Best New Betting Sites UK 2021: Top Online Bookmakers

Let’s get straight to the point – you are here because you like to place wagers on sporting events. Safe Betting Sites is a new initiative launched in 2020 that’s designed to help you find the best UKGC-regulated betting sites, and to make sure your online betting experience is 100 percent secure.

It’s our job to keep you protected, and to inform you of the best betting sign-up offers and available site promo codes.

Hottest Free Bet Offers For This Month

Free bet offers and promo codes are introduced by UK bookmakers on a regular basis. While the full T&Cs involved make some promotions worth avoiding, the following betting site offers are well worth checking out. Each offer comes from a different safe and trustworthy betting site, providing punters with the chance to place bets using the bookmaker’s own funds.

How we rank the best betting sites UK

You may feel that all the latest betting sites are pretty much the same. You sign up for an account, find the event you want to bet on, place your bet then cross your fingers, legs or anything else you have that’s crossable. Unfortunately, in this regard we’d wager that your thinking is a little misguided.

There are so many online betting websites now on the world wide wagering web that there’s bound to be a huge variation in quality. Some sites are indeed the mutt’s nuts but many others are complete … well, you get the picture. The question you are probably now asking yourself is how we at Safe Betting Sites separate the gambling gold from the betting bum trash? Here are a handful of the criteria we inspect while ascertaining the wagering worthiness of any specific online bookmaker:

The Top 10 Betting Sites in the UK: A Closer Look

Safe Betting Sites may be a ‘new’ venture, but the experts whose advice you’ll be taking on board have each been involved in the sports betting industry for at least a decade. These people really know what they are talking about, being lovers of sport and frequent sports bettors themselves.

What you will find below is what our people consider to be the ten best betting sites available in 2021 for eager sports bettors in the UK and beyond.

1. Spreadex – Unique Sportsbook And Spreadbetting Offering

If there’s one site that qualifies as being ‘in with a bullet’ into our top of the wagering pops considerations, it’s Spreadex. If you prefer spread betting to fixed odds betting, then this UKGC-licensed site is most definitely for you. All major sporting events are covered in depth, plus eSports including Liga Pro, DoTA and CS:GO. The site also stretches into an online casino, plus financial markets too.

If spread betting is something of a mystery to you make sure you check out our spread betting guide.

2. QuinnSport – A Mighty Site Full of Promotions

Relatively new on the scene, QuinnBet is a UK-based online sports book that operates with a UKGC license. This is a betting site that keeps matters traditional in the British sense of the word as it concentrates upon the holy trinity of UK betting – football, horse racing and greyhounds.

It’s not all Brit-based though. The NFL is covered, as are all the other major US leagues (MLB, NBA, NHL and NCAA). You’ll also find comprehensive coverage of the leading eSports, plus a Virtual Sports section.

3. STS – Keeping Things Simple

Sports betting sites do not have to be complicated affairs, as STS prove. This simplistic, colourful site makes sports betting an absolute breeze. This Malta-based site is a new-ish addition to the UK sports betting market, being awarded a UKGC licence in 2019.

As well as sports betting that includes in-play betting options, STS can also offer casino and live casino games, plus an entire section dedicated to all the leading eSports events. There’s even a virtual sports covering football, tennis, basketball, horse racing and much more.

4. MansionBet – Outstanding All-Round Betting Site

MansionBet have been around for a while now, and have built themselves up a fantastic reputation for the way they treat their customers, including stringent security measures and extra added value via ongoing promotions. Licensed in the UK, MansionBet are known for their support of UK football having had sponsorship deals with Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Bristol City and Millwall.

Check out their ‘bet £10, get £20’ deal to really get your use of their betting facilties up and running.

5. 888Sport – A Monster of a Betting Site

888 are something of a betting behemoth, covering poker, casino games, slots, bingo and of course, sports betting. Their online bookmaking section promises a great deal and unlike a massive number of their rivals, they constantly deliver too. The 888Sport betting interface is easy on the eye and incredibly easy to use, on both desktop and mobile. 888Sports is also one of the few betting websites that covers fantasy football too.

888Sport also make sure they put money back into the sports that they really love, and for them it’s not all about the EPL. In recent years the 888Sport logo has been found emblazoned upon the chests of players from Nottingham Forest, Birmingham City, Brentford and Preston North End.

