Football Betting Sites

How We Review Football Betting Sites

Here are some of the elements we focus on when assessing whether a site is worthy of recommendation.

Range of Football Betting Markets

As the world’s most popular sport, football has top-class leagues all over, from the English Premier League to the Brazilian Série A. We don’t think punters should be limited when it comes to what they can bet on, which is why we think the best football betting sites in the UK should cover a wide spread of markets from all over the globe.

Market and Odds

No matter if you’re picking Arsenal to thrash Spurs or for Real Madrid to win the Champions League, getting the best odds is key to getting the highest payouts. We will always look for sites that give the most competitive odds, as well as those that can provide plenty of betting markets on their sportsboooks.

Payment Options

These days, the top football betting websites offer a medley of different banking options, ranging from e-Wallets like PayPal to bank transfers and debit cards. This is important because every punter will have their own favourite payment method; the more options on offer, the better.

Offers and Promotions

Both well-established and new football betting sites come with some great deals for would-be bettors. These often include matched deposit bonuses, where bookmakers offers give punters an amount in bonus credits proportional to how much has been deposited into their betting account. You may also see an influx of football promotions when big tournaments swing around, like odds boosts on the Champions League or early payout offers if your team scores early in the Euros.

Live In-Play Betting

The best football betting sites also run in-play betting sections ‒ a market that allows bets to be placed after the game has already kicked off. In-play odds reflect the real-time action, and punters can place wagers on anything from the next goal scorer to whether Erik Lamela will be sent off.

Mobile and Desktop Experience

Betting at home on your desktop is one thing, but what if you want to bet on Bale scoring from outside the box while you’re waiting for the bus? Good mobile functionality is key to this, and we pay careful attention to the user experience across the bookmaker’s platforms.

Customer Service

When it comes to football betting, every second counts. That’s why it’s essential your bookmaker delivers efficient, helpful, and friendly customer service. The best sites will offer 24/7 live chat for urgent queries, but we also want to see timely email and phone support, a detailed FAQs section, and the use of social media channels.  

Unique Features

Great UK sportsbooks, from new football betting sites to ones that have been around for a while, have handy perks like bet editing tools, live streaming of matches, and the ability to cash out while play is underway. Our reviewers also keep an eye out for unique features that make certain sites stand out from the crowd.

How to Sign Up at a Football Betting Site

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can wager on everything from the German Bundesliga to the Bulgarian Third division.

1. Compare Football Betting Sites
   Use our handpicked list of the best football betting sites to get a feel for what’s out there. You can immediately compare welcome bonuses, or delve deeper by looking at our individual reviews.
2. Click Through to the Betting Site
   Once you’ve settled on your preferred site, follow our link that will take you straight over to the registration page.
3. Enter Your Details
   You won’t be able to put your football betting strategy into action unless you’ve got an account with a football betting site. Becoming a member is a straightforward process – just enter your personal details as prompted, and create your username and password.
4. Verify Your Account
   You’ll need to first verify your identity before you can place a bet, which will include providing your date of birth and address, and submit an official document like a passport driver’s licence. This is entirely standard as part of the UK Gambling Commission’s licensing requirements.

How to Place a Bet at a Football Betting Site

Once you’re all signed up and have access to your betting account, it’s time to place your first wager. Here’s how to go about that.

1. Deposit Money
   Unless you’re using a no deposit bonus, you’ll need to deposit money into your betting account. Just click over to your account area, select the payment method that suits you, enter the required details, and that’s it. Most deposit methods are instant once verification checks have been completed.
2. Select a Market
   You probably have some idea of what you’d like to bet on, but even if you don’t that’s not an issue. The football markets section of a site should provide plenty of inspiration; since football is such a popular sport, you’ll usually find all the available markets close to the top of the navigation menu. Click over and you’ll be greeted with lists of leagues and competitions, all of which are open to wagers. You can then select from those on offer or choose more specific bets from individual matches ‒ on anything from the number of corners to the number of cards.
3. Build Your Bet Slip
   Football betting sites in the UK work by showing a bet slip. It’s basically a part of your screen that keeps a tab on what you’ve chosen to bet on, so you can review your selections before confirming the wager. If you’re betting on just a single outcome, there’ll only be one line in your bet slip; if you’re placing an accumulator, each component will be listed one after the other.
4. Enter Your Stake and Bet
   With every bet you click or tap on, you simply enter your stake in the box provided. This amount will need to be equal to or less than the amount you have in your account, plus any bonus bets you might have accrued. Then, simply press confirm.

