ScoreStarSports Ireland Review (2026): Our Tests & Real Player Ratings
Originally Star Racing, the now Star Sports has expanded into an all-round sports betting product and experience. It is owned by the affable Ben Keith and offers a personalised sportsbook experience with dedicated traders and staff.
In this review, we put the site to the test by signing up, verifying our account, depositing real money, placing bets and withdrawing funds.
Our unique BL Score also combines real user tests from Trustpilot, app stores and the editorial team to give a full, honest look at StarSports.
| Betting Margins (Average) | 8% |
|---|---|
| Min Deposit | €5 |
| App Availability | App Store, Google Play |
| Payment Methods |    |
| Sportsbook | Playbook Gaming |
|---|---|
| Betting Margins (Average) | 8% |
| Racing Markets |
Yes
|
| Bet Builder |
Yes
|
| Live Streaming |
Yes
|
| Early Payout |
Yes
|
| Cash Out |
Yes
|
| Best Odds Guaranteed |
Yes
|
| Acca Insurance |
No
|
- Fast transaction times
- €5 minimum deposit
- Decent sportsbook coverage
- High betting margins
- Lack of payment options
- Slow verification process
| Min Deposit | €5 |
|---|---|
| Fee | No fee |
| Min Withdrawal | €5 |
| Fee | No fee |
-
Visa -
Mastercard -
Apple Pay
| Rating | 1 |
|---|
| Support Methods | |
|---|---|
| Opening Hours | 7 Days a week, 24/7 |
| Has FAQ |
Yes
|
| Licence | GRAI (0385-RB-26-0001) |
|---|---|
| Owner | Star Racing Limited |
| Founded | 2018 |
StarSports Overall Score
| Bonus | 2 |
|---|---|
| Sportsbook | 2 |
| Casino | 2 |
| Customer Support | 3 |
| Payment Methods | 2 |
| Licence & Safety | 4 |
| Design and User Experience | 5 |
| Overall | 3 |
After testing StarSports ourselves, we were left unimpressed with many aspects of the site. The welcome bonus was ambiguous, and we were left to sign up without claiming what I would deem a 'hidden' bet €20 get €10 in free bets offer.
All this alongside having to jump through hoops to get registered, while StarSports claims to take on all types of punters, offering high limits and stakes.
Support was poor, both during the Know Your Customer (KYC) identity verification process, and when we opened live chat to ask about the welcome bonus which retrospectively required a promo code.
KYC messages were still coming up after I passed the checks (confirmed by security staff) and they also wanted to know my job. The whole thing was a bit obnoxious and intrusive.
On a more positive note, the site offers a fixed-odds telephone betting service, one of the few bookmakers to do this nowadays. There's also a regular free-to-play Build-a-Bet predictor game with €50 free bets to give away.
StarSports is also renowned for its "Betting People" interviews, which can be a great watch along with a prediction and tips blog in its news section, largely centred around football.
On the whole, there was an underlying feeling from the team during our review that Star Sports was not giving much value back to the punter. The two x €5 free bets from the welcome bonus had to be used on multiples and it all felt a bit stingy. Even the cash out feature is only available on selected markets.
About Star Sports
Star Sports is an independent bookmaker that is more niche in nature. It offers a personalised and tailored user experience, but in our review, we were left a little frustrated about several aspects.
Star Sports' parent company is Star Racing Limited, founded in 1999 by Ben Keith. The independent UK bookie was originally a trackside and betting shop operator. In 2018, Keith launched the online and mobile betting platform, so some still consider it one of the new betting sites.
Star Sports is run on a supposedly more professional model where staff are typically industry experts, from the traders to customer support staff. The bookmaker even offers a hedging facility and platform for other bookies or high rollers who want to lay off some liability.
Is Star Sports Safe and Legit?
🔒 Star Sports' GRAI Licence: GRAI-0385-RB-26-0001)
Star Sports has a licence issued by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland under licence no. GRAI-0385-RB-26-0001. It is also licensed and regulated under the UK Gambling Commission (9177), with the licence held by parent company Star Racing Ltd.
📊 Star Sports' Trustpilot Rating: 1.4/5
1.4 enters the 'bad' score bracket on Trustpilot, even though bookmakers generally do not score well on the website. This rating is on par with the scores from the likes of Coral and Bet365. It is based on just 215 reviews too, so it's a small sample. 13% of ratings are 5-star ratings, while 82% are 1-star ratings.
💰 Has Star Sports Been Fined?
Yes, Star Sports was fined €594,000 by the UKGC in July 2023. It failed in anti-money laundering and social responsibility. As yet, the GRAI has not got involved as it is early days.
