A number of factors need to be considered before making the choice of a betting site. It can take several hours of research to narrow down on the best UK football betting sites. This is due to the plethora of bet sites in the market. The crucial elements that can end up making a difference:
Since football is played all around the globe, one can come across innumerable number of leagues and tournaments. The number of professional football clubs would easily go into the six figures, while the count goes up even more when semi-professional and amateur clubs are also taken into account. Just in the UK, there are more than 40,000 clubs in the football league system and this number does not include women and youth teams. Hence, it is a huge task in football betting to track a large number of clubs and offer odds on the games involving those. It is very easy for a betting site to skip some leagues. A punter has to look at the coverage in detail. Many of the upcoming football betting sites tend to skip leagues that are outside the English Football League.
The Premier League is one of the most important and popular football competitions in the world. A UK punter will especially be interested in placing a first bet on Premier League games, but not all bookmakers are similar in terms of the betting opportunities that they provide on this competition. During the season, it is difficult to spot major differences in terms of the betting markets, which usually cover the likes of result, total goals scored, goalscorer, corners, and cards. However, a difference usually arises during off-season when the best betting site will be able to provide more options during the transfer window. It is common to get manager or player transfer specials during this period, the options are more pronounced at the best betting site.
Outside of England, there are several European leagues that are held in high regard around the world. These include the La Liga, Bundesliga, and Italian Serie A. It is very common for an average betting operator to skip many of the European games they focusing only on big matchups. For example, a game between Real Madrid and Barcelona will be offered different markets but it is likely to be accompanied by a significant drop in choices for the Spanish matches. It is not advisable to choose such a football betting operator, as there are several good betting opportunities across the channel.
The Champions League is one of the finest tournaments. It involves the top teams from Europe going against each other in group and knockout stages. Apart from the plethora of betting opportunities on group matches, there are also several tournament outrights that can be quite rewarding for a punter. The route to the Champions League final is quite long and a top betting destination will be able to offer plenty of football betting choices – aside from the numerous promotional offers. A great idea for new customers is to bet early on outrights, as they tend to provide more value at the start of a campaign.
A number of international games are held during the course of a year. These are intermittent as the domestic season takes place, and most of these games are friendly matches that can offer decent levels of excitement to a punter. However, the real action starts with the international tournaments, which include the likes of the Copa America, FIFA World Cup, European Championship, and so on. Apart from a long list of games to bet on, these tournaments also have a number of football betting outrights to get any punter excited.
There are numerous football betting markets when it comes to football. The best bookmakers may even offer around 100 markets for a single game, but the situation is likely to be seen in the case of high-profile games like the World Cup final or Champions League final.
This is one of the popular betting markets and it allows a punter to back the outcome of a game. It is usually represented as FT or 1×2. A punter gets the opportunity to back a home victory, draw, or an away victory. This is as straightforward as it can get, and it is often regarded as one of the older ways of betting on football. In order to succeed in this market, punters need to have excellent knowledge of the game. The availability of just three options means that this bet is quite restrictive. This would often be the first bet for many customers.
The number of goals in a game is often seen as an indicator of its entertainment level. Betting sites come with a comprehensive list of markets surrounding the number of goals and these are usually represented as over/under a specific number of goals. The over/under 2.5 goals are a common sight in the world of football betting , but bookmakers also provide even options surrounding 0.5 goals or even more than 7.5 goals. This bet has only two options to significantly increase the probability of success.
This bet is usually abbreviated as BTTS and it is also one of the bets where the probability of success is significantly higher with one of the two picks set to become the winner. A punter can go with two options – yes or no. The ‘yes’ denotes the likelihood of both teams scoring in the game. If a punter selects ‘no,’ then it represents the probability of going with either one of the teams or both teams failing to score at least once.
A number of goalscorer markets have become in recent times, as it is possible to get some incredible odds on backing a player to score in certain situations. There are different variations like:
Anytime scorer – This is a market where punters would be backing a player to score at any time in the game. It does not matter even if a player scores with the aid of a deflection. As long as the player has scored one goal, it stands counted for this market. It is important to read the fine print with regard to this market, as some bookmakers would refund the stake if the player did not play in the match.
