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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Sport
Luke Baker

The best betting apps for sport this November

Betting apps have become the main way for gamblers to have a flutter - (iStock/The Independent)

Long gone are the days when you had to head to a physical bookies to place a wager and even the number of people betting from desktop computers or laptops is dwindling. With our phones in our pockets, it’s all about betting apps now when having a flutter.

All the major betting sites in the UK gambling industry take a huge amount of their custom via app but the quality of the betting experience does differ from company to company. With that in mind, we’ve rated and reviewed the best sport betting apps for you to use.

Betting apps UK: Best in class

Rather than arbitrarily ranking the betting apps from one to 10, we have broken down the best apps for each of the most popular sports such as football, horse racing, golf, and tennis. Different apps have different specialities and we’ve rated which company is best for each discipline.

Betting apps

Best for

BetVictor

Football betting

BetUK

Horse racing betting

Bet365

Golf betting

William Hill

Tennis betting

Betfred

Rugby betting

BoyleSports

Accumulators

Unibet

Bet builders

Kwiff

Cash out

Bet365

Live streaming

To find out more about our process and gambling responsibly scroll down this page.

Best betting apps for football: BetVictor

BetVictor’s app, with its white, blue and dark grey aesthetic, is clean and smart-looking. It’s well laid out, easy to navigate and quick to load, making for a good user experience on mobile. It really shines as one of the best football betting sites and apps on the market for a number of reasons.

They have a wide range of markets available and their very competitive in-play odds help them stand out from the competition. If you’re an acca lover, their bet builder is easy to navigate with its own separate tab and has every market you could want in an easily accessible list.

Their welcome offer is one of the best on the market and there’s no need for a BetVictor bonus code. Open an account via one of the links in this article, open an account and wager a minimum of £20 on any sports markets.

In return, BetVictor will give punters a £40 bonus, made up of £20 in free bets and a £20 bonus to spend at BetVictor’s best online casino site.

Alternative online betting app for football

BetMGM

Best betting apps for horse racing: BetUK

New betting sites can sometimes struggle to make when it comes to betting apps, particularly as some launch without an online betting app. But BetUK had no such issues and in the handful of years they’ve been operational, they’ve quickly become a good option for horse racing betting, not least because of their free bets club.

If you opt into the club and bet £15+ on horse racing between Monday and Sunday (at odds of evens or greater), you’ll earn a £3 free bet. The £15 must be a single racing bet but you can do it on two occasions during the week, so could earn £6 of free bets for placing £30 of initial bets.

The BetUK sign up offer allows bettors to earn £30 worth of free bets when you sign up, deposit and bet £10 on any sport. That £30 is made up of a £10 horse racing free bet, a £10 free bet builder and a £10 football free bet.

There is a free-to-play weekly predictor game called Racing Six, where you predict the winners of six races and can win up to £50,000, and BetUK also offer daily specials on horse racing. Throw in their live-streaming service and strong cash out functionality, all of which is available through their online betting app, and it quickly becomes clear why BetUK has become popular with racing bettors.

Alternative betting apps for horse racing

BetGoodwin

Betway

Best betting apps for golf: Bet365

Bet365 are an established name in UK sports betting and they’ve consistently proven themselves as one of the best, even in the field of betting apps.

They are consistently ranked as having one of the best betting apps in the UK, from which you can access any number of excellent features, including their range of golf betting options.

Bettors will regularly find bet365 are the market-leaders in terms of golf prices due to their enhanced each-way terms around major tournaments. For this summer’s Open Championship at Troon, their each way extra market gave odds of 35/1 for Jon Rahm to win and 20/1 for Collin Morikawa (both paying out for three places at 1/5 odds) – far longer than their more widely available prices on other golf betting sites, even just to win.

Bet365 also have more extensive in-play markets for golf than many other companies, as well as shot tracker for every player at major championships – enabling you to closely follow your pick – plus live leaderboards, stat packs and hole-by-hole breakdowns included on the online betting app. The wealth of information means golf lovers will have everything they need right at their fingertips.

