Most conversations about online gambling eventually come back to Bet365. It is the reference point, the platform against which other operators measure themselves. When you’ve been the biggest name in the room for more than two decades, that kind of gravitas is inevitable. But gravity works both ways. The same market conditions that allowed Bet365 to grow into a giant are now producing platforms built on completely different principles. ZunaBet, which opened in 2026, is one of those platforms. It doesn’t look like Bet365, it doesn’t work like Bet365, and it’s not designed for the same audience. Putting them side by side is the clearest way to see how online gambling is branching out into something the traditional model was never designed to accommodate.
Bet365: What market leadership looks like in 25 years
Bet365’s history goes back to 2000. Denise Coates turned a regional bookmaker into a digital powerhouse before most of the gambling industry discovered what the Internet meant for its business. The company remained private under the Coates family, which allowed it to build patiently and think long-term in ways that publicly traded competitors couldn’t always afford to. The result is an operation that generates billions in revenue annually and serves customers in dozens of countries.
Sports betting remains the crown jewel of Bet365. It would be difficult to name another betting product that matches its combination of market depth, quality of odds and live betting potential. Coverage extends from the world’s most popular sports to events that attract only the most dedicated bettors. The live gaming experience is in a class of its own – with thousands of events running simultaneously with real-time odds updates and integrated streaming that allows users to see what they are betting on. It is a product that has been refined over many years, and it shows.
Casino games play a meaningful supporting role. Several thousand games from well-known providers include slot machines, table games and live dealer offers. The catalog holds up well for a sports betting-led platform, although it has not grown at the same rate as operators where casino content drives the business.
Financial operations are carried out through traditional payment infrastructure. Debit cards, bank transfers and e-wallets, including PayPal, Skrill and Neteller, cover deposits and withdrawals. Encryption is completely absent from the picture. Transaction speeds fluctuate based on method and location – e-wallet withdrawals tend to clear fairly quickly while bank withdrawals can span across several business days.
New user offers generally take the form of betting credits linked to a qualifying deposit, with details varying across markets. Regular player retention is handled through individually tailored promotions offered at the discretion of Bet365 rather than through a structured general loyalty programme. The philosophy has always been that a premium product is the best retention mechanism, and two decades of market leadership backs this up.
Bet365 is the benchmark for what traditional online gambling looks like at its absolute peak. This distinction is acquired and cannot be denied. Whether that peak also represents the future of the industry is a completely separate question.
ZunaBet: The traditional model was designed for players and was not
ZunaBet was brought to market in 2026 by Strathvale Group Ltd under the Anjouan Gaming License. The people behind it have over 20 years of combined experience in the gambling industry, and they have channeled that experience into building a platform from the ground up with cryptocurrency at its center. No retrofit. No axis. There is no legacy infrastructure shaping decisions. Every element of ZunaBet reflects a team that started with a clear picture of what a modern cryptocurrency gambling platform should look like and built exactly that.
The casino library indicates serious intent immediately. Over 11,000 games from 63 providers provide one of the widest selections available on any cryptocurrency gambling platform today. Pragmatic Play, Evolution, Hacksaw Gaming, Yggdrasil, and BGaming top the list of providers that reach deep into the industry. The range covers everything from mainstream slots to specialist RNG table games and even an extensive live dealer section. This number of games exceeds what Bet365 currently carries on its casino side, which is a notable achievement for a platform that has only been in operation for a few months.
Sports betting is considered an equal product alongside the casino. The markets cover soccer, basketball, tennis, NHL, combat sports, and virtual sports in adequate depth. Esports is enjoying a level of interest that traditional sportsbooks have been slow to develop, with full-market offerings of CS2, Dota 2, League of Legends and Valorant. Bet365 maintains a huge advantage in its live in-play infrastructure, live streaming, and the sheer volume of obscure markets it lists. ZunaBet’s sportsbook responds with global coverage and a commitment to esports that speaks directly to the places where demand for betting is growing most rapidly among younger demographics.
Cryptocurrency underpins every financial interaction on the platform. Over 20 coins are accepted, including BTC, ETH, USDT cross-chain, SOL, DOGE, ADA, XRP, and more. The platform does not charge any fees for any transaction. Withdrawals are completed without the involvement of banks or payment processors. Funds move between player wallets and the platform on blockchain paths, cutting out every middleman that adds time, cost and unpredictability to transactions on traditional platforms.
The welcome bonus extends to $5,000 in deposit matches plus 75 free spins on three deposits. This breaks down into a 100% match up to $2,000 with 25 spins on the first deposit, a 50% match up to $1,500 with 25 spins on the second, and a 100% match up to $1,500 with 25 spins on the third deposit. Compared to the welcome offers offered by Bet365 in most of its markets, ZunaBet offers much more value at the front door.
