Best UK Betting Sites

With so many great betting platforms on the internet, it can be hard to know which is best. If you want to create an account with just one of the big names, or perhaps even a name you haven’t heard before, where do you even start? Well, thanks to us, you don’t need to grab a notebook and undergo hours and hours of painstaking research. Instead, we have done all the hard work on your behalf.

Over a period of many years, we have continually compared and contrasted the very best names in the betting market. When you see a name mentioned by us, you can be sure that they have been extensively tested and are therefore a trustworthy service in the market.

Our Method – What to Look For

You might be wondering how we assess the many platforms and decide on the ‘best’. Don’t worry; we’re going to answer every question you might have in this guide. Before talking about the betting sites to avoid, the trustworthiness of betting platforms, how you get started, and other topics, we first want to explain what makes a reliable and professional betting website. Not only does it form the basis of how we assess websites, it should provide you with some help on how to find your own betting platform.

What should you look for with a betting website? What sort of features do we assess? Let’s take a look!

1. Market Range

Firstly, you don’t want to go through the registration process and then find that only a few sports are covered, right? Therefore, the platform needs to offer a wide range of markets. As well as horse racing, football, and the usual sports, we also like to look for TV specials, political markets, and other non-sporting events.

2. Free Bets and Betting Offers

Despite what you may have heard, the customers are in control in this market. With so many betting platforms, they are all fighting for our attention…and this is shown in the fantastic bonus offers and free bets they provide. Fortunately, we assess the terms and conditions of such betting offers and find the best bonuses so you don’t have to.

Is a deposit bonus genuine? Is it achievable? We look at qualifying attributes, wagering requirements, the quality of the platform itself, and a number of other factors. With our experience in the market, we know what to look for and what makes a good sign-up offer.

3. Registration Process

Next up, you might think we’re looking for the quickest and easiest sign-up process here, but this isn’t the case. You may have noticed that registration procedures have expanded in recent years, and this is actually brilliant news. With the ID verification process, it can prevent fraud while also helping those who have a gambling problem.

This being said, we don’t want you to sit through three hours of registration forms. Ultimately, we’re looking for a blend of simplicity and security. At the same time, we also want to think about depositing/withdrawing, the different payment methods available, and other factors.

When signing up to a betting site these days, you need to be ready to provide:

• Birth date
• ID (with a photo)
• Security questions
• Name
• Address (physical and email)
• Proof of address
• Payment information

Once these documents have been scanned and assessed, your account will be verified and you can start depositing and betting on your chosen markets.

4. Reputation

Let’s not forget, we’re sending official documents, spending our own money while linking bank accounts, and taking all sorts of other risks when using a betting platform. With this in mind, we prefer to stick to websites that have a positive reputation within the industry. We’ll read through forums, browse social media, and generally get an idea of the reputation that a website has within the community.

All businesses have problems from time to time, but the very best businesses fix these problems and work hard to offer a positive experience for customers. If customers are complaining about promotions that didn’t work, poor betting odds, and a lack of customer support, we will discount them from our recommendations immediately. On the other hand, we’re happier to recommend a service that has a fantastic industry reputation.

5. Payment Methods

These days, there are many different banking options available to the UK market. When a betting website accommodates bettors by offering several options, this is good news in our eyes. Of course, credit and debit cards are the base standard of what’s expected. However, we also like it when gambling websites include the following options:

• PayPal
• Neteller
• Skrill

The more payment methods a betting site has, the more likely we are to recommend the service (because they’re helping customers to have a positive experience!).

6. Mobile

As time goes on, the mobile phone is only playing a more important role in society. Since people like to bet when commuting, in a waiting room, or even on the toilet, the mobile offering of a platform is also critical. Do they offer a special app or does the website work on the browser? If the latter, is the mobile website as good as the desktop website?

Often, navigation is a big problem with mobile platforms so we ensure that the mobile website works just as well as the desktop one.

7. Licensing

Although it might sound obvious, the UK Gambling Commission needs to provide betting platforms with a license. We look into the corporate side of things, which includes customer support information, license numbers, and more. If the website doesn’t offer the right information or if there seems to be confusion over the legitimacy of the platform, we will avoid it (and so should you!).

8. Customer Support and Security

Again, you’re going to provide card information so you need to make sure that the transactions are taking place within a safe framework. Additionally, the company will hold personal documents and information regarding your betting history. The first outcome of this should be strong security; you should feel comfortable trusting the website and company with your information.

