Best UK Football Betting Sites

Football is the world’s most popular sport for betting. Everyone has an opinion and their opinion is always right – until it isn’t. But which bookie should your you choose? That’s the question this page is designed to answer.

There are dozens of online betting sites on the market – from the usual big-name suspects, to bold new entrants looking to offer something different. What doesn’t help is that practically every betting site offers football markets. You’ll have to narrow down your selection some other way – whether it’s the biggest bonus, the most free bets or the best mobile app. Once you’ve checked out our reviews you’re sure to have found a favourite.

How We Review the Best Football Betting Sites

Football bettors all have their own opinions on what makes a great betting site. There are no absolutes here: some will favour bookies that offer the most generous sign-up bonus, while others will look for the best market coverage. Our extensive reviews therefore cover every salient aspect of the football betting experience in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of what’s available. It’s then over to you to decide what you value most. Here are some of the key areas of consideration during our reviews. 

Licensing and Safety

The best bonuses, the most competitive odds, live streaming facilities — it’s all worthless if it comes from an unlicensed bookmaker. Online gambling licences give customers peace of mind, ensuring a commitment to standards of fair play, data security, and responsible gambling. You should never place a bet at an unlicensed site, which is why all of our recommendations are for fully licensed operators.

Choice of Football Markets

The best football betting sites can offer over 50,000 betting opportunities at any one time. That’s right, we’ve seen some bookmakers offering 60,000 markets and beyond during our reviews. At a minimum, bookies will take bets on the biggest leagues and competitions across the globe, on both domestic and international games. But you’ll also see many sites taking bets on games way down the football pyramid, often as low as tier six here in the UK. Top football betting sites also take bets on all the best action from the women’s game, various youth divisions, and in some cases, competitions from over 100 other football-playing nations.

Other Sports

Football is the UK’s biggest sport, but it’s not all that’s on offer at football betting sites. You’ll also be able to find an impressive range of markets on tennis, golf, cricket, rugby, and popular sports from across the pond such as American football and basketball. This is by no means an exhaustive list though, with bookmakers often splitting their offering across 30+ sports. Those with vested interest across the sporting world will want to pick a football betting site that can cater to all their sporting curiosities. 

Bonuses and Promos

There’s no denying that the majority of our readers are after the best deals. This begins with the welcome bonus, which represents the apex of a bookie’s generosity, so it’s important to find the offer that suits you best. The welcome bonus is a one-time offer, after which promos for existing customers gather more significance; you’ll want to pick a site that offers good value in both areas. 

Betting sites will parade their bonuses to their customers, but to understand the true value of any offer, it’s imperative that you first read the terms and conditions. We spend time doing this during our reviews to determine just how player-friendly a site’s bonuses really are. Wagering requirements, time limits, winning caps, minimum odds, and more will all play their part in the success of a football betting bonus.

Payment Methods

How they’re able to fund their betting account is always a key consideration for our readers, so we spend time breaking down the site’s available payment methods, and the limits and processing times of each. If you’re someone who values the speed and excitement of in-play betting, it might make sense to pick a fast withdrawal method such as an e-wallet. If instead you’re looking for a payment method with restricted spending limits, a prepaid card might be more suitable. The point is that the best football betting sites offer their customers diversity at the cashier page — from debit cards to cryptocurrencies and everything in between.    

Site Design and Features

Just as an online casino with a vast games library requires excellent site design, so too does a betting site with extensive market coverage. The site should be easy and intuitive to use, and should look good at the same time. 

In this part of our review, we’ll also take note of any of the site’s special betting features. At the very least, we expect to see the ability to place live bets and cash out any ongoing wagers. Outstanding betting sites, however, are those that offer bet builders, live streaming, and a dedicated mobile app. 

Customer Support

High levels of customer support are essential across the entire online gambling landscape. The best football betting sites will prove their commitment to helping their customers by offering round-the-clock support, typically via live chat. Then, for any issue that doesn’t require immediate help, bookmakers should offer email and phone support, a detailed FAQs page, and perhaps even customer service channels through their social media accounts. We like to see all of these customer support avenues open.

How to Find the Best Football Betting Site

Our list of top licensed football betting sites in the UK features some of the best options available online, but it’s up to you to decide which one is your ideal bookie. Let’s take a look at what you should expect when picking out a top online betting site.

