, we find a truly fascinating proposition. On the one hand, this is the absolute definition of a brand-new sportsbook, having only been launched in 2020. On the other, however, their operating company – ProgressPlay – are actually very experienced indeed. Since 2012, they’ve consistently added to their portfolio of casino and sports betting sites, with MapleBet simply being one of the more recent examples.
Which side wins out in this scenario? Even if a betting platform itself is young, can the experience of its creators accelerate its growth? Despite being so new, can MapleBet already provide a serious challenge to the many older bookies out there?
That’s exactly what we’re going to find out, in our in-depth MapleBet review. En route, we’ll check out the promotions, betting markets, payment methods, and special features which MapleBet have to offer… plus plenty more besides!
The MapleBet welcome offer certainly catches your attention, which is the first priority for any such promotion. In fact, at first glance, MapleBet’s ‘Deposit £10, Get a £10 Free Bet’ offer would appear to offer some incredible value, mostly because it merely requires you to make a deposit, rather than actually place a wager. When you start to investigate the details, however, you’ll find one or two catches lurking in the fine print.
Before we get into all that, though, here’s a quick guide on exactly how to use this welcome offer:
In terms of sheer simplicity, this is definitely a beginner-friendly welcome offer. Whether you’re a betting veteran or rookie, however, you must always check the T’s & C’s of an offer before getting involved with it. These are the most noteworthy ones here:
In sports betting, as in life, when something appears too good to be true… that means it probably is! That’s absolutely the case here too. It’s true that, technically, you do indeed get a £10 free bet in exchange for a £10 deposit. The chances of you actually turning a profit with that free bet, however, aren’t particularly high thanks to some extremely tough rollover requirements.
At the end of the day, of course, you’re still only being asked to deposit £10 here, with the chance to make £20 in bonus winnings. Be aware, though, that needing to bet through your winnings 10 times stacks the odds firmly against you.
If a welcome offer is designed to get people signed up in the first place, ongoing promotions are there to help persuade them to stick around for the long-haul. Because of those aforementioned restrictions, MapleBet’s welcome offer is hardly a slam-dunk. Unfortunately, while MapleBet’s ongoing promotions aren’t bad by any means, they do suffer from similar drawbacks.
Let’s take a look at some of those deals in more detail.
Tennis is a serially underrated betting market, so it’s pleasing to see that MapleBet took the trouble to create a promotion specifically for the sport. Like the welcome offer, however, while it shows some initial promise, things fall apart a little when you dig into the details.
To qualify, you must deposit at least £10 using the promo code ‘BYE’, then bet through a total of £25. While those bets must be on specific tennis tournaments, you’re given plenty of room for creativity in how you place them, with a wide variety of contests ruled eligible. Fulfilling these requirements will unlock a £10 free bet. Unfortunately, you must wager through any winnings from that free bet at least 10 times… sound familiar?!
While tennis is the only active one at the time of writing, MapleBet will usually run individual promotions for a whole range of major sports. Naturally this includes football, but motorsports, American football, cricket, eSports, and others all get their own offers too. They also run special promotions for some of those sports, whether it be for a particular tournament, or even for a player’s transfer destination in football.
That might seem like impressive variety on the surface. In reality, though, all those promotions follow the same general template: stick money in your account using a code, rack up a certain volume of bets on that market, get a free bet in response, and wager through any free bet winnings 10 times. If you’re okay with that basic proposition, you’ll find plenty to interest you here. If not, then – unfortunately – the MapleBet promotions section will hold little appeal.
Amongst the whole raft of almost-identical promotions, one MapleBet offer stands out as being truly different: Sports League.
Similarly to the other deals, you qualify for this one by depositing at least £10 using a code (‘BOOST’ here), then racking up £25 in sports bets. In this case, though, doing so will actually enter you into a highly-competitive leaderboard, which ranks all eligible bettors based on their performance on certain markets within a given month. If you manage to achieve a top five finish, in terms of your profits, you’ll be given a generous cash prize. Even the 5th-placed bettor gets a healthy £50, with that reward eventually swelling to a mighty £150 for the overall winner.
