How To Choose the Top Online Betting Sites

Looking for the best bookies UK? Our expert team has reviewed, compared, and ranked the most trusted online bookmakers that work for you. Check out our picks, browse through the best new bookies and get your new betting offers and odds from top bookmakers in the UK!

Deciding Where to Bet Online

When assessing a betting site, we always recommend taking the following criteria into consideration:

  • Safety and Fairness – All new betting sites UK must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and properly audited.
  • Betting Markets – The best new UK bookies will offer a wide range of markets, covering the most popular sports and niche ones, too. Not just football betting.
  • Odds Quality – There’s no point in new bookmakers offering lots of markets to bet on if the odds are worse than the competition.
  • Payment Methods – There should be a good range of payment methods, short withdrawal and deposit approval periods and the highest-level security technology.
  • Platforms – If we want to bet on the bus, we should be able to! Mobile betting is a must for new betting sites UK, alongside a user-friendly website.
  • Betting Offers – The top new sports betting sites will offer a good range of betting deals for new and existing punters.

Recommended Betting Sites

These are some of the most recommended new bookmakers UK and the top established betting sites on the market:

Free Bets and Other Sign-Up Offers from the Best New Betting Sites 2024

One of the most important things to a lot of punters is the quality of the new player welcome offer. Finding the best new betting offers will often help you identify the best bookies UK.

The majority of new online bookmakers offer free bets or bonuses when you first open an account with them, for the simple reason of giving you a boost when you bet online.

Some new betting offers are activated when you make your first deposit on the site, while others come into effect when you place your first bet. There are a variety of different offers, each with their own specific terms and conditions, so it’s essential to know exactly what you’re getting before you sign up.

These are the most common types of new betting offers currently being offered by UK bookies.

  • Free Bets – One of the most common types of new betting account offers, these are usually activated once you make your first bet with your own money. They can come in two basic varieties: Stake-Refunded Free Bets, where you receive both the original free stake and your winnings, and Stake-Not-Refunded Free Bets, which return only your winnings and not the stake provided by the bookies.
  • Matched Free Bets – This type of bet is usually directly tied to the value of the first wager you make with your own money. For instance, if the bookmaker has a 100% matched bet offer and you place a first bet of £20, you would receive a bonus of £20 in your account to make your next bet.
  • Deposit Bonus – Deposit a specified amount of money, make a bet, and get an extra amount as a free bet bonus from the sportsbook. The bonus you receive is usually calculated as a percentage of the amount you first deposit.

Keep in mind that many bonus offers come with terms and conditions that will affect what you can do with them. Some incentives are better than others, so make sure you thoroughly read the terms and conditions before taking the UK bookies’ offer.

Online Betting Apps – What You Need to Know

The move online has been hugely successful for the betting industry, helping them to expand into new markets and introduce innovative and popular features, bringing in a whole new generation of punters as well as a wave of new sports betting sites. The next step, which is already well underway, is the move to smartphone-first gambling via betting apps.

Online sports betting apps are available from almost all new online bookmakers UK and should be one of your key considerations when choosing which betting site to join. When we’re judging the best bookies UK apps, here’s what we look for:

  • Easy download and setup
  • Ability to sign up, deposit and claim bonus via the betting app
  • A wide range of sports to bet on
  • Live betting featuring all of the markets available on desktop
  • Cash out facility
  • Intuitive design and a stable user interface

Understanding Sports Betting Odds & Markets

Knowing the top betting sites is one thing. Understand odds, markets and how to place a bet are equally important. So, let’s get started.

In the UK, sports betting odds are displayed on a fractional basis, and there are many different ways to place bets on different sports on the best new betting sites.

Football betting is the most popular for punters. So, football betting sites have the most markets, meaning there are lots of options to bet on.

Let’s first take a look at the way odds are displayed and then dig a little deeper into the different types of bets you can place:

Fractional & Decimal Odds

Fractional odds –This is the most popular way to bet at new online bookmakers. The fractional odds will show you how many times the stake you will get back if you win. The odds are displayed as a fraction, and the first number represents the winnings if you stake the second figure on the bet. So, if the odds are 5/1, for every £1 you stake, you’ll win £5 + get the £1 stake back, of course. But this doesn’t mean you can only wager £1. You are welcome to bet more and will get 5 x whatever you stake. If you stake £2, your odds will still be displayed as 5/1, and you’ll get £10 winnings + your £2 stake. If you are betting on the odds on the favourite, the odds will be displayed 1/2, meaning for every £2 you stake, your winnings will be £1 + your stake.

Decimal Odds – These are less popular among UK punters. It’s a fairly simple way to calculate your potential winnings. If you take the decimal figure shown and multiply it by your stake, it will show you the total amount you will receive back if you win – your stake and your winnings combined. So, if the odds are 5.00 and you bet £1, you will get back £4 winnings + £1. 5.

Do not worry if you’re finding it all a bit hard to calculate. The best bookies UK will work out your returns for you and show you clearly in the betting slip your stake and potential returns. It will also all become much clearer once you’ve had a little experience and got to know your sportsbook.

Most new bookmakers UK will let you choose to display the odds fractionally or decimally, so you can bet with whichever system you feel more comfortable.

Bet Types & Markets

Single Bets – When you place a single bet online, everything is straightforward, and if you win, you’ll get your winnings based on the odds displayed

Multiple Bets and Accumulators – If you are looking for something a bit more exciting than a single bet, you can try double, treble or even five- and six-fold accumulator bets. This is when you bet on several games, and if all the results come in your odds, and therefore returns will be significantly higher, than if you bet online on them all independently.

Some new sports betting sites will offer you the chance to cash out early, so if you have won 4 out of 5 bets and the 5th one is still to come, they will pay you a lesser return than what you’d get for correctly betting 5, but you remove the risk of losing everything on the 5th game.

Different Multiple Bets:

  • Double Bets – The bettor bets on two selections only.
  • Treble Bets– The bettor bets on three selections.
  • Accumulator Bets – The bettor bets on four or more selections.

Online Bookmakers UK Reviews

The PlayRight online sports betting experts team has researched and reviewed some of the UK’s leading online bookies to bring you up-to-date rankings of the best new betting sites UK. Choose your favourite, and start betting with the best markets, best odds, and best new betting offers today.

UK Online Betting

Betting on sports is the most popular form of gambling in the UK, with millions of bets placed with UK bookies every week. Increasingly, many of those bets are being placed with online sportsbooks (established bookmakers and new bookmakers as well) as punters discover the convenience, flexibility and new possibilities that come with online betting. UK’s most popular betting sports are football betting, horse race betting, golf betting and tennis betting.

We only recommend the best betting sites UK, so check out our online bookmakers UK reviews, choose your favourite, and start playing today.