We have been busy collating all the information ready to guide you through the landscape of the online betting industry to bring you a carefully selected list of the best sports betting sites in the UK.
We’ll examine some of the best promotions and tools that online bookmakers provide, while also looking at a few lesser-known UK betting sites that offer great deals to players in an attempt to become part of their go-to selection of bookmakers.
Betting sites UK: Best in class
We have delved into which online betting sites are the best in class for particular sports – namely football, racing, golf, boxing and cricket.
To find out more about how we rate bookmakers and about gambling responsibly please scroll a little further down the page.
Best betting site for football: Betfred
Football is the most bet on sport in the UK and sports betting sites are constantly vying to rank number one among football betting sites. In our opinion, bettors will struggle to find a better online bookmaker for football betting than Betfred.
Betfred get the basics right, offering competitive odds and unique football offers, including accumulator insurance, acca profit boosts and their popular Double Delight & Hat-trick Heaven offer.
Betfred also provides one of the best welcome offers to greet new users. You just need to enter the Betfred promo code ‘SUMMER50’ when you register and deposit a minimum of £10 using a debit card to be eligible for the free bets.
Once you’ve done that and placed a bet of at least £10 on any sports market at odds of evens or greater, you’ll be rewarded with £50 in free bets. That bonus is split into 3x £10 free bets for any sports market and 2x £10 accumulator free bets, all of which have to be used within seven days.
The betting site also covers a wide range of leagues and competitions, year-round, offering players plenty of choice and opportunities to get involved.
Best bookmakers for horse racing: Unibet
When it comes to horse racing betting sites, Unibet is our recommended go-to online bookmaker. Unibet offers a tremendous amount of racing offers daily, including money-back specials and extra races.
Not only that, Unibet give you three daily odds boosts to spend on racing and is guaranteed to have the best price in the industry on selected races each day. There’s even a Unibet racing sign up offer, giving new customers two £10 free bets.
Furthermore, Unibet highlights handy tips and naps ahead of races, collecting racing experts’ picks to help bettors make informed decisions
Unibet is a betting site worth making use of throughout the year but especially when the big racing events roll around, such as Cheltenham Festival, the Grand National and Royal Ascot, when they ramp up their offers.
Best golf betting site: BoyleSports
In third place for the most popular sport to bet on in the UK after football and horse racing is golf and BoyleSports does a great job of meeting a golf bettors’ needs.
They will regularly offer 12 places on PGA Tour and DP World Tour events, as well as all four majors, while they have introduced an early payout scheme for selected tournaments.
If your selection is the sole leader after three rounds, BoyleSports will payout, no matter the final result outcome.
BoyleSports will also produce a range of price boosts for selected tournaments each week and those keen on golf accumulators can take advantage of the bookies’ various acca offers.
Best bookies for boxing: William Hill
A lot of casual bettors like to have a wager on boxing when a big bout rolls around and they might be best served going to William Hill to place their wagers.
William Hill offers great value odds and a vast range of boxing markets. They have a track record of pricing up fights well in advance, so those who back their knowledge of the sport can make their picks before the pre-fight narratives sway general predictions of the outcome.
William Hill is reliable for alternative markets and also stands out in the boxing space for its fight-night specials. Make sure to check out the betting company in the lead up to any huge bouts as they’ll regularly enhance the odds on several bets.
Bettors can also use their £30 free bets from William Hill’s sign up offer to wager on boxing, should they choose.
Best betting site for cricket: Betway
Betway is the place to go if you want the best online betting site for cricket.
Not only does the bookmaker offer an extensive range of markets on cricket in all of its formats – men’s, women’s, T20, Test, ODI and The Hundred – but its cricket stats are especially helpful and are available pre-match and in-play.
Betway makes the vast majority of cricket matches available to bet on in-play with live streaming available on select competitions.
Furthermore, Betway’s Free Bet Club offers a £10 free bet if you bet £25 or more on cricket trebles and accumulators.
Best live streaming betting site: Bet365
The optimal way to make decisions on in-game bets is while watching the action, and bet365 offer more opportunities to watch and bet than other online betting sites by live streaming over 600,000 events each year.
Bet365 is the standout choice due to the bookmaker’s sheer volume of streams and its Video Wall. The new live-streaming feature allows you to watch a range of matches at the same time. It’s customisable and is available on mobile, desktop and app, meaning you can watch without missing a moment’s action.
Bet365 will also allow you to put certain events in full screen mode, giving you an even better view of the action on either the desktop site or betting app.
In order to make use of these streams, you’ll need to either have a funded account or have placed a bet in the last 24 hours.
Best UK betting sites for alternative bets
It’s also important to be informed before placing your bets, to ensure you understand what you’re gambling on and whether you’ve picked the most sensible options suited to you. For example, make sure not to confuse accumulators and bet builders; they are similar but not the same.
A bet builder is focused on one particular match, while an accumulator spreads across numerous.
For example, a bet builder might see you pick Manchester City to beat Chelsea in a Premier League game, with City picking up two yellow cards versus three for Chelsea, and City scoring two goals.
Meanwhile, an accumulator might see you back Man City, Arsenal and Brighton all to win separate games on one Premier League weekend.
Another handy alternative feature with online betting companies is ‘cash out’, but this should not be confused with a withdrawal.
