UK Sports Betting & Best Sportsbooks Dec. 2024

UK Sports Betting Quick Facts

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:

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

• Best Sportsbooks
• Best Sports Betting Sites
• Best Sportsbook Promos
• Best Sports Betting Apps

Canada

Best Sportsbooks in Canada (outside Ontario)

Best Sports Betting Sites Canada