The Bet365 bonus code allows punters to claim their bet £10 get £30 welcome offer. Bet365 offers arguably the best flexibility on the market as one of a handful of £5 deposit betting sites, allowing users to place a deposit and qualifying wager of £5 to claim £15 in free bets rather than a mandatory £10 should they wish

Alternative betting apps for golf

SpreadEx

Best betting apps for tennis: William Hill

William Hill are one the best-known UK bookmarkers and have built one of our favourite betting apps. The online betting app is clean and easy to use, and our review team found it worked particularly well for betting on tennis.

Compared to rival tennis betting sites, Hills offer a huge range of matches and markets for tennis bettors, while they will offer enhanced odds daily on several bets, including singles and multiples.

William Hill provide stat packs for each match to help those using betting apps make informed tennis bets and their welcome offer can be used on tennis betting.

The William Hill sign up offer is another bet £10 get £30 offer. Bettors will need to use the William Hill promo code R30 when registering through either the website or online betting app before depositing and betting £10 at odds of 1/2 on any sports market.

In return, William Hill will credit users with £30 of free bets as three £10 tokens, which are available to use on any sport.

Alternative online betting app for tennis

QuinnBet

Best betting apps for rugby: Betfred

While rugby union and rugby league are two of the UK’s most popular sports, they often get overlooked when it comes to betting, with more focus given to sports such as football, horse racing and golf. However, Betfred are one of the companies to really take the sport seriously on their best betting app, making them the go-to choice for both codes.

Using Betfred’s app, which often ranks as one of the best betting apps available to UK bettors, punters can access a great selection of rugby markets for both domestic and international fixtures. Their rugby odds are also competitive in comparison to a lot of other rugby betting sites.

Betfred are happy to provide price boosts for rugby bettors and rugby league fans can enjoy their double delight offer for selected Super League matches, where they can get double the odds on a first tryscorer bet should their selection go over for the first try and score again later in the game.

Their welcome offer can also be used for rugby with £50 in free bets available when you bet £10. You just need to enter the Betfred promo code ‘BETFRED50’ when you register and deposit (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 at least evens), you’ll be rewarded with £50 in free bets, made up of three £10 free bet sports token and £20 in free accumulator bets.

Alternative online betting app for rugby

William Hill

Top betting apps for alternative betting features

While some betting apps are better for individual sports, other shine when making a particular type of bet, regardless of sport.

There are lots of ways to place a wager using betting apps, from your standard single bets through to accumulators and bet builders, while using an online betting app is probably the fastest way to place an in-play wager.

It’s important to consider different betting features when choosing an app, such as their live-streaming options and cash out facility. Cash out is when you settle a bet early, so your winnings are reduced but the possibility of the bet losing is reduced. This is not to be confused with withdrawals, which is simply taking your money out of your account, which can now be done on most betting apps.

We’ve rated and recommended the best UK betting apps for these alternative betting features.

Best betting apps for accumulators: BoyleSports

BoyleSports offer one of the best football betting experiences and have become a standout among accumulator betting sites. Whether you enjoy an acca on the Saturday football or picking a day of winners at the Cheltenham Festival, the BoyleSports betting app can accommodate everyone.

Bettors can take advantage of the Acca Rewards and Acca Loyalty programmes available at Boyles. The Acca Loyalty scheme is the betting equivalent of a coffee shop stamp card, where 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 allows punters to either boost or insure their accumulator. In any acca bet featuring at least three legs (on any sport), insure means you get your stake back as a free bet if one selection lets you down, while boost increases your prospective winnings (from a 3 per cent boost for a three-leg acca, to a 100 per cent boost for a 14-strong selection).

BoyleSports stand out from the crowd when it comes to their welcome offer. The BoyleSports sign up offer is only through either their online betting app or mobile site.

Customers can use either option on their mobile device, open an account, and then deposit and bet £10 on any sport at odds of evens or greater. Once your qualifying wager is settled, you’ll get £20 in free bets to use on the sportsbook.

Alternative betting apps for accumulators

Betway

TalkSport Bet

Best betting apps for bet builders: Unibet

Bet builders have become an increasingly popular way of betting in recent times, joining accumulators as an alternative bet type enjoyed by both casual bettors and more regular gamblers. The concept of a bet builder allows you to combine selections on specific markets from the same match into a single bet.

What makes Unibet stand out from other betting apps in this sphere is the ability to combine bet builders across different matches, giving you far more options. They also allow a large number of selections on a single bet builder and offer bet builders for a large number of sports, rather than just the traditional football offering done by some.

