Best Betting Sites
Thanks to ever-increasing internet speeds, competition between bookmakers and innovation in the betting industry there has never been more choice for punters online. We've taken a look at all of our top partners.
A no holds barred type of gambling site, Betfair brings you a huge range of everything betting: from poker and casino all the way to the sportsbook and exchange. Established in 1999, Betfair not only brings a top-class sportsbook but also provides a hub for their very own sports betting exchange – where their community of sports fans can trade on whether or not certain outcomes will occur in games.
Established in 1988, Paddy Power has grown into a titan of the sports betting scene, thanks in great part to their outlandish welcome offers, constant promotions, and very entertaining social media accounts. Covering an unfathomable range of sports, from football and horse racing to fishing and ten pin bowling, their regular and original promotions enable the Paddy Power players to enjoy a huge range of sports betting options.
For experience and pedigree, BetVictor is right up there with the industry leaders. Initially founded in 1946 under the name Victor Chandler, this racing and high street bookmaker has since become a leading force in the online arena. Offering thousands of bets and some unique promos, BetVictor is a platform that offers just as much value to newbies and it does serious bettors.
Put very simply, a betting exchange allows members to bet against each other rather than a bookmaker. Customers can offer odds to, or request odds from, fellow Betfair gamblers.
The brainchild of software developer Andrew Black and finance expert Edward Wray, the Betfair Exchange began trading on 9th June 2000, and as well as being the first, has remained the largest exchange in the world, in terms of customers, money staked, countries operated in and markets available.
Having started life in a Portakabin in Stoke-on-Trent in 2000, the brainchild of its now billionaire female owner, Denise Coates, Bet365 reached stratospheric heights within a decade, following the online betting boom. It is now the UK’s largest exclusively online operator, and second biggest bookmaker by revenue. It is also the world’s most popular online betting site, with over 35 million customers around the globe.
Entering the sports betting arena in 2008, 888sport is part of the mighty 888 Holdings empire that has interests across the online betting industry. Today, through a combination of refinement and evolution, 888sport offers thousands of daily bets across 38 sports as well as bonuses designed for newbies and seasoned punters.
William Hill is something of a pioneer in the betting industry. When it launched as a bookmaking service back in 1934, it was one of the first to offer odds on the UK’s top horseracing events. From here, the company became an early entrant to the online world when it launched WilliamHill.com back in 1998. Since then, the company has been listed on the London Stock Exchange and has evolved into a multifaceted online operator with interests across the betting industry.
While Grosvenor Casinos may be a familiar sight across UK cities and in a growing capacity online, bettors may not be so familiar with their online sportsbook. However, those looking for a new online bookie, especially via searching for the best sign-up offers, should give some consideration to this experienced and respected gambling brand, which has been trading for half a century.
After purchasing rival firm Gala Coral Group to become Ladbrokes Coral in 2016, this gambling leviathan was acquired by an even larger one in 2018, GVC Holdings. Generating around £2.5 billion in annual revenue, Ladbrokes Coral is now the largest bookmaker in the UK by revenue. Ladbrokes itself has around 1900 shops nationwide, making it (with no small thanks to its fire-engine-red decor) the second most visible bookmaker on UK streets, after William Hill, which has around 300 more.
Known to provide a complete online gambling experience, Betway has been on the scene since 2006 and now provides some of the very best sports betting and casino gaming options on the internet. When it comes to Betway Sports, the key is variety, with a huge number of sports and markets to bet on while playing on a superbly slick website.
FansBet may not be one of the more well-known bookmakers out there, but they have a unique offering that is worthwhile taking time to understand.
FansBet is unique betting platform, being the only bookmaker which creates a connection with sports across the globe fans by committing to share half of its net profits directly with supporters.
Stacked with tons of betting options, 10bet is one of the bastions of live sport streaming alongside your wagers. Launched in 2003, 10bet has become a major name on the sports betting scene, offering many sporting markets and ways to watch the action.
In order to stand out from the crowd, 10bet offer some premium live action in a number of different sports, including football, basketball, tennis, ice hockey, and much more. Regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, protected by state of the art 128-bit SSL digital encryption technology, this site allows you to bet in the knowledge that you’re playing safely.
Established within the Gaming industry over the last decade, Royal Panda offer a fantastic Casino platform, with the addition of a Sports betting function, which has been developed with the customer experience right at the centre of their focus.
Royal Panda take great pride on their ability to provide a fresh and unbeatable casino entertainment facility, which has earned high praise within reviews. They’ve developed a great reputation amongst their ever-growing user-base, built off the back of offering bettors a safe and secure place to gamble.