6. mr.play – ‘New’ Boys But Ignore Them at Your Peril!

mr.play has been around since 2017 as a classy casino and slots site established by industry top dogs Aspire Global, but their sports book is a more recent venture for them. You may recognise the sports betting-interface that’s used by mr.play as it’s a template used by other sites, so seasoned sports betting will find themselves on familiar turf.

Speaking of turf, mr.play will list for you every UK and Irish horse race on a daily basis, as well as covering all the major European football leagues as well as basketball, tennis and golf.

7. Karamba – For Punters Looking for Entertainment Value

Unlike many of the other top 10 betting sites on this list, Karamba are perhaps better known for their online casino activities, having been an established favourite of many a slots and casino games lover since 2005.

the number of markets covered does not match the coverage of other, longer-established sites, there’s enough to satisfy the majority of sports bettors.

8. Grosvenor Sport

If you are based in the UK then you should be familiar with the name Grosvenor as this company is the number one in the country when it comes to real-world casinos. As well as bricks-and-mortar establishments and an online casino, Grosvenor has an online sports book too, called Grosvenor Sport.

The setup of the site looks as classy as you’d expect from such an established and experienced gambling brand, with multiple options when it comes to markets and an amazing selection of live betting opportunities including eSports.

9. TonyBet – Regularly Offering the Best Odds

The man behind TonyBet is successful pro poker player Antanas Guoga, or Tony to his fellow poker sharks. In 2009 Guiga invested some of his poker chips by buying established online bookmaker Omnibet and making it his own. The result is a site that has kept pace with the sports betting side of the internet, despite being nearly two decades old.

Fully and properly licensed in the UK, TonyBet is a little light on promo codes although regular users of the TonyBet sports book are able to claim weekly cashback on all their sports betting losses. This is set at 3 percent at losses on bets with odds of at least 1,50 (1.2), but is paid back as bonus cash (max £1,000 per week).

10. Betiton – So New The Paint is Still Wet!

Brand new in 2020, Betiton is competitive venture launched by experienced industry veterans Aspire International, and licensed fully in the UK. Betiton takes a three-pronged approach to online gambling, covering a casino, a live casino and a vibrant sports betting section.

The online bookmaker section of Betiton marries convenience with style but without the fuss of lesser sites. The biggest competitions such as the Premier League and Serie A in football are but a single click away, along with the latest match-ups in the worlds of tennis and basketball.

How to Choose the Top Betting Sites in the UK for You

We’ve already established the criteria by which we rank the best UK sports betting sites, but when it comes to choosing the best UK sports book for you, the final decision is yours and yours alone. How can you be sure that you are making the correct choice?

Below, you’ll find a few tips that should help ease your path to finding a UK sports book that suits your wagering needs perfectly.

Legality

If you are based in the UK, then any sports betting site you use must have a United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) licence. This is legally binding – you are not allowed to be resident in the UK and place bets at any site that does not have proper licencing. Rest assured that all sites mentioned on Safe Betting Sites have valid UKGC licences.

Welcome offers at the latest betting sites

Virtually every UK sports betting site will offer new customers some kind of bonus as a reward for signing up with them. It could be a no-risk bet that returns your stake as bonus cash if you lose, or a free bet that pays real cash if you win. Such welcome offers are an invaluable way of evaluating a site before you start parting with your own money, and you can check the best welcome deals by refereeing our free bets section.

Top 3 Welcome Bonus Bet Offers

MansionBet – Bet £10 Get £20

888Sport – £30 in Free Bets When You Bet £1

Spreadex – Get up to £25 in Free Bets

Promo codes and ongoing offers

While a welcome bonus is a ‘nice to have’, a series of regular promo codes and ongoing promotions is an even ‘nicer to have’. Sites that offer a regular series of bonus offers for their regular clientele think more highly of their customers than those that don’t. Find a site that goes beyond the standard ‘welcome offer’ to be made to feel a little bit special, and make sure you check out our promotions page for the latest and greatest deals.

Top 3 Promo Codes and Ongoing Offers

STS – Weekly £10 Bonus to use on EPL/Championship Games

BetRegal – Daily Boosted Accumulator

TonyBet – Weekly Sports Cashback

Ease of Use and Mobile Apps

Placing a bet on Barcelona v Real Madrid (as an example) should not be a chore that makes you feel like hammering your PC keyboard against the nearest convenient wall. If it takes more than three clicks to place any specific bet at a sports betting site, then perhaps you need to find a different place to bets.