The second outcome should be a brilliant customer support setup, and this is something we test when creating a list of the best gambling sites. How quickly do they respond to questions and requests? Do they answer their phones? Does the live chat feature actually help? Do they deal with complaints effectively? If they can do all this within a licensed and regulated environment, we can trust them as customers to handle our information and help whenever an issue arises.

9. Pricing and Odds

You may be wondering why we didn’t mention pricing and odds sooner, and it’s an interesting one. While some will go for the betting site that offers the best odds, we believe there are other considerations that are more important. Once you’ve sorted security, customer support, licensing, reputation, registration, promotions, payment methods, and the mobile experience, then you can think about pricing and odds. The last thing you want is to choose the best odds and then find out they have poor customer service, no license, or very few payment methods.

As long as you remember the other considerations too, we will pay attention to odds when compiling our list. As well as the standard betting odds, we’ll consider whether they offer enhanced or boosted odds for players.

10. Platform Interface and User Experience

As our penultimate consideration, a website could have everything and still fall short if the interface is lacking and navigating the site itself gets frustrating. When recommending betting platforms, we will consider the appearance of the website, navigation, menus, the process of placing a bet, the betting slip, and more.

11. Streaming

Finally, this isn’t a necessity on a betting site but we also believe that streaming makes the customer experience a little better. With many platforms, they offer the chance to stream a sporting event for those who have wagered above 50c. Even when on the go, you can stream the event and keep right up to date with your bets.

12. Other Considerations

Before we move on, we should mention a handful of smaller factors that play a role in our reviews and that should play a role in your decision-making. For example;

• Betting Types – Do they offer something for various betting styles? This could include exchange betting, in-play betting, spread betting, and fixed odds betting.

• Max Payout – We don’t want bettors to feel restricted when betting, so a potential platform needs to have a large enough max payout.

• Withdrawal Policies – Do players need to withdraw to the same bank account they used for the deposit? Will it return to the user within three business days or seven business days?

• App Quality – With the biggest names, they have an app these days. Therefore, we test them to ensure they work and update quickly enough to help in-play betting.

What to Expect When Using a UK Betting Platform

Now that we’ve covered the core features of the best betting sites, what can we expect when using them? If you’re going to bet on these sites, this will be vital for your experience. Firstly, we expect a very good welcome bonus.

As we’ve said before, customers are in control when it comes to the betting website. Even for the biggest names, they face competition for every single customer. Therefore, they provide special betting offers and welcome bonuses to get our attention. When joining a betting website, make sure you get a good welcome bonus.

Unlike other industries, the betting niche is very good at rewarding existing customers too. To keep you happy and betting on their website, companies will send special offers either directly to an account or via email.

In recent years, we have also come to expect innovative ideas and thinking, numerous sports and markets (people were even betting on Brexit in recent times), lots of payment methods, improved mobile betting, and brilliant support. If we take the last point in particular, many companies have a 24/7 live chat feature on their website. If ever you have a problem or even just a question, type it into the live chat and you will be good to go.

Offers and Free Bets

With so many betting offers and percentages being thrown at bettors these days, you might be wondering which to choose. When assessing the names in our list, you might be tempted to go for the biggest bonus offer, but we advise against this. Instead, look for player-friendly terms and conditions.

Firstly, some websites will have rollover requirements. Essentially, this means that the bonus needs to be rolled over a certain number of times before it’s eligible for withdrawal. If researching alone, read through the terms and conditions and go for a bonus offer that is sensible and achievable; otherwise, you will be playing for weeks or months without actually getting your hands on the winnings.

Depending on the website, you might find the following offers and bonuses:

• No Deposit Bonus
• Matched Deposit Bonus
• Price Boosts
• Matched First Bet Bonus
• Bet and Get Bonus
• Free Bet Clubs
• Matched Bet Bonus
• Bet Pre-Match, Get In-Play Bonus

Again, there’s no point choosing the largest bonus when it hides behind a 60x rollover requirement. If possible, ensure the rollover requirement is small (or even non-existent). If you ever feel confused, refer to our list for advice.

Betting on Football

If you’re a football fan and like to place a bet every weekend (and during the week with the growing European fixtures!), you’ll have plenty of choice in the UK. These days, betting and football go hand in hand which means that the best gambling sites have hundreds of markets and opportunities. Whether you want to bet on the overall outcome or the number of booking points, they will have you covered.

