Summary

I was interested in the idea of FOX Bet and how the giant Fox Corp media company has handled its entry into sports betting. It's a totally different sector, after all, and there are plenty of established, specialized sportsbooks for FOX Bet to contend with. This review, based on the Colorado Android app, covers how it handles bonuses and betting markets, its highlights and pitfalls. I’ll also cover the main differences between the site here in the Centennial state and in the other states it operates in. Let’s kick things off!

Why Should You Choose FOX Bet?

I’m sure you already know about Fox and have an opinion on their media work... With that in mind, I’m going to just ignore the rest of the corporation and just concentrate on the sportsbook. In fact, the site is actually owned by Flutter Entertainment PLC and was launched in New Jersey back in 2017 before moving into several other parts of the country.

The first thing to strike me was that the site looks very polished, with a clear layout and all of the information to get started. Anyone can start betting here and feel comfortable about what they are doing. So far, so good.

Their list of sports is wide enough to appeal to most bettors, with the list starting at the NFL, NBA, and NCAAB. It goes on to cover other popular sports like golf and soccer. It’s a pretty tight selection of sports, with volleyball, table tennis, and handball some of the few inclusions that I would class as more niche than mainstream in the US.

Plus, there’s the ever-helpful guidance of good ol’ Cousin Sal who live-streams his pearls of wisdom during FOX BET LIVE, which bettors can stream from the app. I feel that giving access to expert opinions in an engaging way like this is a great touch that helps FOX Bet stand out. There’s also an exclusive partnership between FOX Bet and the Philadelphia 76ers, along with the likes of former tight end and sports analyst Shannon Sharpe endorsing the app. That means it’s got to be good, right?

Bonuses

A healthy new player bonus always helps me to form a good opinion of a sportsbook. The deal from FOX Bet gives us a very similar offer to those we've seen on other sites like Unibet, so while we're not seeing anything unique, we're still offered a fairly generous promo. You get a risk-free bet of $500, which means that you need to sign up and make an initial wager of up to $500. If you lose, you get the money refunded as a free bet.

As usual with betting bonuses, the terms are crucial because they show us how easy it is to get value from the deal. In this case, you need to opt-in and place the real-money bet within seven days after opening your FOX Bet account. If you lose with your first wager, you can use the free bet on any sports market but with minimum odds requirements of -200 in place. This is a simple promotion that is easy to claim, although it will be of less value to someone who is confident of winning with their first bet. If you do this, the offer doesn’t come into play at all.

In terms of their ongoing promotions, the Challenges section caught my attention, it's a way of completing personalized challenges to earn rewards such as free bets. They also provide deals aimed at certain sports or days of the week, like odds boosts on Saturdays and Thursday night football deals. Clearly explained and beneficial to your bankroll, it's worth checking out the promos before you make any bets.

Depositing and Withdrawing

You can make deposits using a variety of reliable methods including bank cards, transfers, and some e-wallets. The methods listed on FOX Bet are very similar to those used on other American sportsbooks, although VanillaDirect isn't always available, so FOX Bet has something a little different from the general offerings.

• PayPal
• Visa
• MasterCard
• PayNearMe
• Bank Transfer
• Skrill
• VanillaDirect

The above list is for Colorado while New Jersey adds the following.

• PokerStars Play+ Card
• Resorts Cage

If you live in Pennsylvania, the option of instant bank transfer is added to the Colorado list, while Michigan has the same options as Colorado.

If you make some smart bets and win, you can withdraw using some of the same methods, although only bank transfer, Skrill, and PayPal can be used for withdrawals anywhere but NJ. This is disappointing because these methods won’t suit everyone’s needs. Hopefully, they'll consider adding some more over time to stay competitive. Bear in mind that you can only withdraw up to the amount you deposited using the same method, but that you can choose a different method if you win more than your deposited figure.

Withdrawal method	Expected time
Paypal	Almost instant
Skrill	Not stated
Bank Transfer	Not stated
PokerStars Play+ Card (NJ only)	Not stated
Resorts Cage (NJ only)	Instant if initiated online and then completed at the cage, otherwise “a short period of time”

The limits vary according to the method used, so you should check that they suit you once you sign up. The signup process is short and simple; you just need to put in some basic details. You’ll then be asked to send off some ID documents through the app or desktop site to complete the account verification.

A comprehensive section on responsible gambling is welcome news, as this lets you see what measures FOX Bet takes to keep you safe and gives you links to gambling help and advice sites. You can set your own deposit limits and time limits if you want to keep your betting firmly under control.

My initial reaction, that this was a slick, professional site, was proven to be right once I'd taken a good look over it. This is a sportsbook that lets you get started smoothly and without any major issues. The relatively limited number of deposit and withdrawals methods outside of NJ is a little annoying, but if you find one that suits you then things will be plain sailing from then on.

The Mobile App

The Android and iOS apps available for FOX Bet customers give you a highly flexible way of betting on sports. You need to activate location services and then the app lets you know if you can play in your current state. Taking a more simplified approach, there is just one app, instead of having a separate app for each state like other brands do.

It's a fast and responsive app that lets you move between bets swiftly, so I wondered why there were so many negative comments and reviews, especially on the Play Store. Most complaints about this app are over aspects like service, payment methods, and problems in claiming the bonus, and not many were about specific issues with the mobile app itself. It's interesting to see that even FOX's app is controversial...

Their app offers everything that the desktop site has, including bonuses, customer service, and cash out on live betting. However, there's no live streaming option for you to use when watching the games that you want to bet on, which lets it down. There are detailed statistics on their live games that make it pretty easy to see what's going on, though.

Betting Options

I was happy to see that they've put a lot of emphasis on the big American pro and college sports, which I would imagine is what most visitors to FOX Bet will be looking for. The NHL is a strong example of a league they cover really well, with some offers and challenges based on these games too.

Not all of the other sports are so well covered, though. For example, when I entered the golf tab, I only saw futures for the majors in 2022 - a swing and a miss there. Tennis has a better selection that included events from around the world, as well as the option of gambling on major tournaments in the futures option.

The other crucial point to look at here is around the betting markets that are offered. Since I was already in the NHL section, I looked at an upcoming game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints. The main markets section gives you prices on either team winning under moneyline, spread, and total points.

Looking through the interesting bets like first touchdown scorer and total number of TDs scored, it was refreshing to see a variety of same game parlay options, cutting down on the time needed for this type of wager.

The process for placing bets is as short and sweet as I have seen on other major sportsbooks, with no surprises. This is an area where FOX Bet matches the other leading sportsbooks - it isn't any better or worse than the other top sites in this respect.

Odds Comparison

Will you get the best odds at FOX Bet? Well, it depends on what you want to bet on. This operator is one of the best for moneyline bets on NFL games but one of the worst for sportsbooks for NBA and NHL moneyline bets. It's lacking on NHL spreads and totals too, but better in these aspects in the NBA and NFL, at least.

This information makes it clearer why you need to make the most of their regular promotions like odds boosts. Their bonuses will help you to get competitive odds more often, but if you don’t use these offers, you'll struggle to get the best odds.

What Other Betting Products Do They Offer?

FOX Bet has casino and poker products in all of the states where they are present, except Colorado. The casino section has a lot of slots as well as plenty of live dealer games with human dealers. They also have a races section where you can try to climb the leaderboard on a slots challenge.