Thanks to the creation of HTML5, all UK online sports books now offer a mobile-optimised version of themselves that should look great and work perfectly well on all iOS and Android-based phones and tablets. However, just because something is mobile-optimised that does not mean it’s properly mobile-optimised and some mobile ‘apps’ create nothing but bad betting vibes. Check our betting apps page to see which sites offer the best mobile betting experiences. Some sites also still offer bespoke apps that you can download and install onto your devices.

Betting Markets Available

Ok, so there’s no doubt that football is the biggest betting market in the UK, but that does not mean all other sporting events should be relegated to the background. Imagine going to a restaurant and finding they only had steak & chips on the menu (albeit with a range of different sauces). Variety is the spice of betting and the more markets a sports betting site has, the merrier.

Horse racing, greyhounds, tennis and golf all deserve extensive levels of coverage as well as US sports (baseball, American football, basketball and ice hockey), MMA and UFC. The growing popularity of eSports betting is something that needs to be taken care of too.

Minimum/Maximum Stake & Payout Speed

When you place sporting wagers, you ought to be completely free to choose how much you want to bet on a specific event. If you just fancy a ‘quick quid’ on Harry Kane scoring the opening goal in Tottenham’s next match, it’s a bit of a downer if you find the minimum bet size stipulated by your chosen betting site is £5.

The top betting sites always remember that it’s your money, even if it happens to be ‘resting’ in your online sports book account. When the time comes for you to cash out, sites need to get their act together and blast your cash back into your bank account without undue delays. The worst sites add on ‘pending’ and ‘processing’ periods that may see you have to wait a whole week for your money, or even longer.

Min/Max Stake & Payout Speed – Top 5 UK online bookmakers compared

Bookmaker	Min. Stake	Max. Stake	Payout Times
MansionBet	£0.10	Varied	eWallets up to 24 hrs; cards up to 5 days.
Spreadex	£0.15	No max	All methods between 3 and 5 days.
QuinnBet	£0.10	No max	All methods between 24 hours and 3 days.
Grosvenor Sport	£0.10	No max	Some methods 3 hours; others up to 3 days.
mr.play	£0.10	Varied	Instant (most methods, up to 6 days some).

Available Payment Methods

Although Visa is by far the most popular payment method available (UKGC rules mean that you cannot use credit cards to make deposits at both established and new betting sites, which means no MasterCards, Amex, Diners Club etc) not everyone is comfortable in using a debit card at a sports betting site. The best online betting sites in the UK are the ones with a large amount of options, including eWallets such as Skrill, Neteller, PayPal and ecoPayz, and cryptocurrency options like Bitcoin and Litecoin.

Of course, it goes without saying that the top betting sites in the UK do not make charges for deposits and withdrawals.

Customer Support

No matter how seasoned a sports bettor you become, there is always the chance something will happen that leaves you adrift in the sports betting sea. Perhaps a deposit is not showing up in your account, or a withdrawal seems stuck, or you won a wager and it simply did not pay out.

Customer support is essential in all these circumstances, and we’re not talking about an unmanned email inbox. Dedicated and proper live support 24/7 is a must as far as we are concerned, as is a telephone line to a real person available during the core hours of the day.

How to Sign Up at a UK Betting Site

Both established and new UK betting websites have streamlined the process by which you can sign up for an account at their site. Indeed with some, you only need to sign up via PayPal, Facebook or Google to create your account.

With other sites though, the process is a little more engaged. Here is how to sign up for an account at one of our favourite UK sports betting sites, MansionBet.

Step 1

Head to the MansionBet site here and click on the green ‘Join now’ button.

Step 2

Fill in the ‘Personal Information’ Section and click ‘Next’.

Step 3

Fill in the ‘Contact Information’ Section and click ‘Next’.

Step 4

Fill in the ‘Account Information’ Section. Choose a password, set your daily deposit limit and fill in any bonus promo code you may have acquired.

You will also need to complete the reCAPTCHA check to prove you are not a bot, and to accept that you agree to the T&Cs and Privacy Policy. Check the ‘communications’ check box if you are happy to receive communications from the site (you can unsubscribe at any time). Once you have completed this process, click the ‘Create account’ button.