Having joined us as a betting partner in January 2019, the firm continues to be popular with Timeform visitors, steadily racking up new customers throughout the weeks and months. This review aims to explore what factors might be contributing to its popularity. And rest assured – whilst it always pays to do your homework when joining a new bookie, we only accept reputable partners. So let’s take a look at how PWR.bet stand up to their ‘sports betting done right’ tagline.
Established in 2010, Novibet has developed into a fantastic user-friendly betting platform over the last decade, through strategic developments with industry leading software developers. As a result, Novibet are now able to offer a wide range of sporting markets with competitive odds on over 65,000 markets every day. The Sportsbook platform is provided by Gaming Synergies, offering an easy to use website that allows punters to get to the heart of the action without any delays.
As a betting entity, Betfred first came into being fifty years ago. Using this industry experience, the operator launched an online platform in 2005 that’s since become a portal for all things sport. From fixed odds betting to Totepools, bonuses and live streams, you can truly immerse yourself in the world of sport when you join Betfred.
The Mansion Group have had long vested associations to the gambling industry, spanning all the way back to the early days of online casinos. In more recent times, they have emerged as a more rounded betting operator, with markets offered on a range of sports and sponsorships with well-known sports teams that has seen general awareness of the brand among the public increase in recent times. Their website and app are well designed and offer an enjoyable experience to the end user, with navigation across its platform simple and easy to use.
Coral are considered to be one of the leading players in the British gambling industry and thanks to their diverse offerings of sports markets, remain one of the most popular brands both online and on the high street. Their prices are very competitive and rival most of the other competition, hence their popularity with punters up and down the country.
Launched in 2016, Black Type Bet is an online sportsbook that was designed with big money punters in mind. Now, this doesn’t mean there’s nothing for newbies here. However, it is worth noting that you’ll get a better deal here than you can at other sites if you’re an experienced sports bettor.
Genting is a Malaysian-owned company that stands as one of the most recognisable online and offline casino brands in UK and throughout the world. Following major success within the casino industry, they are proud to have recently joined the betting industry, doing so with a sleek sports platform, designed with the users matter at the centre of focus.
When it comes to a variety of everything sports betting, it’s hard to beat Boyle Sports. Founded in 1989, Boyle Sports has evolved into a jam-packed sports betting website, as well as offering casino, lotto, and bingo sections for their players to indulge in.
You’ll find something for everything on the Boyle Sports website, and you can enjoy it all in the knowledge that they’re licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission. They also utilise state of the art SSL and firewall technology to protect your data.
TonyBet was founded in 2009 by professional Poker player Antanas Guoga, who is better known as Tony G. They truly hold up to their claim of having been created for players, by players. Originally established in 2003 as Omnibet, they went through a major rebrand in 2009 when Tony G decided to change the company’s name and take it to a new era. The betting site has experienced constant growth ever since, with TonyBet now being one of the fastest rising operators in the betting sector in Eastern Europe. TonyBet is licensed and regulated in the United Kingdom and Estonia and has a really strong presence in the Baltic and Scandinavian countries.
The 22Bet brand originates from Russian-speaking countries, but as they have developed, they have broadened the scope of their operations to provide a betting service in multiple nations across the whole of Europe.
Still relatively new to the game, founded in 2007, their website is impressive and easy to use, and provides consistently competitive odds with licensing from the Government of Curacao, and they are already proving to be fierce competition to the well more established operators due to their competitive odds and a great live betting platform.
Spreadex is simple to sign-up to and they regularly offer market leading sign up offers for their new customers. This has included in the past the chance to trade without losing, or a free iPad when you trade with them. One of their more popular promotion offers for their customers is 'place 3 sports spread bets get a 4th spread bet free'. They will also email you occasionally with their specials and freebies on sports specific to you, often sports that you have traded on in the past.
Formed with the ambition to help players make more informed bets, Unibet believe that this is just as important today as it was in the beginning. Since 1997, Unibet has developed into one of the UK’s most exciting bookmakers, offering a comprehensive international sportsbook, and in turn, providing an excellent live betting service for over 17 million punters.
The UK’s best bookmakers, including the likes of Paddy Power, Betfair and BetVictor offer customers an array of options via their websites and apps. Punters can chose between sportsbook and exchange markets, in addition to live casinos, slots and poker.
There are thousands of matches, races, games and events to bet on in advance or live ‘in-play’ every week, both on new betting sites and on the more established platforms run by the biggest names the industry. UK betting sites from the top bookies also continually provide special offers to encourage loyalty and new sign-ups, in addition to features such as in-play cash-out for punters looking to secure winnings early or cut their losses if they’ve lost faith in their selection.
