UK Sports Betting & Best Sportsbooks Dec. 2024
Our ranked list of top online sportsbooks in the UK.
Best legal online U.K. sportsbooks
William Hill Review
William Hill has been a leading player in the gambling world for decades now, and it’s easy to see why. The company has adapted to an ever-changing gambling scene, introducing numerous new developments and cutting-edge technology to keep ahead of its competition.
Features
Features
- Favorable odds due to player-to-player exchange.
- Large limits.
- Great customer service.
Matchbook Review
Matchbook is a betting exchange, so it works slightly differently from your typical bookmaker. Still, it has a great selection of sports and hugely favourable odds for bettors, new and experienced alike.
Features
Features
- Big name in sports betting.
- Solid reputation as a trustworthy company.
- Cutting-edge betting site and app.
Ladbrokes Review
Ladbrokes Welcome Bonus: Bet £/€5 and Get £/€20
Simply bet £/€5 within 14 days of registering your account at minimum odds of 1/2 (1.5, -200) and get £/€20 in free bets (broken into 4 x £5). Your free bet must be used within 7 days of being credited to your account; otherwise, it will expire. Free bets are only valid on select sportsbook markets and for players 18+ in UK or Ireland only.
Features
Features
- Extensive list of betting markets.
- Massive live betting selection.
- Clean web interface.
Coral Review
Coral is a major player in the UK gambling scene, along with the likes of Bet365 and William Hill. They remain a leading name in sports betting, offering many markets on all the sports players love to bet on.
Features
Features
- Set your own odds with their exchange.
- Large wagering limits.
- Quality software.
Betfair Review
Betfair Welcome Bonus: Get £100 in Free Bets
Betfair offers new UK sportsbook users a maximum of £100 in free bets. Only deposits made using a Credit/Debit Card or ApplePay are eligible. To achieve £100 in free bets, you must place five £10 single bets at the sportsbook, each at min odds of 1/2 (1.5). After your five qualifying bets have been settled, you will receive a £20 free bet. The process can be repeated up to five times.
Features
Features
- Great reputation amongst UK players.
- Disruptive technology to predict changes in the market.
- Wide range of sports offerings, including esports.
Smarkets Review
Smarkets is a UK betting exchange with a strong emphasis on horse racing. But there are many other sports to bet on at Smarkets, from football and cricket to boxing and tennis. Smarkets also takes bets on eSports and offers in-play betting on a huge range of games.
Features
Features
- Well-established on UK online gambling scene.
- Good selection of welcome bonuses and promotions.
- Extensive range of sports betting options.
Sportingbet Review
Our review team has been consistently impressed by the extensive collection of markets available at Sportingbet, not to mention the tempting odds and brilliant live betting options.
Features
Quick links On this page
- Best legal online U.K. sportsbooks
- UK Sports Betting Quick Facts
- How We Rate and Review Sportsbooks
- Best Sportsbooks for UK Bettors
- Best Sportsbook for Promos
- Best Betting App
- Best Sportsbook for Football
- Best Sportsbook for Live Betting
- Sportsbook with Best Odds
- UK Legal Sports Betting History
- Sportsbooks by category
- Best Sportsbooks in Other Regions
- Best UK Sportsbooks FAQs
UK Sports Betting Quick Facts
🏬 # of UK Betting Shops | 3,888 |
🙋 % of Brits Who Have Gambled | 43% |
đź’· Average Spend Per Person | ÂŁ2.60/week (ÂŁ135.20/year) |
🏇 % of Men Who Bet on Sports | 45% |
âš˝ % of Women Who Bet on Sports | 23% |
đź’° Annual Gross Gambling Yield (2020) | ÂŁ2.4 billion |
How We Rate and Review Sportsbooks
We never take shortcuts in our efforts to highlight the best sportsbooks in the business. We create accounts, interact with customer service, deposit money, navigate the site, place bets and make withdrawals. This allows us to gain first-hand experience of the customer experience offered by each site.
We are careful to cross-check our findings with trusted colleagues and the community of nearly half a million sports bettors that use our Sportsbook Review Forum.
Once our research is complete, we assign a rating to a site. This is an ongoing process: a sportsbook can be downgraded if it starts to fall short of our strict standards. It can also be upgraded, but the sportsbook must demonstrate a significant improvement over a prolonged period of time for this to happen.
The majority of upgrades or downgrades centre around bonus offers, customer service performance and whether a sportsbook changes its bet limit policy (for better or worse).
The bottom line is that we play at the sites we recommend. We have also played at the sites we do not recommend, and we can confidently warn you against using them.