Quite simply, this is a brilliant idea for a promotion… and it makes us wonder why MapleBet can’t show a similar level of invention and skill with the rest of their promotions!
Sportsbooks go to great lengths in trying to attract new business, whether that be with irresistible promotions, or high-powered marketing campaigns. Ultimately, though, if you’re going to stick around for the long haul in this hyper-competitive market, you need to nail the fundamentals. Offering a wide range of markets – to appeal to as many customers as possible – is one of the most important fundamentals of all.
We’re pleased to say that MapleBet have passed this vital test with flying colours. Their betting markets aren’t merely impressive for such a new bookie, but are truly competitive with what you’d find at the biggest brands in the industry.
Crucially, while football is clearly a priority here, they haven’t made the mistake of relying on it too much. Instead, their selection is very nicely rounded indeed, catering for a broad cross-section of sports fans. Traditional British markets – like cricket, golf, tennis, rugby, and so on – are mixed seamlessly with the glamour of boxing, motorsports, and much more besides. Fans of American leagues like the NFL and NBA certainly won’t be disappointed either, nor will those who prefer the fast-paced thrills of eSports.
Add in a huge amount of live betting opportunities, and some intriguing outright odds too, and there’s little not to like about MapleBet’s brilliant range of betting markets.
Of course there’s more to sports betting than football… but if you’re just starting out as a sportsbook, this is probably the one market which you should be absolutely sure you get right! We’re delighted to say, therefore, that MapleBet have done exactly that.
As with MapleBet’s general range of sports markets, the selection of football odds here is a genuine match for the biggest bookies around. For starters, the sheer depth of competitions which are covered is fantastic.
As you’d probably expect, the likes of the World Cup, Euros, Champions League, Premier League, and so on are all present and correct. Backing those up, though, is an immense range of other contests. In short, every international, continental, or domestic competition you could reasonably expect to bet on is available here… along with quite a few you wouldn’t expect to find!
That certainly gets things off to a great start, but what really cements this as a top-notch football section is the variety in which you can bet on those hundreds of tournaments. Naturally, these include all of your usual suspects, such as:
There’s plenty of room to experiment outside of those classics, however. Notably, you’re given the freedom to get as specific as you like on a given matchup, whether it’s betting on when a goal will be scored, who’s going to score, who’s going to get carded, and so on. If you prefer, however, you’re also able to zoom all the way out by placing an outright bet. These long-term markets – including old favourites like Overall Winner and Top Goalscorer – are available on just about every major competition, and perfectly cap off this outstanding range of markets.
The sport of kings is actually an older betting market than football, and still holds a huge amount of appeal to this day. Unfortunately, though, MapleBet don’t cater to this sizable crowd quite as well.
Technically, horse racing is available to bet on here, which certainly isn’t a given with such a new sportsbook. When it comes to actual markets, though, you’ll find some pretty slim pickings. At the time of writing, in fact, only racing in the USA is available to bet on. While this technically still presents you with dozens of betting opportunities per day, it obviously can’t compete with the selection you’ll find at any given premium sportsbook. We’d certainly hope to see some British and Irish courses added here sooner rather than later.
Thanks partly to its incredibly long tours, and partly – of course – to how fun the sport is to watch, tennis is routinely one of the most popular betting markets around. To their credit, MapleBet have capitalised on this interest as well as we could reasonably hope for.
At any given time, there will tend to be dozens of pre-match tennis markets available to pick from. These will include a whole host of markets for a slam, if one’s on, but MapleBet do a good job of showing love to the lesser-known tour events too. As with football, you’re free to get extremely specific with your single-match betting, or take the longer-term view with outright markets.
Very few sports fans are interested in one sport alone, meaning that – for a modern-day sportsbook – it should be imperative to provide as many eligible markets as possible. That’s exactly what MapleBet have done.
