Thunderpick Esport Review

Thunderpick is a fairly new bookmaker that you don't know you need yet. Here you get a wide selection of bets from the field of e-sports, but also ordinary sports and arcade games. The highlight here is that instead of exploiting odds set by the bookie, you compete directly against other bettors and only pay a fee if you win. After reading my Thunderpick review, you'll want to take this new approach.

Pros & Cons of Thunderpick

Thunderpick Betting Markets

Thunderpick feels like a computer game. The whole presentation, the ranking system and the conversion of Euros into „Thundercoins“ will quickly make you forget that you are dealing with real sports betting here.

Thunderpick Esport

In fact, „real“ sports betting has been available for some time, consisting of about ten sports, but you won't come to Thunderpick for that. Here you are offered selected soccer games and a little more like basketball or ice hockey, but even on weekends Thunderpick hardly gets beyond 200 bets (not events!). So it remains then in all rule with the pure result tip and a few outrights (long-term bets). See this offer as a nice addition to the rest, but don't expect too much. However, it is interesting that you can also play with the bet pool for Bundesliga bets, more about this below.

The wide world of e-sports

When it comes to e-sports, Thunderpick is more worthwhile. It's not even that there are tons of bets offered here, but you can constantly invest in updated pots. The games currently listed are:

• CS:GO
• DOTA 2
• League of Legends
• Rainbow Six
• Rocket League
• Call of Duty
• Fortnite
• Hearthstone
• HOTS
• Overwatch
• NBA2K
• Star Craft 2

More games are available under „Other“ and depending on the event, the game selection varies. Basically, you get every relevant e-sports event at Thunderpick. But even here it's mostly just about the winners of the duels in the individual leagues. With Counterstrike, for example, it can go a bit more in depth with ten or more betting options.

Thunderpick Live Betting

Thunderpick also offers live in-play betting, but this paradoxically reduces the fun of the game. Usually, sports betting really gets going once the whistle blows and the live feeds combined with the constantly updated betting options convey dynamism and action.

Thunderpick Live Betting

According to my Thunderpick experiences, this is unfortunately not the case, as the match starts with the usual bookmaker odds. Then the unique selling point of „parimutuel betting“ is lost and it's back to her against the bank. In the motion sports, there are similarly few live matches as there already are, and these few matches are hardly upgraded with additional features.

In e-sports, you can basically bet live on everything, and live streams should actually be directly integrated. For me, however, a stream was never available despite the link, but that may be different for you or at other times. Apart from that, however, you will not find anything that otherwise distinguishes live betting: There is no multiview outside the main selection, no mini pitch or other game action and nothing in terms of statistics. The only positive feature is the connected chat, where you can chat with other players.

Thunderpick Bonus

Perhaps it is due to the mutual betting that there is no classic Thunderpick bonus for new customers. You won't get any bonus money as a welcome gift, which you then have to wager several times, as usual.

Thunderpick Bonus

However, this does not mean that you have to completely do without a starter goodie. In a way, this Thunderpick bonus is even more attractive because you get a real money gift. The key to this is the provider's „referral“ system, where the large community hunts for customers on their own. Anyone can refer other users and invite them to Thunderpick. If you enter an appropriate referral code before your first deposit (just ask in the chat), then you will get 5% up to $/€500 for free with no additional requirements. The referral code is an individual code that refers to you and is used by the customer you refer to sign up. For example, if you deposit $/€100, you will receive $/€5 for free, and if you deposit the maximum amount of $/€ 10,000, you will receive $/€500 for free.

This is especially worthwhile for the referrer, because from now on he can feel like the bookie: 10% of everything you give away to the house during your Thunderpick career goes to his account. If a code has been used 500 times, it's 20% and for over 2000 new customers there is a commission of 40% of the house advantage.

The Odds

Then I'll finally introduce you to the game principle, which I've already highlighted several times. For example, let's take a CS:GO duel Team A against Team B. Most bookmakers offer you constantly changing odds. You choose a team and if you win, your bet is multiplied by the odds and paid out. This way you always play against the bookie and have to accept their odds.

Thunderpick handles this not only more fairly, but far more interestingly, creating a nice gameplay element. Here the players determine the odds themselves. The deadline is always the beginning of the event, and afterwards the account is settled, which is why it doesn't matter at which point in time you invest. You can bet Thundercoins on team A or B at any time and the total pool will increase accordingly.

For example, you bet 100 Coins ($/€ 1) on Team A, which means a total of 1000 Coins. On Team B the community has bet 2000 Coins. If team B wins, your 100 coins are gone, but if team A wins, you now get a share of the total pool. This is 3000 coins, from which something is deducted for Thunderpick (so only the winners pay) and then you get paid 10%, because you had 10% share of the total for team A.

