BK8

BK8 Sister Sites 2024

BCGame

BCGame (also styled as BC.Game) is very much the new kid on the block as far as the BK8 sister sites go, having opened its doors to players in the UK at the very end of 2023. However, it’s only from the point of view of UK players that it’s a new casino or betting site. BCGame has been a popular, successful brand internationally for many years now, and TGP Europe Limited took its time before introducing it to the UK market. That’s actually the story of several of the BK8 sister sites – they’re bigger abroad than they are in the UK. That’s at least partially down to the fact that they’re so similar to each other – they’re all very small sites with a limited range of entertainment available. So much fuss was made about BCGame prior to its UK launch that we hoped it would be different, but it isn’t.

Fun88

Fun88 is a brand name that’s very familiar to fans of English Premier League football thanks to the time that it spent as the shirt sponsor of Newcastle United, coinciding with a time when the Magpies returned to prominence towards the top of the table. The sponsorship deal has since come to an end, but Fun88 and Newcastle remain connected – the site is now the “official Asian betting partner” of the football club. Why the club needs such a thing is anybody’s guess. As we come to look at other members of the BK8 sister sites family, you’ll see that high-profile football sponsorships are something that a lot of them have in common. The other thing they have in common is, as we said above, they’re almost identical when it comes to content. Once you’ve seen one TGP Europe Limited betting or casino site, you’ve seen them all.

Stake.com

For all the attention that Fun88 received while it was Newcastle’s main sponsor, Stake.com remains the best-known of the BK8 sister sites. Again, this is largely down to its big-name sporting sponsorships. The Stake name has appeared on a whole host of football shirts, but most recently, it’s emblazoned on the famous blue shirts of Everton, which is the brand’s biggest sponsorship yet. Our understanding is that the international version of Stake.com is a big deal. It’s a well-made, wide-ranging site that provides everything that anyone could conceivably want from their iGaming experience. The UK version of the site is anything but. It’s yet another clone, made with the same template that TGP Europe Limited used when putting all of the other sites on its platform together. If there’s anything to be said for Stake.com, it’s that if you’re going to play at any of these sites, you may as well go for the most famous one.

SBOTOP

We associate SBOTOP with two things – being the shirt sponsor of Fulham Football Club, and having a name that’s impossible to pronounce. It’s an unwritten rule that a successful betting or casino website needs to have a snappy, memorable name if it’s to succeed. How SBOTOP has managed to survive for so long without one is beyond us – especially when it’s another replica of the other BK8 sister sites. Before becoming the sponsor of Fulham, SBOTOP was the primary shirt sponsor of Leeds United during the Elland Road club’s most recent spell in the Premier League. Unsurprisingly, the brand lost interest in Leeds following the club’s relegation – the point of these sponsorships for TGP Europe Limited is visibility, and a club in the Championship simply isn’t going to be seen by as many people as a club in the Premier League.

Duelbits

Duelbits markets itself as a crypto sports betting specialist. We’re sure it’s very successful at being a crypto sports betting website internationally, but you can’t use cryptocurrencies for gambling in the UK. As such, the UK version of Duelbits is neutered compared to its international counterpart, which is something you’re probably used to us saying about the BK8 sister sites by now. Duelbits claims to be the most rewarding sportsbook in the business. That’s a subjective point, but we can’t say that we agree with it because it offers so few rewards. Aside from being bland, the sites on the TGP Europe Limited platform tend to lack promotions. Duelbits is no exception to that, so it doesn’t offer players anything to reward them with. Based on the graphics and banners on the website, you’d think that Duelbits specialises in American sports, but that doesn’t appear to be the case when you look at its sports betting options.

Can BK8 Be Trusted?

★★★★★

BK8 is a 3 Star trusted casino.

1. UKGC License	BK8 holds UK Gambling Commission licence 38898 via its operator TGP Europe Limited.
2. UKGC Fines	TGP Europe Limited was fined, had extra conditions added to its licence and warned about its future conduct in February 2023 after breaching licence conditions related to customer interaction and anti-money laundering. The sum of the fine was £316,250.
3. Customer Service	The only way to contact BK8 is via email.
4. Trustpilot Score	N/A – BK8 doesn’t have enough Trustpilot reviews to be assessed this way.
5. Company Location	TGP Europe Limited is headquartered on the Isle of Man, which is a trusted location.
6. Visible Promo T&C’s	N/A – BK8 doesn’t offer promotions. The site’s general terms and conditions are easy to find.
7. Social Media Presence	BK8 posts regularly on both Twitter/X.com and Facebook.
8. Number of Sister Sites	TGP Europe Limited operates eighteen BK8 sister sites as of the time of writing.
9. Games portfolio	BK8 should be viewed primarily as a sports betting site, but it also has a small portfolio of slots and other casino games.
10. Gamstop links	This casino is on GamStop, and has a link and logo in the footer of its website.
Overall SCORE >	★★★★★ – 3/5 Stars

BK8 Review 2024

BK8 is a brand that rose to prominence in the UK after becoming the primary shirt sponsor for Premier League football club Aston Villa in the 2023/2024 season, taking advantage of the opportunity just before gambling-related football sponsorships became illegal. However, it could be argued that the UK isn’t BK8’s target market. Like every other TGP Europe Limited brand, BK8 is far more popular with players in the Far East. The fact that it’s available in the UK is more of a convenience than a point of focus for the operator, and the UK version of the BK8 site is, as we’re about to see, a rather plain one.

BK8 Welcome Offer

This is the perfect example of what we mean by BK8 being “rather plain.” It doesn’t have any welcome promotions whatsoever. That goes for both the sportsbook and the casino sections of the site. It’s become so customary for UK-facing casinos and betting sites to offer sign-up bonuses that some would say failing to do so is tantamount to commercial suicide, but BK8 doesn’t have anything to offer by way of a golden hello.