How to Withdraw Your Winnings From a Football Betting Site

The top football betting websites make it easy to withdraw your winnings. Here’s how it’s done.

1. Head to the Cashier Page
   The cashier or banking page on a betting site doesn’t just deal with deposits ‒ it’s also the place to go when you want to cash out your funds. Head over there to request a withdrawal.
2. Select a Withdrawal Method
   Choosing a withdrawal method is important if you’re concerned about when you’ll actually get your hands on the money. Some banking options take longer than others, with e-Wallets tending to support the fastest withdrawal times. But timings do differ between football betting sites, so check the help section or FAQs if in doubt.
3. Cash Out Your Money
   At this stage, you just need to type in the amount you want to withdraw. Remember, there may be a minimum withdrawal amount, so you might want to double check that before cashing out. You’ll then have to wait for the processing of the payment to complete, which could take anything from a few minutes to a few days depending on the withdrawal method.

Football Betting Advice

Having a solid football betting strategy is dependent on a decent knowledge of the game and the teams and players involved. Don’t worry if you’ve not been keeping up with the latest developments, as there are lots of places online where you can source in-depth information and football betting tips. Remember though, that your own first-hand research is always the best preparation. Here are some general factors to keep in mind when betting.

Form Guide

If you’ve not managed to catch much of a particular league in the last few weeks but fancy backing a team, it’s very helpful to check the form guide. This will give you an indication of the form of those involved, but bear in mind that form guides are no guarantee of future results.

Home and Away

They call it the ‘12th player’ – the sense that there’s an extra teammate on the pitch generated by the noise of the home fans. Playing at home usually provides a morale boost that can spur players to perform better in the heat of the moment, and can even influence decisions made by the referee. Obviously it’s no guarantee of a win, but it’s a factor that’s definitely worth keeping in mind before placing a wager.

Fixture Congestion

The fixture schedule plays an important part in a team’s season, especially for the better teams that qualify for multiple tournaments and leagues. For example, when things are in full flow in the UK around March, the best teams might be competing in the league, the Champions League, FA Cup, and Carabao Cup at the same time. Key players will be rested for some matches, while others might be playing at limited capacity ‒ these factors are likely to have an impact in the short-term.

Injuries and Suspensions to Key Players

Another way that teams can get depleted is through injuries and suspensions. Think about whether that bet on your forward scoring a hat-trick is as likely to come off if they’ve been struggling with a hamstring problem. Bear in mind as well that the loss of certain players due to suspensions can have a major effect on the big games.

Finding the Best Betting Options on Football Betting Sites

Football betting is often more complex than a prediction on which team is going to win the game — but it doesn’t have to be! Here are some of the most popular football betting options. 

Match Betting

There are loads of markets available, but this one represents football betting in its simplest form: just pick the winner of any given match. In tournament football, one thing to look out for here is whether your bookie considers wins earned through extra-time or penalties as a legitimate result for the purposes of your bet. 

Match Result

With match betting, there are just three propositions — win, lose or draw — but with match result, punters will need to pinpoint the exact final score. It’s much harder to do, so you’ll find the odds reflect this.

