Joe Coral Bookmakers
Coral is one of the United Kingdom’s best known bookmakers, a member of the unofficial Big Three along with Ladbrokes and William Hill that has a major presence on the country’s streets thanks to thousands of licensed betting offices.
The company went on to merge with Ladbrokes in 2016 to create the Ladbrokes Coral Group, bringing together more than 4,000 betting shops and 30,000 employees. Not bad for a business started by a Polish immigrant by the name of Joseph Kagarlitsky, who became Joe Coral when he moved to the UK. Customer Service. Joe Coral landed a side job as a bookies runner and collected bets on their behalf. It led to a parting of the ways with the lamp making firm but also sowed the seeds for what was to become one of the largest bookmaking operations in the world. Soon, it was time to start taking his own bets. Bet on Football with Coral. Get the latest Football odds pre-event and in-play. Coral offers great odds and live results, join today and start to win! We’ve also got exclusive slots that can only be played at Coral, including Big Banker Slot, Rainbow Rewards, Banks of Gold and Chilli Fiesta. Bingo Bring on the Bingo – we’ve got 90-Ball Bingo, 80-Ball Bingo, 75-Ball Bingo, 30-Ball Bingo and more to enjoy.
Joseph Kagarlitski, a Polish immigrant to the United Kingdom who became better known as Joe Coral, began his bookmaking business in 1926 and, although primarily concerned with operating pitches at racecourses, he opened his first credit office in London’s West End in 1943.
Coral’s founder died in 1996 but not before the bookmaker that bears his nickname had become the United Kingdom’s third largest retail bookmaking business with a market share of approximately 20 per cent. Just three years later, the company entered the world of online bookmaking by purchasing United Kingdom-based, Italy-facing Eurobet. To this day, they are a serious player in both British and Italian markets.
The licensed offices of Coral in the United Kingdom are pretty swish by bookmaker standards and, therefore, it is no surprise that its apps for Android and iOS devices are easy on the eye as well. Mobile betting is well covered, with its apps featuring in-play wagering and live streaming of British horse racing and greyhound racing events.
In the rest of this review we will look at Coral’s betting options, its bonuses, its security and licensing, how it treats professional and recreational punters and its banking practices, before providing an executive summary.
Wagering Options
Coral is a British bookmaker at heart and it shows in its range of gambling choices, with football, horse racing and greyhound racing receiving top billing and being easiest to find.
Most football matches attract more than 100 different markets so only the fussiest punter – one who wants to bet on the blade of grass from which the last goal of the game is scored – will find the need to bet elsewhere most of the time. They don’t cover every football competition in the world but it does bet on the ones that matter to most punters so its service is of the required standard.
Coral owns a couple of greyhound racing stadia in the United Kingdom – Brighton and Hove Greyhound Stadium and Romford Greyhound Stadium – so it knows what punters who want to bet on dog races want, while it is committed to providing a premium horse racing betting service to complement its sponsorship of several big races, including the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park. Recent Eclipse Stakes winners include Nathaniel, Sea The Stars and So You Think.
One can bet in-play with Coral using the live betting part of its website. Graphically, the live system does not hold a candle to the offerings of many of its direct competitors and its range of betting options is relatively small. But for the average British or Italian sports punter, Coral’s in-play product is okay.
Bonuses On Display
Coral offers a £50 free bet to new members of the UK website, with the online bookmaker matching the stake of one’s first sports bet up to the maximum amount in the form of a token. Unfortunately, the offer is only available to residents of the United Kingdom and Ireland but, on the bright side, it is not subject to the kind of turnover requirements that diminish the value of many bonuses.
When one accesses Coral’s membership form it becomes very apparent that the online bookmaker does not do business with most of the world. The territories from which it accepts clients are Aland Islands, Albania, Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, St Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Also, Coral allows new clients to open accounts in only one of four currencies – American dollars, British pounds, Swedish krona or euros. If one lives outside Europe, this is probably not an online bookmaker to consider seriously.
Security and Licensing
Coral’s online betting operation is licensed in Gibraltar and regulated by the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner. One can bet safely here. Gibraltar has been synonymous with offshore finance and gambling for many years, while the bookmaker’s reputation in the United Kingdom is beyond reproach.
Professional Versus Recreational Punters
Like its Big Three cousins, Coral tries to be all things to all punters. Because of its conspicuous presence in British towns and cities, most of it’s offline clients are small fish whose stakes are low but whose frequency is high. The average betting shop punter does not come close to breaking the maximum liability limit on most markets.
In reality, Coral is better suited to recreational punters than professional punters but that is not to say that the bookmaker will not cop a big bet, particularly on football and horse racing which are its key product offerings.
