It is an exciting yet challenging time to be in the betting industry – whether as a sports bookmaker like Pinnacle or a punter. For bookmakers, the competition for customers is absolutely insane. And for punters, the choices can be confounding. Bookies competing should ordinarily be great for punters but, unfortunately, not always. There are too many choices available, and each bookie promises to be the best at caring for punters. Here is our honest review of the Pinnacle sportsbook. We hope that our readers can conclusively decide the company’s suitability to their individual needs as sports punters with it. Don’t forget: choosing the right bookmaker, in itself, is as crucial as any other betting strategy.
Pinnacle Sportsbook – Merits/Features
1) Pinnacle Is 20 Years Strong!
“20 Years Strong” is the headline on the sportsbook’s About page, and it is actually an understatement. Having started in 1998, the company is 23 years old at the time of writing. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t be proud of this achievement. Only the best and most reputable sportsbooks in the world today can claim to have been afloat for such a substantial period of time. Pinnacle sportsbook is a stable betting company. They’ve been approved by eCOGRA, an international testing agency and player protection organization. Pinnacle Sports is a breath of fresh air in a world where bookmakers can be shady or downright fraudulent. It’s a business that has withstood the test of time, and that can be trusted with punters’ money.
2) Great Value Odds
The object of sports betting (for most people, at least) is profit-making. Therefore, it stands to reason that bookmakers offering higher odds should be given a higher consideration by punters. Pinnacle offers great value odds. This doesn’t mean that they offer the highest possible odds – it’s, of course, possible to find higher odds elsewhere. But this bookmaker’s odds are well above average and consistently so. The reasons for their good odds are two-fold. The strong (and long) company history detailed above is a contributor. Established bookmakers can consistently offer better odds since they’ve already attained cash-cow-level profitability. The other reason is low margins. In betting, margins are a sportsbook’s guaranteed profit from every bet, regardless of whether the punter wins or loses. If a bookie has high margins, the normal consequence is that payouts are lower. High margins mean diminished profits for the punter. Pinnacle’s are exceptionally low. With margins as low as a staggering 1%, not many bookies can compete with “Pinny” in this respect. The margins are set variously for different sports. At 6%, tennis has the highest margins. Soccer fans will be delighted with a margin of just 2% on top soccer leagues.
3) High Limit Betting
Betting limits are not a concern for most punters, but – for a select crowd – they can be. These are the “big balling” punters – those who wager huge amounts of money. Bookies do become insolvent. It is not unheard of. And the more a bookie allows such gargantuan bets, the higher the potential for bankruptcy – if those bets win. The advantage of experienced sportsbooks, such as Pinnacle, is that they have high bet limits. The danger posed to their solvency when allowing these “big ballers” to strut their stuff is negligible. Companies like these have large capital reserves compared to younger companies and startups.
4) Winners Welcome At Pinnacle!
Did you know that some sportsbooks actually ban highly successful players? The reason is really similar to setting bet limits. Constantly successful punters eat into a bookmaker’s profits and can bankrupt them in an extreme case. Thankfully, that’s not an issue with Pinnacle, who actually profess an arms-wide-open policy for such players.
Pinnacle Sportsbook – Demerits
No one is perfect, of course, and not even a great sportsbook like Pinnacle. Thankfully, there’s not too much wrong to point out about their offerings. Nonetheless, there are two things the company might want to look at:
- Limited horse racing coverage – events are in short supply for this particular sports discipline
- No live streaming – while not a strictly compulsory feature-is something live betting players would rather have. More importantly, the competition has it!