Over/Under

The over/under market is a great betting option when you have a general feeling about a match. Punters select an area of the game — goals is the most common, but cards and corners are also popular — and then decide whether they want to wager over or under a specified number. For example, if you think Spurs and Leicester will continue their gung-ho approach to that fixture, then you might bet on over 5.5 goals in the match. Here are some other examples of when to select the over/under market:

• A cagey scrap for survival towards the end of the season might favour an under goals selection, such as under 1.5 goals in the match
• An open game against two evenly matched sides might favour an over corners selection, such as over 11.5 corners in the match
• A feisty Merseyside derby might favour an over cards selection, such as over 6.5 cards in the match

Goalscorers

Simply pick a goalscorer in the game. If you want to enhance your odds here, you can opt to pick the scorer of the game’s first goal — football betting offers might boost the odds in this market in the build-up to the match, so keep an eye out for this. 

Both Teams to Score

Two evenly matched teams? Then it might be worth wagering in this market, where a bet is made on both teams to score at any time in the match. 

In-Play Betting

For those watching the game, in-play betting markets add tension and drama, allowing punters to respond to the changing dynamics of the match and to make predictions on what will happen next. For example, England are heading for a disastrous 1-0 defeat against the USA at the World Cup, but Jack Grealish has finally been brought on with 15 minutes to go and looks like changing the game — a perfect time to bet on an England goal. 

Accumulators

Also known as accas, accumulator bets combine multiple wagers into a single bet. Selections must usually be from different sporting events, though some of the best online bookies offer a Bet Builder feature, which allows you to craft accas for some sports from the same event. Whether you create your acca with picks from the same game or from multiple clashes, the odds for each pick on an accumulator bet are combined into one price. This makes accas a good way to roll up short prices to create a better potential payout — the more legs you pick, the better your possible return. The caveat here is that each leg must win for the overall acca to come good. Losing out because of one bad bet can be frustrating, so it’s worth looking out for acca insurance offers. These promos typically return your stake as a free bet if one leg lets you down, and, since accas are particularly popular in football betting, you can expect plenty of them to be around as Gareth Southgate and the Three Lions head to Qatar for the World Cup 2022.  

Welcome Offers and Betting Bonuses

Online bookmakers look to sweeten the deal for new customers by offering enticing welcome bonuses, and the top sites feature plenty of sports betting offers for returning bettors too. Remember that all these offers will come with terms and conditions, which you’ll need to read in full to gain a complete picture of the bonus. Here are some of the football betting offers you might receive. 

Free Bets

Free bets are by far the most common sign-up bonus at online sportsbooks. These offers are usually straightforward, with most sites requiring you to bet a certain amount of your own money to unlock the freebie. At BetUK, for example, newcomers get £30 of free bets after making their first minimum bet of £10 at minimum odds of 1.5 or greater. Many bookies also run a weekly free bets club, which allow existing customers to get in on the action too. Bet clubs work in much the same way as sign-up bonuses, in that you’ll need to wager some of your own cash to net a free bet. While free bets are generally available for a huge range of sports, betting sites may also offer free bets for specific markets as part of a special promotion for a big event. 888sport’s World Cup Winner promo offers an example. This World Cup betting offer requires you to place a £10 pre-tournament bet on the team you think will win the World Cup 2022. From then on, each time your chosen team is victorious in a World Cup match, you’ll get a £5 free bet. 

Odds Boosts

With odds boost bonus offers, the bookmaker will artificially enhance the odds of your chosen betting event to generate greater potential returns. These offers are not as common a sign-up bonus as a free bet but do pop up from time to time. When you register a new online betting account at Grosvenor Sport, for example, you’ll receive an exclusive ‘Double the Odds’ token to use on any bet, up to £10 max. This boosted bet can be laid on any sport and at any odds, presenting the perfect opportunity to get started with your World Cup wagers. Odds boosts are usually far more plentiful for existing customers, with some of the top online bookies offering daily odds boosts. At Paddy Power, for example, punters can enjoy enhanced ‘power’ prices on a range of selected bets every day, and at Ladbrokes, customers get a free daily odds boost token to use on any sport.

