Top UK Open Championship Betting Sites 2024

How We Pick the Top Open Championship Betting Sites

Whether you call it the Open, the Open Championship or the British Open (to distinguish it from the US Open), there’s no doubting the prestige and importance of this iconic golf event. As well as being one of the four Majors, it’s the oldest golf tournament on Earth, and winning here is high on the agenda of every top golfer.

There are more UK betting sites around these days than you can shake a putter at, so where should a prospective punter even begin? This is where we come in. The team here at Compare.bet is made up of industry experts, and we’re focused on recommending the top bookies around right now. Here’s how we choose.

Betting Markets

Sports betting would get pretty dull if you could only wager on the winner. The best bookies in the UK offer up an appealing array of betting markets, allowing you to predict all aspects of the Open Championship, and keeping the betting experience fresh and exciting.

Bonuses

A good welcome bonus can make all the difference when you’re weighing up which site to join. We pay close attention to the various incentives on offer, and also consider promotions provided to regular users like cash back offers and enhanced odds.

Customer Service and Interface 

How ‘on-hand’ is the betting site’s customer service team? Can you get in touch with them by email, phone and/or live chat? We factor all of this in when making recommendations, and also consider the general feel of the site, how user friendly the interface is, and whether native apps are available to download for mobile betting.

Banking Options

How would you ideally like to deposit and withdraw funds with betting sites? With your debit card, perhaps, or an e-wallet service? The best bookies in the UK will have a range of methods available so you can pay in the way that suits you best.

Licensing

There’s one important thing all the UK betting sites on our list have in common: they’re all licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). That means you can rest easy knowing your personal details are shielded by industry-standard encryption technology, and that all the sites we rank abide by strict standards of fair play and responsible gambling.

What Can I Bet On?

When you enter the golf section of a top betting site, you’ll be presented with plenty of options for betting on the British Open. Here’s a taste of the markets you can expect.

Outright Winner

This is the unmissable, go-to betting market for many punters. If you feel ready to predict who’ll be lifting the famous Claret Jug, you’ll want to make a beeline for this bet.

First Round Leader

Putting your money on the overall tournament winner is one thing, but there’s another question which will be on everyone’s minds: which golfer will come out on top after the first round? This is an intriguing market as a large selection of underdogs and lesser stars may have a good chance of being first round leader.

Each Way

An each way bet is made up of two components. You’re betting on who you think will win but, if you’re wrong, you can still get a payout if you successfully predict where the golfer places on the leaderboard.

To Make or Miss the Cut

After 36 holes are played, only the best-performing players can progress to the later rounds of the Open Championship. With this betting market, you can put money on who you think will make the cut, and who’ll potentially be sent packing.

To Place

This is another classic golfing betting market – predicting where a particular golfer will end up on the leaderboard. The top 5? Perhaps the top 10? It’s down to you to ponder what’s likely.

Head to Head

Not all markets involve the wider events of the tournament. With head to head bets, your focus will be on just two players who’ve been matched up by the bookmaker. The idea here is to place your wager on who will come out on top – a fascinating question for serious golf fans to consider.

In-Play Betting

Betting on the British Open doesn’t necessarily mean predicting outcomes before play commences. The best bookies also offer in-play, or live, betting, meaning you can go ahead and place wagers well after tee off. This isn’t just for punters who didn’t get around to betting ahead of time. Many gamblers actively prefer in-play bets because the odds can work in your favour. For example, a top player like Rory McIlroy may have less-than-lucrative odds prior to a round. But, if he starts to falter during play, the odds may fluctuate to give you a better return if he then does go on to win.

Cash Out

The cash out option offered by many of the best UK bookmakers offers customers more control over the whole betting process. Opting to cash out effectively means pushing the ejector seat button on a bet – you’re bailing out and taking whatever money you can, with those funds being calculated using the current odds. So, if it looks like your bet might not come good, cashing out can be a good consolation prize, letting you at least gather up some profit. Of course, it won’t be as large a return as you’d get if you had won the bet outright.

Accumulators

Why bet just once when you can bet several times on the same slip and reap the mathematical benefits? That’s what’s on offer with accumulators, also known as acca bets. As the name suggests, accas combine different selections, multiplying the odds so as to give a much bigger return if they all come good.

If one selection doesn’t work out, the whole acca loses. On the plus side, top UK betting sites sometimes offer acca insurance. With this insurance, you’ll get your stake back in the form of free bets if your acca loses by one selection — a nice bit of reassurance to have when placing your accumulator bets.

Boost Your Bankroll

The UK’s bookies are in a never-ending race to pick up more members, and that means they’ll roll out the red carpet in the form of tempting welcome bonuses. Here are a couple you’ll find with our ranked operators.

Matched Deposit Bonuses

Many betting sites offer matched deposit bonuses as a reward for signing up. A typical example is ‘100% up to £200’. This means that, if your initial deposit is anything up to £200, you’ll get the same amount added to your betting pot, courtesy of the bookmaker. So, if you deposit £50, you’ll have a total of £100 to bet with. Of course, there will almost certainly be conditions, such as wagering and minimum odds requirements, so do check the terms and conditions before signing up.

