More than five centuries old, cricket is one of the world’s most popular sports. The Cricket World Cup is one of the largest televised events on the planet. It regularly commands audiences of more than a billion and a half people.
That’s why it’s also one of the most popular sports betting markets in the world. Millions of people wager on cricket regularly. Many of them choose non-Gamstop-licenced non-UK betting sites for their gambling activities.
Curaçao-licenced online gambling sites are increasingly common. There are many reasons for that. We’ll discuss them below. We’ll also cover the basics of cricket, cricket gambling not on Gamstop, and the best Curaçao-licenced cricket betting sites on the market.
What’s a Curaçao Licence and How Does it Work?
Curaçao is one of the oldest regulated jurisdictions in the world of online gambling. The country uses a tiered licencing system. The government of Curaçao directly licences four Master Licence holders. In turn, these companies issue sub-licences to online betting sites.
Unlike other jurisdictions, Curaçao-licenced casinos and sportsbooks don’t have a Gambling Commission. Instead, each Master Licence holder oversees their operations, approves their software providers and handles complaint resolution like self-exclusion such as Gamstop.
Operators often prefer these licences because they involve significantly less paperwork than those of other jurisdictions. It’s a speedier and less costly process than getting a licence in other territories. The licence allows sites to offer their services legally in over a hundred territories.
Cricket: The Original Bat-and-Ball Game
Cricket is centuries-old, with a spotty history that can be traced back to medieval times. It was originally an English children’s game, which slowly evolved over a long time. By the 18th century, it had undergone considerable reforms and was England’s most popular sport.
Bookmakers played a large part in cricket’s growing popularity. Betting and sponsorships were integral parts of the game from the outset. With the expansion of the British Empire, cricket was exported to the colonies, where the local population readily embraced it.
In the 20th century, Test cricket brought together a range of cricket-playing nations in a single competition. Variants of the game like Limited Overs and Twenty20 have since drastically changed the face of the sport.
Today, cricket is played following the Laws of Cricket, a code of 42 rules. The field, a circle or oval, features an outfield, an elliptical infield, and the central pitch. Two teams of 11 players face off in a series of rounds, bowling and fielding in succession.
Bowlers toss the ball at the batsmen, who attempt to score runs before the fielding team returns the ball. There are many arcane positions, strikes, moves and strategies involved. It’s a fascinating game, with countless minute rules and exceptions.
Cricket Bet Types
Cricket betting markets are quite diverse. You have a broad range of bet types available and can often combine these bets into accumulators or multi-bets. Up next, we’ll break down the most popular ways to bet on cricket.
Basic Bets
Match Betting
The simplest form of the wager is a match bet. You pick a team to win the match and get a payout if your selection wins.
Tied Match
A tied match bet, also known as “draw no bet,” will payout only if the match ends in a draw.
Series Winner
Cricket is often played as a series. Teams face off several times, and the series goes to the best of three or the best of five. This wager requires correctly picking the overall series winner.
Outright Winner
This type of cricket wager covers future events. You need to pick the outright winner of a major tournament or event.
Team Props
Win Toss
A win toss bet requires you to pick the team that will win the initial coin toss. It’s one of the simplest cricket prop bets.
Toss Combination
Similar to the Win Toss, this wager requires you to pick the winner of the initial coin toss. However, you also have to pick whether the winning team will bat or bowl first.
Odd/Even Run Scores
In this wager, gamblers need to pick whether a team’s final score in a match will be odd or even. For this bet, 0 is usually considered even.
First Inning Scores
This wager is a lot like the Odd or Even Run Score. It would be best if you chose whether the score will be odd or even. However, it only applies to the first inning’s score.
Match Scores
Match Score wagers require you to predict the final score of a match, combining both teams’ runs. You don’t need to pick exact numbers, though. Usually, you can select a range of scores.
Over/Under Scores
This market is similar to Match Scores. However, instead of predicting scores, you’ll have to call whether the score will be above or below a certain number.
Team Inning Runs
This wager requires players to predict the exact number of runs that teams will score in specific innings. It can sometimes be an over/under market.
Series Score
A series score bet involves predicting the final score of an entire series. That means you need to predict how many matches each team will win.
What Makes the Best Cricket Betting Sites?
To put together our top 5 best cricket betting sites that hold a Curaçao licence, our experts used several testing criteria. They’re briefly explained below.
Betting Markets
Our experts constantly explore the depth and variety of the game’s available betting markets. The best cricket betting sites have many basic bets and team props, covering multiple world leagues.
Cricket Odds
A great selection of markets doesn’t mean much without decent sportsbook odds. Our reviewers examine the odds, looking for the most competitive betting lines for cricket markets.
Design & Interface
User experience is a crucial aspect of the best cricket betting sites—operators with smooth, fast-loading interfaces and seamless, modern design fare well in this regard.
Mobile Options
Mobile betting is the fastest-growing sector within online gambling. Our experts put a premium on operators with polished, fully-functional mobile versions and/or iOS and Android apps.
Customer Support
When things go wrong while gambling online, customer support should have your back. The best betting sites incorporate multiple channels for customers to seek support, with polite, well-trained staff.
Top Cricket Betting Sites With a Curaçao Licence
The following is our list of the best Curaçao-licenced cricket betting sites on the market today.
5. Betmotion
Betmotion is a modern online sportsbook, offering many betting markets across global sports and leagues. While cricket isn’t one of its specialities, the operator does carry a handful of cricket betting markets. The odds are fairly average, but promotions and boosters are plentiful.
4. BetRegal
BetRegal is a full-fledged online gambling platform, incorporating casino, bookmaker and live dealer action. The sportsbook offers several betting markets for major global and national cricket tournaments and events. It also provides many convenient payment methods.
3. Pinnacle
Australian-based Pinnacle Sports is a Curaçao-licenced online sportsbook, with a penchant for cricket betting. You can find a very decent selection of basic bets and team props available here. Many promotions are compatible with cricket betting, and payments are quick and easy.
2. 22Bet
22bet is one of the largest online gambling operators in the market. It provides many different gambling services across multiple categories. Cricket betting fans will find dozens of markets for many national and international leagues and events. It also features a superb modern interface.
1. 1xBet
Russian bookmaker 1xBet is one of the biggest names in online gambling. It offers a broad selection of cricket wagers, covering virtually all domestic and international leagues. You can find all kinds of special prop bets as well. It’s the best option for betting on cricket online.