First scorer – A punter is blatantly choosing a player to score the first goal of the game. This market can be immensely rewarding in terms of odds, but the probability of success is also quite low. A number of factors like form and record against a specific opponent are used in assessing the likelihood of a player scoring the first goal. Even if a chosen player manages to get the second or third goals, the bet is considered lost if he does not get the first goal. It is possible to find a variation of this bet wherein punters need to pick the first scorer from each team.
Last scorer – This bet type is similar to the first goalscorer market with the only difference being that the chosen player has to score the last goal of the game.
To score multiple goals – This is a bet type where money is being placed on a player to score more than one goal. The player can be backed to score 2, three, or even more times in a particular game. If the player manages to score more than a punter’s prediction, the bet stands as a win.
The handicap system is primarily used to level the playing field of an unequal game. It is very common in football to witness a very strong team taking on a smaller outfit. For example, Chelsea takes on Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup. There is very little incentive to bet on this game due to the vast difference in the quality between two teams. Chelsea are the overwhelming favourites for the win. In this case, the handicap system is used to take away the advantage – on paper – from Chelsea. The underdog is usually provided with a certain number of goals before the start of the game. In this instance, Charlton may be given a three-goal head start. Now, Chelsea have to beat Charlton by at least three goals in order to come out as the winner. The Asian handicap also tries to eliminate the possibility of a draw, as the numbers would not be represented in whole numbers.
The best football games will have a large number of markets, and there are bound to be bets that are a combination of different events. It is possible for customers to create their own bets in the form of accumulators. The best football betting destination will provide an opportunity to combine two or more bets in order to form a single bet. A football accumulator bet involves a punter coming up with several bets and bringing them into a single bet. All selections have to succeed so that the bet becomes successful.
For example, a punter makes a five-fold accumulator and ends up getting only four of the five selections right. In this instance, the bet is considered as a loss but they can be looking at a sizeable reward if all five selections in the being successful. The accumulator bets certainly carry more risk than single bets, but the rewards are also higher.
The biggest factor to make a difference for betting customers would be the bookmaker odds. These odds are meant to represent the probability of an event.
A number of factors like recent form, historical precedents, statistics, and player availability could have an impact on the probability. Even after factoring all these elements, a betting site will not provide a price that represents the true probability of the outcome. There would be some adjustments in the name of bookmaker margins so that the operator stands to make a profit. Since each bookmaker has a different approach towards profits, punters can come across difference in odds from one bookmaker to the other.
A lot of value can be obtained by shopping for odds and choosing the best price for a particular outcome. For example, a Premier League game between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge could have the following odds: Chelsea win at 4/6, draw at 6/4, and Manchester United win at 4/1. The effect of probability of all these numbers combined would be 120% instead of 100%. The additional 20% represents the bookmaker margin and it varies from one operator to the other. The customers need to shop for once so that they find the best price for a particular outcome.
Most football betting destinations tend to provide excellent odds on certain sports and they have a reputation for doing the same. If there is no such special case, it is most likely that a bookmaker is approaching a league/game on its own and there would be differences in the margin. For this purpose, it is a good idea to compare the football betting offers from each bookmaker to find the best odds.
There is a huge responsibility to keep track of the latest promotional offers when it comes to football betting, as almost all betting sites have a plethora of offers that have been tailor-made to attract the highest number of customers.
One of the important promotion campaigns for any of the best football betting sites is the free bets offer. It is typically a bet that does not cost any money for the punter, and it is usually offered as a welcome bonus. It is quite common to find this offer available to new customers.
The new customers would be provided a special free bet offer in the form of an odds enhancement. For example, customers may receive a 5/1 for Manchester United to win a Premier League game compared to the even-money offer that is typically accessible by all the customers. The returns provided by these bets can be stellar, although they are not very complex to understand. It is still possible to lose money even with this welcome bonus offer, as the odds are enhanced in certain situations without actually receiving a free bet. However, the likes of William Hill tend to provide interesting offers like bet 10 get 30, where players would receive £30 in free bets (split up into two £15 bets). The new customers have 7 days to use this free bet as part of the several T&C’s associated.
Some football betting sites may offer a £10 free bet when a punter makes a bet of the same size. Incidentally, the free bet offers would have to meet min deposit requirements. It is important to read T&C carefully so that customers know what they are signing up for.
