Best betting sites UK: Guide to choosing an online bookmaker

The Independent has ranked and reviewed the best sport betting sites for September

Find the best UK betting sites with our comprehensive September 2024 guide. (iStock/Getty)

We have been busy collating all the information ready to guide you through the landscape of the online sport betting industry to bring you a carefully selected list of the best betting sites in the UK.

We’ll examine some of the best promotions and tools that the best online bookmakers provide, while also looking at a few lesser-known UK betting sites that offer strong welcome deals to players in an attempt to become part of their go-to selection of bookmakers.

Betting sites UK: Best in class

We have delved into which online betting sites are the best in class for particular sports – namely football, racing, golf, boxing and cricket.

To find out more about how we rate the best online bookmakers and about gambling responsibly please scroll a little further down the page.

Best betting site for football: Betfred

Football is the most bet on sport in the UK and online bookies are constantly vying to rank number one among football betting sites. In our opinion, bettors will struggle to find a better online bookmaker for football betting than Betfred.

Betfred get the basics right, offering competitive odds and unique football offers, including accumulator insurance, acca profit boosts and their popular Double Delight & Hat-trick Heaven offer.

Betfred also provides one of the best welcome offers to greet new users. You just need to enter the Betfred promo code ‘BETFRED50’ when you register and deposit a minimum of £10 using a debit card to be eligible for the free bets.

Once you’ve done that and placed a bet of at least £10 on any sports market at odds of evens or greater, you’ll be rewarded with £50 in free bets. That bonus is split into three £10 free bets for any sports market and two £10 accumulator free bets, all of which have to be used within seven days.

The betting site also covers a wide range of leagues and competitions, year-round, offering players plenty of choice and opportunities to get involved.

Betfred Pros	Betfred Cons
Strong welcome bonus valid on football	Some football promotions are valid on selected matches only
Wide range of ongoing football promotions	Multis must have 5+ results to qualify for Acca Flex promo
Daily football price boosts	#PickYourPunt bet builders are not eligible for cash out

Best UK bookmakers for horse racing: Unibet

When it comes to horse racing betting sites, Unibet is our recommended online bookmaker. Unibet provides a variety of daily racing betting offers, including money-back specials and extra races.

Not only that, Unibet give you three daily odds boosts to spend on racing and is guaranteed to have the best price in the industry on selected races each day. There’s even a Unibet sign-up offer specifically for racing, giving new customers two £10 free bets.

Furthermore, Unibet highlights handy tips and naps ahead of races, collecting racing experts’ picks to help bettors make informed decisions.

Unibet is a betting site worth making use of throughout the racing calendar but especially when the big events roll around, such as Cheltenham Festival, the Grand National and Royal Ascot, when they ramp up their offers.

Unibet Pros	Unibet Cons
Wide selection of daily horse racing offers	App could be improved when compared with other UK bookies
Refer a friend free bet bonuses available	Lots of T&Cs attached to Extra Places promo
Horse racing specific welcome offer available under ‘Special Offers’	Not as many racing live streams as Bet365

Best online bookmakers for golf: BoyleSports

In third place for the most popular sport to bet on in the UK after football and horse racing is golf and BoyleSports does a stellar job of meeting a golf bettors’ needs.

They will regularly offer 12 places on PGA Tour and DP World Tour events, as well as all four majors, while they have introduced an early payout scheme for selected tournaments.

If your selection is the sole leader after three rounds, BoyleSports will payout, no matter the final result outcome.

BoyleSports will also produce a range of golf price boosts for selected tournaments each week and those keen on accumulators can take advantage of the bookies’ various acca offers.

BoyleSports Pros	BoyleSports Cons
Extra Places available in golf each-way betting	Sign up offer falls short of other major bookies
Early payouts available on outright golf bets	BoyleSports Android app has low user rating
Odds value up there with the best bookies	Live chat customer service could be improved

Best bookmaker for boxing: William Hill

A lot of casual bettors like to have a wager on boxing when a big bout rolls around and they might be best served going to William Hill to place their wagers.

William Hill offers great value odds and a vast range of boxing markets. They have a track record of pricing up fights well in advance, so those who back their knowledge of the sport can make their picks before the pre-fight narratives sway general predictions of the outcome.

William Hill is reliable for alternative markets and also stands out in the boxing space for its fight-night specials. Make sure to check out this UK bookmaker in the lead up to any huge bouts as they’ll regularly enhance the odds on several bets.