The World's Best Competitions 

Football is the world’s game and its global appeal is undeniable. So whether you’re looking to bet on the Premier League, or even the Champions League, you should keep an eye out for a bookie that provides you with a variety of football betting options. The best football betting sites in the UK provide coverage of men’s, women’s and youth football matches across the globe, but at the very least, you should expect comprehensive coverage of the following major football leagues and competitions:

• UEFA Champions League
• UEFA Europa League
• Premier League
• Championship
• FA Cup
• EFL Cup
• League 1
• League 2
• La Liga
• Serie A
• Ligue 1
• Bundesliga
• Eredivisie

Football betting doesn’t have to stop once the season is over, however. International competitions such as the prestigious World Cup, European Championship and Copa América provide players with the chance to wager on football throughout the summer months too.

A Huge Range of Online Betting Options

Gone are the days where you simply place a bet on your favourite team to win and hope for the best – there are a range of betting for punters to sink their teeth into everyday. Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can take advantage of great prices throughout the season.

• Match betting 
• Match result 
• Both teams to score 
• Result & both teams to score 
• Over/under goals 
• Double chance 
• Handicap 
• Outright betting
• Correct score

Match Betting

The most popular type of football bet are ones placed on a single match. These are placed before kick off and winning bets are only paid out once the final whistle has been blown. In some cases, your wagers are placed on the outcome after 90 minutes, while others include extra time and penalties, should they occur. This is always clearly stated beforehand. Let’s take a look at the most common pre-match betting options available to online punters.

Match Result

The most attractive option for many is the match result. It’s as simple as it sounds; pick a winner or a draw.

Both Teams to Score

Some matches are too tough to call, even for the bookies. so if two teams have a similar price to win the match, it means there’s no clear favourite. This is good news if you feel confident about making a pick, but you’ll want to steer clear of the match result bet if you’re uncertain. A great alternative is betting on both teams to score.

Result & Both Teams to Score

The ability to combine the match result with both teams to score is a relatively new addition to football betting. You’ll find great value here, but as you might have guessed, it’s much harder to land a winner when wagering on two outcomes.

Over/Under Goals

Much like the both teams to score market, betting on the over/under is a great alternative to wagers on the match result. This is simply the amount of goals the match will feature. Not only is it useful for close contests, though; you can also use it to find better value in matches where the price on the bookies favourite isn’t favourable to punters. Most of the best betting sites in the UK allow you to bet over or under on 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5 goals.

Double Chance

This market involves some compromise from both the punter and the online betting site. Punters can cover two of three possible outcomes, such as ‘win or draw’ or ‘home team win or away team win’.

Handicap

The handicap market is arguably the best place to find value when there’s a huge gap in quality between two teams. An FA Cup match could see a Premier League side pitted against a League 2 team, for example. In this instance, there’s little chance of the League 2 side winning and a bet on their Premier League opponents are likely to provide minimal returns. To provide incentive for bettors to wager on these events, football betting sites use handicaps to level the playing field for bettors.

The handicap is applied to the scoreline, so if you were to bet on ‘Team A -1’, they would simply have to win by more than 1 goal.

Outright Betting

You don’t have to restrict your betting to the events of a match. You can bet on the outcome of leagues and competitions, too. Outright bets are usually placed before the season kicks off, but are usually available throughout the season too. Here are a few common examples of outright betting markets:

• Competition winner
• Top Goalscorer
• Promotion and relegation

In-Play Betting Options 

When searching for your ideal football betting site, you’ll want to make sure it features an array of in-play betting opportunities. Also referred to as live betting, these markets give you the chance to place football bets on a match that’s already underway. Here’s a summary of the main benefits and drawbacks.

Watch the Action Live From the Betting Site

The best sports betting sites allow you to livestream sporting events to go along with the option of in-play markets. Most sportsbooks will require your account to be funded and for you to have placed a bet within the last 24 hours to access these streams, but it means that you can watch some of the biggest sporting events in the world without a TV subscription. Livestreaming can really enhance your betting experience – watching the action unfold live means you can make informed decisions when it comes to in-play betting or cashing out. It’s definitely something worth bearing in mind when you make your choice of sportsbook.

What is Cashing Out?

This is one of the best features of online sports betting. If you’ve placed a few bets before you may already be familiar with how cashing out works. It basically allows you to take out any potential winnings you may have from a bet while the game is still going on. So say you’ve backed Arsenal to win but, while they’re 1-0 up, you can sense the momentum beginning to change. A cash out option puts you in control of your bet and allows you to collect a portion of your potential winnings. Similarly, if things aren’t going well, you may want to cut your losses and cash out any sum that you can, rather than losing all of your stake.