The sportsbooks featured on our top sportsbooks list are all safe and reliable, and we can vouch for them based on personal experience. Our stamp of approval gives you the utmost confidence when signing up with an online sportsbook.
For more on the standards we uphold in our content creation process, see our Editorial Policy.
Best Sportsbooks for UK Bettors
Here are the best sportsbooks in the UK:
Bookie | Known for |
---|---|
William Hill | Fast payouts |
LadBrokes | Big name |
Matchbook | Favourable odds |
Coral | Extensive betting markets |
Betfair | Set your own odds |
Sportingbet | Well-established |
Smarkets | Great reputation |
Betfred | Global betting experience |
888sport | In-play betting |
And here is more on our top UK sportsbook choices:
Betfair
Betfair is one of the world’s most popular sports betting sites. As well as its sportsbook, the site provides everything from casino games and slots to an unmissable live casino. But the sportsbook is the real draw here.
Betfair offers odds on all kinds of different sports, making it an attractive option for an international audience. It’s hugely popular with sports fans in the UK, offering great odds on Brits’ best-loved sports.
Visit the sportsbook and you’ll find enticing odds on everything from football and rugby to cricket, snooker and tennis. There are also markets for virtual sports, along with specials for big world events and the most hotly anticipated global tournaments.
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes is one of the best regarded sports betting companies in the UK. The company has built a strong reputation that goes back over a century. So much so that many UK sports fans now wouldn’t dream of going anywhere else to place their bets.
The Ladbrokes sportsbook provides great odds on a huge range of different sports, accessible online and via its betting shops. Ladbrokes is also one of the best represented sportsbooks on UK high streets, with 2,700 stores currently open up and down the country.
Sports fans can bet on a huge range of different games, matches and tournaments at Ladbrokes. It’s particularly well known for its connection with horse racing, but fans also lean towards Ladbrokes for odds on greyhound racing, as well as other popular sports like football, tennis, cricket and athletics.
Paddy Power
Paddy Power is a more recent addition to the UK sports betting scene, but it's already one of the biggest names in the business.
Launched in the 1980s, Paddy Power quickly became one of the go to companies for sports betting in the UK. It's now an enormously popular choice amongst UK sports fans.
Paddy Power offers odds on the full range of sports, from football and horse racing to snooker and golf. The sportsbook is well known for its tempting promotions, and it’s a great option for those who love to bet in-play and cash out at the optimum moment.
The sportsbook is one of the biggest reasons players flock to Paddy Power, but the site also offers plenty more. There’s a full online casino to explore, with slots, live casino games and daily jackpots galore.
Best Sportsbook for Promos
Paddy Power
Paddy Power shot to fame in the UK and beyond because it provides a reliably brilliant service to players no matter what they’re betting on.
Part of this site’s charm lies in the fantastically creative and tempting promotions the Paddy Power team provide. It’s definitely one to watch if you’re looking to win big - while also taking advantage of a bargain or two.
Paddy Power is perhaps best known for its welcome bonuses, which often top the charts of bonus deals available to UK players. While there are playthrough requirements attached, these are generally quite lenient compared to some.
Paddy Power also offers deals and promotions to existing customers, from free spins at the casino to cash back offers. Players have the option to claim refunds on their stake if they don’t win first time, and if a horse finishes well, but doesn’t win, the sportsbook rewards players with their money back as a free bet.
Best Betting App
888sport
888sport is a hugely popular sportsbook, and a key part of its appeal is its impressive app. Designed with mobile players in mind, 888sport is a slick, great looking sportsbook that definitely delivers where user experience is concerned.
The 888sport app is available for both Android and Apple devices. Both versions of the app can be quickly downloaded via the Apple or Google Play stores.
You only need to glimpse a few recent reviews from players to see why this sportsbook is dominating the mobile sports betting scene.
Players consistently praise how easy the 888sport app is to use, and the fast, intuitive navigation options provided. It's perfect for players who love to place last minute bets on the go, and it provides all the account options players need to get the most out of their gaming.
Note
#Ad• 18+ New online 888sport customers in the UK and Ireland, excluding re-registered customers. Valid from 15/01/2024. Min Deposit £/€10 with code 30FXS. Qualifying bet: 'real money' stake of £/€10+, odds 1/2 (1.5)+. Free bet, consists of 3x £/€10 tokens: 1x £/€10 horseracing, 1x £/€10 football, 1x £/€10 in-play, which will be credited upon qualifying bet settlement and must be used entirely before expiration in 7 days. No cashing out, each way bets, permutations, or combining with 'real money' stakes. Payment restrictions apply. • Full T&Cs apply • www.begambleaware.org
Best Sportsbook for Football
William Hill
William Hill is well known for providing the most extensive collection of markets for football fans. We looked into the football betting options at all the most popular sportsbooks, and consistently found William Hill to be the winner in terms of choice.