Bettors can also use their £30 free bets from the William Hill sign up offer to wager on boxing, should they choose.

William Hill Pros	William Hill Cons
Huge range of international boxing markets	Live streaming package could be improved
Welcome offer is valid on boxing	Sub-markets often only appear days before the fight
Highly regarded after 90+ years in betting industry	Few free bets for regular boxing bettors

Best betting site for cricket: Betway

Betway is the place to go if you want the best online betting site for cricket.

Not only does the bookmaker offer an extensive range of markets on cricket in all of its formats – men’s, women’s, T20, Test, ODI and The Hundred – but Betway’s cricket stats are especially helpful and are available for pre-match and in-play betting.

Betway makes the vast majority of cricket matches available to bet on in-play with live streaming available on select competitions.

Furthermore, Betway’s Free Bet Club offers a £10 free bet if you bet £25 or more on cricket trebles and accumulators.

Betway Pros	Betway Cons
Comprehensive cricket stats package	Bet builders not permitted on cricket
One of the best free bet clubs, with cricket eligible	Live chat service could be improved
Very good betting app with live cricket streams	£10 minimum withdrawals, other sites do £5

Best bookmaker for tennis betting: 10Bet

Given the relentless nature of the professional tennis schedule, it’s no wonder the sport has become one of the most popular to bet on as there’s so many options for punters.

Many UK betting sites have latched on to this by improving their tennis product over the last few years, but in our opinion 10Bet are ahead of their peers for tennis betting.

Tennis lends itself well to in-play betting, and on 10Bet you’ll find live statistics on the likes of break point conversions, double faults, aces and serve points won, all of which can be used to make judgement before placing a bet.

There’s also head-to-head records and recent form for pre-match research, then point-by-point tracking to keep punters informed from the off. Furthermore, 10Bet are unique in having ongoing tennis promotions including free bets for betting regularly on the sport and winnings boosts on successful accumulators.

10Bet Pros	10Bet Cons
Welcome offer is valid on tennis	Wagering requirements attached to welcome offer
£10 free bet when you spend £50+ on 10Bet app	Lack of live streaming options
Ongoing tennis promotions throughout the season	Slightly better tennis odds can be found elsewhere

Best UK bookmakers for rugby: Mr Play Sports

Unlike many online bookmakers, Mr Play cater for rugby with the majority of their promotions, features and welcome offers.

For example, winnings boosts on successful accumulators are commonplace on betting sites but even some of the best online bookmakers restrict this benefit to the most popular sports such as football and horse racing.

That is not the case on Mr Play, where rugby union and rugby league fans will find their sports qualify for the likes of accas boosts, bet builders and cash out services. They even extend their sign up offer to both codes too.

Beyond the rugby promotions and features, Mr Play provides regular rugby price boosts, a highlighted fixtures section for the biggest upcoming league and union matches and competitive odds on a wide range of international leagues and tournaments.

Mr Play Pros	Mr Play Cons
Sign up offer valid on rugby markets	Not the most rewarding welcome offer
Regular price boosts on rugby union	Neteller, Paysafe, PayPal and Skrill deposits ineligible for sign up offer
In-play betting on both rugby codes	No live streaming

Best live streaming betting site: Bet365

The optimal way to make decisions on in-game bets is while watching the action, and Bet365 offer more opportunities to watch and bet than other UK bookmakers by live streaming over 600,000 events each year.

Bet365 is the standout choice due to the bookmaker’s sheer volume of streams and its Video Wall. The new Bet365 live streaming feature allows you to watch a range of matches at the same time. It’s customisable and is available on mobile, desktop and app, meaning you can watch without missing a moment’s action.

Bet365 will also allow you to put certain events in full screen mode, giving you an even better view of the action on either the desktop site or betting app.

In order to make use of these streams, you’ll need to either have a funded account or have placed a bet in the last 24 hours. Incidentally, Bet365 happens to rank top on our list of the best £5 deposit betting sites, so you don’t have to break the bank in order to have a funded account.

Bet365 Pros	Bet365 Cons
Wide range of live streaming options, including football, tennis, horse racing and more	Possible to be watching with a slight delay on the streams
High quality streams with few buffering issues when well connected	Must have funded accound or have placed a bet to access live streams
Fully integrated in-play betting and streaming product	Commentary not always available on live streams

Best new bookmaker: BetMGM

BetMGM arrived on the UK betting scene in 2023 with a very polished product and a top reputation following years of experience in the US market.