All of your traditional big-hitters like golf, cricket, rugby and various motorsports have their own dedicated sections, each packed with specific and more general bets. American sports like baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey are supported too, as are less glitzy contests like darts and snooker. There are a fair few niche offerings too, to round out this collection, including Aussie Rules, cycling, and badminton, plus an impressive suite of eSports markets.
With in-play betting arguably just as important as pre-match wagering nowadays, a bookie’s live betting section simply must be up to scratch. Yet again, we found that MapleBet made the grade here with ease.
Their live betting section is easy to access, and features a constant stream of immediate betting opportunities, with dozens usually available at a given time. Once again, while football certainly leads the way here, plenty of other sports are given their fair share of space, with tennis markets being particularly numerous. The odds are certainly fair too, constantly offering an accurate reflection of what’s been happening in a given matchup.
The sports betting industry was one of the first to truly understand the commercial potential of smartphones. The popularity of on-the-go gambling has increased ever since, to the extent that – nowadays – it’s arguably just as popular as traditional desktop-based betting.
In this context, we were both surprised and disappointed by MapleBet’s mobile betting options. Not only do they not seem to have been a priority, but very little effort seems to have been put into them at all. There’s no mobile app whatsoever available, for example, either for Apple or Android devices. Of course this is an extremely new brand, but the smart move would surely be to have an app in place before you launched. As it is, we’d hope to see one launched sooner rather than later.
In lieu of an actual app, you’re entirely reliant on the mobile version of the main website. Unfortunately, though, MapleBet don’t seem to have taken much care here either. To be frank, their mobile site is simply ugly, both visually and in terms of its layout. While premium bookies lay out their mobile apps and sites intuitively, here everything just feels crammed in. Technically there’s enough here to get the job done, but it’s certainly not fun to use.
Generally speaking, despite their youth, MapleBet actually match up pretty well with the bigger, older sportsbooks out there. As in the previous section, though, this is one area in which there’s a pretty considerable gap.
Simply put, there’s just not very much here in terms of special features. Depending on the brand, at a premium bookie you might hope to discover live streaming, bet builders, bet finders, betting tips, podcasts and commentary, and plenty more besides. With MapleBet… there’s none of that stuff!
More or less the only ‘special features’ you’ll find relate to live betting. You can indeed place in-play bets, and cash out active wagers, and we’re happy to say that both tools work extremely smoothly. Rarely will you miss out on a good price simply because the platform didn’t respond quickly enough, which is a frustration most experienced bettors have suffered!
Apart from that, though, there’s not much to write home about. MapleBet might execute the fundamentals well, but they lack the bells-and-whistles of a premium bookie.
While it’s not enormous, MapleBet’s range of banking options is perfectly acceptable. Most importantly of all, there should be a way for just about everyone to deposit and withdraw funds.
Naturally both Visa and Mastercard are eligible deposit methods, but we were particularly pleased to see PayPal included too. Backing these up are several eWallet options – including ecoPayz and Neteller – and bank transfers are facilitated via Trustly. Depending on the method, the minimum deposit amount will either be £10 or £20.
Aside from Paysafecard, the same options are available for a MapleBet withdrawal. While no minimum amount is stated, however, there is a highly irritating £2.50 fee for all withdrawals. There’s also an enforced three day ‘pending period’ for withdrawals, making them comparatively slow compared to most sites.
Punters don’t ask for much, when it comes to a bookie’s sign up process. All they really want is for it to be straightforward, and as short as possible! If they sound like your requirements too, you’ll be more than happy with what you find at MapleBet. The process has been split into three clear sections here, and takes barely two minutes to complete.
You kick things off by heading to MapleBet.com, and clicking ‘Join Now’ in the top-right. This will take you to the first screen, on which you must enter your email address and phone number, and create a password. Once you’ve done so, click ‘Submit’ at the bottom to head to the second screen.
