Jennings launched their online operation in Summer 2008 adding to the 70 licensed betting offices and the telephone betting service in place. On their website, they claim to be one of the UK’s leading independent bookmakers and, while that may be true, it’s possibly stretching it to suggest that they’re ‘one of the most established and progressive bookmakers in the United Kingdom’!
The company was founded in 1961, when off course betting was first made legal by the British government. The business has become one of the largest independent shop chains within the British bookmaking industry. Headed by three grandsons of the company's founder, JenningsBet.com now brings its self-styled reputation and integrity to the global online market.
Despite the Jenningsbet site having a slightly home-made feel, it’s actually quite a compact little number, which welcomes English-speaking customers with open arms. They go down the traditional route of having the available sports running down a left-hand menu of the homepage, whilst using a very simple flash graphic to promote the big events. They also deserve credit by pushing the new customer bonus with a chunky graphic in a prominent place and by listing upcoming races and sporting events in chronological order.
Indeed, there are other bookmakers that could learn a thing or two from such a simple approach. While it’s slightly confusing to find that Royal Ascot is listed among the sports, and that the collapsible sports menu doesn’t recoil, there’s a lot to like about the straightforward process of placing an online bet without having to click a multitude of times. Part of the reason behind such a neat and ordered approach is down to the fact that Jennings don’t offer In-Play betting, and it will be interesting to see what bearing this has on the site when they decide to start offering this type of betting.
Jennings are about as UK-centric as they come with their chosen sports. Football and horse racing provide the foundation for their markets, while at the time of writing, they also focus on golf, tennis and cricket as a feature on the homepage. You might find their range of propositions on each sporting event quite limited, especially if you’re betting on a football match. While other bookmakers offer up to 35 In-Play opportunities on a televised match, Jennings have about a dozen available. Naturally, more flair is required if they are to compete with the big boys.
Odds-wise, they compare very favourably with many other UK-based bookmakers, especially for horse racing. After all, they were around decades ago, when racing was by far and away the biggest sport. For Royal Ascot week, Jennings seemed to go best price on a couple of runners in every race, something which was refreshing to see. For the other sports, you’re more likely to see them fall into line with the bigger bookies, perhaps pointing towards where the trader expertise lies.
This is where Jennings currently fall short. It’s inconceivable that a bookmaker can compete with its bigger rivals if there is no telephone support available. You simply need to have a phone number on your website, even if staff are only available within an allotted timeframe.
In addition, it won’t fill anyone with glee to read that when you email them between 10.30pm and 9.00am, you may not get a response to your query until ten hours later! Nevertheless, they are generally very helpful when they do come back to you.
There is currently no free bet offer at Jenningbet.
Jenningsbet.com has a lovely welcoming feel about its website, although the same can’t be said of the customer service! They look to be on the right track overall, providing a user-friendly website which will be popular with plenty of mainstream UK customers. In particular, their odds will suit racing fans looking to get extra value on particular selection, especially some of the early-bird prices which go live several hours before the ‘off’.
However, if they are to grow their online customer base to any significant level, key areas must be addressed. Firstly, they must take some of their tele-bet staff and train them to deal with online customer queries instead. They simply won’t retain customers for any length of time otherwise. Secondly, they have to start thinking about offering Live In-Play markets, it really isn’t that difficult to trade Premier League and Champions League matches. Finally, they also have to consider branching out their number of sports and markets offered. Still, not a bad effort so far for this online rookie of a bookie!