That’s it! You now have a sports betting account. The process may differ at your chosen UK online sports book, but the steps involved are basically the same.

As you are based in the UK, you will more than likely have to provide identification documents before you can start placing bets. You will need to provide a proof of ID, such as an image of your passport or driver’s licence, and a proof of address such as an image of a recent utility bill. The provision of these documents is a legal stipulation decreed by the UKGC to help prevent illegal gambling by minors.

How to Place a Bet at a UK Betting Site

Now you have opened your UK sports book account, you will want to start betting. All betting sites now make it extremely easy to place bets, but we are going to walk you through the process, step-by-step. We are going to place a bet at MansionBet, and because we want to take advantage of their free bet offer, we are going to place our first bet at their site for £10, to make sure that we qualify for the promotional deal.

Step 1

Once you have deposited your funds at the sports betting site’s cashier, head to the main page of the site. Here you will find all the big events plus live events happening right now. We are going to bet on a Premier League game, so we click on the button “Football: Premier League.”

Step 2

Here we are going to bet on Newcastle United beating Crystal Palace. The common ‘1X2’ options are available on the main Premier League page, but we’re going to show you how to access other markets. You do this by clicking on the number to the right of the fixture details. This number is the number of markets that are available for the game.

Step 3

Here you can see ALL the available markets for the match, including Over/Under, BTTS Yes/No, Asian Handicap, Clean Sheets, First Goalscorer, Anytime Goalscorer, so on and so on. As we are just going to bet on Newcastle winning, we’re going to pop back to the previous page …

Step 4

To bet on The Mighty Magpies to win, all we need to do is click on the ‘Newcastle 37/20′ button. The ’37/20’ refers to the price that Newcastle are at to score victory. If you prefer decimal odds then that’s 2.85. Remember, we are claiming that free bet offer and as a stipulation of that offer the odds of the bet must be at least 2.00, or Evens. If we had bet on Manchester United at 20/39 (1.51) we would not have qualified for a free bet. When you claim any free bet or use a promo code, always check the T&Cs thoroughly to make sure you have met all the qualifying conditions.

Step 5

Click on the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons to set the size of your wager. We have set the bet at £10 as mentioned previously to qualify for MansionBet’s new customer offer. When all looks good, hit the ‘Place Bets’ button to confirm your wager. Job’s a good ‘un and come on those boys in black and white!

Deposit Bonuses Available at UK Online Bookmakers

When you sign up for the first time at a specific online sports book, you are more than likely to be offered a deposit bonus. This is a great way of ‘testing the water’ at a site to see if it’s all you’re expecting it to be. There are three main kinds of sports betting deposit bonuses, and we’re going to run through the processes involved to enable you to claim each kind.

Free Bet

A ‘free bet’ is genuinely a free bet – a wager you can place without spending of your own hard-earned cash. To obtain a free bet (and you can check the latest free betting sites offers here), you will probably have to make a minimum deposit once you have signed up for your account.

888Sport are a UK sports book that offers new customers £30 in free bets. To obtain your free bet money, you need to complete your registration at the site and make an initial deposit of £10, and then a minimum bet of £10 at odds of a least 1.5 (1/2). No matter if your bet wins or not, once it is settled within 72 hours you should receive £30 in free bet tokens.

Each bet token is worth £10 and must be used in its entirety. If a bet made using your free bets wins you only receive back your winnings, and not the free bet stake itself. Your free bets must be used within seven days of you receiving them.

Risk-Free Bet Offer

A ‘risk-free’ bet is one that you cannot lose. New customers at UK online sports betting sites are often offered risk-free bets. The requirement is that the customer makes a minimum bet on a chosen event, a range of events or any combination they desire. If that bets wins, they take the money. If it doesn’t, then the customer receives back their stake as bonus cash.

New customers at Paddy Power can obtain a risk-free bet when they sign up, worth up to a maximum of £20 and unlike many other risk-free bet offers your money, if the best loses, is paid back as CASH and not as bonus money, which is a fabulous deal.

To claim your risk-free bet open an account at Paddy Power using the promo code ‘YSKAEE’ then place ANY sports book bet. If that bet loses your stake will be returned to your account (maximum £20) as cash that you can use to bet on other markets, or withdraw. Note you must use a debit card or Apple Pay to make your initial deposit or you will not receive your risk-free bet.