The latter sees bettors withdrawing funds from their account balance, while cashing out allows users to settle their bet before the end of an event, locking in a profit or minimising losses should the wager not be going as hoped.
Say you’ve bet on Chelsea to beat Man City 1-0 and Chelsea are leading 1-0 but City look like scoring, cashing out is a handy option as you can settle the bet early. However, keep in mind you won’t leave with the full amount that you’d have won if Chelsea went on to win 1-0.
Best betting site for bet builders: BetUK
For those bettors who enjoy a bet builder, look no further than BetUK, who provide a useful guide to bet building and accumulators for beginners.
BetUK will reward bettors who wager £10 on a bet builder with a £5 free bet each week and highlight trending bet builders every day, making it a strong choice among betting websites.
When using a bet builder like BetUK’s, it's important to consider how many selections you are permitted within your bet, and which sports the bookmaker features under its bet builders.
BetUK will let you combine up to 12 legs on most bet builders and offers the tool for use on mutiple sports, including tennis, rugby, American football and baseball.
Best accumulator beting site: BoyleSports
When it comes to accumulators – sometimes referred to as ‘accas’ – we think BoyleSports are the best choice among betting sites due to their extensive options in terms of acca promos.
Their Acca Rewards and Acca Loyalty programmes help make them an excellent choice. With Acca Loyalty, customers are awarded a £5 free acca once they’ve placed five £5 accumulators (with at least five selections and total odds of greater than 3/1). Meanwhile, Acca Rewards gives you the choice to either boost your winnings or insure your accumulator.
Profit boosts on accas give customers the chance to increase their winnings by three per cent for trebles on Boylesports, all the way up to 100 per cent for multiples with 14 selections or more
With acca insurance, BoyleSports will refund your stake in free bets, up to the value of £20, if one leg of your accumulator doesn’t win.
Best cash out betting site: Kwiff
As mentioned above, cashing out is also a great tool to consider when using online betting sites. In this area, Kwiff represents a strong choice, particularly due to the bookmaker’s ‘Supercharge Cash-out’ feature.
Kwiff is a bit niche thanks to its surprise bets and supercharged features. In this instance, the online bookmaker may decide to boost, or supercharge, the winnings on any bet you decide to cash out.
As Kwiff explains, “It essentially means that if you decide to cash out your bet, you will be eligible to have that payout supercharged. If your cash-out bet has been supercharged, then your normal return will be greater than the normal odds originally taken.”
It's an interesting take on a popular feature, and Kwiff doesn’t only supercharge cash-outs, but also standard bets. Keep an eye out for ‘Supercharge Weekend’ offers, too. Always consider the ease of use, of course, and the value of the cash-out offers.
How we rank and review the best betting sites in the UK
We take the rating and recommendation of bookmakers very seriously and have stringent criteria we expect betting sites to meet even to be considered for our list. Here are some of the factors that went into our thinking:
Regulation: This is a non-negotiable before we recommend any sports betting sites. They have to be regulated by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) for us to contemplate rating them, so you can be confident that every bookmaker above is safe to engage with. Every site mentioned on this page is UKGC-regulated and secure to use.
Reputation: Our recommended online bookmakers are a mixture of household names and new betting sites. The reputation of a bookmaker was very important to us and while the well-known betting sites such as Betfred, BoyleSports and Bet365 have reputations that precede them, we also considered the burgeoning renown of the newer companies generating buzz in the industry and how well-regarded they are overseas.
Gambling responsibly: Similarly to regulation, how committed a bookmaker is to responsible gambling is extremely important. Have they taken genuine steps to ensure their actions towards their customers are morally sound? We considered their approaches to vital responsible gambling tools such as deposit limits, loss limits, reality checks and self-exclusion.
Customer experience: How good an experience betting sites provide to their customers was also taken into account when choosing the best sports betting sites – across desktop, mobile and app. If the site design is smart and well laid out, the useability is logical and straightforward, then that all makes for a better customer experience. Similarly, how easy it is to interact with support staff and solve any potential issues is also a factor.
Promotions: Of course, a betting company can also be judged on its promotions and offers. Were these sports betting sites offering unique deals we hadn’t seen anywhere else or that really enticed us to sign up? If punters feel like they’re getting more bang for your buck – be that in terms of free bets, odds boosts or one-off promotions – they’re more likely to use the site.
Responsible gambling
Should you choose to use a betting site, the most important thing to remember is to gamble responsibly. Betting should only ever be considered a form of entertainment – it has not, and will never be, a surefire way to make money, no matter how much you think you know about sports.
When betting on sports, always factor in the possibility you won’t win and therefore, only bet what you can afford to lose. Sports betting can also be addictive, so please take steps to remain in control of your time and budget.
Make sure you use the responsible gambling tools offered by betting companies such as deposit limits, reality checks, loss limits, time-outs and self-exclusion. These can stop your gambling from getting out of hand.
If you have gambling-related concerns, then seek independent help. There are several UK charities and institutions that offer support, advice and information, with a few listed below:
Best betting sites summary
There you have our picks for the best betting sites in the UK, but always remember that the topic of best sports betting sites is subjective.
We’ve given you our recommended picks based on our research, but you should only choose a bookmaker that works for you and meets your personal requirements.
As highlighted above, all the sites recommended on this page are legitimate and licensed by the UKGC.
