Best UK Football Betting Sites (December 2023)

Top Football Betting Sites in the UK

The football betting industry is fiercely competitive, with hundreds of bookmakers around the world offering football betting products. Below is our list of the top 10 football betting sites available in the UK.

Of course, the list is subjective, but we hope it allows you to find the right betting site to suit your betting style. For example, if you like to place custom bet builders such as card bets, goalscorer bets, or any mix of markets, bet365 is easily the best football bookie with their bet builder tool covering the most markets.

But, if you want to get the best betting odds, you can choose to use the Betfair Exchange, or go the traditional route and join BetVictor who have been #1 in our betting margins tests for the past 5 years in a row.

How We Test & Rank Football Betting Sites

Of course, our list and factors are subjective, but we hope our research and experience help your decision making.

When deciding the best football bookies we look at five main factors:

• Depth in betting markets
• Betting Margins/Odds
• Live betting experience
• Football Promotions
• Mobile Betting

Depth in Betting Markets

Football is a global sport beloved by millions of fans. It is played in hundreds of leagues all around the world.

When looking for the best football betting sites we want to see all the major leagues and tournaments.

• English Premier League
• Spanish La Liga
• German Bundesliga
• French Ligue One
• Italien Serie A
• Champions League
• Europa League
• Top five leagues Domestic Cups (FA Cup, Copa del Rey, etc)

But you also want to see the “smaller” leagues too. All of the betting sites on this page have great depth in their football markets and offer a wide range of leagues all around the world.

The top five are found at the top of the page, but the other list contains great football bookies.

Having all the leagues and competitions around the world is great. However, you need to check how many different betting markets are available.

The best sites will have well over 100 markets in the top five leagues. Even if you don’t use all the markets it is great to have as an option to find the best value bet.

Unibet has exceptional depth in its markets, you can often find over 400 different bets in the top football games.

Betting Margins

Sadly, at most football betting sites, the betting margins are much higher than most other sports.

Especially when you go to the smaller markets or harder-to-land markets like correct score, first goalscorer and even the over/under markets.

Check out our simple guide if you do not understand betting margins and want to learn how to calculate them.

First, we will compare all the 1x2 betting margins across the different bookies, then take a look at the unders/overs market just to see how margins change.

Betting Margins Conclusion

As you can see the margins vary greatly across the different betting sites, with a whopping 5.7% difference between the best and worst margins.

If you were to use Paddy Power at the 8.6% margin, you would "pay" them around £8.60 for every £100 you bet.

To get the best value for your money, try BetVictor, one of the best football betting sites in the UK.

However, they become very similar if you take a look at the unders/overs market.

• Bethard - Man United vs Leicester: Under (1.83) /Over (1.93)  2.5 total goals. Betting Margin = 7.2%
• Paddy Power - Man United vs Leicester: Under (1.80) /Over (1.91)  2.5 total goals. Betting Margin = 7.8%

Two Lowest Betting Margins

BetVictor and Betway have the two lowest betting margins at the time of writing.

But, of course, betting margins will change over time and by the event, market, sport, etc.

However, this is meant as an example, and to show how easy it is to calculate the betting margins yourself.

Live Betting Experience

Now you have determined whether the betting site has all the leagues and markets you want to use. But how is the live betting experience after you place your bet?

When deciding the best live betting platform we look at three factors:

Live Streaming - The best betting sites have some form of live streaming feature for several different sports. Most of the time it is a free service and you just need money in your account to view the live feed.

Cash Out - This is a feature for pre-game and in-play bets. It allows you to cash out for a profit or loss depending on how your bet is doing.

Fast Markets - Fast betting is a new market that adds thrill to even the smallest decisions in sport. In football, for example, you can bet on a corner in the next 1, 5 or 10 minutes.

Football Betting Offers for Existing Customers

Some betting sites have very few betting offers for existing customers. It doesn’t mean they are a bad choice. They usually have boosted odds, specials, and features allowing you to create your bet.

For example, William Hill and Bethard have very few football betting offers but are filled with high odds and special features to compete with the best sites.

Mobile Betting

According to the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), 51% of people are now use betting apps on their phones or tablets.

Football is the number one sport to bet on in the UK, which means a lot of people are betting on football using their devices.

You have two choices when betting on your devices, either uses a native app or a mobile-optimised site.

The best football betting apps are available on iOS and Android while also offering a great mobile site.

The Best New Football Betting Sites

Check out these great new betting sites below!

Most Popular Football Betting Markets

The top football bookmakers offer a wide range of popular football markets, including the following:

Match result: A simple one to start off with, the match result market simply refers to which team will win the game. There are three options: home win, draw, and away win. In some cup competitions, there may also be a market for the team that qualifies for the next round or lifts the trophy. This is simply the match result market with extra time and penalties taken into account.