The BetMGM sign up offer stands out in particular, with new customers able to claim £60 in free bets after their first deposit and bet of £10.

Most other top bookmakers have bet £10 get £30 betting offers, and in some cases bet £10 get £40, but no other betting site on the market can better BetMGM’s latest welcome package in terms of a return on your first deposit.

Beyond the welcome offer, BetMGM have bags of promotions for existing customers to consider, including daily price boosts, a free bet club, accumulator winnings boosts and free-to-play games with cash prizes and free bets on offer.

BetMGM Pros	BetMGM Cons
Significant sign up offer of bet £10 get £60	Sports free bets restricted to football, horse racing and accas
Excellent user experience on betting app	£20 of £60 welcome bonus is reserved for BetMGM’s casino
Free to play games with free bets and cash to be won	Ongoing promotions mainly catered for football and racing

Best online betting sites for alternative bets

It’s important to be informed before placing your bets, to ensure you understand what you’re gambling on and whether you’ve picked the most sensible options suited to you. For example, make sure not to confuse accumulators and bet builders; they are similar but not the same.

A bet builder is generally focused on one particular match, while an accumulator spreads across numerous events.

For example, a bet builder might see you pick Manchester City to beat Chelsea in a Premier League game, with City picking up two yellow cards, three yellow cards for Chelsea, and City scoring two goals.

Meanwhile, an accumulator might see you back Man City, Arsenal and Brighton all to win separate games on one Premier League weekend.

Another handy alternative feature with UK bookmakers is ‘cash out’, but this should not be confused with a withdrawal.

The latter sees bettors withdrawing funds from their account balance, while cashing out allows users to settle their bet before the end of an event, locking in a profit or minimising losses should the wager be in doubt.

For example, say you’ve bet on Chelsea to beat Man City 1-0 and Chelsea are leading 1-0 with 10 minutes to go, but City look like scoring. Cashing out in this situation is a handy option as you can settle the bet early. However, keep in mind you won’t leave with the full amount that you’d have won if Chelsea went on to win 1-0.

Best betting site for bet builders: BetUK

For those bettors who enjoy a bet builder, look no further than BetUK, who provide a useful guide to bet building and accumulators for beginners.

BetUK will reward bettors who wager £10 on a bet builder with a £5 free bet each week and highlight trending bet builders every day, making it a strong choice among online bookies.

When using a bet builder like BetUK’s, it's important to consider how many selections you are permitted within your bet, and which sports the bookmaker features under its bet builders.

BetUK will let you combine up to 12 legs on most bet builders and offers the tool for use on mutiple sports, including tennis, rugby, American football and baseball. Meanwhile, the BetUK sign up offer allows new customers to claim £30 in free bets.

BetUK Pros	BetUK Cons
£30 in free bets for new customers after first £10 bet	Free bets restricted to football and horse racing
In-play bet building available	No ready-made bet builders to choose from
Cash out available on bet builders	Horse racing excluded from acca boost promotion

Best bookmaker for accumulator betting: BoyleSports

When it comes to accumulators – often referred to as ‘accas’ – we think BoyleSports are the best choice among UK betting sites due to their extensive options in terms of acca promos.

Their Acca Rewards and Acca Loyalty programmes help make them an excellent choice. With Acca Loyalty, customers are awarded a £5 free acca once they’ve placed five £5 accumulators (with at least five selections and total odds of greater than 3/1). Meanwhile, Acca Rewards gives you the choice to either boost your winnings or insure your accumulator.

Profit boosts on accas give customers the chance to increase their winnings by three per cent for trebles on BoyleSports, all the way up to 100 per cent for multiples with 14 selections or more

With acca insurance, BoyleSports will refund your stake in free bets, up to the value of £20, if only one leg of your accumulator doesn’t win.

Meanwhile, as well as standard debit card and bank transfers, Boyles also facilitate many alternative deposit and withdrawal options for accumulator bettors, incuding PayPal betting, Boku, Neteller, Skrill, Paysafecard, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

BoyleSports Pros	BoyleSports Cons
Early payout promos apply to accas	Welcome offer value lags behind other top bookies
Various acca benefits to choose from	Free bet tokens not eligible for acca promos
Acca rewards available for both in-play and pre-match bets	Acca Loyalty promo requires 5+ results for bets to qualify

Best UK bookmaker for cash out betting: Kwiff

As mentioned above, cashing out is also a great tool to consider when using online bookies. In this area, Kwiff represents a strong choice, particularly due to the bookmaker’s ‘Supercharge Cash-out’ feature.

