BetCRIS

BetCRIS is well known as the pied piper of the offshore gaming industry with Vegas sportsbooks and other offshore bookmakers following their lead on major American betting odds.

BACKGROUND

Costa Rica International Sports (CRIS or BetCRIS.com) started up in 1985 and is acknowledged as one of the leading pioneers of the online gaming industry.

The business began with a simple telephone call centre based offshore in the Dominican Republic, the venture created great interest in Central and North America and it has developed into a billion dollar sports betting industry.

CRIS's name came about with the company's move to Costa Rica in 1993 and later BetCRIS expanded its interests into online sports betting, casino and multi-player poker which is now available to customers all around the world.

BetCRIS also owns a number of state-of-the-art betting shops in locations around the world. The parent company, Townview Trading Ltd is situated in Malta and in 2007 it moved US accounts to Bookmaker.com and BetCRIS concentrated on the Latin-American and European markets, no longer accepting US customers. That said, BetCRIS retains a distinct American flavour and while they provide odds for sports around the globe, American sports and American style betting is its specialist area.

OFFERS AND PROMOTIONS

BetCRIS' welcome offer is quite different form the traditional UK and European introductory offers and new customers can receive up to $500 FREE BETS with the 25% free play (free bets) bonus.

The free bets bonus must be requested within 24 hours of making your initial deposit and to qualify, a minimum $50 deposit is required. Your first deposit must be rolled over 5 times before making a withdrawal. BetCRIS also offer a re-load bonus for customers who make subsequent deposit(s) if losing out first time around. The offer is worth 15% of your re-load deposit in free bets up to a maximum $500 FREE BETS, there is a 3 times rollover requirement, which is very good for this type of offer.

BetCRIS run a Betpoints program with customers earning points as they bet and these can be redeemd for more free bets, BetCRIS re-load offers will often earn customers a boost on Betpoints.

Customers will need to bear in mind some restrictions on rollovers and the use of Free Bets, which must be placed on odds of 1/2 (1.5) to 3/1 (4.0) to qualify.

BETTING OPPORTUNITIES

BetCRIS odds compilers (aka linesmakers across the pond) are clearly experts on American sports and their willingness to price up early has earned the company the right to boast BetCRIS 'for where the line begins'.

The top events at BetCRIS are American sports, the default odds are American and because it has so many early lines available many sportsbooks catering to the US betting markets use betCRIS' odds as their guide.

Compared to UK and European sportsbooks, there is not much to find for those interested in European and International sports and despite its worldwide audience, we think BetCRIS looks best suited to fans of traditional American sports and American style betting.

BetCRIS has Poker, Casino and Bingo sections and it covers American horse racing in the Racebook with a link tucked out of the way, under the Information menu.

WEBSITE

BetCRIS is quite typical of the original offshore betting website, it is one of the better featured of its type but don't expect the marvel of features and speed you see with some of the outstanding websites based in Gibraltar.

The website can be viewed in a number of different languages and has the option to display decimal odds if you find the default American odds confusing. The interface is a bit clunky but it has very simple design that is very easy to use and navigate.

The BetCRIS website contains a good amount of useful information and betting guides making this a good place for inexperienced gamblers to start or for newcomers to American sports gambling looking for somewhere to start. Registration and log in are straight forward and placing a bet is also an easy process.

PAYMENTS

BetCRIS accepts US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Euro, GBP and Polish Zloty.

Deposit methods: Visa Mastercard Neteller eWalletExpress myCitadel Click2Pay InstaDebit Moneybookers Bank Wire

Withdrawal methods: Neteller Moneybookers FedEx Bank Draft Bank Wire Western Union MoneyGram

CUSTOMER SERVICE

The long term success of BetCRIS has been founded on great customer service and it claims that 60% of its membership emanates from personal recommendations and referrals.

BetCRIS has multi-lingual customer service advisors and between them have the ability to converse in seven different languages. The customer support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week with toll-free numbers from six countries and local numbers for other International calls.

Customers have access to Live Chat on the BetCRIS website and staff respond quickly to emails.

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