Best 20 Grand National Betting SItes UK for 2023

Best Grand National Betting Sites for 2023:

Our Favourite Grand National Sites:

In order to successfully make bets on these famous horse races you need to first choose which website has the best Grand National offers. You can do this by comparing what’s available and I’ve tried to make this a little easier for you by selecting a handful of the best bookies for the Grand National myself. You can check these out below:

#1 for Grand National - William Hill

#2 for Grand National - Bet UK

#3 for Grand National - Coral

#4 for Grand National - 10bet

#5 for Grand National - Unibet

#6 for Grand National - bet365

#7 for Grand National - Zetbet

#8 for Grand National - Betfred

#9 for Grand National - 888sport

Betting on The Grand National

Out of all the horse racing events out there, the Grand National is easily the biggest and most prestigious. People from all over the world gather to compete and watch these races, and of course, bet on them. Here’s your full guide to how the event works, and how you can make the most of your bets here. Read on to learn about the best Grand National betting sites.

What Is The Grand National?

The Grand National is a sporting event with a lot of history. It dates all the way back to 1839, and is formally known as the National Hunt handicap steeplechase. It has a prize pool of £1 million, so it’s no surprise that the event attracts the best of the best from around the globe. The event is held at the Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool.

As it’s such a huge event, it’s one that even non horse racing fans pay attention to. You’ve probably seen friends, family, coworkers and more all betting on horses here, even if they never normally bet. If you want to dip your toe into betting, the Grand National is a great time to do so.

The Grand National multi-dayevent

It’s an event that lasts multiple days but only one day, and one event is regularly spoken about. More than 20 separate races will be held during the course of the three-day event. Grand National Day (the most famous and well known of the days) features seven events in total, the sixth of which, the Grand National, is scheduled to start at 5.15 p.m sharp. The Mersery Novices’ Hurdle, the Maghull Novices’ Chase, and the Liverpool Hurdle are three Grade 1 contests on the event and are all very highly anticipated from fans of this competitive event.

Bet 365 is a prime example of a brand who are eager to allow punters the chance to bet a long time in advance. They’re one betting site that allows bets almost 1 year ahead of time. In comparison to sites like Zet Bety who wait until much closer to the event date. Then you have the option to bet on the day too if you simply can’t decide where to bet before then. On the day of the event (if you do choose to delay that long), you must go to “Today’s Racing” or “Today’s Races” to place your Grand National wager.

Where To Watch The Grand National

If you’re going to place some bets on the Grand National, you’ll need to be able to watch the races as they happen. Lucky for you, there are a few different ways you can do so. The easiest way is simply to watch the races on TV. The races will be shown on ITV, so it’s very easy to watch the races as they happen.

If you’re signed up with some betting sites, you’ll also be able to watch races during a live stream. You can’t do this on all betting sites, so if that’s something you want you’ll need to check that your betting site of choice offers it. Most of the biggest names do have live streaming available, and to access it you’ll just need a funded bet of at least £1 on the race in question. It’s a good way to watch a race if you want to do everything in your browser.

Finally, most reputable betting sites have trackers that are available for in play bets. These allow you to keep up with a race as it’s happening, within race graphics. It’s not the best way to watch, but if you’re out and about as a race is happening, it helps you stay on top of the action.

Finding Grand National Free Bets

As the Grand National is such a huge event, the betting sites like to gear up and give you something exciting when you’re betting. In many cases, you can claim free bets to use on the races. If you’re already a member on a betting site, make sure you’re paying attention to their promo pages. These will usually let you know what they have available for you, and show you how to claim the offers.

These bets can also be available as welcome offers. As such, it’s worth looking around to see what you can get on the big betting sites. They often have event specific offers, and they’ll be able to give you a big boost in your winnings. To claim these offers, you’ll usually have to sign in, make a deposit and bet a certain amount on the races, and then you’ll get your bonus.

When looking into welcome offers with free bets, make sure you time your sign up right. There are many sites, like Betfred, Paddy Power and Betway, that will withdraw their offers. This is because they don’t want people to sign up and bet on the Grand National, and then never come back. Usually, these offers will be withdrawn on the Friday or Saturday of the event.

To make sure you can get a free bet to use, sign up a day or two before the Grand National. Most free bets can be claimed within a week of signing up, so you can still get it and use it before it’s withdrawn.

When To Start Placing Bets

Now you’re all geared up to start betting on the Grand National, when can you start placing bets? Take a look at the betting sites, and you’ll see that some of them are offering ante post bets a full 12 months in advance of the big day.

While you may want to start placing those bets right away, it’s often a good idea to keep an eye on the prices. They change constantly, all the way up to race day. Watch them, and lock in your price when you see something good.

 Getting Grand National Betting Tips

If you’ve never bet on the Grand National before, it’s hard to know where you should be placing your bets. Who are the runners that are most likely to win?

