In this Review
Vernons will probably be familiar to many as one of the original providers of the football pools, which they launched way back in 1925. Popular throughout much of the 20th century, the pools’ popularity waned with the introduction of the National Lottery in the UK and in 2007 Vernons was sold by Ladbrokes to Sportech plc, who also purchased other football pools providers.
With the advent of internet gaming Vernons branched out to launch an online sportsbook (and also casino and bingo products) and – now part of the Netplay TV plc group – Vernons look to be going from strength to strength once again. NetPlay TV Group Ltd are licensed and regulated by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission.
Welcome Bonus: None
Vernons currently focus more on retention offers rather than attention grabbing welcome bonuses. Whilst in the long run this probably works out better for the punter - especially considering their offers cover events that other bookies often neglect, such as snooker, darts and tennis - it is a hard concept for some people to get their head around.
If you're partial to a big of casino (or even bingo) and hate the idea of not getting a welcome bonus, you could always register and then claim the relevant bonus before heading over to the sportsbook.
Odds & Markets
Vernons are another one of those bookmakers that have made some really god head way in the betting industry over the last couple of years, especially in the odds department. From the markets we tested we found that they were – surprisingly – well priced and could compete with the top tier of online bookmakers. They weren’t amazing, let’s be clear, but they were more than solid. Interestingly, we found their horse racing section throw up some really good prices and they do offer some price boosts to some of these markets as well, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for these.
Market coverage throughout the site is pretty good, but nothing worth writing home about. For example, a Premier League football match gets around 120 markets to bet on, which is a decent enough number, but when you see bet365 offering up over 150 for the same match, it does put it into some context for you. Outside of football, their horse racing, tennis and golf sections were all top notch and well worth taking a look if you are into those sports.
Features
The simple but effective design of the Vernons sports betting site incorporates a red, white and blue aesthetic that harks back to its English roots. With a user interface that is as intuitive as those of any of the main bookies, with easy access to upcoming and popular markets, Vernons makes betting on your favourite sports a hassle-free experience.
The betting calendar is a nice feature that allows you to see what events are coming up and it has the option to filter results by sport and/or events on which live betting is available. Speaking of which, Vernons’ live betting section is very well developed and gives you plenty of information and clearly presents the available live betting markets for any specific match or event.
All in all Vernons offers a very solid and well-designed sportsbook with a great range of markets and – importantly – a steady flow of great bonuses and promotions. A big thumbs up from us.
In Play Betting
You’re going to be able to access a really strong range of sports from the Vernons In play betting section. With this comes a decent range of sports and markets on offer, but they aren’t quite up there with the best in the business. The main contender is that of football, and whilst it’s a sport that dominates the live section, other sports such as tennis, cricket, golf, rugby and horse racing are all well equipped.
The in play betting section comes complete with an in-depth match centre, showing you the latest goings on from that game along with some useful stats such as goals, red/yellow card, corners, attacks and free kicks.
Stats
The stats section is powered by Bet Radar, which is one of the most popular in the industry. With this you are getting a really solid range of sports to choose from and then some useful data for each of those sports. The soccer section is probably the most popular and with this you can see information such as head to heads, recent form, past score lines, chance of winnings, top goals scorers and also information on the number of team goals per match.
About Vernons
Vernons has been about in some form within the gambling industry since 1925. They originated as one of the first companies to offer football pools, but these days they are much better known for their online sports betting market.
The pools were one of the UK’s biggest forms of gambling for many years and whilst that format of betting has slowly ground to halt, Vernons have been able to move with the times and adapt to the sportsbook that you see today.
Whilst still a UK brand, the company are now based and licensed out of Alderney and this is where they run their head offices and customer service department. In 1989 Vernons were bought out by betting powerhouses, Ladbrokes in a deal that was reportedly worth in excess of £5 million at the time. The company have strong links with NetPlay TV PLC Group, but it’s not entirely clear if they have purchased the brand from Ladbrokes or not, with no clear indications either way on the Ladbrokes side of the business.
These days Vernons are now more commonly known at BetVernon, in an attempt to move away from the football pools stigma that lies heavily with the sportsbook. In terms of market size, it’s fair to say they are still one of the smaller additions to the sports betting industry, but still have a sizeable following, mainly from the older generation of betters.
