Betway shrugs off 'free-bets-for-good-reviews' criticism

UK gambling operator Betway is facing criticism for its ongoing practice of offering customers free wagers in exchange for positive online reviews. It’s a novel approach to marketing that’s not currently against UK gaming regulations and has the added benefit of tweaking the noses of the UK’s extremely vocal anti-gambling crowd.
At the heart of the issue is a UK review site called, Trustpilot, which is the largest site of its type in the UK. Since sometime in 2017, Betway has been offering its customers a free £5 wager ($6.23 USD) in exchange for writing a review on the site. (Though its not clear that they told the customers that they necessarily had to write positive reviews to get their free bets.)
The strategy seems to have worked on some level. According to an investigative report by The Times, about 66 percent of all the reviews of Betway on the site are rated “excellent”. The newspaper is silent on the subject of whether or not Betway’s gaming products are actually excellent or not and that does not seem to have factored into their investigation at all.
Not surprisingly, UK Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, a noted anti-gambling advocate, chimed in on the subject saying, “…incentivizing customers through sham bonuses is bad enough, but when coupled with encouraging false reviews, all credibility is lost.” Despite Watson’s view of the matter, it does appear that Betway customers did get their free wagers.
Officials at Betway shrugged off the criticism saying that customers are rewarded no matter what type of review they leave. They further added that the company monitors the site for fake reviews.