Bookmaker William Hill offers over 14,000 different football markets, a number that far exceeds much of the competition, even when we take into account big name sportsbooks like Ladbrokes, Bet365 and Paddy Power. Odds are always competitive, and players also have the option to bet in-play and cash-out on demand.
Wiliam Hill doesn't just offer football, it also has great odds and markets for basketball, rugby, and is among the top cricket betting sites.
Best Sportsbook for Live Betting
Bet365
Live betting has skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years, so much so that it's now available at every good UK sportsbook. However, some sportsbooks really excel where in-play bets are concerned - and bet365 is a prime example of this.
The selection of sports available for live betting at bet365 is vast. Players can choose from everything from the best-known games to far more obscure options, and the chances are there’ll always be a good number of different markets available to choose from.
Bet365 provides some very competitive odds on all kinds of live betting markets. It’s well worth a look if you want to make the most of the action as it unfolds.
Sportsbook with Best Odds
Betfair
There’s a huge amount of choice for UK players, but of course the question on everyone’s lips is: which sportsbook offers the best odds? Our team found that one sportsbook consistently came out on top where odds are concerned, and that’s Betfair.Betfair’s odds are enormously competitive, no matter which sport you’re betting on. The sportsbook provides odds on a huge range of markets, ranging from global games that everyone’s talking about to niche matches that are on the radar of far fewer players.
Betfair is also known for offering Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) on all UK and Irish Horse Racing and greyhounds singles bets, starting from 8am on the day of the race. No matter what you’re interested in, you’ll always find generous and fair odds at Betfair.
UK Legal Sports Betting History
Sports betting is legal and fully regulated in the UK, but it hasn’t always been this way. In fact it wasn’t until relatively recently that regulatory bodies were established to oversee sports betting in the country.
In 1968, due to criminality in sports betting, UK lawmakers took the decision to create licences for gambling venues. From then on, any venue taking bets had to be fully licensed.
The 1968 act created what was then known as the Gaming Board for Great Britain. This regulatory body later morphed into what we now know as the UK Gambling Commission.
Over the years, rules surrounding licensing have evolved in line with developments in the sports betting scene. Sports betting in the UK remains strictly regulated, keeping players safe and secure no matter what they choose to bet on.
Sports Betting Regulatory Bodies
The Gambling Commission: The Gambling Commission is one of the most important gambling regulatory bodies in the UK. It’s an executive non-departmental public body of the UK Government, and it holds full responsibility for regulating sports betting and all other forms of gambling in the country. The UK Gambling Commission also supervises laws relating to gaming and gambling.
Financial Conduct Authority: The Financial Conduct Authority holds a huge sway in some gambling regulation in the UK. While it is a financial regulatory body, the Financial Conduct Authority is independent of the UK Government. The Financial Conduct Authority is involved in the regulation of spread betting, such as speculative wagers on the price of stocks and other funds.
Sportsbooks by category
Best Sportsbooks in Other Regions
If you don't live in the UK, you can find top online sportsbooks from other regions here:
US
Canada
Best Sportsbooks in Canada (outside Ontario)
Best UK Sportsbooks FAQs
What are the best online sportsbooks in the UK?
An elite handful of online sportsbooks have secured a coveted rating in our industry-leading guide. These sportsbooks include Ladbrokes, Betfair, William Hill, bet365 and Paddy Power. If you prefer to play via an app, you should check out the leading sportsbook app from 888sport.
How can I find out more about UK sportsbooks?
If you want to dive deeper into what makes our top UK sportsbooks the best of the best, take a look at our reviews.
Our team has reviewed all the best sportsbooks in the UK, bringing you the lowdown on the most exciting sites to check out, and the ones that are better avoided. Browse our research team’s latest reviews to find out more.
Why do odds vary between different UK online sportsbooks?
Sportsbooks are always looking to draw in players with enticing odds, but you’ll rarely find the same odds across every sportsbook. That’s because there’s always some discrepancy about how different sportsbooks think games might unfold.
Sometimes, sportsbooks will make a decision to offer more generous odds than a competitor to attract the attention of more players.
How do I deposit funds at a sportsbook in the UK?
Top UK sportsbooks tend to provide a number of different options for deposits and withdrawals, in order to make life simple for players.
Usually you’ll be able to choose from a range of deposit options, including card, bank transfer and PayPal. Some sites also accept a number of different digital wallets, and others provide the option to deposit and withdraw using cryptocurrency.