Boost Your Potential Winnings with an Accumulator

One of the most popular forms of football betting is the accumulator, or acca. These allow you to place a single football bet on two or more different selections and, in order for you to win, each of your selections must win. The real beauty of accumulators, however, is that the potential winnings can be enormous. The odds of your various selections are all multiplied together, increasing the reward for winning. From an initially small outlay, you could be in for a huge profit should you win. 

But as you are likely to have worked out, with a greater potential reward there comes a great risk – losing just one leg of your accumulator will lose you the whole bet. That’s why the top betting sites feature acca insurance, which will refund you your stake as a free bet. These aren’t available on all football betting markets and only work on five-fold selections and above, but they’re a great safety net should just one selection fall through.

Specials and Promotions and Bet Builders

The top bookmakers provide fairly similar offerings when it comes to odds, betting markets and features such as cash out. So the very best betting sites use a range of specials and promotions to stand out from the rest.

If none of the existing football betting markets give you what you’re looking for, at some betting sites you can request a bet via Twitter using the following hashtags:

• Coral – #YourCall 
• Ladbrokes – #GetAPrice
• Betfred – #PickYourPunt 
• Paddy Power – #WhatOddsPaddy 
• William Hill – #YourOdds
• Betfair – #OddsOnThat
• Betway – #BetYourWay
• BetVictor – #PriceItUp

Some bookies even offer early payouts and money back specials. PaddyPower’s ‘2 Up You Win’ promotion pays out if your chosen team is winning by two goals at any point during the game, regardless of the final score. You could very well receive winnings for a losing bet.

Types of Football Bonuses

Bonuses are an important factor for most punters looking for new football betting sites. Bonus funds can help boost your bankroll at the most and, at the very least, get you familiar with a new betting site. Every top football betting site wants to attract new customers, so there are a bunch of welcome bonus offers out there, but there are also a few betting offers, including football betting offers, for regular bettors too. Let’s have a look at a few of the most common welcome offers. 

Matched Deposit

The matched deposit bonus is pretty straightforward; make your first deposit and your bookie will match it up to a certain amount. You might find a football betting site that welcomes you with an offer of 100% matched first deposit up to £300, for example. In this instance, you’ll be able to bag as much as £300 in bonus funds. There are usually stipulations that come with such large welcome bonuses, such as an expiry date and minimum odds requirements, so be sure to read the terms and conditions before claiming your football betting bonus.

Free Bet

Free bets are the most commonly found bonus at football betting sites. They’re offered as both welcome bonuses and existing player promotions, and you’re likely to find one at just about every good bookmaker. A common free bet offer is ‘bet £10, get £10’. Here, all you need to do is make a qualifying bet and bet £10 to receive your free bet. Terms and conditions apply, however, which will limit your use of the free bet, so be sure to keep an eye out for those.

Money Back Offer

More of a consolation prize than a reward, the money back offer gets your stake back if you don’t land a winner. You’ll usually have your stake returned as a free bet coupon, plus there’s almost always a cap on the maximum amount refunded. Despite this, it’s a decent offer, especially if you’re looking to back the underdog.

Enhanced Odds

In order to stay ahead of the competition, bookies can offer enhanced odds or price boosts on certain markets. These will usually apply to specific games that are likely to have big audiences. So if you’re looking for the best odds on a game that’s covered by pretty much every sports betting site, this is a great way for a sportsbook to stand out.

Betting on the Go

Pretty much every good football bookie offers a mobile app these days, with no additional registration required. Some betting sites in the UK also offer free native mobile apps, most commonly to Android and iPhone users. You’ll be able to get to your favourite betting markets lightning-quick – perfect for in-play betting, where every second counts. 

An added benefit to betting from a mobile app is that push notifications allow you to keep up to date with new promotions and the ever-changing football odds. So with no need to be tied to your desktop, check out the best mobile betting apps today.

Which Team to Bet On

The first thing to say here is that just as there are no guarantees in gambling, so too are there no guarantees in sport. Nevertheless, punters can put themselves in a position of relative confidence before they bet on the football by conducting research into the fixtures and events they intend to wager on. Take a look at the teams and players involved, consult recent stats and league history, and cast your own personal biases aside!

