Your Guide to the Ultimate Sports Betting Sites

We all love bonuses in life and no one enjoys a bargain as much as we Brits do! Getting good value for money is just common sense and luckily for you, we are experts at comparing the thousands of deals out there. With over 25 years’ experience within the gambling arena we know all the pitfalls that both experienced and newbies are often caught out by. We share this knowledge with you so you can just concentrate on what’s important…picking the winners!

Safety and Security at Online Betting Sites

Being able to place a bet both safely and securely online, is vital and choosing an online bookmaker that doesn’t take care with your personal details could mean losing a lot more than just time spent dealing with problems.

We could talk for hours, detailing the issues we have had in the past with malicious software, identity theft and even unauthorised withdrawals from our accounts but let’s concentrate on the positives. Every website we have reviewed has an impeccable reputation for being honest and trustworthy, if a site is rogue, it doesn’t get reviewed on here and certainly wouldn’t be in our top 5 sports betting sites!

Licensing

Continuing the theme of safety and security is how a bookmaker is licensed, not long ago bookmakers could have UK customers but be based or licensed in far off places like Antigua. However, in 2014 the Gambling (licensing and advertising) Bill was brought in which changed the taxation of remote gambling from the previous “place of supply” basis to a “point of consumption” tax. This change also meant that the UK Gambling Commission took over the licensing for any bookmaker who wished to operate in the UK. This has made the whole process simpler and safer.

How to Determine a Good Betting Bonus?

You know the old expression “never look a gift horse in the mouth”? Well in the world of online sports betting that idiom couldn’t be any further from the truth. Your choice of bonus can have a massive impact on your gaming experience and if you don’t understand a few basic facts, that we will cover, it can leave a very nasty taste in your mouth.

As with almost any offer, they come attached with plenty of terms and conditions. Fall foul of these and you can at best waste time sorting out a problem or even worse be out of pocket because of it. But don’t worry! That’s why we are here for you, we’ve played at all the reputable sites (and quite a few non-reputable sites if we’re honest) and we will guide you through your options.

Wagering Requirements for Sports Betting in 2024

This is without doubt the area that causes the most issues to players, it is also the main cause of complaints to the UK Gambling Commission regarding online betting. So spending a few minutes to ensure you understand this section will really benefit you in the long run. Don’t worry, we will make it as simple as possible for you.

You may also see wagering requirements referred to as “Play through”. Let’s imagine a scenario;

• You have signed up for Acme online bookmakers and they offer to match 100% your deposit of £100. Thinking this will give you £200 to play with on online sports, you are happy!
• You have a crafty £200 on Anthony Joshua to win his next fight and get odds of 5/1. He wins and you are delighted, several glasses of champagne later and you go home to log in to your Acme account and attempt to withdraw all your winnings. However, it doesn’t show a withdrawable amount in your account.
• You contact Acme customer services and they say there is a 10x play through on that bonus you received, so in order to withdraw anything you need to place further bets until you have staked £2000 in total. You have gone from a state of euphoria to bitter disappointment in a very short period of time.
• We want you to avoid this situation, this is why all our reviews here will clearly state if a bookmaker has a wager requirement and if so, how much this is and a real life example so you can compare like for like.

Sports Book Qualifying Bets

Another important factor we need to consider when deciding if a sportsbook bonus is right for you, is that what you want to bet on will qualify the bet for the bonus. Many UK bookies will put conditions on the minimum odds of your bet, for example, 1/2 (1.5). They may also limit the markets you can bet on, for example you may find that tote bets and pool bets are excluded from the promotion.

Expiry Date on Sports Betting Bonuses

This is another area that is very often overlooked by players and can result in a bonus being removed. All of the operators’ offers have an expiry date which is an amount of time in which you have to use the bonus and complete any wagering requirement. The amount of time given can vary wildly between different companies and often ranges from 7 days to 90 days. Knowing how often you are likely to place bets will impact which sports bookmaker is best suited for you. If you are a more casual type of player then choose an offer with a long expiry period, if you intend to gamble more frequently, then any of the offers will be suitable.

