Horse Racing analyst Will Smith previews Saturday's Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot and provides a 25/1 each-way ante-post selection.
BK8 is one of the biggest bookmakers in Southeast Asia and was launched back in 2015. If you’re from the UK then you’ll be forgiven if you’ve not come across the brand before as they only started to accept customers from the UK in 2022. Despite being a new betting brand in the UK, BK8 is a reputable bookmaker and have established themselves as such by partnering with Brand Ambassadors such as Robin Van Persie and John Terry and securing a place as the official betting partners of Spanish La Liga clubs Villareal, Valencia, Bilbao, Mallorca and Elche.
Now that they’ve acquired a UK betting licence, we’ll be taking a look at this betting site and sharing our thoughts and opinions on what they offer in our KB8 review.
BK8 was launched in 2015 and has primarily focussed on the Asian markets which include Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. Like other Asian based bookmakers such as Fun88 and 12Bet, BK8 has ventured into the UK market and offers both sports betting and casino games via their website. Also like Fun88, 12Bet and other bookies, the BK8 website is powered by TGP Europe Ltd and is fully licenced and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission under account number 38898.
Looking at the sports that are available to bet on with BK8, the numbers are a little short. In total, there are just 18 sports listed which is quite a few less than some of the bigger UK bookmakers which offer markets for 30-40 different sports.
However, many of the most popular sports are covered with markets available for several football leagues and competitions as well as Tennis, Rugby, Basketball, Cricket, Boxing, Golf, Darts and others.
As we see with many less-popular bookmakers, horse and greyhound racing are sadly not available to bet on. If this doesn’t bother you then you should find the available sports sufficient, but if you do want to bet on horse racing, we recommend trying out a different bookmaker with Bet365, Virgin Bet, Betfred and BetGoodwin all recommended.
In terms of betting markets, we found that BK8 holds up very well in comparison to some of the bigger bookies. For football, they cover leagues and competitions from around the world and have a huge range of markets available for each match. Along with common betting markets such as the Match Result and Correct Score, they also provide odds for Fast Markets and Combo’s, as well as Bet Builders which is great to see.
We also found the odds available on BK8 to be very reasonable and matched up well with what Bet365 were offering for various events in Football, Basketball and other sports.
KB8 Sports | |
---|---|
Football | Cricket |
American Football | Baseball |
Basketball | MMA |
Tennis | Boxing |
Ice Hockey | Darts |
Rugby Union | Golf |
Rugby League | Snooker |
Motorsport | E-sports + |
Cycling | E-Football |
BK8 doesn’t currently have a sign up offer available to new customers which is a disappointment. Being a new player in the UK betting scene, we’d expect them to be offering an incentive for new users to join. However, BK8 have previously offered free bets to new customers and so there is hope that a welcome offer will be available once again in the future.
Although a sign up offer isn’t available at KB8, customers can take advantage of their ACCA Boost promotion.
ACCA Boost rewards customers with up to 20% extra winnings on winning accumulator bets with the boosted amount being related to how many selections are in their ACCA.
To qualify, you simply need to place an accumulator containing five or more selections. Each selection must be placed pre-match and have odds of 1/5 (1.2) or greater.
If you ACCA wins, the additional winnings will automatically be credited along with your standard returns.
If you enjoy betting on live sporting events then you’ll be pleased to hear that BK8 have a dedicated in-play betting section. With BK8 covering a large range of leagues and competitions for various sports, there is often a huge selection of live events to bet on and similar to their pre-match prices, the in-play odds are very competitive.
With BK8 covering an extensive number of live sporting events, we were hoping to come across a live sports streaming option. However, live streaming is unfortunately not available on the website at this time. If you are looking for a bookmaker which does offer live streaming of sports such as Football, Tennis, Table Tennis, Horse Racing and others, we recommend Bet365.
If you have placed a bet with KB8 and want to end it early, you’ll be pleased to hear that Cash Out is available.
Cash Out at KB8 is available on selected pre-match and live markets and allows customers to end their bet early for a pre-determined cash amount. Using the cash out feature can often be an attractive option either when your bet is winning and you want to lock in a profit or when it is losing and you’d like to cut your losses.
Not only does KB8 offer full cash out but customers can also partially cash out their bets. With Partial Cash Out, you have the ability to cash out just some of your bet to guarantee a return and leave the remainder of your bet to run. It’s great to see partial cash out available as it’s a feature that even some of the biggest online bookmakers have yet to adopt.
Bet Builders have proved to be an extremely popular betting option since they were first introduced a few years ago. Bet Builders are available at KB8 on selected sports and events. You’ll find Bet Builders available on many of the most popular sports such as football, basketball and others, meaning that you can build your own bet using various same-game markets for Premier League matches and NBA games.
As well as sports betting, BK8 hosts an online casino featuring several hundred games. The games catalogue isn’t as extensive as you will find at other online casinos but there is enough to choose from and the casino features some of the latest slot titles.
At the time of this review, the KB8 Casino contained just over 300 online slots along with 21 live casino games.
The live casino features popular games such as Live Blackjack, Roulette, Dragon Tiger and Baccarat, along with a selection of Live Gameshows which include Mega Wheel and others.
Currently, there are no casino bonus offers available to new players at KB8 Casino.
KB8 has a Help Centre which features answers to dozens of frequently asked questions. You’ll find answers for queries relating to payments, safer gambling, casino & live games, bonuses, technical issues and much more.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the Help Centre, you are able to get in touch with the support team directly. Across every page on the KB8 website you’ll see a Support icon in the bottom corner. Clicking on this will open up a contact form where you can enter your details along with your query and the team will get back to you in a short amount of time via email.
Upon reviewing KB8, there is a lot to like but also some not so great areas.
Firstly, we were impressed by the prices offered by KB8 which were extremely competitive and up there in terms of value with the likes of Bet365 and William Hill. We were also pleased to see Bet Builders are available, along with Cash Out and Partial Cash Out.
Sadly, the absence of horse and greyhound racing will be a big negative for some UK punters and with no welcome offer currently available, we don’t see a lot of reasons to bet with KB8 over other more established UK brands such as Bet365, Virgin Bet, Betfred and LiveScore Bet.
If you wish to visit KB8 to see what the betting site has to offer for yourself, you can visit the UK site at www.bk8.uk.