Star Sports Deposits
We were a little disappointed to see only two payment options pre-populated in the cashier, with no option to add any other methods. It would have been nice to see at least one e-wallet, or maybe Paysafe and Revolut added.
We could only deposit with a debit card or via Apple Pay. The minimum is set at a nice and low €5, which definitely helps StarSports' case, and the maximum is €5,000. It should be noted that we used an Android device, so clearly Google Pay isn't available yet.
At the very least, both the deposit and withdrawal times proved swift in our test. That combined with the low deposit minimum somewhat makes up for the lack of banking options.
| Payment Method | Min Deposit | Max Deposit | Deposit Fee | Processing Time | Triggers Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Visa | €5 | €5,000 | No fee | Instant | |
 Mastercard | €5 | €5,000 | No fee | Instant | |
 Apple Pay | €5 | €5000 | No fee | Instant |
How to Deposit at Star Sports
It is easy for Irish players to deposit at Star Sports, but only if debit card and Apple Pay will suffice:
-
Click on Account Balance
Once logged into your Star Sports account, head to the site header bar and click on the account balance. It is located in the top right corner.
-
Press the Deposit button
Hit the yellow 'Deposit' button in the banking area.
-
Choose a Payment Method
Pick a preferred payment method between debit card options and Apple Pay.
Enter card details and the desired deposit amount. Hit 'Pay Now'.
-
Star Sports 3D Secure
With the deposit coming from a debit card, we had to confirm with our bank using 3D Secure verification. Sometimes this process can be glitchy when moving from the banking app to the betting app.
-
Star Sports Deposit Success
After a successful deposit, bettors are brought to a screen confirming the deposit.
Star Sports Withdrawals
The minimum withdrawal at Star Sports via both debit cards and Apple Pay is €5 and there is no limit on maximum withdrawals, so Star Sports lives up to its claims in that respect. We would definitely like to see some more payment methods added, but we suppose they have to start by adding deposit methods.
The withdrawal page says funds should be received immediately (within two hours), or can take up to between two and five days if not wired quickly. It's a little bit strange to name two so vastly different time spans, but it didn't really matter to us.
Indeed, in our test, the funds landed in our account in less than 15 minutes by Visa debit. We requested a €20 withdrawal and thankfully didn't encounter any problems. Granted that we have registered several instant withdrawal tests, this is pretty good too.
| Payment Method | Min Withdrawal | Max Withdrawal | Withdrawal Fee | Withdrawal Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visa | €5 | Not specified | No fee | 15 minutes in our test |
| Mastercard | €5 | Not specified | No fee | Within 3 business days |
| Apple Pay | €5 | Not specified | No fee | Within 3 business days |
How to Withdraw Funds From Star Sports
After verification, the withdrawal process is pretty quick at Star Sports:
-
Go to Your Account
Making sure you are first logged into your account, open up your banking section using the balance in the top right corner.
-
Press on 'Withdraw'
In your account menu, hit the 'Withdraw' tab, which should be visible at the top of the screen.
-
Enter the Withdrawal Amount
Now enter the amount you would like to withdraw from your balance in the box provided, then hit the yellow 'Withdraw' button.
-
Withdrawal Confirmation
There will now be confirmation of a pending withdrawal and a note on the expected timeframe.
Star Sports Sportsbook Review
The Star Sports betting menu is comprised of over 20 sports and products to bet on, including politics and novelty bets (under 'other').
Star Sports uses Playbook Gaming as the platform and sportsbook provider, which is a wise choice as that company also works with the likes of DragonBet, AK Bets and more. Safe to say, the array of sports to bet on has grown since the days of Star Racing.
⚽ Football Offering
There's a nice spread of football leagues and markets to bet at Star Sports. This extends through the big English and UK leagues all the way to Europe, the US and South America.
You can bet on hundreds of markets on Premier League games and use the 'Live tracker' feature to stay up to date with what goes on. There is a strong showing of player prop markets on Premier League games, as well as a 'Specials' tab dedicated to odds boosts.
The betting margins on Premier League games average around 8%, which is a little on the high side, with most value-focused bookies ending up around 4-6% (sometimes even lower!).
On the whole, Star Sports is definitely lacking in football promotions and functions, although 'Build-a-Bet' is available if logged in.
🏇 Horse Racing Offering
We are happy to say that despite the lack of all-around promotions, Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) is offered at Star Sports on UK and Irish racing.
The racing menu is neatly laid out under three main tabs: UK & Ire, International, and Future. Bettors can toggle to UK and Ireland-only racing. The International racing comes from France, Canada, the US, South America, Japan and more territories.