Ongoing Promotions

Given that there aren’t any welcome promotions at BK8, we wouldn’t blame you for assuming that there aren’t any promotions at the site at all. That’s not quite true, but the things that BK8 classes as promotions (or “features,” as it terms them) have long since become expectations at other sports betting sites. There are three “features” at BK8 – “Acca Boost” for improved odds on accumulator bets with more than five selections, a bet builder, and both cash-out and partial cash-out on live bets. All of these things are obviously nice to have, but they’re so common now that we’re not convinced they should be looked upon as special features anymore.

Pros and Cons of BK8

Pros: Finding positives to playing at the UK version of BK8 isn’t an easy task. It’s a low-quality, featureless site, and we can’t dress that up. However, we guess that could be the appeal of BK8 to a certain demographic. If you’re not bothered about bonuses and you long for the days when betting sites were simple affairs rather than the enormous beasts that so many of them are today, BK8 could be the one for you.

Cons: Where do we start? The lack of promotions. For a sports betting website not to give away a single free bet is more than stingy. Customer service is restricted to email, with a twenty-four-hour wait for responses. Withdrawals take five working days, even if you’re using an e-wallet. None of these things are customer-friendly.

Top Games at BK8

Talking about “top games” isn’t really the right way to look at BK8. It’s a solidly sports betting-based site, which is why the brand is so active with sports-related sponsorships. There are a few casino games to play if you’re really determined to do so, though. The top slots at the casino when we visited it to write this review were John Hunter and the Book of Tut Respin, Big Bass Hold & Spinner, and Club Tropicana. They were all relatively new releases at the time, so it seems like what’s new goes straight to the top of the pile at BK8. There are also classic table games and a limited number of live casino and live dealer games, including game shows.

None of the above is likely to be what players at BK8 come looking for. They’ll be there for the sportsbook, which leads with football. Tennis gets second billing, followed by American football and basketball. The fact that the latter two appear ahead of rugby or cricket is a tell-tale sign that BK8 isn’t really a UK-facing brand. All major sports are covered here, and there are separate sections for e-sports, with a special focus on e-football.

Withdrawal Processing and Support

We’ve already alluded to our displeasure about the withdrawal scenario at BK8. Your approved withdrawal methods are debit cards (Mastercard and Visa only – no Maestro) or e-wallets (Skrill and Neteller only – no PayPal). The daily withdrawal limit is £10,000, which is great, but speed is the problem. BK8 can’t commit to getting your money to you in fewer than five working days. There’s no reason why e-wallet withdrawals can’t be instant, and even if they’re not, it should never take more than twenty-four hours to process one. This is yet another area in which BK8 just isn’t competitive with the best betting sites.

Customer Support and Licensing

The quality of customer care here isn’t good. There are automated systems to help players with forgotten passwords and validation, but if you have a specific query or need to speak to somebody, all you can do is email [email protected]. The site doesn’t offer live chat and doesn’t have a telephone number. Emails are usually responded to within twenty-four hours, which isn’t great if your issue is urgent.

BK8 and all of the BK8 sister sites are covered by the licence that TGP Europe Limited holds with the UK Gambling Commission under account no. 38898. The operator was fined after breaking multiple conditions of its licence in February 2023, details of which are recorded in the Trust Score table further up this page.

BK8 – The Verdict

If you don’t know what our verdict on BK8 is going to be already, then you haven’t been paying attention throughout this review. It’s still a fairly new brand from the point of view of players in the UK and has been given an enormous boost in visibility thanks to its partnership with Aston Villa, but it doesn’t have what it takes to compete with new casinos and new betting sites. The lack of bonuses, the lack of proper customer support, the slow withdrawals and the fact that the UKGC has seen fit to fine the operator are all concerns that should weigh heavily on the minds of players who are thinking about spending money here.

What are players saying about BK8?

Here are our condensed / reader’s digest summaries of recent player reviews of BK8. We’ve edited them to keep them short.

• 17-Jan-2024 by Semajnat:
  BK8 has been the best online casino experience for me. Their withdrawal and deposit processes are swift, and customer service is reliably available 24/7. They always prioritise player concerns, making them stand out amongst many other online casinos I’ve played at. – source: Trustpilot
• 10-Jan-2024 by Ju:
  While BK8 offers a range of casino games and access to sports books, I’ve encountered issues with their sports betting options. When my bets are in a profitable position, they often disable the cash-out option. The customer service, though polite, seems robotic and unhelpful in resolving this issue. They promise to get back to me, usually after the game finishes, making it feel like a semi-scam. – source: Trustpilot
• 24-Nov-2023 by Elona:
  I’m facing a frustrating issue with BK8. Despite being assured I could register from Europe, I’m now stuck with my funds due to phone number verification problems. I’ve made deposits and followed their instructions, but they now inform me they don’t accept phone numbers from my country, leaving me with no way to withdraw my funds. The customer service feels like dealing with bots, providing no real solutions. I fear I’m being scammed out of my approximately £450. – source: Trustpilot
• 12-Nov-2023 by Bruno:
  I encountered a deposit issue at BK8. My Touch n Go balance was deducted, but BK8’s platform showed the payment as failed. Despite multiple contacts with support, who keep saying it’s under investigation, my problem remains unresolved several hours later. – source: Trustpilot
• 08-May-2023 by Al:
  BK8 is refusing to complete my deposit. I mistakenly used a third-party withdrawal to deposit on their site. I provided all necessary information and proof, but they’re still asking for a receipt I can’t provide. It feels like they’re trying to profit from my mistake, which is frustrating, especially since I’ve been on a losing streak with them. – source: Trustpilot