Over/under: This usually refers to goals, but over/under markets for corners are also available. The standard over/under market is 2.5 goals. That means two goals or fewer will be a winning wager for under 2.5 goals, while three or more goals is a winner for those who back the overs. While the basic over/under option for goals is usually 2.5, it is also possible to bet on over/under 0.5 goals, 1.5 goals, 3.5 goals, 4.5 goals and so on. As well as over/under markets for goals and corners, many of the top betting sites also offer over/under markets for cards nowadays too.

BTTS: This stands for Both Teams To Score, a self-explanatory goals market offered by top bookmakers. BTTS can also be combined with other markets, such as the match result, which would look something like BTTS/Manchester City on a betting site, for example. Other bets that can be combined with BTTS include over/under goals markets, like BTTS/over 2.5 goals.

Double chance: A double chance bet does exactly what it says on the tin - giving players two opportunities to win. A type of match result market means users can back both one team to win and the draw. In essence, they are betting on a team to avoid defeat when they go for the double chance. This can be a handy option for underdogs who fans suspect can get a result against the betting odds, for instance, if they are playing away to a much larger rival team.

Correct score: Predicting the final result of a football match is famously difficult, but this does not stop people from trying as the odds tend to be very generous. For a correct score bet to be a winner, the user does not just have to get the winning team right, but the scoreline as well. Data and statistics can be helpful when trying to pick the right correct score for a football match.

Halftime/full-time: This one is a bit more complicated. In a halftime/full-time bet, users have to accurately predict which team will be ahead at the interval, as well as at the final whistle of a game. The draw is also included in the options. So, for example, in the north London derby in the Premier League, it is possible to opt for Tottenham/Draw, which means Spurs would be ahead against their rivals at the break, but Arsenal would battle back in the second half to claim a draw.

Special markets: An increasing number of special markets are offered at top football betting sites and they continue to get even more creative. For example, player props are very popular. This can include the first goalscorer, or just backing a player to find the net at any point in the game. Players can also be backed to score in a win for their side and it is even possible to place a wager on a football scoring a brace or a hat-trick in a game these days.

Other examples of special markets that are offered by football betting sites include players to be the first to be booked in a game, or even markets for players to be shown a red card. Each bookmaker also tends to have their own special markets that are not available on other football betting sites in a bid to make them stand out in an increasingly competitive field. Among the most popular types of special football, markets are football transfer betting which is offered on a select number of betting sites in the UK.

Popular Football Competitions For Betting

Football betting sites usually have countless options for their users to try out, but for most customers, there are a group of competitions that are the most popular for football betting.

Top domestic leagues: The Premier League is often said to be the best league in the world and it attracts a massive amount of football betting attention as well. Bookmakers often run special bonuses and offer for Premier League matches. Top European leagues are also very popular to bet on, with the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A and La Liga all having their fans.

The football pyramid in the UK is also popular for accumulators, in particular, so the Championship, League One and League Two can be considered top domestic leagues for football betting. In Scotland, much of the football betting attention focuses on the Premiership - where giants including Celtic and Rangers reside - but the Championship, League One and League Two are important too.

Domestic leagues from outside Europe are also becoming more popular too, with the profile of MLS in the United States always on the rise, while the time of day that Australia's A-League matches tend to be played means they can be a good option for football betting in the morning.

European competitions: Midweeks tend to be reserved for European competitions during the football season and they provide a lot of football betting opportunities as well.

The Champions League is the cream of the crop with its busy group stage providing many chances to make a profit for those who can accurately predict the outcome of matches.

The Champions League final is always one of the top football betting dates on the calendar and often produces UCL betting offers and free bets for both new and existing customers.

Those teams that just miss out on qualification for the Champions League may end up in the Europa League, which is played on Thursday nights and often includes some of the biggest clubs on the continent. For the 2021-22 season, UEFA has also launched the Europa Conference League and this could be another popular European football competition for betting in the coming years if it succeeds.

International competitions: Football fever can grip the planet during international competitions and football betting is a way to make the action that bit more exciting. Of course, it is the World Cup that is the most important tournament out there, with the fact it is only played every four years heightening expectations among lovers of the beautiful game.

European football fans place the Euros on a similar standard and the often unpredictable nature of the event - Greece and Portugal have upset the odds to win the European Championship in recent times - helps to make it ideal for football betting.

Many were uncertain when UEFA launched the Nations League - Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was among the high-profile critics - but it has been embraced by fans across Europe due to the fact it has replaced unpopular football friendlies in the calendar. Other international competitions of interest in football betting circles include the Copa America in South America and CONCACAF's Gold Cup, as well as the thrilling Africa Cup of Nations.