Likewise, we have you covered with the best platforms. Currently, names like Bet365 and Betfair stand out for football markets. Depending on how you like to bet, we recommend looking for live betting, good odds, live streaming, cash out features, and a good selection.

Betting In-Play

While talking about the best betting sites, we can’t ignore the feature that has gained lots of interest in recent years; in-play/live betting. If a rugby game is 70 minutes in and you want to choose a winner, this is possible with in-play betting. In truth, this doesn’t need to feature all too heavily in your choice of bookie because most will provide some form of in-play betting these days.

In our list above, we tend to differentiate based on the number of in-play markets, the smoothness of features when you need to bet quickly, and the odds when live betting.

Cashing Out

Just like in-play betting, you may also be looking for cash out features and this is something else we consider when suggesting betting websites. Let’s say that you have some money on a draw in a football match. There’s ten minutes left and the score is 1-1…you decide that you want to accept the small profit being offered in the cash out and end the bet. Of course, the good side to this is that you can still make a small profit when you’re unsure whether a bet will stay in your favour. On the flip side, you can cash out and miss out on a potential big win when your initial bet was actually correct.

Although most betting sites provide cash out opportunities, they vary in the extent to which they offer it. For example, some websites only offer cash out as an option before the event has started. If you change your mind or want to cut your losses during the event, this may not be possible. With other platforms, they allow cashing out right through the event.

There are a number of strong websites for cashing out including 10Bet, Bet365, Betway, William Hill, Betfair, Coral, and BetVictor.

The Changing World of Betting Sites

If we look back even just five years, we find a very different marketplace. In the betting world, things are constantly evolving and companies are investing millions to be the ones to offer brand-new features before everyone else. If betting sites are known for one thing, it’s innovation. Because the platforms are fighting for customers, they always seem to have new ideas in the pipeline and this is great news for all customers.

Which bookmaker should you choose? For some, they will tell you that the bonus offer should be the biggest deciding factor. However, we know that this isn’t the case. There are several considerations that need to be made, and we included them in the first section of this guide. You need a good interface, a positive mobile experience, strong customer support, different payment methods, and more.

The betting universe continues to grow and adapt, and all betting sites follow one another. If we look at in-play betting as an example, it only took one site to test and find success and then the whole market had live betting as an option. Similarly, one website started offering customers an opportunity to cash out mid-event. Soon enough, it became a standard feature throughout the industry. For those who don’t evolve and adapt to changes, they’re left behind.

FAQs 

To finish, we’re going to answer some of the most common questions seen in this industry. By the end, you should be in a better position to understand the betting niche and then choose a site that suits your needs.

Which is the best betting site?

This is difficult to answer, and it all depends on what you need as a customer. While some people love Bet365, others will never move away from Coral and another group will always use Betfair. Often, it’s about finding a handful of bookies that meet your requirements and then testing them to see which you prefer. Fortunately, you have a head start with our brilliant list.

How do I start with a website?

If you find a platform and want to get started, you will need to create an account. After providing some basic information about yourself and verifying your account, you can deposit money and start betting.

Can I trust betting websites?

Before answering this question, we should state that we only ever list trustworthy and reliable bookmakers on our website. As long as they have the required license, you can absolutely trust a bookmaker in the UK. Over the years, nearly every company has been accused of something untoward, but it’s how they react that tells the real story. With the very best companies, they deal with the problem and become a better service as a result.

Should I avoid some platforms?

Avoid platforms that don’t have a license, don’t seem legitimate, have terrible reviews online, or those who ask for payment to be a member. Remember, bookies are clamouring for attention these days so they won’t charge you to create an account.

Can I get banned from a betting site?

You may have seen stories of people getting banned from betting platforms, and this is absolutely true. For the most part, it comes when a bookie suspects either cheating or money laundering. This being said, we must remember that the website has the power to close accounts; sadly, this has happened in the past when players were making large profits. Not all bookies operate in this way, however, and some will actually ban users who are making huge losses to protect them (despite affecting their profits).

Conclusion

If you want to find a new betting site, this is the place to be. We compare the UK’s strongest betting platforms and compare them across a variety of features. From here, you can choose the right fit easier than ever before. We will always keep this list updated, and we hope you’ve enjoyed reading our guide here today!