This is certainly a lot busier than the first, but – for the most part – you’re just entering more personal details, such as your name, date of birth, and home address. You also need to tell MapleBet your occupation… although we don’t really know why. After doing so, you’ll also have the options to set your default prefered currency and marketing preferences. Then, to finish off that section, you just need to agree to the T’s & C’s.
The third and final stage is where you verify your account. MapleBet will send you an activation code via both text message and email, which you simply need to copy back onto the website. Once the code has been confirmed, you’re good to go!
Needing to verify your ID with a new bookie is never exactly ‘fun’. Unfortunately it’s a legal requirement for modern sportsbooks, though, so neither bettors nor bookies really have a choice!
At MapleBet, at least, this process is just as easy as the sign up one. While you don’t need to verify your identity when registering, or in order to place a bet, you will need to before you can withdraw any winnings you’ve made. Here’s a step-by-step guide on exactly how to do so:
MapleBet’s platform is a textbook case of substance triumphing over style. Frankly, it’s not much to look at, with some pretty cringe-inducing graphics and a generally dull and drab appearance. Once you start to dig beneath the surface, however, you’ll find that this is actually a very nicely-designed platform indeed.
Functionally, we really can’t fault the MapleBet interface. The layout is extremely straightforward, making it highly approachable for newcomers, but betting veterans will also enjoy how easy it is to access all the most important areas. Several of these are accessible via a very useful top menu, including account management, cashier services, and customer support. More can be found along the bottom menu, including the full T’s & C’s, and details on deposits and withdrawals.
Most importantly of all, navigating the actual betting markets is also a cinch. The full list of sports can be browsed via scrolling menu, and – once you click one – a dropdown menu will show you the competitions you can bet on. Selecting one will open up all the matchups that are available to bet on, and clicking one of those will bring up all the game’s individual markets. Finally, your betslip – where you’ll set states and confirm wagers – is given its own little section to the far-left.
Even on the most professional platforms, problems will inevitably arise. All that matters is that you’re able to get those problems solved as quickly and easily as possible.
That should never be a problem on MapleBet. Live chat is available 08:00 – 00:00 each day, allowing you to speak directly to a helpful customer service agent. Or, if your enquiry is less urgent, you can send MapleBet an email instead.
The indirect support isn’t quite so impressive, unfortunately. As noted, there are a couple of useful individual pages explaining how deposits and withdrawals are handled. The actual FAQ section is pretty useless, though, being poorly-arranged and focusing almost exclusively on the casino half of the website.
As we touched upon in our introduction, while MapleBet itself is a completely new website – only launching in 2020 – their operating company is highly experienced. Technically ProgressPlay have focused more on casino sites for most of their history, but they’ve made a clear shift towards sports betting in the past couple of years, opening several other sportsbooks aside from MapleBet.
Aside from that, there isn’t a huge amount of information available on MapleBet. Importantly, however, we do know that they hold licenses with both the UK Gambling Commission and Malta Gaming Authority, and that they’re based in Malta.
MapleBet isn’t a perfect betting site, by any means, as we’ve made clear regularly in this review. Considering just how new it is, though, we’d say it’s pretty remarkable how much excellent stuff is already in place here.
In some areas, in fact, MapleBet are genuinely competitive with the biggest bookmakers in the industry. Their range of betting markets is outstanding, for example, and their live betting features work very well. Other important areas – like customer support and payment options – aren’t quite as brilliant, but are still impressive.
For MapleBet to reach the very top level of sports betting sites, they will need to work on their weaknesses. The mobile offering is particularly poor, and we’d prefer to see a lot more variety in their ongoing promotions.
Even in its current state, though, we believe that MapleBet’s site is definitely worth checking out. To do so for yourself, there’s really no reason not to sign up, stick a tenner in your account to unlock the welcome offer’s £10 free bet, and place a few wagers. We doubt you’ll be disappointed with what you find.