Coral Mobile Review
Part of the huge Gala Coral Group, with 1700 retail outlets, Coral Interactive is the online division with a major presence across the Sports betting, Casino, Bingo and Poker markets, and they are now entering the mobile market. Coral have grown to become the third largest UK high street bookmakers, and a leader in the 'In-Play' sports betting market, offering thousands of betting opportunities online and on mobile devices. Coral are licensed by the Government of Gibraltar who are notoriously strict in granting licenses, only giving them to blue chip companies with a good financial background, and an excellent track record in the gambling market. To keep this license, Coral must have their games open to independent audit, and offer fair odds to all players. As part of a big company, Coral are able to meet all these requirements and maintain the quality service that they are well known for.
The mobile service offered by Coral covers their main sports betting and casino markets, and couldn't be easier to access; you can either type www.coral.co.uk into your mobile browser, or text 'Mobile' to 82211 to get the link. You can also download an app for Apple devices. Most mobile devices are supported with the exception of Blackberry Curve models, although the newer touch screen Blackberry Z10 devices will soon be compatible. You can use the Coral mobile services on any iPhone, iPad, and most Android operating devices like the Sony Ericsson Xperia, Samsung Galaxy, LG Nexus, Motorola RAZR, and tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Note, and Google Nexus.
The Coral mobile site is very well laid out with clear menu buttons for Sports, Gaming, Account management and Sports Extras like racing results and live racing. The mobile Sportsbook covers a dazzling array of sports, from Football, Horse Racing, Rugby and Cricket to the less obvious games like Gaelic Football, Hurling, Speedway and Volleyball. You can bet In Play on literally thousands of sports events, many with live streaming, including UK horseracing where Coral have a 'Best price Guarantee.' Placing a bet is done by clicking on the Bet Slip button which will open up the Bet Slip screen. Make your selection, place your stake, and confirm it. If you want to see decimal or fractional odds, this can be changed via the Odds Preferences button. You can view your bet history and account history using the Account buttons which also open up the current selection of promotions and bonuses.
Mobile players can get the same promotion offers that are available at the desktop site, with an additional convenient tab at the top of the screen giving you instant access to the promotions pages. Sportsbook promotions include a sign up bonus for new players of a free bet equal to the first deposit amount, up to £50, as well as plenty of offers dependent on what events are running. Typical examples include a Premier League Refund if your score bet is the exact opposite of the actual result and a Golf Special Refund if your chosen player finishes second to Tiger Woods at the US Masters. Obviously these change all the time, but this shows the sort of offers you can get.
The mobile casino is accessed from the Menu button and clicking the Gaming option will list all the current casino titles available. Currently European Roulette, Blackjack, Multi-Hand Blackjack, Jacks or Better, 10 slots games and 4 scratchcards can be played via mobile devices, and you can also access the main Bingo site although this is not a specific mobile version. Slots include some of the more popular titles like Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven, Great Blue, Gold Rally and Desert Treasure, all from the Playtech games supplier who are renowned for their high quality games, exciting bonus rounds and big payouts. Frankie Dettoris’ Magic Seven pays out up to 7,777 times your bet amount, Gold Rally is a progressive jackpot game and Desert Treasure pays up to 10,000 times your bet. The scratchcards include The Pink Panther, Rocky and Iron Man 2; just reveal 3 winning symbols in a line to win prizes.
Unusually for a mobile site, you can set up a new account and make deposits and withdrawals using most of the same methods as the main site. Most mobile applications have limited banking facilities, but here you can use Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, Skrill, UKash, Click2Pay ClickandBuy, EcoCard, Bank Transfer and PayPal, for deposits. There is a small £5 minimum deposit level, and all methods are free and instant, except bank transfers which may take 3 -5 days to clear. From mobile devices, you can only withdraw to a credit or debit card with a very small £1 minimum amount, and it usually takes 3 -5 working days to appear on your card balance, while there is again no fee levied by Coral.
If you ever have any need for Customer Support, you can contact them via a free number – 0800-440-011 from within the UK, or +44-01483-716-541 from other countries. There is a useful internal messaging system that you can use if you are logged into your account, or you can email them at help @ coral.co.uk . The Freephone number is probably quickest, and when I phoned it to check deposit options, I got a quick answer from a very knowledgeable operator.
The Coral sports betting service is very well presented, providing all the action that you would get at the main site. It would be nice to see more games at the casino, but mobile casino games actually take up a lot of memory so it’s understandable why the range is limited. As with any mobile site or app, when playing here it is best to use a WiFi link, as 3G links can be less reliable and incur higher data charges.