LM Bookmaker review

LM Bookmaker otherwise known as Lance Michael Bookmaker are a well established South African bookmaker. Founded by Lance Michael himself, who has been a bookmaker for over 25 years. This makes him one of the must knowledgeable businessmen in the industry. They previously offered a generous 100% deposit match up to R2000 however it’s gone for the time being. They have a well run retail operation but for this review we are going to be looking at their online offering only.

LM Sports Betting

The LM Bookmaker landing page is a very interesting one indeed. We are not quite sure if we like it or dislike it. We like the overall feel as well as the layout, but the header banner does look a bit dated and the live betting section in the middle is very brightly coloured compared to the rest of the site, to be fair it’s certainly down to the individual tastes. Additionally the promotions banners are at the bottom right of the page is a bit strange but it works. It’s powered by the Turfsport software so it got solid framework and backing, we prefer the Turfsport feel (slightly) over the Bettech one too.

Support wise their call centre is available until midnight but they currently offer no live chat, they are however looking at bringing it back sometime in the future. Their overall service was helpful and friendly and we have no complaints to mention other than the lack of live chat. We’d like to add that several of our readers have emailed us to tell us about how good LM Bookmakers service is, we’re serious. The issues the readers had were quickly resolved and they were so impressed that they let us know, which means LM is very customer oriented.

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Sports Betting

LM Bookmaker pride themselves on their competitive odds, we tested this claim on a Chelsea match and found them fairly competitive but not quite the best price. They are happy to lay big bets over the phone for customers and we’ve heard that they’ve taken bets of up to R300000 on a horse, provided it is on the race day. Unfortunately we don’t have R300000 to bet on a horse but we’re sure those that do will appreciate the opportunity to make some big bets.

If you like your horse racing then you are going to love LM Bookmakers horse racing offering. They price up days in advance, unlike other bookmakers who price up on the day or even hours before the race. We tested their horse racing markets against two random bookies found the following : Sportingbet had not even have markets for the event, Betx had markets but they were S.P and suspended while LM Bookmakers had the entire race card priced up and available for betting. Very impressive and it’s something you’ll struggle to find elsewhere.

Another interesting fact is the extent of their inplay offering. They are one of the few books to offer inplay golf betting that covers all 4 rounds, we’ve seen a few books do this but it is fairly rare. LM bookmakers also price up their own Currie Cup / Super Rugby matches so they’re a site to keep an eye on if you want to grab some early value.

Promotions

Super Rugby Money Back : Money back if your team makes the final and loses.

EPL Bore draw special : HT / FT correct score money back special.

Facebook and Twitter : Sign up through social media and get a betting voucher. (You need to sign up through their social media pages using a promo code, see links at the bottom of the review)

I-Pay Deposit Promo : Deposit with I-pay and your entire deposit up to 2k back, weekly!

Promotions are a big part of modern bookmaking and this is one area LM are lacking in. We did query their lack of promotions with them and their response was that customers were abusing the promotions. We do understand that is an issue but the odd generic promotions that other books run are easily replicated and hard to abuse. There are however enough promotions available for us not to mark them down too much.

Overall Experience

LM Bookmakers are a solid if not mandatory choice if you are looking at expanding your bookie network. Their site is solid and their odds are competitive. It’s nothing flashy but honestly it does not try to be so you have to respect that. If you are a big bettor and into your horse racing or rugby you’ll get great perks at LM Bookmaker, with early rugby and racing lines and them not being afraid to take a big bet you’ll be more than satisfied. It also does not hurt that they have one of the larger deposit match bonuses in South Africa.

Sign on bonus rating : 7.5/10* When available

Overall rating : 7.5/10

Find LM Bookmaker on Twitter