Banking Practices
They offer a wide range of ways in which to deposit money into one’s account, including credit cards, debit cards and e-wallet services such as Neteller, PayPal and Skrill. None of them attract any charges, all of them are instantaneous and the minimum deposit level is set at just £5. As touched upon above, Coral allows new clients to open accounts in only one of four currencies – American dollars, British pounds, Swedish krona or euros – which is disappointing.
Withdrawing money from Coral is just as straightforward as depositing money. Most of the withdrawal methods take three to five working days, although bank transfers and PayPal are instantaneous. The minimum withdrawal is only €/£1.
Executive Summary
Coral did not become one of the United Kingdom’s Big Three bookmakers by accident. It is a rock-solid, professional company that has contributed considerably to the world of offline gambling over the past couple of decades. It is not the online betting market leader and it is heavily focused on a handful of European countries but, if one lives in Ireland, Italy or the United Kingdom, it is a good pick.
About Coral
Coral are one of the biggest bookmakers in the industry and have been in operation since 1926. The company is owned by private equity firms Candover Investments, Cinven and Permira. They are primarily based out of Nottingham, London and Woking, but in 2011 they shifted part of their business abroad to Gibraltar where they now run the majority of their remote gaming division.
One of the most influential years in the company’s history came about in 2005 when it merged with Coral Eurobet for a reported £2.18 Billion. The brand is officially known as the Gala Coral Group, but are often still referred to as simply, Coral. What’s been impressive to see from Coral is that they have continued to increase expansion with the acquisition of several smaller brands and also a huge merger with Ladbrokes in 2015. This then lead to the remaining of Ladbrokes to Ladbrokes Coral, but again, the company is still widely known as simply, Ladbrokes.
Over the years Coral have been known to runs several fairly ‘out of the box’ marketing campaigns, none more so than the ‘Run 4 It’ campaign where employees dressed up as robbers to literally go and steal punters from other bookmakers. Throughout this campaign Coral reported that they managed to acquire no less than 2,447 customers from 900 bookmakers, with an impressive conversion rate of almost 7%.
High Street Betting Shops
Coral are one of the most popular brands on the high street at the minute. They currently have over 1,800 shops still in operation, making them one of the largest in terms of high street status. Coral are famed for still perusing bookmakers up and down the country and mainly operate their premises within the UK, with a few dotted around Europe.
Whilst other bookmakers have slowly but surely been reducing the number of high street shops in an attempt to concentrate more within the online industry, Coral has seen this a massive opportunity to pick up a plethora of acquisitions over the years. Some of the more notable ones include Bartletts and Heathorns in 1984 PTS in 1985 and Leisure Bookmakers in 1989.
The companies future plans look set to continue their growth, although over the last couple of years the rate in which they have opened new stores has reduced, compared with the same time 10 years ago. In an attempt to keep improving the Coral brand within their stores they have included Coral Connect, which allows punters to bet using a Coral card that is linked up to their online store, using the one account for all transactions.
Coral are one of the UK high street giants, established in 1928 by Joe Coral. They operate over 1700 bricks and mortar betting shops but increasingly their business is operated online. They are licensed and regulated, like many of their rivals, in Gibraltar.
Part of the Gala Coral Group that also operates physical casinos and bingo halls in the UK they a huge, reputable company with masses of industry experience. Via their website they offer online sports betting, poker, bingo, games, lotto and casino products, with the sports side of the business being especially strong on football and horse racing.
Odds & Markets
Coral are one of the biggest bookmakers in the industry and with that you will always be able to get a very competitive price when you bet with them. What they are probably best known for is their football betting, which is a credit in itself to the bookmaker due to how competitive these markets generally are. We tested a number of random bets from coral to find that they were consistently in the top 10 with their pricing and never really falling within a couple of points or so behind best price.
The market range, as you would expect from Coral, is superb. They offer up a ton of sports to bet on although you will find that they are heavily weighted towards that of both football and horse racing. The horse racing section is really where the bookmaker stands out for us and you will be able to bet on races from around the world. Outside of the ‘big 2’ there are plenty of other sports which are well covered, particularly tennis, American football, basketball and greyhounds.
What you will find from Coral is that there are no real surprises with the bookmaker and if you used them for all of your betting, you’re going to be getting a great range of sports at a more than competitive price.
Features
Coral’s mobile site is very good with Apple and Android versions available which possess excellent usability standards, and a Blackberry version is reportedly on the way soon. Various casino games and slots are also available – ideal for when you’ve got a little time to kill.
The overall feel of the site is pretty good, although the relatively recent introduction of a lot more green to the site isn’t always easy on the eye. They offer a good results and stats service, as well as Coral Radio – superb quality live streaming on horse races – and a reasonable in-play console. Throw in 24/7 customer service (though not currently via live chat) that is friendly and efficient and Coral score pretty highly in all areas possible.
