Betting Sites Like Bet365 – Alternative Bookmakers
Bet365 is one of the most popular and successful online betting companies in the UK. Bet365 is associated with having highly competitive odds and a huge choice of markets across many sports, and is seen as a pioneer of innovation in the industry. However, are there any Bet365 alternatives? And, are there sites like Bet365 that can compete and supersede Bet365?We’ve picked some of the best Bet365 alternative sites and put them through their paces below:
Recommended Sites
Top Betting Site for Odds Other than Bet365
Of course, coming at the top of every punter’s wish-list when it comes to the best betting sites is the best odds. So, how do other bookmakers compare to Bet365 in this respect?
Football Odds
Let’s start by taking a look at football odds, specifically those for the 2018/19 FA Cup:
| Bookie | Manchester City | Liverpool | Chelsea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Bet365 | 4/1 | 6/1 | 7/1 |
 | 888Sport | 5/1 | 8/1 | 7/1 |
 | William Hill | 7/2 | 6/1 | 6/1 |
 | Betfair | 7/2 | 13/2 | 13/2 |
As you can see, in this case, 888sport comes out on top easily, beating Bet365 and the other bookies in the odds for two out of the three teams. Of course, this is just 1 line, but a number of other lines we checked showed 888, Betfair and Skybet competing and beating Bet365 on odds.
Racing Odds
Certainly, football is not the only sport with which Bet365 is noted for giving top odds, so we can also take a look at horse racing odds, this time for the Cheltenham Gold Cup 2021:
| Bookie | Native River | Presenting Percy | Might Bite | Bristol De Mai | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bet365 | 9/2 | 5/1 | 8/1 | 14/1 |
| Betfair | 11/2 | 9/2 | 9/1 | 20/1 |
 | BetBright | 6/1 | 9/2 | 7/1 | 16/1 |
 | Betway | 5/1 | 9/2 | 8/1 | 16/1 |
As the table shows, these three bookies disagree with Bet365 over the candidacy of Native River as the favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2019, preferring instead to back Presenting Percy. As a consequence, better odds are available for Native River. It’s a close-run thing to declare the best bookies for horse racing odds, but Betfair just gets the nod as it beats Bet365 in four of the five prices and has much bigger odds for Might Bite and Bristol De Mai, two horses many pundits feel are capable of beating Native River at the Cheltenham Festival.
Alternative to Bet365 In-Play Betting & Live Streaming
Bet365 has always been cited as an example as one of the best bookmakers for live streaming and in-play betting, mainly thanks to an excellent mobile app and desktop site. But some of Bet365’s rivals also perform very strongly when it comes to the overall live betting experience.
In-Play Betting
Not every bookie gets it right when it comes to dealing with live betting, with bugginess and reliability still blighting some sites and mobile betting apps. Indeed, it can also be a difficult to say which is the best live betting site, because every punter will have different tastes. However, the bookmaker most like Bet365 in terms of reliability, slickness and range of live betting markets is arguably Betway sports.
Most notably, Betway compares well to Bet365 when it comes to its ‘In-Play Betting Console’, which provides you access to a wealth of stats and graphics for live events. Indeed, you could argue that Betway at times exceeds Bet365, especially when it comes to detailed live football statistics and text commentary of match events.
Live Streaming Football
Again, some bookies do live streaming better than others. In terms of football live streaming, Coral, Ladbrokes, William Hill and Paddy Power are favoured by lots of punters, with top European Leagues like Serie A, La Liga and Bundesliga covered by most. Not all coverage is as solid as Bet365 however, with the likes of William Hill and Paddy Power lacking Serie A live streaming. The best alternative to Bet365 for football live streaming might just be the often-overlooked Unibet, who cover all the top European leagues and allow you to watch live football for free providing you have a funded account.
Live Streaming Horse Racing
The majority of top UK online bookies allow you to watch live horse racing for free, providing you have bet a small amount – usually around £1 – on the race. Again though, the coverage will vary from bookmaker to bookmaker. Most will offer UK and Irish races but won’t match Bet365’s international coverage. However, Betfair is definitely an excellent alternative to Bet365 for live racing streaming, giving you access to racing from Britain, Ireland, USA +. Moreover, Betfair only requires a 50p bet to access UK races and sometimes just a funded account to watch international horse racing live. A clear winner.