Rather than placing bets blindly, you can start looking for tips on the races. These can be found everywhere. There are blogs on betting sites that will have tips for you. Some sites even have betting bots that use data to come up with the best tips for you.

There’s also expert betting advice sites that will be publishing tips and info right up to the event itself. It’s also worth browsing through them to see what’s available to you.

Can these tips be trusted? Most reputable tips will be created by horse racing experts and industry insiders. As such, they have a wealth of knowledge that you can draw on when thinking about how to place your bets.

Remember though, while the tips will often be based on experience and past races, no one knows how the races will shake out on the day. As such, remember that the tips are not guarantees, and that they won’t always result in a win.

Best Grand National Betting Odds

Again, as the Grand National is such a huge horse racing event, you’ll see a lot of sites offering enhanced odds for the races that are happening. You can take advantage of these, and get a boost to your winnings.

Enhanced odds will show up as an offer on many betting sites, so keep an eye on those promo pages to see what they can offer. These will allow you to hugely boost your winnings, so you can get the absolute most out of a bet. Be aware that there will be some restrictions on the offers, so read the terms and conditions carefully before you take them up on it. For example, you may have a limit on the stake you can place, or you may get the extra winnings as free bets on your account.

Popular Grand National Markets

Now you have the basics, you need to know what kind of markets are available to bet on during the Grand National. These are some of the most popular markets you’ll see during the event, and how you can win with them:

Win: This is the simplest and most popular bet you can make during the event. Simply, you’re betting on which horse you think will win the race. On the face of it it is risky, as there are so many runners for each race and so there’s less chance of your horse winning and you getting that cash.

However, you can make this work in your favour. As mentioned before, ante post bets are available for months before the race. You can keep an eye on the prices, and grab one as soon as it looks good to you. That still comes with the risk that your horse won’t place at Aintree, but you can minimise losses when you place bets this way.

Each way: This is a way of placing a win bet, while still minimising any losses you make. The bet comes in two parts. The first part is the ‘win’, so you’ll bet on the horse that you want to win the race overall. The second part is the ‘place’. This varies from site to site, but usually your bookie will give you a smaller return if your horse finishes from 2^nd to 4^th in that race. The odds of these places are usually around ¼ or 1/5.

Of course, you won’t get as much money back if your horse doesn’t place 1^st, but you’ll still get some of that stake back. That’s why a lot of seasoned punters use this when betting on the Grand National.

Forecast: A forecast bet is when you bet on both the winner and the runner up of a given race. It’s becoming more popular during horse races, especially the Grand National, but there is more risk involved. Horses change positions a lot during the race, so you need to have some very good tips and some horse racing knowledge to get the win here.

Tricast: Similar to the forecast, you’ll be betting on the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places in the race. This is another risky bet, as of course there are more factors in play. If you have good knowledge of the racers in the event though, this is something you could go for.

Step-by-step guide on how to bet on the best betting site for the Grand National

Step #1: Create a new user account or log in

If you have not used Bet 365 before then you will need to sign up and register as a new user before you can start to place wagers on the Grand National. From the homepage of the website you will need to click the yellow “Join” button in the top right hand corner which will bring up the below registration form.

As you can see, the sign up form consists of multiple fields that you need to fill out including your title (Mr, Miss, Mrs etc), your legal full name, date of birth, email address and contact number. Once these have been filled you will need to scroll down the page and then you can input your legal residential address as well as your username and password. Once these fields have all been filled in you will be able to confirm and complete your account.

Step #2: Deposit funds into your account’s e-wallet

Once you have created your account you will next need to deposit money into your account. You can do this by clicking on the money button in the top right of the home screen which opens up a small menu. From the menu you can click the top button that says “deposit” which will change this menu into your e-wallet. Here you will get to choose the payment method and input your debit card information. If you are an existing user this will normally auto populate the existing payment method you had used.

Make sure that you type all of your card information in correctly otherwise your payment will not complete and your account will not be funded.

Step #3: Find your sporting event and betting market

Now that your account and e-wallet have money in you are ready to start looking for the sporting event and betting market. Since we are hoping to place bets on the Grand National you will need to head to the horse racing section of the sportsbook. You can do this two different ways depending on preference. Way #1 is to go to “horse racing” on the left side bar and then find the event by scrolling through the race options. Way #2 is to click on the magnifying glass on the right side of the green header as this is a search box and you can type in “Grand National”. This will open the horse racing sportsbook right on the Grand National participant list.

From here you can see the horses that are taking part and the odds decimal next to their names. This is where you can decide what betting market you want to choose from but for this example we will still be betting on an outright winner. This is the most straightforward bet to make on Grand National horse racing.

