MD88 – Malaysia Bookmaker Review

A bookmaker who seemingly focuses its attention on experienced, rather than casual, bettors, MD88 is an option for users in Malaysia. In this guide, we’re going to examine the pros and cons of this betting site, what they can offer sports bettors and how you can claim a welcome offer of 100% up to MYR 800.

Credentials

MD88 offer a range of betting facilities. In addition to providing access to numerous Sportsbooks, MD88 customers can also enjoy Casino, Slots, Lotteries and Games. Access to the site can be made using desktop and mobile browsers. There is an Android app available for users in Malaysia. However, no app is currently available for iOS devices. Instead, users can create a shortcut to the desktop site for quick access to odds and markets.

The MD88 site states they provide odds on over 35 sports and events. However, our research indicates that there’s only 17 different options. Instead of sports being available directly on the betting site, customers are directed to other sports betting platforms including AFB88 and Saba Sports. Access to the latter was constantly, and frustratingly restricted, so we have to focus on AFB88 for our review. We tried to solve this problem via MD88’s customer service, let’s just say we struggled getting any information out of them. More of this later.

MD88 say they’re legally allowed to provide gambling services to bettors in Malaysia.

Is MD88 Legal?

Is MD88 Safe?

The MD88 site does have the latest SSL Certification for its desktop and mobile sites, which we’ve confirmed. This means your connection is secure and your personal and financial information is protected.

Account verification is seemingly non-existent, which is a worry. For withdrawals, all that is required are your fixed bank account details. When we queried this with the Live Chat team, they referred us to a Profile page, which doesn’t have any mention of verification.

Bonuses and Promotions at MD88

There aren’t many promotions available at MD88 for Sportsbook bettors in Malaysia. Most promotions seem to be reserved for Casino players. However, a welcome bonus is available, along with two recurring existing user promos.

Welcome Offer

New customers at MD88 can claim a welcome bonus. Create an account and make a deposit of at least MYR 50 to receive a 100% deposit match bonus, up to a maximum of MYR 800.

Let’s take a look at how this offer works. Once you’ve created your MD88 account, you’ll be invited to make a deposit. You can use any deposit method to claim this offer, as long as the deposit amount is MYR 50 or greater. You will then receive your deposit match.

Your bonus amount can be used on any soccer events from AFB Sport, Saba Sport or SBO Sport providers, which can be accessed under the Sports tab.

There is a 20x turnover requirement of the deposit and bonus amount attached to this offer, which must be met in order to make a withdrawal. If you were to deposit the minimum qualifying amount of MYR 50, you’ll need to turnover MYR 2,000.

You have 30 days in which to use your bonus funds and meet the turnover requirements. If you don’t meet the requirements within this time frame, any winnings you might have made from your bonus will be removed from your account.

Existing User Offers and Promotions

While there’s a wide range of casino promos for existing customers, unfortunately the same can’t be said for Sportsbook bettors. Alongside the new customer offer we’ve detailed above, MD88 provide two further sports promotions.

You can only claim one offer at a time. For example, if you’ve qualified for the welcome offer, you won’t be able to utilise an existing user bonus until you’ve met the welcome bonus terms and conditions.

• 20% Sportsbook Daily Bonus. Available once per day, make a deposit of a minimum of MYR 50 and receive a 20% bonus, up to a maximum of MYR 200. There is a 10x turnover requirement of the deposit and bonus amount attached to this offer. So, if you make a qualifying deposit of MYR 50, you’ll need to turn over MYR 600 in order to make a withdrawal. The bonus can be used on soccer matches available from the following providers – AFB Sport, Saba Sport, SBO Sport, GG.CS.
• Weekly Rescue Bonus. MD88’s Weekly Rescue Bonus is a Cashback offer only available to bettors in Malaysia. Customers can receive 5% of their total losses each week, up to a maximum of MYR 2499. If you take part in the MD88 VIP program, the cashback percentage is increased. You’ll receive your cashback in bonus funds, which have a turnover requirement of 10x. You will need to activate this bonus by clicking on Join Now on the Promotions page.

