Sports betting means placing a bet with a bookmaker on the outcome of a sporting event. If you’re aged 18 or older, it is legal for you to bet on sports in the United Kingdom.
Sports betting accounts for 6.6% – of total gambling expenditure in the UK. Betting on sports in the UK is more popular than in Australia, where the it only accounts for 4% of total gambling spend.
Traditionally, betting on horses was the major form of sports gambling. Horse betting still remains an extremely popular pastime in the UK, accounting for 3.8% of total gambling spend.
The introduction of online betting has opened the gateway for betting on a wider array of sports. If you like, you can wager a bet on sports like EPL, rugby league and union, soccer, cricket, netball, tennis and many more. Online betting also gives you access to betting on the outcomes of international events, including American Football (NFL), American Basketball (NBA) Australian Football League (AFL) and many others.
Sport is a game of chance and skill and so is sports betting. You can’t change your luck but you can improve your skills
Central to the enjoyment of sports betting is remaining in control. Always bet sensibly and within your means. You might like betting simply because it makes watching your favourite sports more fun. That’s often true. However, with a better understanding of the industry and available betting products, you have the chance to make good profits with sports betting.
To bet on sports you need an account with a bookmaker, betting exchange or betting agency. Betting agencies provide markets that allow you to place bets. The selection of your online bookmaker is an important decision as many offer different types of sports betting products. The following betting sites are licensed and regulated:
We offer sports betting tools and calculators to help you calculate your potential returns on a variety of sports betting options.
If you like betting on soccer matches, try our arbitrage calculator. The calculator will compute the value of the arbitrage once all of the odds for the three outcomes are entered.
The back and lay calculator is also very useful for all sports, but in particular tennis and golf betting, where there can be wild fluctuations on a betting exchange.
try our betting toolsWhen you create a new account with a bookmaker or betting agent, you typically receive a sign up bonus. This once-off bonus is provided as thanks to you for choosing the bookmaker and opening a new account. If you’re thinking of opening a betting account, it’s a good idea to shop around and see what sign up bonuses are available.
Many bookmakers also offer free betting offers, usually tied to a particular event. For example, a betting agency may offer a free bet, if you place a head to head bet on a team in an EPL match. If that team loses, but leads at some point, or loses by a specific amount, you receive a free bet. This type of promotion, where the sports bet type is central to the offer, is very common. These types of bonuses are offered every week by bookmakers on a range of sports, involving a variety of bet types.
You can do well by taking advantage of the variety of betting promotions on offer from bookmakers. It is not necessarily recommended to seek out sports markets because a bookmaker is offering a bonus on a particular event. However, if you are planning to place a bet, it is worthwhile scanning the bookmaker promotions to see if there is an offer available that gives you the chance to win a bonus bet.