Enhanced Odds Offer

If you receive an enhances odds offer, then that will allow you to bet on a specific event but with much better odds than you would normally receive. This means that you will receive back much more if the bet wins than you normally would. There is usually one ‘catch’ though – money in excess of what you would have otherwise won is paid as bonus money that you cannot withdraw, and not as real cash.

Say – for example – you are offered an enhanced odds offer on Manchester United beating Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. The normal odds are 2.0 (Evens) but you are offered 5.0 (4/1). If you were to take up the offer, bet £10 and the Red Devils won, then you’d receive back £10 in real money (your winnings at 2.0) and £30 (your enhanced winnings at 5.0) as bonus cash, plus your £10 stake.

Enhanced odds offers are usually tied to specific events, so you need to be quick to take advantage of them. Keep an eye on our enhanced odds page to find the latest bonus deals.

Matched Deposit Offer

If you’ve been around online casinos or slots sites, then you’ll be familiar with the concept of a matched deposit offer as that is the most common type of welcome bonus made by such sites. A matched deposit offer at a UK online sports book works in exactly the same way, and you’ll find the best matched deposit betting sites offers available here.

STS is a superb online betting site with an amazing sports betting bonus. It is worth 50 percent of the first bet you make at the site, up to a maximum of £40.

To claim your matched deposit offer sign up at STS and make a minimum deposit of £10 (not via an eWallet such as Skrill or Neteller). You will then need to make a minimum £10 acca bet where a minimum of two selections have at least odds of 1.5 (1/2). Once that bet has been settled you’ll receive back half of the value of your bet as bonus cash.

To cash out any winnings made via your bonus cash you need to wager the amount six times over on markets with minimum odds of 1.5 (1/2). You need to do this within seven days of receiving your bonus cash.

How to Get the Most From Your Sports Betting

Most people bet on sporting events in order to add a little excitement to their lives. Others treat it a little more seriously in the hope that their expertise generates them a little bit of extra income. For others it’s just a source of entertainment.

Whichever of these betting types describes you, there are certain ‘rules’ you need to follow in order to get the most from your new sports betting sites, and here are a few of them.

Take Advantage of Betting Bonuses and Promo Codes

There are dozens of online sports books out there, and as long as you stick to the top 10 betting sites or any site as recommended by our experts you are free to open an account at any or all of them. As most sites will offer you some kind of welcome deal such as a free bet or enhanced odds, you can take advantage of all of these deals to power up your sports betting experience.

As the UK sports betting market is so competitive, the leading sites will offer ongoing promotions in order to satisfy their existing clientele and to attract people to the idea of opening accounts with them. Again, this is something you ought to be taking advantage of, so pay a visit to our betting promotions page as often as possible.

Here is how to sign up for an account at Paddy Power and use the promo code available for new customers. FIrst, head to the Paddy Power site and click on the ‘Join Now’ button. A new screen will pop up where you fill in all your necessary details, as well as selecting a password and providing an answer to the security question. You may find that the promo code is filled in for you, but if it is not then just add it to the relevant box where indicated. When all is okay, tick all three check boxes and click the ‘Join Now’ button. That’s all there is to it!

With this deal your first bet at Paddy Power (up to a maximum of £10) will be returned to you as cash if it loses. This is an amazing deal as commonly, ‘no r

isk bet’ promo codes return your stake to you as bonus money (which has to be used for wagering), and not real cash that you can withdraw if you want to. The only stipulation is that you must use a debit card or Apple Pay to make your qualifying deposit – eWallets such as Skrill and Neteller and eVouchers like Paysafecard are ineligible.

You can learn more about this great deal from Paddy Power and other promo codes and bonuses from the notorious Irish bookie here.

Paddy Power ‘No Risk £10 Bet’ Example

Winning Example

• Register at Paddy Power, and deposit £10 using your Visa debit card
• Bet £10 on Aston Villa beating Manchester City in the EPL, at 5/2 (3.5)
• Aston Villa win, returning £35

‘No Risk’ Example

• Register at Paddy Power, and deposit £20 using Apple Pay
• Bet £20 on West Ham United beating Liverpool in the EPL, at 7/2 (4.5)
• Liverpool win, so your bet loses
• £10 (maximum) of your stake is returned. The other £10 is lost

Losing Example

• Register at Paddy Power, and deposit £5 using Skrill
• Bet £5 on Barnsley to beat Nottingham Forest in the Championship at 10/11 (2.91)
• The games ends as a no-score draw
• As you used an illegible payment method, you do not get your stake back

Use Matched Betting to Guarantee Profit

One of the most successful ways you can guarantee making a profit at a UK online betting site is to practice matched betting. This works best when combined with the kind of free bet offers found at the best online betting companies.

