Free Coral Bets: Evaluating Gala Coral’s Online Strategy
Coral, or Gala Coral to give them their full title, are a British gambling company incorporating both high-street betting shops and a strong online presence. They have interests in sports betting, online poker and gaming plus online casinos. This article is going to look at the Coral website and the promotional features that the company use to entice new customers to firstly sign up via free Coral bets and then stay loyal to the company in an ever-competitive market.
Coral is the third biggest bookmakers in the UK (through acquisitions) with over 1,600 retail outlets (employing 11,000 employees) and with a strong traditional presence in the bingo and casino industries. They have branched out to enter the online betting industry to support their strong high-street brand.
The website itself is quite basic in its layout when compared to their competitor’s sites which may appear quite over-complicated and garish at times. The menus are simply laid out with the colours used throughout the site being a mixture of a calming light-blue and white mix.
Like many companies they offer a wide variety of betting markets, including in-play betting for major sports such as horse racing, football, tennis and rugby. Within these in-play sections you will often find up to 50 sub-markets to allow punters to bet on specific events such as the number of cards shown in a football match.
The site has many features that are aimed at the loyal customers that they hope to reach and then retain. For example, video tutorials are available for those customers that prefer a little advice when knowing what they should bet on and how to do so, and tools such as bet calculators are provided.
Something that sets the site apart is the stats section which provides historical and comparative data on sports markets such as the form of horses on certain tracks over time, or the recent form and head-to-head records of two football teams playing each other. They are essentially providing a service to allow customers to maximise their bets – or, more likely, to entice customers by giving them the information to feel confident to put money on certain events.
To promote the site the company offers up to £25 as a 100% matched bonus in that they will give a free bet to anyone putting money on an initial bet up to that value, i.e. put £20 on the opening bet and receive a free £20 bet back. There seem to be very few terms and conditions that need to be adhered to, with no minimum odds to be able to claim the free cash.
The company also offer deals for returning customers after this point so as to encourage further loyalty. The most recent offer has been within the F1 market, offering money back on any bets placed on Jensen Button or Lewis Hamilton to win the British Grand Prix should they not finish within the top 10 places.
Overall I really like the layout of the site, the benefits and features the company provide and the free bet offer that they are promoting to new customers, and I would fully recommend it. For anyone who is interested in the industry of gambling on sports it would appear to be a good first site to visit for these very reasons.