Kwiff is a bit niche thanks to its surprise bets and supercharged features. In this instance, the online bookmaker may decide to boost, or supercharge, the winnings on any bet you decide to cash out.

As Kwiff explains, “It essentially means that if you decide to cash out your bet, you will be eligible to have that payout supercharged. If your cash-out bet has been supercharged, then your normal return will be greater than the normal odds originally taken.”

It's an interesting take on a popular feature, and Kwiff doesn’t only supercharge cash-outs, but also standard bets. Keep an eye out for ‘Supercharge Weekend’ offers, too. Always consider the ease of use, of course, and the value of the cash-out offers.

Kwiff Pros	Kwiff Cons
Unique ways to potentially boost winnings	Lack of control over welcome offer free bet
Surprise bets available even after welcome period	No general free bet promos, surprise bets only
Low minimum stakes for cash out promos	Cash out not offered on surprise bets

Best bookmaker for Best Odds Guaranteed: BoyleSports

Although we have named Unibet as the best horse racing betting site, that accolade does not extend to the subject of Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG), with BoyleSports pipping Unibet for a number of reasons.

BOG means that if you take an early or fixed odds price on a horse or greyhound and the starting price (SP) is higher, the bookie will pay out at the higher odds. This ensures you always get the best possible return on your bet.

What makes BoyleSports stand out in this regard is that they extend their BOG offering to greyhound betting, whereas the likes of Unibet and other top bookmakers reserve it just for horse racing.

For both horse racing and greyhound racing, BoyleSports make their BOG promotion available from 8am every morning, an industry-best time with some rivals waiting until 9am for BOG to trigger.

BoyleSports BOG Pros	BoyleSports BOG Cons
8am commence time on race day	Free bet tokens not eligible for BOG
Applies to both horse racing and greyhound racing	Only applies to UK and Irish races
Applies to singles and multiples on horse racing	Acca promos can’t be used in conjunction with BOG

Best betting site for in-play betting: LiveScore Bet

LiveScore Bet is another newcomer to the UK betting industry but it benefits from a strong reputation having become globally popular as a real-time sports digital scoreboard across football, cricket, tennis, basketball and hockey.

Their technology has served them well so far in their venture into sports betting and, somewhat unsurprisingly, they have centred their focus on in-play betting across several sports, not just the five mentioned above.

Punters can expect over 40 in-play markets when live betting on football, over 50 when betting in-play on tennis and even more on basketball. All of which is backed up with stats and in many cases high-definition live streams.

The LiveScore Bet sign up offer of bet £10 get £20 in free bets is not the strongest, but beyond the welcome period there’s plenty of promotions, including their free-to-play football game SQUADS, which gives players a chance to earn withdrawable cash.

LiveScore Bet Pros	LiveScore Bet Cons
Vast selection of markets on in-play events	Relatively low return on first deposit and bet
In-play betting available on niche sports like volleyball and pool	Full screen streaming not available on desktop
Free to play games across sports and casino	Live stat feeds could be quicker to update

What to bet on this weekend

The highlight of the sporting weekend comes from New York, home of the US Open. The last tennis grand slam of the year wraps up with the men’s and women’s singles final, both of which are set to be intriguing betting heats.

There will be a new name on both trophies after the early exits of reigning women’s champion Coco Gauff and men’s title holder Carlos Alcaraz, and the Flushing Meadows fans have hope of seeing a home winner in both competitions.

In football, the Nations League takes centre stage with England set to play their first game since Gareth Southgate’s departure against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

Both teams will have new men in the dugout with Lee Carsley taking charge of the Three Lions and Heimir Hallgrimsson managing the Boys in Green for the first time on Saturday evening.

We’ve got three Republic of Ireland vs England betting tips, while we’ve also previewed the final Test between England and Sri Lanka, which gets underway on Friday.

The Rugby Championship rolls on to round four with South Africa hosting New Zealand and Australia travelling to Argentina, while it’s Week One of the new NFL season with a whole host of games taking place on Sunday.

BoyleSports are offering new customers a £20 free bet and a quarter back in free bets on all NFL bet builder wagers when they sign up and bet £10 on the NFL.