Matched betting is where you bet on both sides of an event that can only have one of two possible outcomes – tennis, snooker and darts are all good examples of markets where there are no draws or ties. If you’re a ‘football only’ bettor then there are markets which can only have one of two outcomes, such as under/over 2.5 or BTTS (both teams to score).

For an example, say you take a free bet from MansionBet, and a free bet from 888Sport. You find a two-outcome event – Judd Trump is playing Ding Junhai in the UK Masters snooker tournament. You back Trump at MansionBet and you back Junhai at 888Sport. One of those bets MUST come in and as you are using free bets, you are guaranteed to be in profit.

You can also use a matched betting strategy using your own money, but that takes a little more effort. You need to find the best odds for each outcome of a two-outcome event at different UK online bookies. This is difficult to do, as the UK’s top betting sites work to make sure the odds they offer for markets are equivalent to the odds offered by all other old and new betting sites. This type of matched betting is also known as ‘arbitrage betting’.

You can learn more about matched betting here.

Practice Good Bankroll Management

Unless you deem yourself a professional sports bettor and are willing to put the hours in to become successful at it, then you’re very unlikely to develop your new sports betting sites skills to the point where you can count on wagering being a steady stream of income.

Your bankroll is the amount of money you put aside each month for your sports betting endeavours. You need to keep this separate from your other financial considerations such as mortgage payments, rent, utility bill payments and the money you need for food and your day-to-day expenses.

It is recommended that you never gamble more than one tenth of your overall bankroll on any given day, and no single bet should be more than one tenth of that. So, if your monthly bankroll is £100 then your single day bankroll is £10 and your single bet maximum is £1.

The most important aspect of bankroll management is this – should you have a bad run and your bankroll dwindles to zero, stop betting until next month’s bankroll is available. Do not ‘borrow’ from future bankrolls, and do not spend money that you need for your daily financial responsibilities.

Another great tip about bankroll management is to stop betting for the month if your betting chops are really coming up trumps and you manage to double your monthly bankroll. Good runs are all-too-often eaten away by immediate bad runs. Instead of spending your gained wealth on betting, consider treating yourself to a nice meal, a new outfit or paying off some of your credit card debt instead.

Bet With Your Head, Not Your Heart

We’ve all done this – Liverpool have been drawn at home to Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup and the Accrington boys are quoted at 100/1 (101.00) to snatch victory from the Anfield mob. You think ‘that’s worth a quid’ so you slap on a pound for an Accrington win … and Liverpool win 9-0 with Mo Salah scoring five. You could have just as well flushed that quid down the toilet for all the good it did you.

True – long shots (such as 5,000/1 Leicester City winning the EPL in 2016) do sometimes pay off but mostly they are as likely to happen as Donald Trump admitting that he’s wrong about something.

The people who get the most out of their sports betting are those who bet with their head. Even the most fervent Accrington Stanley fan would not have put money on their team in the example we gave above if they used their grey matter, as opposed to what pumps in their chest.

Wager On What You Know

The most successful sports bettors are those that understand one particular betting niche better than any other. It could be horse racing, or it could be drilled down further and just be about the EPL. It may even be the Estonian U23 Ladies Volleyball League – as long as you bet on what you know and leave the guesswork behind, you’ve more chance of being successful in your sports betting than not.

Having said that, the more markets that are available to you, the better the chances you have of finding the best prices on a large number of events. If you’re an EPL expert, then as time goes on you might want to expand that knowledge to La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga. As soon as you become an expert on European top flight football, you’ll be able to expand into the UCL and the Europa League too.

Best New UK Betting Sites in 2021

Despite the online betting market in the UK being dominated by familiar names such as Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Betfair, new online betting companies emerge onto the internet all the time. Interest in sports betting seems to increase on a daily basis, meaning there’s a growing number of potential sports bettors out there for betting sites to attract as their clientele.