The dark-themed HTML5 interface keeps things fast and clean across all devices. Native apps serve iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS users. Live chat support is available 24 hours a day.
Retention: Two completely different theories
The way a platform retains its players reveals what it believes about its audience. Bet365 believes its audience will stay because the product is good. This belief has led to a retention model built on discretionary promotions – rewards and offers sent to active accounts based on internal criteria, without a visible tier system or published progression path. The player gets the bonuses when Bet365 decides to send them. The player’s role is essentially passive. For an audience of experienced bettors who chose Bet365 for quality sports betting and stayed for the same reason, this approach has worked for more than two decades.
ZunaBet believes that its audience wants to actively participate in the bonus experience. The Dragon Evolution loyalty program is built around this belief. The mascot called Zuno represents the player’s journey through six levels – Squire, Warden, Champion, Divine, Knight, and Ultimate. Rakeback starts at 1% at entry and rises to 20% at top tier. Free spins packages grow to 1000 at the highest levels. VIP Club memberships and double wheel courses add even more incentives along the trail.
The crucial design choice is transparency. Everything about the system is visible to the player at all times. Current level, next level, requirements, rewards – it’s all posted and trackable. The gameplay deliberately mirrors progression mechanics from video games, where leveling up creates its own motivations separate from the content itself. For a generation of players who have grown up with progression systems as a natural part of any digital experience, ZunaBet’s approach feels intuitive and rewarding in a way that Bet365’s behind-the-scenes model doesn’t try to be.
Infrastructure underneath everything
Take away the games, promotions, and branding, and what essentially separates these two platforms is how money moves through them.
Bet365 operates on the financial infrastructure that has been the backbone of global commerce for decades. Banks, card networks and e-wallet providers connect millions of players to the platform across dozens of countries. This infrastructure has been battle-tested at a scale that few companies have achieved. It also operates according to timetables and conditions determined by the institutions that manage it. Processing schedules, compliance checks, weekend pauses, holiday closures, and backlog fees are integrated into the system. A player requesting a bank withdrawal is entering into a process that Bet365 initiates but does not fully control.
ZunaBet operates on an infrastructure that did not exist when Bet365 was founded. Blockchain networks process transactions around the clock without institutional gatekeeping. The deposit arrives when confirmed by the network. The withdrawal leaves when the player requests it. There is no bank reviewing the transaction. There is no payment processor on it. There is no calendar for when this could happen. No fees are deducted along the way. The result is a financial experience that is faster, cheaper, and more consistent than anything built on traditional payment paths.
Every player who experiences cryptocurrency transactions on a gambling platform recalibrates his expectations. Speed becomes normal. Predictability becomes normal. Zero fees become normal. Traditional withdrawal timelines, which once seemed acceptable because there was no alternative, are starting to feel like an unnecessary survival from a system that wasn’t designed with player comfort as a priority.
The market is not one thing anymore
Bet365 caters to an audience that has been gambling online for years, perhaps decades. These players naturally use bank accounts and debit cards, accept that withdrawals take time, and value the depth of sports betting and live betting potential at Bet365 above most other considerations. This audience is huge and it is not going away.
ZunaBet serves an audience that has a completely different relationship with money and digital entertainment. They hold cryptocurrencies across multiple wallets and chains. They expect transactions to be resolved in minutes. They want game libraries that seem limitless. They take eSports seriously as a betting category. They respond to gamified progression systems because that’s how every other digital experience in their lives has trained them to engage. They are not leaving traditional platforms. Many of them never joined one in the first place.
These two audiences coexist in the same industry but want materially different things from a gambling platform. Bet365 is designed specifically for the first group. ZunaBet is designed specifically for the latter.
Proof of both platforms
Bet365 proves that exceptional execution within traditional gambling infrastructure leads to extraordinary results. Its longevity, size and continued dominance validate every decision the company has made over 25 years.
ZunaBet proves that a team with deep industry knowledge can build something that looks completely different when freed from old constraints. Over 11,000 games from 63 providers, 20+ zero-fee cryptocurrencies, a $5,000 welcome bonus, a full sportsbook with dedicated esports coverage, apps on every major platform, and a loyalty program that treats progress as entertainment rather than accounting.
The gambling industry is no longer a single market moving in one direction. It’s two different markets. The Bet365 order is already in place. ZunaBet is designed specifically for those that are forming now. Both systems confirm the validity of their approach. But for anyone keeping an eye on the direction the industry’s momentum is taking, the just-launched platform tells a more telling story than the one launched 25 years ago.