Matched Deposits

Matched deposit welcome bonuses see the bookie match a portion of your first deposit up to a set limit. Deposit match offers like these are actually much more common at online casinos than betting sites, but, like odds boost offers, do show up occasionally. An example of a matched deposit bonus at an online sports betting site is 100% up to £100. Here, the bookie will match your first deposit of up to £100 with an equal amount of bonus cash. In practice, both the value and percentage match for matched deposit offers can vary quite a bit. As a new customer at 10bet, for example, you can claim a 50% deposit match up to £50 when you deposit £15+ and use the promo code PLAY10. Matched deposit bonuses for sports bettors are even rarer for existing customers than they are for new sign-ups, though, as before, they’re a regular guest at online casinos, where they are often called reload bonuses. 

Which Football Competitions Can You Bet On?

Here’s a look at some of the most popular football competitions among bettors.

Qatar World Cup 2022

Held every four years, the World Cup usually takes place during the summer, although 2022’s competition — the 22nd edition — will be in November and December in Qatar. All the action is just around the corner now, and we’re here to tell you what to expect.

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 runs from 20th November to 18th December. 32 teams compete in the group stages, with these teams split into eight groups of four, as shown below. The top two teams in each group progress to the knock-out rounds, held between the 3rd and 6th December. The quarterfinals are on the 9th and 10th December, with the semi-finals held on the 13th and 14th. The losing teams will take part in a playoff for third place on 17th December, before the World Cup Final unfolds on the 18th at Lusail Stadium. 

England’s World Cup Journey

If you’re excited about seeing the England team in action on the pitch, you won’t need to wait long. England’s first game of the tournament — a matchup against Iran — will play out on 21st November at Khalifa International Stadium. It will be the first time the two football teams have met, and, despite pundits expecting some ‘feeling out’ time, our boys are favourites to win.

Here’s what the remainder of England’s Group B matches look like:

• England vs USA – 25th November at Al Bayt Stadium. 
• Wales vs England – 29th November at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium

If England finish in first or second place in Group B, they will progress to the knock-out rounds to play either the runners up or winners of Group A. 

The Group of Death

Which group is the toughest to win — the so-called group of death — is a matter that’s up for debate. Some pundits have Group E down as the toughest group due to the presence of World Cup winners Spain and Germany. Others feel that political problems off the pitch between the UK, USA and Iran makes Group B the toughest group. Only time will tell how things play out. 

World Cup Wagers and Betting Odds

The World Cup 2022 will feature an incredible 64 matches across eight venues, so you won’t find yourself short on World Cup betting options. Here’s what World Cup odds are looking like for popular bets ahead of the tournament:

• England to win Group B: 1/3 
• Harry Kane to be England Team Top Scorer: 4/6
• England to win the World Cup: 15/2 
• The favourite to win the World Cup: Brazil at 4/1

The World Cup betting odds listed above were live on Paddy Power at the time of writing and give you a good idea of the sort of bets on offer. However, betting odds can change quite significantly in the run-up to an event, and after it gets underway, so remember to compare the latest prices for your World Cup bets before you place your wagers. 

Premier League

The Premier League is the highest football league in England. It was formed back in 1992 as the successor to the former First Division. Also known as the Prem and the EPL, it comprises 20 teams, some of which are household names around the globe: Manchester United and Liverpool, for example, are two of the best supported teams in the world. Every year, three teams are relegated from the EPL and three teams are promoted from the Championship below. The top four finishers qualify for the pan-European Champions League. The Prem currently attracts some big-name talents, with the likes of Paul Pogba, Kevin De Bruyne, and Mohamed Salah all plying their trade here.

La Liga

Also comprising 20 teams, La Liga is the premier football division in Spain and can trace its history all the way back to the 1920s. You’re sure to recognise some of the clubs associated with La Liga, which include the superstar rosters of Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid, with top players including Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema and Luka Modrić. Real Madrid are the current record holders of the league, having been crowned champions a whopping 34 times in all. The four top places of the league also qualify for the Champions League, while the bottom three places get relegated to Spain’s Segunda División.

