The key to maximizing your winnings at online sports betting sites is to choose the best betting websites to place your bets with. While each site has its advantages, there are select bookmakers that offer free bets and fantastic odds, making them stand out from the rest. Our team of experts has compiled a comprehensive list of the top bookmakers to help you find the perfect one for you. Don’t forget to check out the latest sports betting promo codes as well.
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What is a bookmaker?
Before we get into the ranking, we must first consider: what is a bookmaker? If you are new to the world of online betting, you may not be familiar with all the aspects involved, perhaps not even understand all the odds or how to use free bets. A bookmaker is a professional gaming body that offers you the chance to win money by betting on sports events.
Having originated in the UK, bookmakers have grown in popularity around the world – first as physical shops in the High Street and now as online sites. The principle of betting at these online sites is simple – the probabilities surrounding a sports event are used to determine an odds value, on which you place your stake bet.
Online Bookmakers
Say, for example, that you want to bet on an Arsenal win against Tottenham in the Premier League. If the odds listed for ‘Arsenal to Win’ are 2/1, and you decide to place a £10 wager, then you will receive gross earnings of £20 in the event that this bet is a winner. On the other hand, if Tottenham win, or the game results in a draw, then your £10 bet will stay with the bookmaker. Such is the principle of sports betting, particularly at online bookmakers.
Sportsbook: The Importance of being licensed
Regarding this market in the UK, an institution called the Gambling Commission was founded in 2013. An executive, non-departmental public body of the UK Government, the Commission is responsible for regulating and supervising gambling – including keeping gambling fair and safe for all, and ensuring that bettors’ winnings will be paid without abuse. They will review the sites in question before granting them a license.
For this reason, it is encouraged to always register accounts with sites that are licensed and undergone a review of their services. Holding a Curacao eGaming License or one from the UK Gambling Commission, Malta Gaming Authority is important.
If you ask us, M88 is one of the best in the business in the UK. In the end, don’t forget that your bank details, your identity, and your gambling habits will always be requested when you register on a betting site. You might as well make sure that these are fully secured and guaranteed by an official state institution.
The Top Licensed Bookmakers in 2024
- Bet365
- 1xBet
- 22Bet
- MarathonBet
- BetWinner
- Bwin
- 888sport
- Betsson
- William Hill
- Unibet
- Betfair
- LSBet
- Parimatch
- 188Bet
- Vbet
- Bet-at-home
- Megapari
- Sportingbet
Comparison of the Bookmakers
Are you looking for a new sports betting site to register with? Choosing the right one is so important. Registering with a site that is not licensed or regulated is not a good idea. It’s best not to take the chance.
As you can see from the above table, there are many different bookmakers currently operating on the UK market. While we will advise you to register at each site to enhance your winnings, it is still important to know which bookies to make a habit of betting with and why. In addition to reliability (financial strength), reputation (licenses obtained), quality of transactions (means of payment accepted, deposit fees, etc.), or live betting offerings and free bets that can be received, we first and foremost analyzed the main factor of interest to you, for example:
- The level of odds offered.
- The overall quality of the site.
- The variety of sports that are covered.
- How good their welcome bonus is.
- Customer service.
We now look at each of these factors in more depth.
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The level of odds offered
Whether it is football, tennis, basketball, or rugby, all of the major sports and others not popular but still important are offered at online betting sites. To rank the bookmakers included in our comparison, we have carried out an expert review of the site in question.
This has included looking at the odds that the site is offering to its players. This is important so that our review process can discover the sites that have the most competitive odds. For example, it may be that William Hill is offering odds of 2/1 on Arsenal beating Tottenham. However, Bet365 has slightly lower odds of 15/8. Our review discovers, therefore, that it is William Hill who has the better odds on this market, so they will receive a better ranking.
The Quality of the Website
The second important criteria to consider in determining the best sports betting site is the quality of the website itself. Our team of experts will review the site and then tell you their opinion. Players will spend a large amount of time on the site that they wish to open an account with. Therefore, the web interface of that site is of extreme importance.
Whether it is the quality of the design or how easy it is for players to navigate their way around the site. This includes areas such as the page loading time, intuitiveness, responsiveness, etc. There are many factors to take into account when evaluating this criteria. After substantial testing, our team has determined a rating for each bookmaker based on this second criteria.
The Variety of sports covered
The third point that we want to highlight is the variety of bets offered by each bookmaker. Similar to the level of odds offered, the range of betting markets available at each site plays a large role in our classification. In this light, the sites that offer a greater range of betting markets on a variety of sports events will be rewarded by our specialists in the rankings when determining which are the best to open an account with. It is important that the top sports are covered but also those that aren’t quite so popular but are good to bet on.
How good their Welcome Bonus is
Next, the penultimate criteria considered in our ranking: the quality of the welcome bonus that you can claim. Online bookmakers offer a variety of different promotions ranging, and our experts look to find out what the best offers are that you can claim. There could be free bets offered or a risk-free bet. Others see a matched bonus based on your initial deposit.
The bonuses that you can claim do vary and our team of experts will go through each one available to determine which are the best. After having analyzed each bookmaker’s bonus offered to new customers and all the available betting promotions, we will tell you all about what is possible to claim.
We will look at the terms and conditions that are attached to free bets and the size of the deposit required. This is an important aspect as you will not want to see too many restrictions placed on the free bets or deposit required.
Payment methods
To have a good experience with an online bookmaker, it is important to have a wide choice of payment methods accepted. In our ranking of the best bookmaker at the moment, we therefore took into account the variety of payment methods on offer as well as the conditions of using them. The more methods of deposit and withdrawal a sports betting site offers, and the fewer restrictions it imposes (minimum deposit, minimum withdrawal, transaction times, extra charges, etc.), the better its ranking on SportyTrader. For more details, we invite you to read our report on bookmaker payment methods for sports betting.
Customer Service
Last but not least – customer service. This is one of the most important aspects to consider when ranking bookmakers, as it is crucial that a representative of the online betting site is easily available to you should you need to contact them.
There are many areas that you could be asking for assistance over. This includes a query over free bets, registration, payment methods, or the terms and conditions of an offer.
Whether it is answering simple queries or resolving any issues that can arise, we have researched all of the resources provided by each site to aid you (email, phone, live chat, FAQs, etc…). One of the primary considerations in the Sportytrader ranking, as it will guarantee the overall quality of your gaming experience. Remember also that it is important to gamble responsibly. More information about this at begambleaware.
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You may well have questions about bookmakers that you would like answering. The more information you have, the better chance of success at online sports betting sites. Our betting guide will be of great help to you. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions.
best betting websites
