Sportsinteraction.com
Year established: 1997
Mobile compatible: Yes
Jurisdiction: Canada
Overall rating: B+
Recommended: For recreational players
SportsInteraction Sportsbook Review
Launched in 1997 Sports Interaction is amongst the most established bookmakers in North America. Based in Canada, Sports Interaction is also known as SIA, and it doesn’t allow bettors from anywhere outside Canada at this time.
With its focus on the North American market sports such as ice hockey, American football, baseball and basketball dominate the sportsbook. MMA is also an increasingly popular market, particularly in this region, and as such it’s no surprise that SIA signed up Georges St. Pierre, three time MMA champion, as a brand ambassador from September 2015.
SIA is also the official sponsor of the six time NLL champions, Toronto Rock.
Sports Interaction is licensed and regulated by the Jersey Gambling Commission.
Betting markets
As a Canadian sportsbook the focus is on ice hockey, baseball, basketball and American football. Indeed even MMA/Boxing takes precedence over ‘soccer’ in its main left hand column of the sports it offers betting markets in.
That said it still offers a significant amount of soccer markets (34,518 at the time of writing) with Major League Soccer a key market alongside the top European leagues, competitions and international tournaments. It also includes a range of other markets for a comprehensive overall offering.
Inplay betting
Sports Interaction offers live betting as a main feature on its homepage but on the desktop site it’s too basic and seems lacking in depth. Unlike the main homepage in which the simplicity is refreshing, it goes a little too far in this instance and is both boring and restrictive. It needs to offer more information, with thorough live data, which is something many operators are incorporating into their products.
SIA offers over 200 live betting events a week at the time of writing though as an area of focus for many operators, this will doubtless continue to increase.
On the mobile site this changes, and is nicely adapted for live betting with easy navigation through sports, as well as keeping you updated on events finishing soon and the most popular ongoing ones.
Usability of the site
This is a sportsbook focused on simplicity. The site is far less attention grabbing than the typical offering from European focused operators, and as such, it’s quite refreshing. There’s a lot of blank space which the likes of bet365, William Hill and the rest would be capitalising on and filling with promotional offers, sports betting related news or adverts for their latest igaming offering. To its credit Sports Interaction avoids this and user experience is the winner.
It remains a navigable site, arguably more so as the user is not flooded with options, plus it has a search function which is a big help. Customer support is strong and is available 24/7, via Live Chat, phone and email ([email protected]). During the test customer support was offered via chat within 20 seconds, and was both knowledgeable and helpful with zero waiting time on questions asked. Live Chat is also available via the mobile site which is a vital feature that some major bookmakers forego. This is big plus point for SIA.
This is an operator which is thoroughly invested in the mobile experience. The overall quality of the mobile version of the site is high since the recent update, though there is no app at this time.
There’s also a Sports Interaction blog which is an excellent source of information and opinion on the NHL, MMA, and NBA.
Conclusion
For Canadian bettors this is the go to site. Navigation is simple, effective and easy. The user interface is a breeze to learn and the mobile site is excellent. A cool ambassador in Georges St Pierre, SIA is evidently increasing its focus on MMA and the blog complements this well.
No app may be a blow to some, but with the customer support and live betting SIA offers on both desktop and mobile this is a great sportsbook for the layman bettor.
Advantages:
- Top online gambling website since being established in 1997;
- Has an excellent reputation and is licensed in Canada;
- Specialist in North American sports and horseracing;
- Perfectly tailored for Canadian sports bettors;
- Wide variety of sports and proposition bets;
- Nice coverage of American sports;
- Provides excellent odds for all Canadian and US sports;
- Extremely generous betting limits, especially with U.S.sports;
- At the forefront of Live Betting and Mobile Betting;
- Features casino, poker AND racebook;
- Huge 100% deposit bonus;
- Fast and secure depositing and withdrawal options are offered;
- Good Customer service.
Disadvantages:
- Lines aren’t always early to be posted;
- Rather low limits on “non-American” sports;
- Restricted in many countries;
- Limited list of withdrawal options.
Payments:
Visa/Mastercard, Skrill (Moneybookers), Cheque, Ukash
*Keep in mind to double check information. Be prepared for changes to restricted countries, bonuses, currencies, deposit and payment options, languages, contact info.
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