IN PLAY BETTING
The in-play betting section at Coral is substantial to say the least. The main culprits in this section are both football and tennis, but unlike many bookmakers they also offer up loads of other sports as well, although market coverage does suffer somewhat the more niche you get with each sport.
LIVE STREAMING
The live streaming section at Coral is fairly new, but already you will be able to access over 2,000 live streams each week. To gain access you will simply need to have a funded Coral account, but if you want to watch the horse racing channels then you will have needed to place at least a £1 bet on that specific race to access it.
CASH OUT
The cash out feature at Coral is really intuitive operation. It allows you to cash out your bets at any point, just like the usual function would, but what’s great about Coral is that it allows you to cash out your bets placed in store as well. All you need to do is enter the cash out number from your bet slip into the cash out section on site, before that bet automatically appears and you can cash out as you wish.
FOOTBALL JACKPOTS
Each week Coral run one of the more lucrative football jackpots in the industry. What’s on offer is a £100,000 prize pool and all you need to predict the outcome of 15 matches from the jackpot slip. All you need to do is choose from home win, away win or draw and select your stake ranging from 25p to £20 per line. Getting all 15 results will get you the £100,000 jackpot, whilst 14 correct ill get your 1st consolation dividend and 13 the 2nd consolation dividend.
STATS
Coral run the Bet Radar statistics section on site meaning you can get stats and information on dozens of sports and hundreds of matches. The stats will range in depth for each sport, with the like of football being the most in depth. Here you’ll be able to gather information such as head to head, past results, current form, top goalscores and team stats.
Coral are widely regarded as one of the biggest gambling companies in the world. It’s probably fair to say that they are best known for their work within the sports betting side, but their online casino over the last few years has seen them become an all-round player and a real force within all sectors.
The company have been about since 1926 and as a result make them one of the oldest in the industry. It was the merger with the Gala Group that really allowed Coral to successfully move into new online gaming activates such as casino and since then, the company haven’t looked back.
Software And Platform
The Coral casino was famed for using the Cryptologic software for so many years and whilst this is very much still the base for the casino, they now use several other software providers including IGT, Microgaming, NetEnt, OpenBet and Playtech, to name but a few. If you are suing the casino via your Windows PC then there is going to be a download option available, but for Mac users you will have to make do with the browser based, instant play option.
You will also be able to download the Coral Casino app for your mobile, which can be accessed from the App Store or simply by visiting the casino in your smartphones browser. On top of that you will be able to take advantage of some neat features such as a search functionality, free play and the ability to create a favourites list.
Casino Games
The casino takes on about 200 games in total, which is a reasonable amount, but not anything to write home about. The quality of the games on offer has dramatically improved over the last few years since they started to introduce more software providers and on the whole, the range of games were excellent. You will be able to see when they casino adds games that are ‘new’ via the bright blue sticker, but we have seen the same games tagged for some time now and aren’t sure how often this feature is updated.
SLOTS
You’re going to be able to choose from about 150 slots in total. Again, the number on offer doesn’t rival some of the more casino-focused programs out there, but it’s a number that should be more than enough for the majority of players. Some of the our highlights from the collection included Kong, Battle of the Gods, Buffalo Blitz and Gladiator.
ROULETTE
There are 20 varieties of roulette on offer at Coral Casino, which is one of the best in the business. The mix of options was what really drew us in, with French, premium, American, European, Penny, pro, video, 3D and even a Marvel comic’s version all on offer.
Coral Bookmakers Online
BLACKJACK
Blackjack will include around 13 titles in total, which again is a more than good range. With this you can choose from super 21, American, peek, pontoon, UK, switch, double attack and duel blackjack, to name but a few.
VIDEO POKER
Joe Coral Bookmakers
It’s a similar story with the video poker as to the blackjack and the roulette with the video poker in that you get another good range of games to choose from. There are 15 video poker titles to choose from, including 2 ways royal, aces and faces, 4-line jacks or better, 50-line jacks or better and joker poker.
JACKPOTS
If there was one reason to sign up to Coral, then the jackpot section might just be it. In total there are 50 jackpot games to choose from and we think this might actually be the largest selection in the industry. The jackpot games range in terms of both quality and the jackpots themselves, but with the likes of Jackpot Giant, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk and X-Men, you are going to be looking at 6 figure jackpots at least with these games alone.
Coral Bookmakers Uk
About Coral Casino
As we mentioned earlier in the article, the company have been about since 1926, but the casino as you see it today only been running since 2012. A form of casino has been in operation for longer than this, but the Coral Interactive sector of the Gala Coral Group, have now taken the reigns and are moving forward in an aggressive manner.
What’s been interesting to see from Coral is that the merger with Gala has had a huge affect on which routes the company are able to succeed at. Sports betting is the main export from Coral, but with Gala’s expertise in online bingo and casino, it means the integration has seen them become an absolute behemoth in the online casino industry.