Bookmaker Offering Similar Markets to Bet365
Football Betting Markets
Depending on the sport and popularity and the level of competition, a typical match or race could have anything between one and a few hundred different betting markets. For example, in a typical Premier League football match like Everton vs Watford (10/12/2018), Bet365 offered 158 different betting markets, covering everything from the match winner and correct score to more obscure markets like 1st player to be booked and player shots on target. However, some UK online bookies can eclipse Bet365 for football betting markets.
In the same Everton vs Watford game, Royal Panda Sports had a massive 382 different betting markets. Nearly all of Bet365’s markets are covered, with an extra focus on some ‘props’ markets like individual player yellow cards, players hitting the post/crossbar and so on.
Horse Racing Betting Markets
Unless it’s a hugely prestigious race like the Grand National, the top UK bookmakers will still only offer a handful of betting markets – perhaps less than half a dozen. Bet365 is regarded as average here, focusing mainly on markets like betting without the favourite and Jollies and Rags (betting on a couple of favourites vs the Field). When it comes to horse racing, punters should be impressed with William Hill’s range of betting markets. They cover the main elements of the race like Bet365, but also throw in interesting options for match bets (two horses competing against each other) and Insurance betting (two places).
Bookies with Free Bets & Promos Like Bet365
Of all categories that help decide which are the best online sportsbooks, bonuses and promotions are debatably the most important and most varied. A typical Welcome Offer from sites like Bet365 will involve free bet credits up to the value of £100. This will usually come in the form of a 100% matched offer, i.e. you will receive a free bet equal to the value of your first bet made on the site.
There are, however, some good alternatives out there. 888sport commonly offers enhanced odds for new customers on selected markets. For example, during the World Cup, new customers were offered inflated odds of between 30/1-70/1 on teams like France, England and Argentina to win the World Cup, which was over five times the standard price. Winnings are paid in free bets, but crucially 888sport did not limit customers to the minimum £1 maximum stake so often seen with these types of offers. At the moment, 888sport’s Welcome Bonus is £30 in free bets + £10 specifically in football free bets. This is awarded for an initial deposit of just £10. It’s quite generous, especially for new customer who don’t want to risk too much on their first bet.
Of course, the best bookies offer much more after the initial welcome offer one of the most consistently generous in this area is Paddy Power. The Irish bookie, now merged with Betfair, always seems to be ‘thinking’ outside the box when it comes to online sports betting promos. A run down of what is currently on offer to existing customers includes: Acca Insurance, Money Back Specials, 2-UP You Win (your football bet will be paid if your selection leads the match by two goals and subsequently fails to win the match). There is also the matter of the recently revamped Paddy’s Reward Club, offering weekly free bets, £20 for referring a friend to Paddy Power and one-off competitions like the chance to win a trip to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.
Bet365 Alternative Links & Mirror Sites
Bet365 is not available in every country in the world and there is always the (remote) possibility that the site goes down. For this reason, they have created ‘mirror sites’, sometimes called ‘alternative links’, which bypass the country restrictions. In a nutshell, using alternative links allows you to access a bet365 site if you were in a country, like the United States, which blocks the Bet365 site.
Alternative links are reasonably safe, but you may not have the wide range of legal protections when you are betting in your own country or on the main Bet365 site. Another method to bypass this if you happen to be in a country that blocks Bet365 is to install VPN software that changes the IP address, basically ‘tricking’ the internet to believe you are in a different country. While it’s safe, the same pitfalls in terms of player protection may apply. For that reason, we would recommend you choose any of the great betting companies listed at PlayRight as an alternative to Bet365 and check that they are available in your country.
Bet365 is rightly seen as the goliath of the online betting world and its success can’t be argued with. But, if for whatever reason you don’t want to bet at Bet365 – there are plenty of good alternatives out there competing strongly with Bet365 in a number of areas