Here in the UK, the Premier League has been dominated by Manchester City and Liverpool in recent seasons; these two teams have won the last five titles, with City winning four of these. Players such as Kevin de Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are just some of the high-profile stars at these two clubs. 

Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham are the biggest threat to the current supremacy of City and Liverpool. You’ll find Raheem Sterling, Bukayo Saka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and other big-name players at these clubs. 

Although the Premier League is regarded by many as the best league in the world, Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A, and France’s Ligue 1 are all home to some of the biggest teams and players around. 

At Champions League holders Real Madrid, for example, you’ll find Ballon d’Or winners Luka Modric and Karim Benzema. And at Paris Saint-Germain, superstars Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi lead the attack. Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and AC Milan are some of the other major clubs from these leagues, all with world-class players in their ranks. 

How you select which team to bet on — particularly when the biggest sides are lining up against each other — will come down to personal hunches and footballing intuition, all informed and supported by research. There are countless sites that offer up their own football betting tips, including ourselves, which you can read about in the following section.

Make the Most of Our Football Betting Tips

With so many options at your disposal, filling your betslip can often be a daunting task. You might be lucky enough to win off a hunch, but many turn to tips when betting on football. There are plenty of football betting tips sites and social media pages out there, but they should always be approached with caution. 

With that in mind, here’s some of our own advice:

• Do your own research – First and foremost, doing your own research is the best way to make informed betting decisions. Even if you’re following a tip, check out the stats for yourself and make sure it’s a bet you’re comfortable making.
• Consider the odds – The bookies will have their own idea on who’s going to win a given match, so you might consider betting on the favourite. Conversely, you could opt for the underdog if you’re looking for a little more risk vs reward. 
• Keep track of stats – A quick look through the league table, head to head stats, and recent form is a great way to remain in the know. Depending on your bet, it’s also important to keep up to date on corners, bookings, possession stats, and injury lists.
• Don’t bet when inebriated – Lots of us like to have a pint in front of the football, but it’s unwise to bet when under the influence. You could be more likely to take bigger risks or gamble irresponsibly. 

If you’re looking for an introduction to betting on English football, our top tips for betting on the Premier League and Championship are sure to give you a nudge in the right direction.

How to Pay for Your Football Bets

The best online bookmakers will take bets through a variety of payment methods these days. Let’s have a look at what you can expect to find.

Gambling Safely at the Best UK Football Betting Sites

When you’re gambling safely and responsibly, football betting has the potential to increase your enjoyment of the experience. To ensure you’re keeping on top of your gambling habits, and keeping things light and fun, here are some of our top responsible gambling tips.

• Set budget limits – You can do this personally by keeping track of your spend, but we recommend using on-site limiters at your chosen sportsbook. Be honest with yourself about how much you can afford to spend or are comfortable losing, as there are no guaranteed wins in gambling.
• Set time limits – Setting time limits is equally important. How much is too much is personal to some extent, but you should never let gambling take priority over other hobbies or responsibilities. 
• Never bet more than you’re willing to lose – This isn’t specific to football, but is important to bear in mind when making bets on any sport or betting site. 
• Remember to watch football for fun – Take regular breaks from betting on the match, and allow yourself to enjoy football without worrying about your wagers.
• Never borrow money – If you can’t afford to make a bet, you shouldn’t make it, and you shouldn’t borrow money in order to support your gambling habits.

Safer Gambling Organisations

If you think either you or someone close to you is displaying signs of problem gambling, or even if you simply want to learn more about the problems associated with gambling and addiction, below is a list of organisations that can provide help and information.

• BeGambleAware.org features lots of vital information and avenues of support for problem gambling. 
• GamCare is an independent UK charity established dedicated to providing help, support and advice to anyone who’s been affected by problem gambling and addiction. 
• Gamblers Anonymous was founded in 1957 and has been organising support groups and networks ever since. They meet regularly online and across the UK, so visit their website to see how you can get involved. 

Are You Ready to Bet on the Football?

Now you know exactly what to expect from the best football betting sites in the UK, it’s time to pick out your favourite. All you need to do is compare the featured bookies on our list and follow our quick links to register, claim your bonus and start betting on football!

See our references & visit related external links

Please note that Compare.bet is not responsible for the content of third-party websites.

1. statsperform.com – SkyBet and bet365 Revealed as Launch Partners of Opta’s New Fast Player Statistics Feed
2. gamblingcommission.gov.uk – ‘New age and identity verification rules – changes to the LCCP from Tuesday 7 May’