Best 5 Strictly Come Dancing UK Betting Sites for 2023

How we rank the best Strictly Come Dancing betting sites

Betting on dancing, who’d have thought it? However, Strictly Come Dancing (also known as just ‘Strictly’) is part of the UK zeitgeist and it’s a hugely entertaining show, which means it’s just as exciting to bet on. But what can you even bet on with Strictly? And which bookies is the best for it? We’ve carried out a comprehensive assessment on the best ones. Let’s take a look at our key considerations.

Events	Strictly has many ways to bet. A key consideration for ranking the best Strictly UK betting sites is the variety of ways you can bet, so we expect to see things like betting on the winner, next to be eliminated, and gender of the winner. Sites that provide a wide range of betting options, will be looked upon favourably.
Competitive odds	Just like football or horse racing, Strictly should have the potential for bettors to land some tasty winnings. That means there should be competitive odds offered on all events. The best Strictly betting sites are the ones that consistently put out good odds.
App experience	Bettors are more often than not going to be watching the action of Strictly on TV, meaning they’re going to be reaching for their mobile phones for the betting. Mobile apps shouldn’t be difficult or cumbersome to navigate and wager, nor should they be sluggish or prone to regularly glitching or outright crashes. Nobody needs that in their life. We’ll recommend sites that offer great experiences on their apps.
Bonuses and promotions	The best betting sites offer consistently attractive bonuses and promotions that entice punters. We’ll look especially favourably upon sites that offer Strictly-specific bets, but also ones that offer good value ones, particularly welcome bonuses and other sign up offers.
Fair terms and conditions	Bonuses and promotions are great but the ever-exciting terms and conditions need to be achievable and fair, otherwise they’re all but pointless. If bonus funds can’t be converted into real funds in a reasonable manner, for example, you may as well not have the money at all. Terms and conditions don’t need to be overly complicated, but they should be highly visible and accessible when accessing any bonuses, promotions, or other features that require them.
Reputation and licencing	We’d never recommend UK betting sites who aren’t licensed with the UK Gambling Commission and properly regulated. That being said, this is always factored into our review as, if betting sites don’t have this key component, it’s a huge red flag.
Customer support	Friendly, knowledgeable and easily accessible customer service support agents will be factored into our review. Live chat, email and a toll-free telephone number should all be provided as standard, while issues, questions or queries that a bettor has should be resolved quickly and seamlessly.
Facts and stats	Similar to sports, there are patterns in Strictly that can help make an informed choice when betting. Punters love insights that can help with their bets, so past performance of contestants, which entertainment sector they’re from, which when combined with previous years’ winners, can be a guiding light on how things will play out. Either way, sites that go the extra mile to provide this information we’ll be more likely to rank highly in our ranking.
Reputation and trustworthiness	A solid reputation and trustworthiness are crucial for Strictly betting sites to perform well in our ranking. Sites that consistently demonstrate a history of reliability and fair practices will be looked upon favourably. We’ll also factor customer reviews into this part of the assessment.
Security and safety	Best practice security measures like SSL encryption, anti-fraud measures, and the latest cybersecurity solutions all need to present so punters have peace of mind when wagering money. The last thing they want is to feel that their funds aren’t safe.
Payment options and payout speed	To have a shot at being recommended, Strictly betting sites need to offer varied ways to support deposits and withdrawals. As a standard, of course, you have debit and credit cards, but e-wallet solutions such as Apple Pay or Google Pay should be included. We’d even expect to see payment solutions such as PayPal, Neteller, and Skrill on the best betting sites. Then, when it comes to taking your money from your betting account to your bank, that should be equally smooth and quick. Bettors will find themselves frustrated when subjected to long wait times for their cash.

The Best Strictly Come Dancing betting sites:

There are lots of online sportsbooks that offer Strictly Come Dancing betting options. Instead of listing them all, we’ve decided to showcase just a few of our favourites. Below you’ll find a brief summary of each betting site that we recommend, along with a screenshot of its Strictly Come Dancing betting section and some pros and cons.

#1 Strictly Betting Site - bet365

#2 Strictly Betting Site - BoyleSports

#3 Strictly Betting Site - William Hill

#4 Strictly Betting Site - Ladbrokes

#5 Strictly Betting Site - Coral

It’s that time of year again! Strictly Come Dancing is back for its twentieth series and promises to brighten up our Saturday evenings with an abundance of glitz and sparkles. Every year, a cohort of famous faces dazzles us with memorable (and so memorable) routines as they take to the famous dance floor and show off their newly learnt moves.

Introduction to Strictly Come Dancing Betting

Strictly is one of the biggest TV shows in the UK. As such, it attracts a large number of bets every year. If you’re interested in Strictly Come Dancing betting, don’t go anywhere. On this page, you’ll find a full guide to betting on the hugely popular dancing competition. Carry on reading to find out how to place bets, where to place them and how betting in general works.

Strictly Come Dancing Format

Fifteen celebrities are each paired with a professional dance partner. Every Saturday, the famous faces and their partners perform dance routines under the three main categories of Ballroom, Latin American and Specialty.

