Established in 2002, World Sports Betting (WSB) has been a major force in the South African sports betting scene for nearly 20 years. Having got started in betting shops around Gauteng, WSB has grown its online presence tremendously, continuing to innovate and adapt to the demands of the South African betting public. Today, WSB is a household name in sports betting and has brand partnerships with outfits like the Cape Cobras and Emirates Lions to name just a few.
Right from the word go, WSB worked hard to earn its reputation as the “People’s Bookie” by engaging with punters and sponsoring Superbru and other sports competitions. With the help of their loyal fanbase, WSB has emerged as one of South Africa’s premier online bookmakers and is a weapon in every serious sports bettor’s armoury. With more than 8 000 daily pre-match betting events and 5 000 in-play markets, WSB is an industry-leading operator licenced and regulated by both the Gauteng and National Gambling boards.
How To Register an Account with WSB
Not yet playing with WSB? Watch this video for help registering an account and claim your 100% first deposit bonus up to R10 000!
User Experience
I think even the developers involved with building the WSB site would admit it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing one around. Firstly, the white background of the homepage is a bit of an eyesore and not very alluring to customers. With a very rigid and symmetrical structure, the site appears almost over-built and you can’t glance easily over any of the content.
However, despite its somewhat outdated appearance, the WSB site is highly sophisticated and surprisingly intuitive to use. On the left side is a comprehensive sports menu while the main body prominently displays upcoming events, in-play betting and the day’s horse racing. The site also includes a match animation centre to follow all the action plus live streaming of soccer, tennis, basketball and more, so you can easily watch games and bet at the same time.
Deposit Bonus Welcome Offer
WSB offers the tied biggest welcome bonus for new customers in South Africa—a 100% deposit match up to R10 000, as well as a R50 free bet on registration. Customers making their first deposit receive a betting voucher of the same value up to R10 000. You will need to wager the bonus amount at least 5 times before you can withdraw money from your account. To get the bonus, make your first deposit and then email promotions@wsb.co.za (Subject: 100% Bonus Offer) before placing any bets and they will credit you with a betting voucher of equal value.
World Sports Betting Mobile
The WSB mobile site might not be the best looking we’ve ever come across (much like the desktop site), but it is very functional and easy to use. There is nothing flashy at all about its layout but its rudimentary design means it loads quickly and is also economical on data. Navigating around the WSB mobile site is rather seamless too. You can locate all the available sports, lotteries, events and betting markets within drop-down menus—and move from one to the other with ease.
With such a user-friendly mobile site, we can’t fault WSB’s choice to adopt a mobile web-based platform rather than a mobile betting app for its customers. The mobile site is a pleasure to use on your smartphone or tablet, allowing you the convenience of betting on the go without the use of an app.
Betting Markets
WSB showcases an above-average sports offering in terms of its betting markets. These include South African staples like soccer, rugby and cricket as well as American sports like basketball, baseball and NFL. Sports to bet on that you won’t find in many places include surfing, alpine skiing, cross country and biathlon. WSB also offers tote betting such as Soccer 4 and Soccer 6 pools.
Odds
As most bookmakers today get their odds and lines from the same source, there is often very little to compare across sites. Usually, any discrepancy between bookies only becomes apparent after they take a few bets from punters and have to move their odds accordingly. As the opening odds of any sports betting market are—give or take—the same across sites, the number you get on any sports market has more to do with where money has already been bet into the market than the bookmaker in themselves.
The odds at WSB are comparable with other big players in the South African industry, and were, in fact, better than two books we compared them to on 65% of Swedish premier division soccer markets (We’re in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and there isn’t much sport going on right now). We also like that WSB is often first to the party in pricing up EFC and Varsity Cup matches, allowing punters to take an early bet and grab the value while it’s still around.
Unique Features
WSB is not a feature-rich site with lots of bells and whistles. They have an incredible range of sports and betting markets available but aren’t as prominent as other sites like Sportingbet when it comes to features. WSB does, however, have one standout innovation that adds great value to the punter’s experience. They provide statistics and live scores straight from Sportsradar, the leading analytical sports data experts. These up-to-the-minute match stats cover almost every sport, competition, team and player. Having this information at hand can help you make better bet selections and give you an edge. We would love to see WSB offer a cash out feature soon as this is fast becoming industry standard in South Africa.
Promotions
Just another reason punters endearingly refer to them as the “People’s Bookie, WSB is the unrivalled champion of sports promotions. With everything from regular soccer, rugby, cricket and Formula One promotions to awesome specials around golf tournaments and other one-off events, WSB have something to excite and entice every kind of punter.
Below check out just a few of the regular sports promotions at WSB:
- IPL Money Back: Bet on five of the latest IPL cricket matches and if one leg loses, your stake is refunded in Free Bets
- Book a Bet: Stake on any betting market using Book a Bet and you could win R500 in cash weekly
- Formula 1 Money Back: Back a driver to win and if he comes in second your stake is refunded
- Super Rugby 1st Try Scorer: If your selection scores the opening try and another your winnings are doubled
- Euro Soccer Accumulator: Get a 50-100% boost on your 10+ leg Euro soccer accumulators
- NBA 1st Half Accumulator: Get your money back if just 1 selection in a 4+ leg HT NBA accumulator lets you down
- Premier League Goalscorer: Double your odds if your first goalscorer selection nets in the 1st half
- Bore Draw Money Back: Get your money back on all losing bets if the game ends 0-0
Aside from the events-based promotions they always have going on, WSB also rewards customers with birthday vouchers, refer-a-friend vouchers, Lotto refunds, and our favourite—a R100 free bet for spotting an error on their website such as incorrect odds on a market.
