Karamba at a Glance
- Top highlights: Thousands of betting markets; Karambot AI betting adviser
- VIP or loyalty programme:Yes
- Other offerings: Casino; live casino; scratchcards
About Karamba
The Karamba brand has been around since 2005, although you may associate it more closely with its casino games than its sports betting arm, which is a more recent feature of the site. A company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands - ASG Technologies Ltd - continues to operate Karamba.
Promotions
There's good and bad news to share about Karamba's selection of promotions; on one hand, they're varied and intriguing, but on the negative side, they're largely geared towards the casino part of the site rather than the sportsbook.
However, depending on when you sign up to or browse the site, you may still be able to help yourself to a free bet, while there's also a distinctive promotion that enables you to win bigger on accumulators - but to find out more about the latter, you'll need to register and see for yourself.
Sports Betting Types and Betting Markets
There are thousands of betting markets available at Karamba, and as you might imagine, there's much emphasis on football, with the opportunity to gamble on such major competitions as the Premier League, Championship, International Champions Cup and French Ligue 1.
But the assortments of sports on which you can have a flutter as a Karamba member really is an in-depth one, with both obvious and lesser-known disciplines represented, such as:
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Basketball
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Tennis
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Ice hockey
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Horse racing
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Rugby League
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Snooker
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Winter sports
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Pesapallo
Betting Coverage
As so many other betting portals allow you to do these days, Karamba gives you the option of gambling on an 'in-play' basis - in other words, while the match in question is actually taking place - as well as prior to the event in the conventional way.
The experience for those betting via their smartphone is also pretty impressive. Whether you navigate to the site directly through your device's web browser or download the mobile app, you can expect it to be both graphically sophisticated and intuitive.
Just a tip - the app is the same as the mobile-optimised website. This means that while the app does seem to be aimed squarely at Karamba's casino game fans rather than sports bettors, you can still access the sportsbook section easily enough, by tapping the menu logo in the top left-hand corner.
Software and Graphics
The Karamba site is based on a turquoise and grey colour scheme that is very easy on the eyes, and overall, it's a design that doesn't try too hard to look spectacular. After all, your focus should be very much on the actual sports betting.
Navigation is simple enough too, thanks to the 'hamburger' menu that you can activate from the top left-hand corner of the page. This makes it as quick and straightforward as you like to access such sections as 'Your Account', 'Getting Started' and 'Change Language'.
Extra Value
One feature of Karamba that you don't exactly see every day on an online sportsbook is what is known as 'Karambot', which is an artificial intelligence (AI) adviser that analyses years of data and presents this information to you in a way that can guide your betting.
You can access Karambot at the right-hand-side of the main betting interface, where it presents a list of fixtures on which you may wish to bet. If you hover your mouse cursor over the bar-chart image for a given match, you may learn that - for example - one of the competing teams features heavily in games where both teams score, or is likely to be dominated in terms of shots on target.
Loyalty or VIP Programme
While most online sportsbooks seem to offer a loyalty or VIP scheme of some kind these days, you'd struggle to find a more complete or generous one than Karamba's. As soon as you start betting here, you will earn reward points that enable you to quickly start working your way up through the site's VIP levels; in other words, you aren't dependent on the site inviting you to become a VIP member.
Actually, that's not completely correct; you can't gain access to the final two levels, Premium and Prestige, unless you're personally invited to them. Nonetheless, there are five other levels that you can reach through points accumulation alone - New Member, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
Depending on which level you've reached at any one time, you can look forward to the following perks:
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Fast cash out process
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Birthday bonus
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Free play Sunday
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VIP live tournaments
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Personal account manager
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Monthly cash back
Other Offerings
As we mentioned earlier in this review, Karamba may be better-known among many of you for its casino section, which really does serve up every type of game that you could want from an online casino, encompassing the finest video slots, blackjack, roulette and even virtual sports games.
An even more realistic and glamorous gambling experience is provided by the site's live casino section, which gives you such options as:
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Blackjack Live
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Roulette Live
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Live Baccarat Squeeze
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Live Auto Roulette
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Dream Catcher
Finally, you can also have a go at scratchcards like Power Cash, Blackjack Doubler, Hit The Bank, Queen of Diamonds and Egyptian Oasis. Put it this way - you don't have much excuse for getting bored as a Karamba member.