Loyalty Program

One of the more impressive aspects of MD88 is their VIP Program, although it does require a huge amount of money to reach the upper echelons of the program. Every user is automatically enrolled in the program when they make their first deposit, starting at Bronze level. There are five further levels to the VIP program – Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Diamond King.

Bettors can work their way through the Levels by making monthly deposits of stated amounts. To reach Silver, a minimum of MYR 100,000 must be deposited within a month’s period. For Gold, it’s MYR 500,000; Platinum requires a monthly deposit of MYR 1,000,000 and for Diamond it’s MYR 1,500,000. Diamond King is only available via invitation.

Each time you upgrade a Level, you’ll receive an additional gift. These gifts can vary, but currently include AirPods, Apple Watch and a MacBook Pro.

Deposit and withdrawal limits increase the further you progress through the Levels. In addition, the number of times in which you can transfer funds into and from your betting account per day increases.

Along with the above, VIP bettors could receive additional bonuses, such as Special Rebates and a birthday bonus, as well as an Upgrade Bonus each time you reach a new VIP Level.

So, a rewarding VIP programme IF you can comfortably afford to spend the money required to access these top tier rewards. Again, as a betting site that is seemingly aimed at high rollers, rather than casual bettors, this does restrict the number of users who can take advantage of the bonuses and rewards available.

Registration at MD88

Getting started at MD88 is a simple process. A couple of points to keep in mind, though. Firstly, you can only create one betting account and therefore claim one welcome bonus. For instance, if you sign up and claim the Sports welcome bonus, you’ll be unable to then claim the Casino welcome bonus.

You will also need to provide personal information in order to complete a full sign up. You’ll be asked to provide your bank account information so you can make a withdrawal, regardless of which payment method you’re actually using.

While the MD88 site states all bettors must be 18 or over, note that for users in Malaysia the legal gambling age is 21 years old.

Deposits and Withdrawals

There are a variety of ways in which MD88 customers can deposit into and withdraw from their betting account.

MD88 also allow customers in Malaysia to deposit via Cash Deposit Machine. To do this, you’ll need to make the transaction and then upload a copy of your receipt on the Deposits page.

Cryptocurrency is also accepted, however there’s only two options. These consist of the following.

• ERC20
• TRC20

There aren’t any fees attached to using any method to transfer funds to and from your MD88 account. It’s important, though, to check with your banking provider that no fees will be charged by them.

Limits

Once you’ve added your bank account, you’ll be able to withdraw using any method of your choosing that’s available on the MD88 site.

VIP customers have higher withdrawal limits, depending on their program Level. For Bronze users, there is a daily withdrawal limit of MYR 50,000. The further you progress through the VIP Levels, the higher your daily withdrawal limit becomes. Similarly, Bank and Crypto Daily Limits increase, along with the number of times you can make a transfer.

Sportsbetting at MD88

There are 17 sports and events MD88 customers can bet on. To access the Sportsbook, click on Sports, followed by AFB88 to find all current sports betting odds. The provider Saba Sports is also available, though despite researching for a considerable period of time, this provider was consistently unavailable.

In addition to their sports betting providers, MD88 also offer access to RCB988, who specialise in horse racing, greyhound racing and harness racing. This facility is actually one of the very few aspects that has impressed us. RCB988 provide odds and markets on racing taking place across the globe, along with a live streaming service available on selected races.

While there’s a decent range of odds across a number of sports, it’s soccer where you’ll find the most markets. Customers at MD88 can bet on a huge variety of fixtures, ranging from major international soccer matches to minor domestic leagues and competitions.

There’s also plenty of options for betting on Esports. Bettors can place wagers on a plethora of Esports competitions, including Counter Strike and Dota 2.

MD88 customers in Malaysia can bet on the following sports and events:

Live Betting

In-play betting seems to be the focus of the MD88 Sportsbook offerings. There’s an extensive live betting facility available, covering a range of sports and events including soccer, volleyball and Esports.