The performances are given scores out of 10 by the show’s four judges:

• Shirley Ballas, who acts as Head Judge and has been on the panel since the fifteenth series
• Craig Revel-Horwood, who’s been a judge since the first series
• Motsi Mabuse, who joined the show’s seventeenth series and has been a judge ever since
• Anton du Beke, who was a professional dancer from series 1-19 and joined the twentieth series to replace Bruno Tonioli

The scores from the judges are combined with viewers’ votes. The outcome is then revealed in the Sunday show (though this is recorded on the Saturday right after the main show). The two celebrities with the lowest scores have to dance again – the dance-off – and it’s down to the judges who goes home. In the event of a tie, whoever Head Judge Shirley Ballas chose is the one who has to go home. This is because her vote counts more than the other judges’ votes.

Then there’s the final. This is typically held on the last Saturday before Christmas. The final of this year’s series is therefore likely to take place on 17 December, though this hasn’t been confirmed yet. The last episode of the series is the biggest and glitziest one by far. The remaining couples perform several routines and one pair is crowned the winner. The judges still have their say on the performances, though their votes are indicative only; the outcome is decided entirely by viewers’ votes.

Strictly Come Dancing Betting Opportunities

When it comes to betting on Strictly Come Dancing, there are quite a few bets you can place:

• Outright Winner
  • Who wins the competition; only one celebrity, along with their dance partner, can be declared the winner
• The Gender of the Winner
  • Whether the winner (the celebrity, not their dance partner) is a man or a woman; with fifteen contestants, there’s always one gender with an extra member, which is worth bearing in mind
• The Top Man/Woman
  • The Top Man bet is for the highest-placing male celebrity; likewise, the Top Woman bet is for the highest-placing female celebrity.
• The Next to Be Eliminated
  • This is a weekly bet that predicts the next celebrity to lose the dance-off on the Sunday show and leave the competition

The biggest bet is, of course, the Outright Winner bet. What’s great about Strictly is that when it starts, there’s no telling who the winner’s going to be. Yes, there may be one or two early favourites, but you never know who’s going to be a dark horse and excel at their dances. The outright winner can be hard to predict. Even when a few weeks have passed and the competition’s in full swing, it can be hard to correctly guess who’s going to win it.

For those who are really into betting and have a healthy budget, the Next to Be Eliminated bet may be worth placing every week. Even though Strictly is a talent competition and contestants’ performances are marked by the judges, it’s not always the lowest-scoring celebrity that ends up leaving. In fact, sometimes viewers find bad dancers entertaining and keep them in the competition for as long as they can. Some of the show’s memorable so-called ‘joke dancers’ include:

• Ann Widecombe
  • Ann was a contestant on the eighth series in 2010 and was the ninth contestant to be eliminated. She was known for her entertaining personality, trying her best at her routines (even though her scores were very low) and her
• Ed Balls
  • Ed was also the ninth contestant to be eliminated; he was a contestant in the fourteenth series in 2016. He brought a lot of humour and fun to his routines and his Gangnam Style dance went down extremely well with viewers
• John Sergeant
  • John competed in the sixth series in 2008 and is one of only a few Strictly contestants to withdraw from the competition. He kept surviving the public vote despite his consistently low scores from the judges. Public criticism encouraged him to leave the competition, which he did in Week 10

Every week, there’s one less contestant. Therefore, there’s one less betting option and the odds can thus change. Early on in the competition, the Next to Be Eliminated bet can have some pretty good returns if you correctly guess the next eliminee. However, as the pool of contestants gets smaller, so do the average payouts for the bet.

The other two bets – Gender of the Winner and Top Man/Woman – can also be worthwhile. The former doesn’t have great payouts since it’s almost a 50/50 wager. The latter has better returns since you’re picking one contestant out of up to seven or eight, depending on how far along in the competition you place the bet.

The Class of 2022

On 4 August 2022, the first celebrities taking part in the 2022 series were revealed to be Kym Marsh and Will Mellor. More names kept being announced over the week and by 13 August, all fifteen names had been confirmed. The launch show aired on 23 August and revealed which dance partner each celebrity would be paired with. The table below shows who each contestant is paired with and what they’re best known for.

Celebrity	Known for Being a…	Dance Partner
Ellie Simmonds	Paralympic swimmer	Nikita Kuzmin
Ellie Taylor	Comedian, TV personality and actress	Johannes Radebe
Fleur East	Singer-songwriter and radio presenter	Vito Coppola
Hamza Yassin	Wildlife presenter and cameraman	Jowita Przystał
Helen Skelton	TV presenter	Gorka Márquez
James Bye	EastEnders actor	Amy Dowden
Jayde Adams	Comedian and actress	Karen Hauer
Kaye Adams	Loose Women panellist and journalist	Kai Widdrington
Kym Marsh	Actress, TV presenter and singer	Graziano Di Prima
Matt Goss	Singer-songwriter and lead singer of Bros	Nadiya Bychkova
Molly Rainford	Nova Jones actress and singer	Carlos Gu
Richie Anderson	TV and radio presenter	Giovanni Pernice
Tony Adams	Former footballer and manager for England	Katya Jones
Tyler West	Kiss FM presenter	Dianne Buswell
Will Mellor	TV and stage actor	Nancy Xu

Previous Winners

Since Strictly is now airing its twentieth series, there have been a total of 19 winners to date. Have a look at the table below to see which famous faces have won the competition and proven themselves to be proficient dancers.