Futures or antepost racing covers everything from the Breeders' Cup to Cheltenham.
Live streaming is available, but market depth is a bit sparse, with several races offering little more than each way or forecast/tricast betting. There are some extra place offers on selected races.
🎾 The rest
At the very top of the betting menu is the 'Star Boosts' tab, which comprises lots of odds boosts from a variety of sports. They can come as boosts on multiples to prop bets on diverse sporting markets like football or the NFL.
In terms of the sports themselves, there's nothing too "out there", but all the popular obscure sports like snooker, darts, handball and cycling are covered. Regular sports like golf, MMA, cricket and Formula 1 populate the menu.
Rugby League and Rugby Union are both offered, while the four big American sports of basketball, baseball, American Football and Ice Hockey are on show. I was impressed with the overall navigation of the website during the testing too.
Star Sports Casino Review
The first thing that hit me regarding the Star Sports Casino was how crisp and clear the platform looked. The lobby is neatly laid out with some blingy slot games on the home page enticing you in.
The Casino Club Rewards program also caught the eye, offering free spins for turning over a discretionary amount in stakes each week.
Star Sports Casino isn't the biggest in the online space, but it does have a solid offering of slots and titles (with Drops and Wins from Pragmatic Play) including progressive jackpots, table games and a live casino. It also has a dedicated tab in the menu for Crash games.
Star Sports Mobile App
The Star Sports betting app is rated 1.0 from just one rating (very low sample size!) on iOS in the App Store, while there is no rating shown on Google Play despite 10k+ downloads.
It is an all-inclusive sports betting and casino app providing a "luxury betting experience". The app also provides optional push notifications with offers and other updates.
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StarSports
Google Play
App Store
iOS App
Rating 1 
Android App
Star Sports Responsible Gambling
Star Sports is committed to safer gambling with a 'Safer Gambling' page link in the footer of the website. This sits alongside several links to gambling help resources like:
- Gamble Aware
- Gamstop
- Gordon Moody gambling addiction therapy
- National gambling helpline
- Net Nanny
- IBAS (helps bettors resolve disputes)
The responsible gambling section at Star Sports has tips, hints and a questionnaire regarding gaming activity. Safer gambling tools are accessed via the 'Limits and safer gambling' area of your account.
The tools include reality check, play break, deposit limits, product block, self-exclusion, and account review. There is information available about bank gambling blocks and online gambling ad blocks.
Star Sports Customer Support
Customer support at Star Sports was not great in our experience, despite the owner Ben Keith's claims that support staff are all industry experts and that bettors won't meet automated, regurgitated responses.
We connected to the virtual assistant chat, which at least puts you through to a live human agent immediately if required. However, again, the agents were poor and just copied and pasted answers after leaving me hanging for a while.
The verification process was also terrible, with back-and-forth correspondence going on for a few days via multiple departments. Eventually I got verified. Support staff were inefficient to say the least.
There are direct phone numbers to call at Star Sports, which is a plus point.
| Live Chat |
Yes
|
|---|---|
| [email protected] & [email protected] | |
| Phone | 08000 521 321, 01273 936840 |
| Opening Hours | 7 Days a week, 24/7 |
How to Get Started at Star Sports
The sign-up process at Star Sports is straightforward but there are stringent verification checks in place before new Irish players can gain full access to the betting account.
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Navigate to Star Sports and Hit 'Sign Up'
Navigate to Star Sports using one of our dedicated links. Once there, you will see a "Sign Up" star link button located in the top-right corner. Click it.
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Enter Email and Password
Enter your email address and choose a password. If you have a promo code for the welcome bonus, now is the time to enter it. Click the yellow 'Create Account' button to move to the next step.
-
Fill in your Personal Details
There is now plenty of personal information like name, phone number and date of birth to be filled in on a page form. Complete this process.
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Accept T&Cs and Promotional Offers
Opt in to any promotional offers available and click the terms and conditions box. You can also input your preferred currency on this page. Hit 'Agree and Join' to create a Star Sports account.
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Adjust Safer Gambling Tools and Limits
The middle of the registration process focuses on player safety.
You can set deposit and betting limits and toggle the safer gambling tools.
Then, hit 'Next'.
New bettors also have the option to set Two Factor Authentication (2FA) using biometrics.
-
Star Sports Account Suspended Pending Verification
As soon as we created a Star Sports Account, it went into automatic suspension pending identity verification which was a little frustrating. At this stage, new Irish punters have to send (upload) the relevant ID documents to the security department.
User Reviews
There are no reviews for StarSports