Live streaming is an option on many events. To access a stream, you will need to place a bet on your chosen event. Then, click on the TV icon – the stream will open in a separate Window.

Live statistics are also available on selected events. Click on the Statistics icon on your chosen game to access up-to-date information, along with head-to-head records and a guide to the recent form of each player or team.

Cashout is also available on eligible events. Click on the Cashout icon on the live betting page to access this figure.

Amongst your live betting options are the following sports and events:

MD88 Casino Section

While the MD88 Sportsbook certainly has its flaws, we have been impressed with their Casino facility. There’s a good amount of slots available, with the industry’s most popular games with the Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza and Sugar Rush series’ options for players in Malaysia.

It’s easy to search for the specific slot you want to play. MD88 allows users to search by provider, or by entering the name of the slot into the Search box. You can also use the Menu tabs, which include Hot, New and Bonus Buy options, on the Slots screen.

In addition, table games are an option. However, the way table games, as well as Live Casino games, are laid out is different to other betting sites in Malaysia. Instead of listing game types, the MD88 site asks you to choose your provider, before directing you to all games available from that specific developer.

The most popular games at MD88 include the following:

MD88 Mobile App

An MD88 Android app is available only for users in Malaysia. The easiest way to download the app is to use the relevant links found on the desktop site. Currently, there isn’t a dedicated app available for iOS devices. However, it is possible to create a shortcut to the mobile site which can give you quicker access to the Sportsbook.

On occasion, app-only bonuses are available. At the time of writing, MD88 offered a free credit bonus to verified Casino users in Malaysia who downloaded the application onto their Android devices.

The MD88 site is also available via your mobile browser.

MD88 Odds and Margins

An important factor in successful betting is to find the best odds on the sports and events you want to bet on. The best sites tend to offer competitive odds on a variety of events.

To assess the quality of odds available at MD88, we calculated the betting margin on four high profile sporting events. Take a look at the table below to view our findings.

Customer Support and Available Languages

Customer service is an incredibly important aspect of online betting. At MD88, well, let’s just say we had mixed experiences. We’ll start with the positives. There are a range of ways in which a user can access customer support, with WhatsApp and WeChat amongst standard options like Live Chat and Email. We also had one good experience when speaking to a member of the customer support team via their Live Chat service.

Unfortunately, that’s where the positivity ends. As we do in all our reviews, we tested customer support in many different ways. More often than not, we were left feeling frustrated with the answers we received, or lack thereof.

One member of the support team was downright rude (who would have thought a question like ‘Do you have a mobile app?’ would cause such a problem?!). Others just didn’t seem to know what they were talking about.

As we touched upon earlier, we had trouble accessing some of MD88’s sports providers, in particular Saba Sports. Unfortunately, no help from the support team was forthcoming.

There is an FAQ section, but this might as well be non-existent. There’s the grand total of seven questions in this section, with the same ‘MD88 Customers must be at least 18 years old and above and agree to abide by the terms and conditions imposed’ answer to all of them. So no help there either.

Language options consist of English, Malay and Chinese. You can make your choice during the registration process or using the Language icon in the top right of the screen once you’ve logged into your account.

Awards and Recognitions

Usability, Design and User Experience

We have to say, we didn’t enjoy the best user experience at MD88. Sportsbook customers have to access other sports providers through the MD88 site, and very often access to many of these providers is restricted.

The design of the site itself is pretty good, providing a striking black, blue and white colour scheme. But again, the overall usability of the site is somewhat lacking, it’s difficult to access sports betting providers and when we can, there’s ultimately not a lot of events to choose from.

MD88 is aimed at professional bettors, rather than those new to sports betting online. The layout of the Sportsbook is confusing, with the Casino section much more user-friendly.

Main Page

Bonuses and Promotions

VIP

Technical Support

Responsible Gambling

The most important aspect of any form of betting is that you can do so safely and responsibly. Gambling sites have a responsibility to their users to ensure they can do just that, offering betting tools and advice to help their customers stay in control of their betting.

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