This is a bit like stocks and allows flexible betting and more and more concrete odds the closer the event gets. I find the principle ingenious (even though it's not that different when you think about it) and recommend a visit to Thunderpick just for this gameplay.

Website & Design

The design of Thunderpick is excellent and less like a classic bookmaker than a computer game. Menus and the chat can be folded out, superfluous elements have been omitted.

You can find all betting options immediately (if only because there aren't that many of them), and you can quickly access information about your gameplay in the player account. The avatars adorned with ranks look strong, and the progress bar in the top right corner always stays in view. Sometimes there is a lack of contrast between the anthracite background and the gray font, and the copyright and license info in the footer are noticeably too small.

Unfortunately, there is no German-language version of the site, but besides English only translations in Russian, Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese.

The Thunderpick App

Thanks to PWA technology, Thunderpick's website is already a hybrid with the smartphone version. As an iOS user, you'll have to rely on the browser app, but with an Android, you can click the three dots from there and load the app on the homescreen, which mainly removes the browser's address bar.

The bookie states that the app is characterized by better speed, with faster loading and smooth animations. Unfortunately, I can't confirm either of these in my Thunderpick experience on the iPhone. On the contrary, the site is noticeably sluggish and inputs have a slight delay. After some time, this got better.

I was also able to use all the features of the desktop site on the smartphone and most of it took place in the same or only slightly modified design. The betting pool is not displayed as nicely and you don't immediately see how many betting markets are available per duel. You can only access the live mode via a drop-down menu and the streams don't work for me here either. However, you will find your way around immediately and have a good option to not miss any e-sports event on the go.

Thunderpick Deposits and withdrawals

Deposits and withdrawals can be made with real cash or cryptocurrency. Various methods are available for this purpose. These include Visa, MasterCard, Skrill, Neteller, Webmoney, Yandex, Qiwi Wallet, Bitcoin, WeChatPay, Alipay, Boleto, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, VGO Skins, ecoPayz and Thunderpick gift cards. The deposit is instant, while the withdrawal time depends on the chosen method.

On Thunderpick you play with Thundercoins, which are nothing else than Eurocents. So you feel like you are playing a browser game, but of course you still have to deposit real money. All money must be wagered once after the deposit (the first deposit twice), otherwise 10% (minimum $/€4 ) will be due upon withdrawal to prevent money laundering.

Unfortunately, not all deposits are free, as 2% is charged on Skrill and even 8% on paysafecard. These two options then also take up to 10 minutes, while the rest expires instantaneously. This also applies to voucher cards (Thunderpick, G2A, Kinguin) and you can also deposit gaminglike via Skins Exchange or vIRL & VGO Skins (up to 50 pieces). In this case, however, the payout will only be made with skins, while it is generally ensured that the deposit method is also used for the payout. Otherwise, however, there is unfortunately a very unclear structure.

Security

Thunderpick, based in Belize, has been in business since 2015 and currently has over 350,000 users worldwide. In the Thunderpick test, I can attest to complete respectability, although the Curaçao license used is at the lower limit of requirements.

Unfortunately, the responsible play is neglected, which is explained extensively, but there are no measures for addiction prevention outside of self-initiative in the live chat. However, greater caution would be required simply because Thundercoins are real money, but hardly feel like real money.

Other than that, though, Thunderpick meets my standards for a secure and trustworthy bookmaker with all the necessary encryption as well as two-factor authentication. The proprietary casino games are „provably fair“ and the random number generator has been reviewed by the independent iTech Labs. Sufficient attention is paid to data protection and the T&Cs do the rest. You are betting and playing with a reputable provider.

Thunderpick Customer Service & Support

The contact options at Thunderpick are okay, as is usual in the industry. You get an English live chat and a service email address, but unfortunately no telephone hotline and no round-the-clock support. During the day, however, your concerns are answered in a friendly and courteous manner and the site itself exudes a nice personality. If the official live chat is not available at night, there is always the user chat, where you can exchange ideas with like-minded people and certainly get one or the other helpful answer. For a while, it was also possible to issue direct challenges here, but this doesn't seem to be implemented anymore at the moment.

Otherwise, you can also reach Thunderpick via Twitter, Discord, YouTube or VK. The Facebook account is no longer active, but a blog will be added, which will provide you with some guides and a closer look at the general site features. First help is available in the good FAQ section and you can help Thunderpick yourself by clicking on „We need your advice!“ at the bottom left and leaving feedback. They listen to your wishes, because for example the combo-bets on user-requests were introduced.

Thunderpick Summary

Thunderpick is one of the best esports gambling sites in the sports betting industry. Due to its pool betting system, it is a unique gambling platform. Besides esports games, it also offers a variety of sports betting and casino games. This site has many features that make it attractive for esports players worldwide. If you want to play esports and earn high rewards, Thunderpick is a website that you should put on the top of your list.