Their ‘Uniboost’ feature is also a neat way of increasing bet builder odds. Once per day, customers receive a Uniboost bet builder token which will enhance the odds of any bet builder (with at least three selections) to a maximum bet of £10. It’s another way to get more bang with your buck and is accessible through Unibet’s online betting app and website.

Unibet offer new customers a bet £10 get £40 bonus to use on its sportsbook and online casino. There’s no Unibet promo code required, users need to sign up, deposit and bet £10 on any sports market at odds of evens or greater to receive the bonus.

Alternative online betting app for bet builders

Fafabet

Best betting app for cash out: Kwiff

If you’re looking for new bookmaker with an alternative view on betting and one of the best betting apps around, then look no further than Kwiff. They’re disrupting the traditional status quo when it comes to betting with innovative, unique features that better-known names in the betting sphere haven’t considered.

Kwiff’s purple and black aesthetic is visually arresting and their online betting app has good reviews in general - currently pulling a 4.4-star rating on the Google Play Store. They offer plenty of free bets starting with the Kwiff sign up offer that presents new customers with £30 in free bets after signing up and betting £10 on the sportsbook.

There are also Kwiff’s ‘surprise bets’ – a wager generated by their algorithm that could be on any sport or bet type. This quirky feature helps set them apart from the competition.

Where Kwiff have the edge over other betting apps and cash out betting sites is with their ‘Supercharged’ cash out feature. Not every cash out will be supercharged but it adds more funds to the total cash out amount available when randomly triggered.

Kwiff’s cash out facility is easy to use and speedy, with transactions quickly settled, making it our recommendation for the best betting app for cash out.

Alternative betting apps for cash out

Betano

10Bet

Best betting app for live streaming: Bet365

Bet365 have become known as the home of live streaming among betting sites and the sheer amount of live sport they show backs that up. They often show more than 30 live streams at any one time from every sport you can think of, all available on the bet365 online betting app, in addition to desktop.

For example, unlike many horse racing betting sites, Bet365 stream every racing meet in the UK and Ireland on their betting app, including every race from major events such as the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot, even once the TV broadcasters have gone off air. They also show a large number of international meetings on their online betting app.

Most sports streams are free to watch, provided Bet365 accounts are funded, but occasionally a nominal bet on an individual event may be required to enable access. The quality of their feeds is also consistent and reliable, making it one of the best horse racing betting apps for live streaming.

Since live betting sites have become a crucial staple of wagering online, it further proves why Bet365 are such a titan of the industry with its impressive product that spans across horse racing, football, tennis, NFL, cricket and many other sports.

Alternative online betting app for live streaming

Unibet

iOS user reviews for best betting app: Parimatch

Parimatch are one of the relative newcomers to the UK betting market having launched in 2020. But, they have a wealth of experience from operating in Europe and have teamed up with BV Gaming to provide the technology for their website and best betting app.

As we discovered with BetVictor, the platform has been a huge success, particularly for football betting. Parimatch has added its own quirks to the set up, offering a great online betting app, notably for iOS users. Parimatch offers great functionality and usability for Apple devices, allowing bettors to deposit and bet with ease.

Users are able to navigate around the different sections of the betting app quickly, while the bonus offers should be straightforward to claim. The Parimatch sign up offer provides new customers with £30 in bonuses after making a qualifying £5 deposit and bet on any football market with odds of evens or greater.

However, £10 of this welcome offer is a casino bonus and can only be used on Parimatch’s new UK casino site.

Reviews on the App Store are positive, with an average score of 4.8 out of five from 4,500 ratings, which is a pretty fair assessment for a new operator in the UK.

Android user reviews for best betting app: LiveScore Bet

LiveScore Bet emerged from the successful LiveScore empire in 2020, but has already developed into one of the best betting brands on the market.

LiveScore Bet has harnassed the experience gathered with its live results service to provide a top online betting app for Android users, offering simplicity and quality. It is a great all-rounder, but notably excels with its football betting product, which stands out when compared with rival Premier League betting sites.

The LiveScore Bet app carries all the same features as the desktop site with a range of betting markets and competitive odds. Users can easily use the bonuses that are available, including free bets and enhanced odds.

