New customers depositing by card payments can claim a £28 bonus. While other bookies simply match a stake and credit free bets and bonuses automatically, the Fun88 introductory offer seems rather convoluted. Punters must make six bets of at least £10 and only then can contact customer services to request a bonus token. On first glance it appears to be too much like hard work in a world where other bookies are falling over backwards with bigger bonuses or can’t lose first bet offers.
Fun88 also offer football customers a £10 free bet if a game they have bet on has a goal after the 88th minute. It seems a bonus shoe-horned around the company name rather than because it holds much merit.
Acca insurance, if one team lets you down, can be claimed up to £50.
A Casino bonus is available of up to £500, although once again the terms and conditions and instructions for anyone wanting to claim this bonus are incredibly off-putting. You would probably have earned around £500 interest in your stake money before getting to the end of the terms page!
While other companies are throwing money at new and existing customers where the bonuses appear automatically in accounts and everything is easy to understand, Fun88 is a long way behind its rivals.
Equally, there are no ‘request a bet’ initiatives so common now elsewhere and if there are horse racing incentives I couldn’t find them.
The current marketing strategy, being shirt sponsors with Newcastle United FC, is there for all to see as the homepage, or rather landing page, shows three NUFC players and little more, This presumably strengthens the appeal of the website to football supporters inclined to sing ‘Bladen Races’ as they bet, but it will be less seductive to those with allegiances elsewhere. Football is such a tribal entity that one wonders whether more trade is lost than gained with this approach.
Two prominent links take customers from that initial page to Fun88’s Sports betting and Casino platforms.
In Sports, the site appears clean and easy to navigate with ‘Quick Links’ and a full list of 32 sports down a left-hand menu. It is very easy to jump straight to the league, competition or sport of choice to place an ante-post bet whilst the in-play area in the centre of the screen is easy to understand and very straightforward to navigate. Beneath this in-play area there is a ‘Betting Highlights’ block advertising upcoming matches and a ‘Last Minute Bets’ block showing the next events to go in-play so punters can get pre-match bets on quickly.
Although the light blue/dark blue corporate colours are not particularly appealing, it is hard to criticise the structure, layout and ease-of-use of the Sports Betting interface.
Equally the Casino area, providing slots, video poker and the traditional array of table games shows customers what is on offer and you are never more than a couple of clicks from playing the games.
The mobile platforms replicate the website in approach and if anything are more visually appealing.
This is easy to use. Transactions are processed quickly and there is a lot of information on the site to explain the process.
Customer Satisfaction with Fun88
This area appears limited at first glance. A click on the help tab takes customers to a static page which solely provides information on how to deposit and with draw funds or how browsers can be set up to access the site. There is a live chat service which is responded to immediately.
Fun88 are quite obviously a company with high aspirations. As a simple betting website it is hard to fault it in terms of navigation and ease of use. However, gambling websites have moved on. They have become betting communities where the best provide interactivity, video, advice and punditry. Fun88 has no added extras and therefore the betting experience is a very basic one.
There is a danger that modern gamblers who enjoy the full experience that market leaders now provide will find the Fun88 website a bit boring after a while. Investment into these added value areas could see Fun88 achieve a lot more. Perhaps one less sponsorship deal and recruiting someone with a bit more imagination would be a wise move.