Step #4: Building the bet slip

As you can see from the image above I have selected the horse named “Win my Wings” to win. The odds for this horse to win the race is 34.00. To add it to the bet slip all you need to do is clock the horse’s name. As you can see from the images here, the bet slip is created automatically at the bottom of the screen. This is now where you can try different wager amounts as the bet slip will calculate your potential returns based on the current odds and the bet amount you select. As you can see, if you place a £20 wager on this horse to win, the potential returns you could make are £680! That’s a huge profit of £620 just food guessing the winning horse of the Grand National.

If you chose a horse with lower odds then the potential profits would be much, much lower. Once you are happy with your betting amount and potential winnings you must remember to click “place bet” at the bottom of the bet slip for your bet to be counted.

Step #5: Settling your bet

So you have successfully placed a bet and now you need to wait for the outcome of the event to take place. If you are a fan of watching the Grand National take place then you can actually watch the event happen on the Bet 365 live streaming service. This is a great way to enjoy the race that little bit more since you know you have a particular outcome you want to happen.

Once the event is complete, you will be notified of any winnings. If you are lucky enough to win a bet with an accurate prediction, the returns are deposited into your account’s e-wallet where you can then withdraw to your preferred payment method. This can be done from the home page where you open the account settings and select withdraw. Generally speaking, withdrawal fees and processing times depend on the payment method chosen. Luckily with Bet 365, they don’t take too long for you to receive so you won’t be waiting too long before you can spend your money all over again. 

Take a look at the past racing history of each horse

Look at past races and winners to help yourself bet on a likely racing champion. As you can see from the table below, There’s a horse who won two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019 which meant at that time the horse was at the peak of their racing career. Seeing that this same horse is racing again after being the winner the year before, you’ll likely notice that the odds for this champion get lowered the second year as they already know this horse is capable of winning once, so it’s quite probable they could do it again.

YEAR OF WIN	THE WINNING HORSES	AGE OF THE HORSE
2022	Noble Yeats	7 years old
2021	Minella Times	8 years old
2019	Tiger Roll	9 years old
2018	Tiger Roll	8 years old
2017	One for Arthur	8 years old
2016	Rule the World	9 years old
2015	Many Clouds	8 years old
2014	Pineau De Re	11 years old
2013	Auroras Encore	11 years old
2012	Neptune Collonges	11 years old

Another great tip to know when choosing what horse to bet on, is to pay attention to the horse’s age at the time the race takes place. This is because if the horse is either too old or too young you run into less chance of them succeeding. For example, if the horse is too young, it won’t have had as much training experience or taken place in as many races. On the other hand if the horse is too hold then they are likely well past their “best years”. As you can see in the table above, most of the horses winning the Grand National are all within just a few years of each other.

General Grand National Betting Tips

Ready to get stuck in and start betting on the Grand National? Here are some tips that will help you get started, and make some well informed bets.

Look into past results: There are horses and jockeys that compete regularly at the Grand National, and many of them are regular winners. If you’re not sure where to start with betting, take a look at the past winners of recent races. See who’s coming back to compete this year, and then you can start watching them to see how they place.

For example, Tiger Roll did very well in recent years, having won in both 2018 and 2019. As such, many punters kept a close eye on them to see what they’d do in the next races.

Compare bets: You wouldn’t make any purchase without shopping around first, and the same goes for placing a bet. As there’s so many places you can place a bet, you want to make sure you’re getting the very best prices.

Before you place any bet, make sure you look around and see what other betting sites are offering you. There are odds comparison sites out there that make it so easy for you to see who’s offering the best odds on your bet.

Play it safe: Never bet on the Grand National before, or don’t want to place risky bets? If that sounds like you, then your best option is to go with each way bets. These are best for you because even if your horse doesn’t finish first, you’ll still get a percentage of the stake depending on where the horse finishes.

That’s something that’s important, as you’re often dealing with 40 or more runners. Many experienced punters like to place a few smaller bets on different horses this way, so you’ll often get a return on a few of them this way.

Go for short odds: Another good option, if you want to make the most of your bets, is to go for the short odds. Rather than betting on favourites, go for the lesser known runners that can achieve a place finish. This actually offers you better value on your bets, as if they place you’ll get more for your bet. A favourite may only get odds of 10/1 to 12/1, so you’ll get much more this way.

Look into the trainers: As well as the horses and jockeys, make sure you’re looking into the trainers as well. A good trainer behind a horse will mean a lot when it comes to picking your bets. Is that trainer seeing consistent success? Then your horse is more likely to place.

Final thoughts on finding the best bookies for the Grand National

Whether you’re new to the betting world or a repeat bettor, you will always need to do your research to give yourself the best chance at predicting successful bets. When it comes to the Grand National you have so many choices with regards to choosing a winner. When you allow yourself to follow the tips and tricks and keep track of the best Grand National Offers you’ll be able to both enjoy what you’re taking part in and potentially earn yourself a small profit.

Betting is there to be enjoyed, but you can definitely improve the enjoyment level with a few extra pounds in your pocket!