NJ Sportsbook Website Review
PointsBet, launched in Australia in 2017, was one of New Jersey’s least-known brands when it opened here in December.
No longer. Not after the way it has hit the ground running with its promotional hooter blaring.
Not too many other NJ sportsbooks have arrived with as much fanfare.
PointsBet made its bow in the face of stiff competition from some really high-profile competitors. They included the US sports fantasy giants DraftKings and FanDuel and international betting kingpins like William Hill, BetStars and 888sports.
PointsBet needed to get itself in the news – and quickly – and this it did. Hardly a week went by without it coming up with something to make an eye-catching headline.
A case in point; months before a winner was announced, they paid all bets backing College quarterback star Kyler Murray to win the Heisman Trophy.
He did, so their gamble paid off handsomely. Yet even had he lost, the media publicity generated would still have made the gamble well worthwhile.
Mind you the new sportsbook on the block is not all hot air. It has brought with it quality and substance.
PointsBet’s Aussie software gives it an interface that is as slick, quick and as easy to use as any of its competitors. It also gives it a sports menu to match the best and a betting market place with a unique, stand-alone twist.
This is ‘PointsBetting’, a new wagering system. The payout depends entirely on the degree to which your bet is correct or incorrect. It’s not merely based on whether you win or lose.
PointsBet’s promotions and daily bonuses are also as good as you get. So too were the customer care tools they had in place.
This is certainly a site the die-hard punter looking for excitement will want to peruse – but be warned. If you are new to PointsBetting, better you start slowly with small wagers.
Meantime, let’s take a closer look at the PointsBet sportsbook starting at the beginning.
The Betting interface
Right off, we have to say its betting interface is impressive. This regardless of whether you wager on its website with a laptop or via a mobile app on your smartphone.
Bold, colorful and professional, it is fast, is easily understood and overall is a pleasure to work with. It certainly drew me in and kept me clicking away.
There is not very much that isn’t at your fingertips. Its long sports menu, its functional betting slip or its excellent Help FAQ are all easily found. So too are the explanations of its various types of bets – including its star, ‘PointsBets’.
Sports you can bet on
PointsBet’s Sports menu runs down the left side of its home page. If not immediately visible, click on the three red bars at the top left-hand corner of the page.
Something like 20 options including ‘entertainment’ and ‘name a bet’ will come up. It’s not the longest sports menu you’ll find in New Jersey, but it’s a pretty decent one. Certainly, it includes virtually every sport that is important to New Jersey punters.
These, of course, include US favorites like NFL and College football, NBA and College basketball, MLB baseball, NHL ice hockey, universally popular Association Football (soccer), golf, tennis, MMA, boxing, rugby, cricket, motor racing, and cycling.
Even Australian Rules and darts were there. At the appropriate time, you can be sure that the summer and winter Olympics will also have their place. So too will the world athletics and swimming championships.
‘Entertainment’ was empty during this review, but we know it has carried betting odds for things like the Oscars.
Types of bets you can make
On their arrival in New Jersey, PointsBet signed up retired New York Jets footballer Darelle Revis as an ambassador. It is under his ‘Revis Betting Academy’ that you can learn how to bet with PointsBet.
Most of your usual suspects are there including money-line, spread, totals, prop, parlay and futures bets. Other important wagers beside PointBets are ‘live in-play’ and ‘cash-out’ bets
In-play betting brings you the thrills and spills of placing bets on sporting events while they are taking place. Cash-out betting enables you to cut your losses or take out winnings before the bet is complete.
Star of the show, however, is ‘PointsBetting’ after which this Aussie import is named.
PointsBetting – how it works
How does it work? In the words of PointsBet.com itself it’s like this:
“PointsBetting is completely different to fixed odds betting because your potential winnings or losses from a bet aren’t fixed, but vary right until the very end of the game.
“The more you’re right, the more you win. The more you’re wrong the more you lose.”
If say a spread bet wins by one point you would win 1 x your stake of say $5 ($5). If it wins by 10 points, however, you win 10 x your stake of $5 ($50).