Bonus Amount

Bigger is always better right? Well not always! Remember what we told you in the wagering requirements, not only do some companies put a wagering requirement on the bonus they give you, (which is fair enough if you ask me) they also put a wagering requirement on the money you deposit (I am not a fan of this at all, sounds unfair to me!). This can have a huge impact on how much you will have to bet, let’s look at a couple of examples.

I have been offered 100% matched deposit bonus to use for online betting, I decided to go low and put £10 in my account. The wagering requirement is 5x deposit and bonus, the amount I would need to bet is £100 before I can withdraw.

Let’s imagine I want to put more in and I see a company offering 100% match up to £250 with a play through or wagering requirement of 5x. I deposit £250 which when matched gives me £500 to use. To satisfy the wagering requirements I would need to play bets to the sum of £1500.

It’s not all bad news though, some online bookies do not have any wagering requirement, however you cannot just deposit and withdraw as the bonus is given as free bets and will be credited after you have placed your qualifying bets. We cover all the conditions for the bonuses in our reviews, make sure you give them a look.

Deposits and Withdrawals

When we first started placing online bets years ago, it was incredibly difficult to place a bet online, many companies refused to accept transactions with any connection to gambling. Even if they did accept a method of payment, you could expect fees to be applied with every transaction.

With the introduction of the National Lottery (Lotto) as well as other factors, attitudes have definitely changed and thankfully it’s no longer taboo to enjoy the thrill and excitement of placing a bet.

Every online sports betting site we review, accepts a huge range of payment methods and we are confident that whatever card you have stashed in your wallet, it will be accepted on at least one of the sites we list. Don’t worry though, our comprehensive reviews will tell you all the payment methods accepted.

Different Bonus Offers for Sports

Welcome Bonus: As the name suggests, the welcome bonus is a special deal for new customers only. These offers are very likely to be the most generous you will ever receive with a bookmaker. This is why clever punters have many different accounts at online bookies to enable them to take advantage of the competition that exists between the different sites.

The bonuses vary in amount and range from anything from £20 to £200 and as we have mentioned before, the wagering requirement is something you need to pay close attention to with these deals. As these offers are strictly for newcomers and it is strictly prohibited to have more than one account, we suggest if a bonus is important to you, then on a matched deposit bonus you take as much as you can afford to play with.

Enhanced Odds on Sports Events

There are two types of enhanced odds, the welcome enhanced odds from Boylesports is an example of the first type. Instead of offering free bets matched to your deposit, Boylesports will triple the odds on your first bet. This can really boost your winnings.

The other type of enhanced odds is used by many sportsbook websites to entice you to use them rather than a competitor. For example, if Manchester United are playing Manchester City and you think Rooney will score first in a 2-1 win the odds may be 7/1. With enhanced odds you may see this price increase from 7/1 to 9/1. It’s a bit like the special offers we find in many supermarkets. Personally, I’m a big fan of these promotions and have several accounts at online bookies to take advantage when these happen.

Free Bets & Bet Refunds

We have already discussed free bets in the welcome section. Another type of free bet is often given by bookmakers as a reward for betting on an event. For example, Ladbrokes during the Cheltenham festival will give plenty of offers during the event.

These perks are becoming very frequent and keep the interest going long after the welcome bonus has run out. Another very popular promotion is the bet refunds; these give you free bets as compensation if something happens. For example, a bookmaker may refund all losing first goal scorer bets in the Tottenham V Manchester United game if Harry Kane scores the first goal. So if I bet £10 on Wayne Rooney to score but Harry Kane does, I would get a £10 free bet credited to my account. We really like these promotions.

Promotions on Sports Betting

The best betting sites are always coming up with new promotions, for major events such as the World cup, Euros and even less mainstream sports like darts and golf, the bookies will compete with each other to get your business. This is of course great news for you as it either gives you more money to bet with or gives you a lifeline if your bets don’t go as expected. The promotions change on a very regular basis; this is why we personally have accounts with all the major online bookmakers so we can take advantage of these offers.