See a full list of WSB promotions here.
Pick A Number
Known as Lucky Numbers elsewhere, WSB offers fixed-odds betting on lottery draws called Pick A Number. They have everything from South Africa’s Powerball, Lotto and Lotto Plus 1 & 2, to daily draws from all over the world with seven-number jackpots paying odds of 3 000 000/1. Playing these fixed-odds lotteries means you can save a trip to the store to buy a ticket, bet as much or as little as you like, and never have to share your winnings with any other players. You can check all the latest Lotto results on the WSB site here so you are always up to date with news from the latest draws.
WSB Casino Games
World Sports Betting have a fantastic selection of all the best casino games from Evolution and Ezugi, including the popular Crazy Time, Lightning Roulette, Mega Ball 100x and the first person variants. There are also a host of ongoing casino games promotions for players to take advantage of, with great cash prizes and bonuses on offer.
World Sports betting have a fantastic variety of games, and are quick to release new games before other bookmakers. All the live casino games on WSB are mobile friendly, so you can play from anywhere!
BetGames
On the WSB website, you can play a whole host of Bet Games which include Lucky 5, Lucky 6, Lucky 7, Speedy 7, Dice Duel, War of Bets, Wheel of Fortune, Bet on Poker and more. These interactive casino-style games are great for sports punters looking for some fun while they wait on the results of a match, but are also a genuinely solid product that can offer hours of entertainment in their own right.
Roulette Games
WSB is renowned for its wide selection of live roulette games, which are live-streamed from a casino abroad right to your phone or computer. Read more about the WSB Live Roulette games here. WSB also offer the popular Lightning Roulette, which is one of the most popular online casino games of all time.
eSports
World Sports Betting led the way in South Africa with Esports and are one of the few local bookies that still offer regular markets for Dota 2, League of Legends and Counterstrike GO. Many bookies trialled Esports but subsequently dropped it from their offering entirely, but WSB has remained the place to bet for gaming fans.
WSB Deposit Options
World Sports Betting offers many choices when it comes to making account deposits, which keeps options open for punters. The minimum deposit is R50—higher than other bookies like Hollywoodbets, where the minimum is R10. This might be off-putting to some punters but it’s still an improvement on the previous R100 minimum that WSB previously had in place.
Banking options for depositing funds into your WSB account include:
- Debit and credit cards
- Bank transfer (EFT)
- 1Voucher
- OTT Voucher
- PayPal
- I-Pay / OZow
- Payfast
- Direct Deposit
- SID Deposit
- Cash Deposit (inside a WSB shop)
Withdrawal Options
Withdrawals from your WSB account are to the same method of deposit wherever possible and take 2-3 business days, which is about average for South Africa. Withdrawals requested before playing through your total deposit are subject to a 5% admin fee. So, if you deposit R100, you must place R100 in bets before requesting a withdrawal to avoid paying R5 (5%) in service fees.
Minimum Bet, Win Limits & Responsible Gambling
The minimum stake per bet is R1 for the mobile site, R5 for the desktop site, R10 for telephone lotto betting and R20 for any sports bets made via telephone. If the number of legs in a sports bet is between 1 and 9, your possible winnings will be limited to R2m. If the number of legs in a sports bet is between 10 and 19, your possible winnings will be limited to R5m. If the number of legs in a sports bet is between 19 and 29, your possible winnings will be limited to R10m.
Customer Service
One of the reasons punters call WSB “The People’s Bookie” is because of their excellent customer service. Their agents are notoriously helpful and are available to help 24/7 on phone and live chat. These non-stop service hours are unheard of in South Africa, which puts WSB a cut above the rest in terms of customer care. WSB also monitor their social media accounts closely and are very responsive if you want to reach out to them on Twitter or Facebook.
Betting with WSB
WSB has been around nearly two decades, and for good reason, as they are undoubtedly one of the best in the business. WSB also put their money where their mouth is, offering not only South Africa’s tied biggest welcome bonus (up to R10 000) to new customers but also a R10m win limit—by far the highest of any bookie. Their extensive range of promotions also sets them apart from many other operators, plus of course their attentive customer service. Some minor downsides to the site are that odds are displayed in fractions only, a 5% fee is charged for premature withdrawals and there is no cash out feature available as of yet. The WSB site itself is not winning any beauty pageants but this just goes to show how their solid product offering speaks for itself.
World Sports Betting offer a R50 sign up free bet plus a 100% deposit match bonus up to R10,000. Enjoy playing a wide selection of your favourite casino games, lucky numbers, sports and more with WSB.World Sports Betting
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Over 15 years of experience in the sports and casino betting industry. I cover everything from casino games, crash games, slots and betting tips. Now Author for The Gambler.