Since it is extremely simple to get these free bets under the belt, any new punter signing up with betting sites should consider the presence of this offer as a huge bonus. All new customers at football betting sites will be treated to a string of welcome bonus offers like bet 10 get 30, but this is subject to meeting min deposit and min odds requirements, while many of the offers would also expire in a pre-defined period like 7 days.
One of the most popular promotional offers would be acca insurance, which is effectively an opportunity to pick up the stake back if just one of the accumulator choices in the bet becomes unsuccessful. There might be variations in this offer, as the decision rests on the bookmaker. It is always better to pick up an offer that has fewer selections, as it means lower risk.
This can be one of the highly rewarding promotional offers in football. A punter has to pick a player who is most likely to score the first goal in the match. If the player goes on to get the first goal and score another goal in the game, the punter would receive returns at twice the odds. The Best odds will be trebled if the player scores a third goal in the game. All these multipliers would be provided at no additional cost. Interestingly, not all games will be part of the offer and punters have to double check the availability of this campaign.
A small number of football bookmakers have been offering the goals galore campaign, which is effectively used to back both teams to score in a game. The result of a game is not concerned with this campaign, as both teams have to just score at least one goal for the punter to win. Typically, one would witness the ‘both teams to score’ odds of being fixed. However, this campaign makes it possible to pick choices based on stats.
A common trait amongst football bookmakers is the awareness to not show their hand well in advance. As a result, many of the best odds for a particular event tend to be almost similar. As the event draws near, however, betting sites start showing off their prices in order to attract bets. All new customers should know that an experienced punter will be able to profit from this situation by holding off their wagers until the last moment. Now, they will take advantage of a price boost or enhanced odds campaign.
It is a great thrill to be able to watch football events live whilst betting at the same time. A growing number of betting destinations in the UK have started providing the option of watching live action from the comfort of their own devices. The punters in the UK are no longer tied down to their televisions in order to catch live action of football from around the world. The presence of a live streaming section is seen as a huge advantage. In fact, this is given more precedence over other features like mobile-friendly site or better promotions.
Football is undoubtedly one of the most popular sports when it comes to streaming, as many punters do not reside in the specific country when they are looking to back a club. It is a huge advantage to find a streaming service that covers almost every major footballing event around the world.
There are some sites that offer the opportunity to watch football events from around the world. This typically does not incur any cost for customers, who can actually benefit from the numerous promotional offers apart from the welcome bonus. The live streaming service can be accessed on these football betting sites by just having a funded account – in the case of a UK betting site like William Hill. The terms and conditions (t c) associated with this section changes from one bookmaker to the other.
Punters have been given the remarkable ability to make bets on a football match even as the game progresses and this feature has grown into a key requirement for good betting sites in the UK. If it is paired with a live stream, it becomes even more advantageous for customers, who can now pick their bets based on the flow of a game. Thus, it is not a surprise that many top betting sites like William Hill have started providing in-play betting opportunities of the highest order.
For example, Manchester United are taking on Hull City in a Premier League encounter. The latter is threatened with the prospect of relegation while United are going for the title. In a pre-match betting scenario, the odds will be heavily in favour of United that it does not make things for a punter to take the risks. Yet, a significant jump in odds– for backing a United win – occur if Manchester United were down to an early goal against Hull. Even if the stats like shots on target and possession are in favour of United, there will be a sizeable movement in the best odds that can be advantageous for the punter.
A not-so-obvious advantage with in-play betting would be the availability of several new markets. Many punters would have been accustomed to the pre-match markets, but these are replaced by new and innovative choices in this section. For example, punters can bet on the next goal, next goal for a specific team, next type of goal, total goals in each half, and more
The live betting can be used in conjunction with a pre-match bet. If a pre-match bet predicts a specific team to win an encounter, it is possible to take down the losses by going against the team in the in-play betting section if things are not going according to plan. When a pre-match bet and live bet are used in conjunction, it can produce a lot of flexibility for the punter. The likelihood of losses are much greater in in-play betting unless a punter stays cool and calm about the options, as it is easy to be tempted by long odds. There has to be a lot of control over the wagering amount so that a single event does not eat up all of the balance.