Accumulator Insurance

For this section we are going to concentrate on acca insurance, all the UK bookies we review will offer similar deals on online sports, so make sure you check out our reviews on the other operators. They all work the same way, you place a four-fold accumulator (five-fold for football) and if you are let down by one selection, they will refund you with a free bet that is equal to your stake up to £25.

This offer was great for us earlier on in the season, we had a fairly simple acca placed with mainly favourites, however it was one of the big boys that let us down on the last leg of the accumulator. We received a £10 free bet and placed that on Norwich beating Manchester United 2-1, we received odds of 22-1. When Tettey made it 2-0 after 54 minutes we were praying to the football gods for United to score (but just one!) so when Martial scored in the 66th minute we were over the moon! Coming a week before Christmas ensured the turkey was bigger than normal. So it’s fair to say we are big fans of this promotion.

Best Price Guaranteed

We wish best price guaranteed (also known as Best Odds Guaranteed) had been around when we first started betting, plenty of times I had fancied a horse or placed a greyhound bet and took the early price only to see the odds offered drift. Suddenly my 15/1 shot was sitting at 33/1 and we know it sounds crazy but you are half wishing it doesn’t win as you know you will be annoyed at the price difference.

This is where best price guaranteed comes in, you can place a bet, safe in the knowledge that if the odds increase before the off, to a Starting Price in excess of what you bet it at then the bookmaker will pay you out at the longer odds. This is great news and allows you to “bet and forget” on online sports betting.

Example:

You use one of our bookmakers offering Best Price Guaranteed and have a horse priced at 15/1 early price in the morning. The betting shows the horse is unfancied and the price drifts out to 20/1 Starting Price. The horse wins and due to best price guaranteed you will be paid out at 20/1. If you had used a bookmaker not offering best price guaranteed you would only have received 15/1. Just about all online sports betting sites have this offer.

No Deposit Bonus

Once upon a time you used to be able to find these offers and they were great! The bookmaker would give you free cash to try out the site, the hope was that you would like the site so much that you would spend your own money to continue playing. These are almost impossible to find at UK betting sites nowadays. The big downside to these offers was that they very often had a huge wagering requirement attached to them, great if you are a regular bettor but not so great for a casual tipster.

Ladbrokes do an interesting competition; if you open a new account with them and then check their Facebook and Google+ pages, you will see that they on occasions ask for your correct score & first goal scorer predictions. If you predict the correct score and first scorer, then they will reward you with a £25 free bet with no deposit requirements! Just let them know with a private message and they will credit your account.

Live Betting on Sports Events

We know we have a tendency to harp on about “how things used to be”! However, we are constantly amazed at how new wave technology is forever changing the face of online gambling. Take live betting for example; Not that long ago, when you wanted to bet on a certain event, all bets had to be on before the event started. Not now! You can bet right up to the last minute and the odds are constantly fluctuating depending on what is happening in the event.

This opens the door to a new generation of armchair experts. No longer do you have to study a form book, you can watch the event for a while and make an informed choice. Little changes can make a big difference to the chances of a team winning, has the centre back been booked after 5minutes? Has the star striker been holding his hamstring? All these little details can influence the outcome. To be considered as one of the best betting sites, an operator will have a great choice of events in their live events section.

Mobile Betting

Another great technological advance is the introduction of mobile betting. With just about all of us owning at least one device that is capable of placing a bet on the move, bookmakers have been quick to take advantage. All of our reviewed sites have a dedicate app you can download or you can bet via the browser, which ever approach you take, you will find betting on the go both simple and very quick.

Conclusion

We hope you do have chance to read our reviews on what we consider to be the top 5 online bookmakers for sports. In the reviews we look individually at the operator and give you a bit of information about the company itself.

We then look at how many markets each and every one of them cover, as well as looking at the types of bets available. Bonuses are important to you and we again explore these in more detail for each company.

A big deciding factor for many of you will be the size and of course the play through obligations of the bonuses, we give these a good test ride. We also check out what promotions each company offers.

Live betting is reviewed as are the mobile apps for each bookmaker, we take a look at what payment methods are available and how easy and friendly the customer service teams are. We also answer many of the frequently asked questions we receive about the bookie.