How we rank and review the best betting sites UK

We take the rating and recommendation of UK bookmakers very seriously and have stringent criteria we expect the best online betting sites to meet even to be considered for our list. Here are some of the factors that went into our thinking:

Regulation: This is a non-negotiable before we recommend any UK bookmaker. They have to be regulated by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) for us to contemplate rating them, so you can be confident that every bookmaker above is safe to engage with. Every site mentioned on this page is UKGC-regulated and secure to use.

Reputation: Our recommended online bookmakers are a mixture of household names and new betting sites. The reputation of a bookmaker is very important to us and while the well-known betting sites such as Betfred, BoyleSports and Bet365 have reputations that precede them, we also considered the burgeoning renown of the newer companies entering the UK industry and how well-regarded they are overseas.

Gambling responsibly: Similarly to regulation, how committed a bookmaker is to responsible gambling is extremely important. Have they taken genuine steps to ensure their actions towards their customers are morally sound? We considered their approaches to vital responsible gambling tools such as deposit limits, loss limits, reality checks and self-exclusion.

Customer experience: How good an experience online bookies provide to their customers was also taken into account when choosing the best online betting sites – across desktop, mobile and app. If the site design is smart and well laid out, the useability is logical and straightforward, then that all makes for a better customer experience. Similarly, how easy it is to interact with support staff and solve any potential issues is also a factor.

Promotions: Of course, UK bookmakers can also be judged on promotions and offers. We considered if these online bookies were offering unique deals we hadn’t seen anywhere else. If punters feel like they’re getting more bang for your buck – be that in terms of free bets, odds boosts or one-off promotions – they’re more likely to have a good experience on the site.

Best UK betting sites compared

Now that we’ve established our thoughts on which bookmakers excel in the most popular fields, it may be beneficial to pull together our most notable findings in order to help you decide which betting site suits your own tastes.

Below, we’ve rounded up all of the recommended bookmakers on this page in order to compare each operator’s overall sportsbook package, which may help those of you who are still undecided about which betting site to choose.

Bookmaker	Live Streaming	Price Boosts	Early Payout	Cash Out	Acca Insurance
Bet365	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Betfred	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Unibet	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
BoyleSports	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
William Hill	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Betway	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
10Bet	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Mr Play	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
BetMGM	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
BetUK	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Kwiff	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
LiveScore Bet	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No

It is worth noting that BoyleSports is the only bookmaker that ticks all the boxes on the above features, which are some of the most popular attractions for sports bettors.

Kwiff only offer two of the five most popular features, but in their defence they focus most of their energy on their unique cash out offerings and they stand out for this as a result.

Best online betting sites summary

There you have our picks for the best betting sites in the UK, but always remember that the topic of the best online bookmakers is subjective.

We’ve given you our recommended picks based on our research, but you should only choose a new bookie that works for you and meets your personal requirements.

As highlighted above, all the UK bookmakers recommended on this page are legitimate and licensed by the UKGC.

Gamble responsibly with online bookies

Should you choose to use a new bookie, the most important thing to remember is to gamble responsibly. Betting should only ever be considered a form of entertainment – it has not, and will never be, a surefire way to make money, no matter how much you think you know about sports.

When betting on sports, always factor in the probability of a loss and therefore, only bet what you can afford to lose. Sports betting can also be addictive, so please take steps to remain in control of your time and budget.

Make sure you use the responsible gambling tools offered by online bookies such as deposit limits, reality checks, loss limits, time-outs and self-exclusion. These can stop your gambling from getting out of hand.

If you have gambling-related concerns, then seek independent help. There are several UK charities and institutions that offer support, advice and information, with a few listed below:

• Gamblers Anonymous
• NHS
• GamCare
• GambleAware

Best betting sites FAQs

Which betting site is the best?

We’ve put together a list of our recommended betting sites, but ultimately, which betting site you think is the best comes down to personal preference and gambling style. Someone looking for a site that offers an excellent in-play service might not choose the same betting site as a punter who likes to place accumulator bets. It’s about working out which betting site suits you best.

What betting sites take credit cards?

The use of credit cards on gambling sites in the UK was outlawed in April 2020 by the UK Gambling Commission. As such, no betting site licensed by the UKGC now accepts credit card as a payment method. The ban was brought in as part of more strict responsible gambling measures.

Are online betting sites safe to use?

Any betting site regulated by the UKGC will be safe to use as the bookmaker must comply with certain standards to keep their license. Most betting sites employ top-level security, such as state-of-the-art encryption and two-factor authentication, to keep your personal and financial details safe.