McBookie’s direct sister site is StarSports, as both are operated under a UK Gambling Commission licence (9177) by Star Racing Limited.
Beyond that, McBookie is also part of the Playbook Gaming sportsbook network, which includes 10+ sister brands such as AK Bets, PricedUp, NRG, BetWright, and more.
McBookie is a white-label sports and casino offering provided by Star Racing Limited (UKGC: 9177).
With Star Racing having UK licences dating back to 2010, which were bolstered in 2018, it is fair to say they are an experienced operator in this space. With 15 years of operation under their belt, there will have been plenty of learnings along the way.
Common sense would tell you that McBookie should benefit from those lessons. If, however, it proves not to be the one for you, we provide some McBookie sister sites and alternatives for you to consider instead.
The first thing to note with McBookie is a strong site layout and powerful colour scheme. Two shades of blue and white complement one another well, making the site look smart. Navigation around it is excellent too, with markets easy to explore and bets easy to place.
Referencing the colour scheme as a first point of order was deliberate by us too. We have already cited a niche that McBookie performs well in.
That is one tailored towards the Scottish sports markets. Alongside the national colours, expect to find targeted sports offers and sorting rules tilted towards Scottish events.
If located in Scotland, that's great. If part of the wider customer pool, it's arguably not ideal. It is also not a deal breaker. McBookie offers worldwide coverage across the sports it offers.
Football is a decent example of this with 90 different competitions available to bet on. Market depth is less convincing. A top fixture in football betting boasts circa 150 markets.
This is far from market leading and, owing to the way the betting markets are structured, is probably overstated too with "total goals" for example repeating multiple times, i.e.:
Another downside to McBookie is the overall number of sports covered. Headlining sports like football and horse racing are front and centre of the site, however, only boasting 20 sports in the A-Z is a limited option pool compared to many.
On the plus side, betting margins of 6.10% are pretty solid and there is an extensive casino available to punters too. The casino offers games across a vast array of game types and is underpinned by multiple software providers.
McBookie is a decent betting platform, however, it's tilt towards the Scottish sports betting market won't appeal to everyone whilst other areas of the site don't quite hit the right notes.
With that in mind, is there a better alternative out there for you? We put a handful of McBookie sister sites and alternatives under the spotlight.
Star Sports is the leading brand name under the ownership of Star Racing Limited. It is the closest thing to McBookie.
There is a very clear link between the sites too, particularly where the navigation element and layout is concerned. This can be considered a positive because the intuitive nature of manoeuvring around the site makes life easy for users.
The Scottish prioritisation and colour scheme is removed, although it is still heavily blue, with sports markets taking on a more expected ranking order, be that through premier events headlining or time order, depending on what you are looking at.
There are also slightly more sports available to bet on at Star Sports with 23 menu options. This is an improvement versus McBookie, but still short of industry leaders by a fair distance.
Market depth within sports and the betting margins are consistent across the two Star Racing brands. The same is true of the casino offering.
From a banking perspective, deposit methods are limited at Star Sports with only card and instant bank transfers available, however, that negative is balanced out by £1 minimum deposits and almost instant withdrawal speeds.
BetTom is not a McBookie sister site. What it is, however, is a stellar alternative. You might have to look beyond what is a rather bold colour scheme but we'd encourage you to do so. The workings of the site are very, very strong.
From a headline perspective, it offers customers the capability to bet on sports and casino games, but also stands up well on other metrics too.
Like at McBookie and Star Sports, bettors can deposit from just £1 and the withdrawal process in literal minutes. This puts the sites on par from a very top layer.
Scratch deeper though and BetTom has some upsides too. During our tests, betting margins are superior, coming in at just 5.29%. The sports coverage and market depth is better too.
All told, there are 30 sports available to bet on, which is 50% more than available at McBookie whilst the market depth is extensive too.
Take the Premier League for example, even games that are a week away boast close to 300 markets. That number can treble as games approach kick off.
The casino at BetTom is not anywhere close to being market leading, but there are hundreds of games available to bet on, with Pragmatic Play providing in excess of 350 as just one of 22 different providers. A live casino is also included.
Midnite is a step away from the traditional bookmaker with a strong focus on eSports. Even if that isn't what you are looking for in a bookie, it still measures up well across all areas.
From a sport count perspective, there are 31 different options available to bet on, including common sports like horse racing, greyhounds, football and more. Race meets are covered around the globe with the football coverage equally as comprehensive.
Market depth attached to the sports side of things is closer to McBookie and Star Sports, as opposed to competing with BetTom, with around 100 markets available on a Premier League football match.
On the plus side, it also came out top of the brands listed here from a margins perspective. Margins of just 4.86% are exceptionally strong.
It also wins out on payment options. Offering card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Trustly and PayPal covers off a decent number of the popular methods.
Admittedly, deposit minimums of £5 are higher than other brands listed here, and our withdrawal tests took hours rather than minutes. Even so, those two aspects are still pretty solid in the wider context of online bookies.
On the casino side, it probably wins out too. Games are split across 16 categories, which give a flavour of the array of games available to dabble on.
The fact it boasts games from 45 different providers, including household names like Pragmatic, NetEnt and Blueprint is further evidence of a strong offering.
Ashley, an Ipswich Town fan, is an experienced content writer in the sports & betting space, who also has an extensive background in data analytics. Those skills combine here to allow for unique angles to be taken across a host of topics.