Deposit and Withdrawal Methods
Few online sportsbooks give you as many options for adding money to your account as Karamba, with both well-known and slightly more obscure methods accepted.
Payment Method | Processing Time | Limit Per Deposit |
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MasterCard Debit | Instant | £10-£4,500 |
Visa Debit | Instant | £10-£4,500 |
Bank transfer | Instant | |
SOFORT Banking | Instant | Minimum €10 |
Trustly | Instant | Minimum €10 |
Skrill | Instant | £10-£2,000 |
Skrill 1-Tap | Instant | £10-£2,000 |
Neteller | Instant | £10-£2,000 |
Giropay | Instant | Minimum €10 |
Euteller | Instant | Minimum €10 |
Zimpler | Instant | €10-€800 |
Bancontact Mister Cash | Instant | Minimum €10 |
EPS | Instant | Minimum €10 |
Wire Transfer | Up to 6 days | Minimum €10 |
Paysafecard | Instant | £10-£2,000 |
INSTADEBIT | Instant | Minimum C$10 |
Entropay | Instant | Minimum £10 |
Fast bank transfer | Instant | Minimum £10 |
*Current as of August 2018; please check Karamba’s website for updates
Payout Policy
You can expect any money that you take out of your Karamba account to be credited back to you through the payment method that you used to make a deposit in the first place.
Withdrawal Method | Processing Time | Limit Per Withdrawal |
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MasterCard Debit | 6-8 business days | Maximum £10,000 |
Visa Debit | 6-8 business days | Maximum £10,000 |
Bank transfer | 6-8 business days | |
SOFORT Banking | ||
Trustly | 3 business days | |
Skrill | 3 business days | Maximum £10,000 |
Skrill 1-Tap | 3 business days | Maximum £10,000 |
Neteller | 3 business days | Maximum £10,000 |
Giropay | ||
Euteller | ||
Zimpler | ||
Bancontact Mister Cash | ||
EPS | ||
Wire Transfer | 6-8 business days | |
Paysafecard | ||
INSTADEBIT | 5 business days | |
Entropay | 6-8 business days | Maximum £10,000 |
Fast bank transfer |
*Current as of August 2018; please check Karamba’s website for updates
Customer Support
Getting help at Karamba isn't too difficult. Simply head to the aforementioned 'Getting Started' menu option, and you'll find a link to a 'Frequently Asked Questions' section addressing such common queries as "How does Karamba protect my privacy?" and "How do I deposit?"
But you can also access a wider 'Help' section via the same menu, through which you can find contact options such as a 'live chat' feature, phone number and the ability to get in touch with the site team via email.
Who Can Play?
The only part of the world that Karamba explicitly names in its terms and conditions as one from which you are not allowed to register an account at the site is the United States of America.
Nonetheless, there are other jurisdictions around the globe where online gambling is forbidden. The site makes clear in the terms and conditions that it is up to you to ensure your compliance with the law if you are interested in signing up to the site, rather than expecting the site to forcibly prevent you from opening an account.
Licence
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission is responsible for licensing and regulating Karamba as far as British bettors are concerned, which should reassure you greatly as to the site's trustworthiness. The Malta-based company that operates the site's games is also a fully licensed operator in accordance with the Remote Gaming Regulations of Malta.
Bottom Line
Karamba is easy on the eye, offers literally thousands of opportunities to bet on sport and even serves up some quirky features like the Karambot, all of which makes it a surprisingly rewarding place to have a flutter on sports online. After all, many of you reading this will still principally regard it as a casino site. The VIP scheme has a lot of depth to it, too, although we'd like to see a few more sportsbook-centric promotions in the future.
Open an account at Karamba today, and you'll benefit from an online betting experience that is smooth, trouble-free and a bit more distinctive than the usual household-name brands.
Author
Gavin Lenaghan
Gavin writes on a wide range of subjects, including articles and reviews about online casinos, slots, bingo, poker, and sportsbooks. He has considerable expertise in the games, customer service, and other aspects of today’s leading gambling and betting portals.