Conversely, if you lose by one point your loss will be $5. If it’s by 10 points you’ll go down by $50 – or, worse still, by $1000 if your stake was for $100.
It’s no wonder PointsBet allows for a minimum stake of 50 cents. PointsBetting is certainly not for your faint-hearted or rash punter – and luckily PointsBet knows it.
If you phone 833-338-PBET, at the discretion of the management team on duty, you can cancel bets that are less than 15 minutes old.
You can also put a ceiling on your point bet losses – with of course the realization that this will also limit your winnings by an equal amount.
Largest betting market in NJ
PointsBet might not have New Jerseys biggest sports menu, but it certainly does offer the most betting markets within in each sport. Here are just a few of their NFL and NBA markets you are not likely to find anywhere else:
- Time of the first touchdown (in seconds)
- Quarterback completion percentages
- Player rushing yards X player receiving yards
- Player shooting percentages
- Time of the first basket by a player
- Player points multiples (Q1 points multiplied by Q2 points)
- Time (in minutes) for players to pass 5 points, 10 points, 15 points
- Longest made FG distance in feet
- Player points X assists X rebounds
Bonuses and promotions
Promotions and bonuses are not static things. On most New Jersey sportsbooks they are forever changing. However, few if any are as innovative and rewarding as PointsBet’s exciting array.
There are many – and PointsBet is certainly not shy about promoting them. Go to their main menu, click on Promotions and watch them jump out at you – one after another.
To start with, there is a big sign-up bonus that’s as good, if not better, than you’ll find anywhere else.
Amazingly you get up to $1000 in free bets to start your wagering journey with PointsBet. Up to $500 is for Fixed odds bets and the other $500 for their unique point’s bets
And those promotions we’ve talked about? Here are just a few of them at the time of this review:
- NBA playoffs: If you place a money line bet and your team leads at the end of the 3rd quarter, you get paid instantly. (Up to the first $100 staked)
- NHL playoffs: If your team leads by two goals you win your pre-match money line bets up to $200
- ‘Chase the Ace’ at the French Open – place a minimum match result bet of $50 and receive a $1 bonus bet forever ace your chosen player hits.
- Place a minimum money line bet on the Yankees and get $25 extra in bonus bets for each home run hit by Gary Sanchez
Customer Support
Pressing Help will give you an excellent FAQ on almost everything you need to know about PointsBet. If it can’t, its 24/7 live chat or email service will do it instead.
Another feature that earns plenty of “I like” points for the Australian invader is its BLOG. It runs previews and gives betting tips on many big, upcoming events.
This kind of info is invaluable to punters and I’m surprised that more sportsbooks don’t provide it.
Deposits and Withdrawals
PointsBet’ state of the art technology ensures your personal details and financial transactions are always safe and secure.
To start with, PointsBet did not have an especially wide range of payment options but they have subsequently taken steps to widen them.
Their original deposit options included ACH/e-check; MasterCard and Visa credit and debit cards, online banking, and PointsBet prepaid cards. To this, they have added PayWithMyBank and PayNearMe at 7-Eleven stores options
Credit cards may not be used to make a withdrawal so to their ACH/e-check and online banking facilities and their PointsBet card they have added the PayWithMyBank option and have made it possible to make face-to-face Cage withdrawals at the Meadowlands Race Course.
Summing up
PointsBet was pretty much of an unknown entity when it opened its first US sportsbook in New Jersey in December. Catching New Jersey’s market leaders FanDuel and DraftKings was never going to be easy.
The two Sports Fantasy giants already had a sports fan user base of millions when they launched in mid-2019.
But if anybody can do it, it’s the cheeky, innovative Australian invaders. Their technology is as good as it gets. Their betting markets put them top of the class and they certainly know a fair bit about marketing and promotion.
They were a little lean in deposit and withdrawal options to start with but they quickly took note of this fact and have taken steps to strengthen this aspect of their business. That ticks another box and leaves us wondering if there are any left that might still need to be ticked.
Go and visit them now. We’re pretty sure you won’t regret it. This is especially so if you’re looking for something easy and fun to operate – and above all, something different.