Free Bets

Free bets are a common sight in the online betting landscape. A classic free bet promotion might say ‘Bet £10, get £10’, and this does exactly what it says on the tin. As long as your first bet hits £10, and meets the qualifying odds, the site will give you the extra tenner in free bets – either as £10 or in smaller increments. Once again, it’s wise to check the terms and conditions when signing up so you know exactly how it all works.

Take Advantage of Promos

Bonuses aren’t just for new sign-ups. Once you’ve joined one of the UK’s best betting sites, you’ll also be treated to numerous promotions as time goes on. Here are a few.

Money Back Offers

Losing a bet is, unfortunately, inevitable in the world of gambling. That’s why winning is such a rush, after all. The good thing is, some of the losses can be mitigated with money back offers. Betting through one of these promotions means that your stake will be returned in the form of free bets if you do lose. To be clear, there will be a cap on how much will be returned to you, and there may be other stipulations in place. All in all, money back offers are a great gift for customers, and also make it more palatable to take a punt on longshot golfers in the British Open.

Enhanced Odds

Betting on favourites isn’t a great way to build up a big profit – unless the odds have been artificially enhanced in your favour. That’s what many bookies will do during big, marquee events like the Open Championship in an attempt to attract punters away from their rivals. Make use of these boosted odds to potentially reap big rewards from low risk bets.

Payment Options

Banking with the top UK bookies is a doddle. Most operators offer a broad range of payment options, meaning you shouldn’t have to compromise on your preferred way to deposit and withdraw funds. Here are some popular examples:

• Visa and Mastercard debit cards
• PayPal
• Neteller
• Skrill
• Paysafecard
• Bank transfer

Cast Your Bets on the Go

Whether you want to bet on the British Open or any other sporting event, you won’t have to be near a laptop or desktop computer to do it. There are two ways you can have a flutter on the go with the UK’s best mobile betting sites.

• You can go straight onto the site URL via your phone or tablet’s browser, log in and bet as usual, without any need to download anything.
• You can download the native mobile app, if the site has one, which provides a quicker, more convenient way to bet on the move, and also keeps you updated on the latest promos with push notifications.

Betting Tips for the Open Championship

There are no certain winners in the world of sports betting. Even the hottest favourite can fall unexpectedly, and we’ve seen plenty of no-name underdogs rise up to claim golf’s biggest trophies over the years. All that being said, there are some golden rules to bear in mind before having a flutter at UK bookies.

While many punters will consult the official rankings, and that is a useful piece of data to consider, it’s far more important to consider the recent form of the golfers at the British Open. Ranking right at the top doesn’t mean much if the player has been faltering in recent tournaments, for whatever reason. You’ll also want to check if they have experience of the course. The British Open takes place at a variety of courses, so look into how the golfers have previously fared at the course in question – are they comfortable here? Does their particular skill set lend itself well to the course? 

Remember to research data related to specific markets, too. Which players have been shown to be fast starters? Sometimes, journeymen golfers with little chance of winning outright may be a good bet for becoming first round leaders.

Other Major Golf Tournaments

Alongside the Open Championship, there are three other Majors which make up the most glittering constellation of tournaments in the golfing firmament. These are:

• The Masters (Augusta, April)
• The PGA Championship (various courses, May)
• The US Open (various courses, June)

There’s a very large selection of other prestigious golf championships throughout a given year, providing yet more chances to bet. Here are some to look out for:

• The Omega Dubai Desert Classic (Emirates Golf Club, January)
• The Players Championship (TPC at Sawgrass, March)
• The Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open (various courses, July)
• The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (various courses, September)
• The WGC-HSBC Champions (Sheshan Golf Club, October)

Looking Back at the Open Championship

The longest-running golf tournament in the world, the Open’s history stretches back to 1860, when the Prestwick Golf Club in Ayrshire hosted the first event. The intention of the first Open was to determine who would succeed the great early pioneer of the sport, Allan Robertson, as the greatest living golfer.

It’s distinguished from the other Majors by the fact it’s always played on links courses–such as the iconic Old Course at St Andrews–and the British Open has witnessed triumphs by some of the all-time greats. These include Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. 

But it’s not just the hot favourites who’ve held up the Claret Jug. Back in 2003, we had the fairytale story of Ben Curtis, the obscure American underdog who’d never played in a Major and never been to the UK before, and somehow beat the likes of Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh to win the trophy. Practically invisible at 396th in the world rankings, he was the 300/1 outsider dubbed by the BBC “the most unlikely Open champion of all time”. He would certainly have provided a windfall for anyone canny enough to have put money on him as the outright winner

Ready to Bet on the Open Championship?

All set for one of the greatest displays of golf in the world? Compare.bet makes it easy to compare our recommended betting sites in the UK, weigh up the welcome bonuses on offer, sign up today for the site that suits you best, and cast your bets!