Looking for a good online bookmaker?
If you are looking for a bookmaker to start betting online with, or simply want a breath of fresh air, it is important that you pick a bookmaker that suits your needs.
There is a wide choice of online bookmakers these days, but this creates a problem because you have to choose which one is the best. From bookmakers focused on new players and promotions, sports betting coverage or even overall usability, each website can be slightly different to use.
We have selected the best online bookmakers to sign up to below.
Betfair – £25 Free Bets
Betfair is the world’s largest sports betting exchange. Launched in 2000 in the UK, Betfair provides an excellent service and you can find the cheapest odds available online here. Betfair was the first bookmaker to release an official iPhone App so that you can access the markets and place bets on your iPhone.
Betfair is sports betting exchange -as opposed to a conventional bookmaker like Bet365. This means that they simply process the bets that you make with other players. You can set your own odds, lay or cover teams, and overall their fixed odds and in-play betting odds are 20% better than competitors. Betfair has excellent customer service, has over 2.5 million users, and in one of the fastest growing bookmakers to date. Highly recommended.
Bet365 – Open account offer
With over 4 million customers in over 200 countries, Bet365 is one of the largest bookmakers in the world. Bet365 has excellent site navigation and 24/7 customer support. You can find a massive range of sports markets to bet on, including financial betting, and along with European sports you can find betting lines for all the major US sports leagues (NHL, NFL, NCAA, NBA, MLS etc).
What I like best about Bet365 is their massive 100% up to £200 first-deposit bonus and the fact that you can watch a number of international football friendlies and Serie A games on Bet365 Live Streaming each week. Bet365 run a number of special deals and promotions too, including Money-Back promotions on football games and Horse Racing Multipliers. In fact, Bet365 also guarantees the best odds anywhere for both horse and greyhound racing events.
How do we pick our favourite bookmakers?
We use a number of sensible criteria for rating and reviewing online bookmakers. First of all we look at the overall quality and reputation of the organisation. Do they have many users, do they have 24/7 email and free-phone support, how easy is it to deposit or process bets online etc…
We then start to nit pick and look at the types of promotions and features that they offer their users. For exampe, both Betfair and Bet365 provide great deposit bonuses, weekly special promotions and they provide access to live streaming sports event and commentary every day. The website layout and user-nagivation is important i.e. how easy it is the access the sports betting markets and find the latest upcoming events, plus we make sure that simple add-ons like betting calculators, form/results guides, and daily news/tips and features are included.
Finally, we check the security of our ranked bookmakers. Both Bet365 and Betfair are heavily regulated, have guaranteed 128bit security, and they don’t give away any personal details or information to 3rd parties. Overall, both of these are very safe sites to deposit your money at and wager on games at.
Site | US | Rating | Bonus % | Bonus | Review | Visit | ||
1. | bet365 | 100% | £100 | Review | ||||
2. | William Hill | 100% | 100€ | Review | ||||
3. | Betfair | 100% | £25 | Review | ||||
4. | Paddy Power | 100% | €30 | Review | ||||
5. | Sportsbook | 100% | £25 | Review |