Series and Year	Celebrity	Known for Being a…	Dance Partner
1, 2004	Natasha Kaplinsky	Newsreader	Brendan Cole
2, 2004	Jill Halfpenny	Actress	Darren Bennett
3, 2005	Darren Gough	Cricketer	Lilia Kopylova
4, 2006	Mark Ramprakash	Cricketer	Karen Hardy
5, 2007	Alesha Dixon	Member of Mis-Teeq	Matthew Cutler
6, 2008	Tom Chambers	Actor	Camilla Dallerup
7, 2009	Chris Hollins	Cricketer and TV presenter	Ola Jordan
8, 2010	Kara Tointon	Eastenders actress	Artem Chigvintsev
9, 2011	Harry Judd	Member of McFly	Aliona Vilani
10, 2012	Louis Smith	Olympian athlete	Flavia Cacace
11, 2013	Abbey Clancey	Model and TV personality	Aljaž Škorjanec
12, 2014	Caroline Flack	TV and radio presenter	Pasha Kovalev
13, 2015	Jay McGuinness	Member of The Wanted	Aliona Vilani
14, 2016	Ore Aduba	TV presenter and actor	Joanne Clifton
15, 2017	Joe McFadden	Actor	Katya Jones
16, 2018	Stacey Dooley	TV presenter and journalist	Kevin Clifton
17, 2019	Kelvin Fletcher	Emmerdale actor	Oti Mabuse
18, 2020	Bill Bailey	Musician, comedian and actor	Oti Mabuse
19, 2021	Rose Ayling-Ellis	EastEnders Actress	Giovanni Pernice

Strictly Betting Odds

We mentioned odds earlier and how these can change as the competition progresses. Before the celebrities perform for the first time, sportsbook operators take into account a few different factors to determine their Strictly odds:

• How famous is the celebrity?
• Is the celebrity liked by the public?
• Is the celebrity likely to do well in the competition?

Some of the early favourites are:

• Will Mellor – 7/4
• Helen Skelton – 7/2
• Fleur East – 6/1

As for celebrities with unfavourable Strictly odds, these include:

• James Bye – 50/1
• Tony Adams – 100/1
• Kaye Adams – 125/1

Strictly betting odds can fluctuate quite a lot during the course of the series. Early on, those who are well known, have a good reputation and have a shot at doing well are likely to have better odds. On the contrary, those who aren’t so famous and may not perform as well will probably have lower odds.

Having said that, having great odds at the start doesn’t mean you’re going to make it to the final. With a competition like Strictly Come Dancing, it’s not uncommon for outsiders and underdogs to become favourites as the show progresses. When the show gets underway, it’s all about the performances and whether or not viewers at home enjoy watching the celebrity. Those who work hard and stick in the viewers’ minds are likely to have their odds improve.

How to Bet on Strictly Come Dancing 2023

It’s very easy to place bets on Strictly Come Dancing, or any other TV show for that matter. First, you have to be a member of an online sportsbook that has betting options for the show available. Then, you need to add some money to your account balance and find a Strictly Come Dancing bet. When you’ve found a bet you want to place, enter the amount of money you want to wager with. Then, check everything’s right and click to confirm.

That’s the betting process in a nutshell. For a more detailed, step-by-step summary of placing bets on Strictly Come Dancing, check out our guide below. It uses the popular sportsbook BoyleSports as an example.

1. Sign up to an online sportsbook with Strictly betting options (skip this if you’re already a member of one)

– Visit the sportsbook and in the top right you should see a button that says ‘Join’ or ‘Register’ or something similar; click this button

– The registration form should then appear. You have to fill this in to create an account. To do this, come up with a username and password and supply some personal details. Make sure everything you type is 100% correct

– You may be sent an email with a confirmation link. If the site sends you one, you’ll have to click on the link in the email to activate your account

2. Fund your account

– Click the ‘Deposit’/’Cashier’ button that’s somewhere along the top of the screen (usually on the right); this may instead be a button with your current account balance on it

– You’ll need to add a payment method. Select one from the options listed and supply the necessary details, along with the amount of money you wish to deposit; for this, either select one of the set amounts or enter your own

– Click to confirm; the money should reach your account almost immediately

3. Head to the Strictly Come Dancing section

– Sportsbooks usually have their betting markets displayed in a column on the left. Strictly betting options are usually under the ‘Specials’ or ‘Entertainment’ category. Scroll down until you find the relevant category. In our example case, you have to first click ‘Sports A-Z’, then ‘Entertainment/TV’

4. Find a bet, enter your wager and confirm

– Click on one of the best and it will appear on the right side of the screen in your betting slip

– Enter the amount of money you want to wager and click to place the bet