Serie A

Twenty teams also compete in Serie A, the top league in Italy. They include some of the great veterans of European football – Juventus, Internazionale, AC Milan, and Roma. One of the highest rated football leagues in the world, Serie A has been running since 1929 and has provided European Cup winners on multiple occasions. Today, four teams at the top of Serie A get qualification to the Champions League, while the bottom three teams are sent back into Serie B. Faces you’ll recognise while watching this league include the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo and Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku.

Bundesliga

The pinnacle of the German football hierarchy is the Bundesliga. Made up of 18 teams, it’s been going for almost six decades, having been first founded back in the early 1960s. The Bundesliga is again allocated four qualifying spots for the Champions League, with two of these sports usually going to Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund ‒ these are the biggest clubs in Germany, with players like Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland currently in their ranks. Finish in the bottom two spots of the Bundesliga and the team gets put back into Germany’s second tier.

Ligue 1

Ligue 1 is the premier football league in France. There are 20 teams involved, three of which will qualify for the UEFA Champions League by finishing in the top trio of positions. The league was known as National since its inception in 1930 but changed its name in 2002. In recent years, Ligue 1 has been dominated by Paris Saint-Germain, who now field the likes of Kylian Mbappé and Neymar. The three bottom-finishing teams are relegated down to, you guessed it, Ligue 2.

Champions League

The best teams in their respective domestic leagues will qualify to compete for the following season’s Champions League — Europe’s premier cup competition. 32 teams qualify for the group stages, with the top two going through to the knock-out rounds, where ties take place over two legs.

Euros

Also held every four years, the Euros crowns the best footballing nation in Europe. 24 teams qualify for the finals, and the format is the same as the World Cup. The only difference is that the four highest third-placed finishers in the group stages will also progress to the knock-out rounds. 

Women’s Euros

England played host to the 2022 Women’s European Championships, in which 16 teams competed for the crown. The tournament was delayed by a year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and England’s Lionesses took the title, beating Germany 2-1 in the final. 

Best World Cup Betting Sites

Looking for the best bookies to bet on the World Cup? Here at Gambling Deals, we’ve got plenty of top betting sites for you to choose from. Here are five of our favourites: 

Mobile Betting on the Go

Mobile betting is par for the course at UK bookmakers, but how should you approach it? There are two options which we’ve broken down below.

Payment Methods on Football Betting Sites

There are loads of ways to fund your football betting account. Here are some of the most popular. 

Debit Cards

Always accepted at UK betting sites, and always eligible to pick-up welcome bonuses, debit cards are a tried and trusted payment method. The only downside is that withdrawals are slow, taking somewhere between 2-5 working days. 

e-Wallets

There are lots of options in this payment category, such as PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, ecoPayz, and MuchBetter. All of these methods offer similar benefits, the most notable of which is their ability to offer fast or even instant withdrawals. In addition to this, you won’t need to share your bank details when making a transaction, adding an extra layer of security. Check your bookie’s T&Cs to see whether e-wallet deposits qualify for welcome offers.

Prepaid Cards

Prepaid cards like Paysafecard and AstroPay use vouchers to load up betting accounts. As a result, these payment methods are known for their inherent money management perks, since only preloaded funds can be spent. However, it’s likely that you won’t be able to make a withdrawal of funds via this method, and higher rollers will be put off by the deposit limits. 

Trustly

Through Trustly’s open banking technology, two bank accounts are directly connected, so there’s no need to create a separate account. This makes deposits and withdrawals fast, but use of the service depends on whether your bank has signed up. Watch out for any associated fees too — this information will be available in your bank’s T&Cs.

Get Started with a Top Football Betting Site Today

Ready to place your wagers on Neymar scoring a double or Kane smashing a header in? Compare the very best football betting sites right here, weigh up the welcome bonuses, and follow our links on how to sign up.