The Pools

P J Aitken
Last update: 16/02/2024

Bingo Paradise Rating

The Football Pools has been around for a long time, encompassing games like Vernon’s Pools and Littlewoods Pools and eventually merging into one big game. The idea is simple: choose a win/lose/draw for every game in the football league and win big if you’re correct. In their own words, it’s “50% luck, 50% hunch, 100% for everybody”.

Except, it’s not quite that simple, at least not anymore. These days there are several games that carry the name of the Pools and multiple ways to win big. The Pools website also includes a casino and sportsbook—it’s a massive site with a lot to offer, so let’s take a closer look.

Welcome Offer

There’s a lot that I love about The Pools and I’ll get to all of that shortly. The only thing I don’t really like is the welcome bonus for the casino, as it’s a little tame.

You will get 100 free spins when you sign up, deposit, and wager at least £10. The spins have a value of £0.10 each and they are limited to the Big Catch Bass Fishing slot.

There are other promotions for different parts of the site and there are lots of regular offers, tournaments, and reload promotions as well. So, things get better, but they start off a little slow.

Check out the promotions section every time you log in and make sure you scroll through the different sections. The promotions are constantly changing and there is always something worth collecting.

Games on The Pools

There’s quite a lot to cover here as The Pools has taken the bet365 route and offered a bit of everything.

Firstly, you can, of course, play the football pools. You can play the classic home/away/draw, where you bet as little as £1 and can win £10,000. Incidentally, my brother once told the entire neighbourhood he had won big on the pools. When they asked him how he spent his money, he proudly told them he’d spent it all on sweets, shocking and horrifying them at the same time.

He’d actually won £50 on the Premium Bonds. Easy mistake to make, and one that contributed to an entire cul-de-sac thinking he was a gluttonous idiot.

There are other variations of this game to play as well, with prize pools “currenly” (sic) worth tens of thousands at any given time. Maybe after they collect their commission they can slip an editor a few quid.

Away from the classic pools games, there are lotteries such as Loaded 4 Life, where you can win £100k every year for 35 years or take a cash sum of £2.5 million. Lucky for Life has a similar vibe, but with smaller prizes and cheaper tickets (£0.50 as opposed to £1).

There are keno games if you fancy a slight change of pace…while still burying yourself in numbers, and the site’s lottery section also has scratch cards.

Other sections of The Pools include live dealer games, RNG table games, slot machines, and a sportsbook. There are plenty of games in each section and I like the fact that The Pools pays homage to its roots by keeping a separate section stacked with sports games. I’m always complaining about sites that don’t follow through with their themes/names when it comes to their games, and I definitely can’t accuse The Pools of that.

The games are also top drawer and provided by the likes of NetEnt, Blueprint Gaming, Microgaming, and Pragmatic Play. You will find a lot of Megaways games and jackpot games as well.

The Pools Review Summary

I must admit to being a little concerned when I was asked to review The Pools. I have fond memories of the game, as many UK football fans do, but I also had a bad experience with Vernons. In fact, it’s arguably the worst and most frustrating experience I’ve ever had with an online gambling site (I’ll save you the rant, but let’s just say it involved a lot of banging my head against a brick wall and trying to reason with the unreasonable). At the time, the company was seemingly having a few issues and it eventually went under.

To me, it was an experience that tarnished an iconic and nostalgic brand, so I was concerned that The Pools review would force me to reconcile, if not just for the short time it takes me to complete these reviews. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case (they are not the same companies and don’t seem to have any connection these days) and I was able to enjoy my time with The Pools.

I loved the games on offer. It’s always good to browse through a few Blueprint and NetEnt slots and play the odd table game or live casino game, but the fact that I could also switch over to the sportsbook, engage in a game of classic pools betting, and play some lotteries was great.

I have seen bigger and better welcome promotions, but this is a minor issue when you consider everything else that The Pools has to offer, including the abundance of free games and loyalty promotions. Overall, it’s a great site that I thoroughly enjoyed and will probably slip into my regular cycle.