LiveScore Bet has combined its sportsbook with its casino product inside one app, allowing users to access some of the best online slots should they wish without having to download another product to their Android device.

New customers can claim the LiveScore Bet sign up offer worth £30 in free bets for registering using the desktop site or online betting app, depositing and betting £10 on any sport with odds of evens or greater.

After that, you’ll have access to the top Android betting app on the market with an average score of 4.4 out of fivefrom 4,500 users on the Google Play Store.

How we rank and review the best betting apps UK

So how did we arrive at the ratings and recommendations above? How did we pick the best of the online betting apps? There were numerous factors in play during our extensive research of gambling sites and their native apps.

Regulation

This is a non-negotiable before we recommend any gambling app. They have to be fully licensed and regulated by the UKGC for us to even consider rating them, so you can be confident that every site above is safe to engage with. Every app mentioned on this page is UKGC-regulated and safe.

Reputation

Our recommended best betting apps are a mixture of household names and gambling companies that are slightly more new to the UK betting industry. Reputation is important and while the likes of William Hill, Betfred and Bet365 have established themselves over many years, we also considered the burgeoning renown of the newer companies generating buzz in the industry and how well-regarded they are overseas.

Being responsible

Similarly to regulation, how committed the bookmaker is to responsible gambling was important to us. Is Have they taken genuine steps to ensure their actions towards their customers are morally sound to protect them from addiction? We considered their approaches to vital tools such as deposit limits, loss limits, reality checks and self-exclusion.

Customer experience

How good an experience the app provides for its customers was also taken into account. If the app design is smart and well laid out, if the useability is logical and straightforward, then that all makes for a better customer experience.

Payment options

Betting apps should offer customers a wide variety of payment options to reflect modern-day transactions. Traditional methods such as bank transfer and debit card payments should be available, but also newer options such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, while all top brands should be among PayPal betting sites - the most notable e-wallet on the market.

Promotions

Of course, a betting company can also be judged on its promotions and offers. Were these betting apps offering deals we hadn’t seen anywhere else or that really enticed us to sign up? If you feel like you’re getting more bang for your buck – be that in terms of free bets, odds boosts or one-off promotions – you’re more likely to use the app.

Responsible gambling

Quite simply, the most important thing to remember is to gamble responsibly. ‘When the fun stops. Stop’ is more than just a slogan because betting should only 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 sport.

When betting, always assume you’ll lose 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.

The same applies if you’re playing on slot sites, roulette sites, poker sites, bingo sites or any other sort of gambling site.

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 apps UK summary

We’ve picked some of our favourite betting apps here but while we can recommend those we think are the ‘best’, ultimately, everyone is looking for something different from their bookmaker.

Some will drawn to an app that is best for one specific sport, while others will be looking for live-streaming options or individual bet types. Whatever you’re after, hopefully this information can help you make the right decision for you.

Importantly, all our recommended bookies are fully licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) and rank among our safe betting sites, so you can be rest assured that your personal and financial data is secure. There are plenty of illegitimate gambling companies out there, so be aware.

We also regularly update our list should you wish to keep tabs on the best new betting apps on the scene.

Betting apps FAQs

What are the best betting apps?

Our recommended betting apps all have their own strengths, but the ones that particularly stand out are BetVictor, Bet365 and William Hill for their ability as an all rounder?

Is live streaming available on betting apps?

Yes live streaming is available on betting apps. Bookies offer streaming for a number of sports on their sportsbook, including horse racing and football. You only need an account to access streaming options on many providers.

Are betting apps safe?

Yes. We only consider operators that are licensed and regulated by the UKGC, ensuring that customers feel safe and secure using betting apps online.

Are there any special promotions available on betting apps?

Yes. BoyleSports offer a mobile exclusive welcome offer for new customers, giving them £20 in free bets when they sign up and deposit £10 on their online betting app. William Hill will also give out free bets to new customers who sign up via their app. Check out the BoyleSports sign up offer and the latest William Hill sign up offer for more details.

Can you use Apple Pay and Google Pay on betting apps?

Apple Pay betting sites and Google Pay betting sites are growing in number quickly thanks in large part to have convenient they are to use when wagering on betting apps. Most of the major bookmakers now offer both payment services on their desktop sites and betting apps, although of the two, Apple Pay is the more common option.

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