New bookies and the biggest names in the business provide their clients with a wide variety of bet types across a diverse range of sports, such as American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, Cricket, Cycling, Darts, Esports, Football, Golf, Greyhound Racing, Horse Racing, F1, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Snooker and Tennis.
There are also more niche sports such as Beach Volleyball, Handball, Netball, Surfing and Table Tennis which can provide great opportunities for those who have good knowledge and expertise in those specific markets.
Punters can also bet on politics or current affairs and even place bets on special markets such as Alien Existence, the next James Bond, Oscar winners, Royal Specials, BBC Sports Personality of the Year or what will happen on TV shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and Love Island.
Whether you are looking for new betting sites from new bookies that you have not tried before or whether you stick loyally to betting with a favoured site you should always keep an eye out for betting offers to boost your odds and increase your winnings.
Free bets are often available to those signing up for the first time with any of the UK’s best bookmakers. Likewise, if you stick with the same bookie and regularly have wagers you can take advantage of offers such as £20 free bets when you place five or more £10 bets.
Live sports betting
One of the most popular and exciting ways to bet is on live sports, especially if your favourite team or player is involved. Football betting is massive in the UK and as a result the likes of BetVictor, Betfair and Paddy Power offer punters great odds on every possible outcome and almost any potential occurrence in a game.
Before a game has started you might bet on the full-time result, where you simply predict whether you think it will be a home win, a victory for the away team, or a draw. The odds will change on those selections once the match begins and then you can bet in-play. Other popular pre-match and in-play bets include both teams to score, exact total goals, correct final score, first goal scorer and team to score the first goal.
More specific in-play bets could be on whether you believe there will be a goal, free-kick, penalty, throw-in, corner, yellow card or red card in the next ten minutes. That’s how detailed in-play betting can get.
Betting in-play has that extra element of urgency and excitement and adds to the fun whether you are in the ground watching the game, enjoying the action with your mates in the pub or watching it unfold at home on the TV. It gives you the ability to assess the conditions and atmosphere in the stadium, the performances or tactics of the teams, the referee’s influence on the game, the general flow of play and so on, as you factor all that in to what you place wagers on.
Another interesting feature offered in-play by the best bookmakers on their websites and mobile apps is the ability to cash out. This means that you can lock-in profit on a successful bet if you are concerned that the selection might ultimately let you down, or indeed cut your losses if a bet you made earlier then feels unlikely to come through later.
When it comes to horse racing, another highly popular market, some of the typical bets bookmakers provide odds on are win only single bets, ‘place bet’, each way bets and forecast bets on the exact finishing order of the top two or three horses in a race. Multiple bets are also commonplace, such as a double on two separate selections to win two different races or a treble, where three winners in different races are predicted.
Accumulator bets are also increasingly popular with punters, as they attempt to predict the winners or results of say four, five, six or an even higher number of races or matches.
For additional information on bets such as straight forecasts, reversed forecasts, Tricast bets, full cover bets, Trixies, Patents and other formats of wagers check out our guide to betting types.
Meanwhile, take a look at our betting glossary if you want to learn more about Ante Post odds, betting Exchanges, Decimal Odds, Fractional Odds, Handicap Races and Tote bets.
When you are choosing which bookmaker to place your bets with there are a few factors to weigh up. Firstly, check out their website and mobile apps to get a feel for usability and to see if you are comfortable navigating your way around, whether on a desktop computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet.
Of course you want to make sure you can easily get to the section you want, whether it’s a specific sportsbook market (e.g. your chosen sport), the exchange market, an online casinos or a poker table. Make sure you understand the pre-event and in-play odds, can easily make the selection you want and can handle using the bet slip without any hassle. The best bookies such as Betfair, BetVictor and Paddy Power make it all as easy as you could hope for.
On the homepage you will usually find special offers, promoted odds and some of the most popular bets other fans and punters are making.
You also want to check that you can use your preferred payment method and with most of the big bookies it’s easy, as they all accept payments by debit card, credit card, bank transfers, e-wallets such as PayPal and pre-paid cards. Often it’s worth making your initial deposit with a debit card and then registering your e-wallet for ease of withdrawal for winnings further down the line.
Also check what the customer support is like with any new betting sites you use. Some offer live chat support and the best sites are easy to contact via email or phone 24 hours a day, seven days per week. Test them out with a couple of simple enquiries if you want to see how quickly they respond before you place your first bet.