Here are a handful of the very best online bookies that have emerged onto the internet over the past few months in our UK betting sites list:

The Most Experienced Betting Websites in the UK

If you are of a cautious nature, then whenever you go looking for a service provider you probably hunt for one that’s been successful in their particular business niche for several years. If the company has been successful in doing what they do for a decade and beyond, then surely they must be doing something right?

This rule applies to the sports betting world too, although that does not mean that new betting sites in the UK for 2021 should be dismissed out of hand. If you’d prefer to place your sporting bets at a site that has successfully withstood the test of time, then here are some of best ‘established’ sports betting brands:

Payment Methods Available to Sports Bettors in the UK

Getting money into and out of your sports betting account is not as simple as it used to be. For example, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission outlawed the use of credit cards at sports betting sites in 2020, to discourage problem gamblers from running up credit card bills that they then simply could not afford to pay.

It’s not all bad news though, as there are plenty of ways in which you can make deposits and withdrawals via your online sports betting account. Below you will find a list of the most popular ones available at the largest number of UK online betting companies.

Visa Debit Card

If you have a UK bank account, then the chances are you have a Visa debit card. Visa have become the most-used payment facilitator in the UK, and you are free to use a Visa debit card or any other brand of debit card at most of the bookmakers in our UK betting sites list.

When the time comes to make a deposit using your card at online betting sites, you enter the card number, expiry date, CVV number on the back and the amount of your deposit. For your first deposit you may need to provide an image of your card (front and back), in accordance with UKGC regulations.

Deposits made via a debit card are usually instant, but withdrawals may take between three and five days to process. It is unlikely you will be charged for making a debit card deposit, but a withdrawal may incur fees at some UK sports books. Visa debit card transactions are accepted by MansionBet, Spreadex, QuinnBet and many, many more.

PayPal

PayPal has since 2002 been the internet’s number one eWallet, initially piggy-backing on the success of the auction site eBay. Most people who shop online have a PayPal account.

PayPal has not always been available as payment method at even the best betting sites UK, but since 2018 a growing number of sports betting sites have started accepting PayPal deposits and withdrawals.

Payments at an online sports book via PayPal are just like payments made online anywhere else. Enter your PayPal account name and the amount you wish to deposit. The familiar PayPal applet will pop up, asking you to confirm the payment there and then or via two-step verification if you have it set up.

PayPal payments are usually processed within a matter of seconds, and withdrawals via PayPal can be just as quick, although some sites may take a little longer to get you your money. If you are in UK you should not be charged any fees for using PayPal.

Please note that most online betting companies will not award bonuses for deposits that you make using PayPal. PayPal is available as payment option at mr.play, Grosvenor Sport, BetVictor and more.

Skrill

Skrill (previously known as MoneyBookers) has become the leading eWallet that is used by online sports bettors who do not want to use a debit card to fund their sports betting accounts. Skrill works in exactly the same way as any other leading eWallet, such as PayPal. You fund your Skrill account from your bank account or another other suitable financial account, then use the cash in your Skrill account to make deposits at your chosen sports book.

Depositing is the simple process of heading to the sports book cashier, choosing Skrill as your payment method, then entering your Skrill account name (usually your email) and the amount you want to deposit. You will be connected to Skrill so that you can confirm the transaction. Withdrawals are basically the same, except of course that the money is travelling in the opposite direction.

The online sports book is unlikely to charge you for Skrill deposits and withdrawals, but you will be charged fees by Skrill for using their services. TonyBet, Betiton and STS are three relatively new betting sites UK that accept Skrill payments.

Neteller

Neteller offers an almost identical service to Skrill, and indeed both Skrill and Neteller are owned by the same company – Paysafe. Neteller rose to prominence as a payment services provider on the back of the online poker boom in the early-to-mid 2000s, and survived the hit when online poker in the US was made ‘illegal’ in 2011.

To open a Neteller account you only need a valid email address. You can then move funds into your Neteller account via any suitable payment method, including linking your bank account. To then move money into your sports book account you need to head to the site’s cashier and choose Neteller as your payment method plus the amount you want to deposit. You’ll just need to okay the transfer to move your money.

At the best sites Neteller withdrawals are just as quick as deposits but some sites may add on 24-48 hours of ‘processing time’. You should not be charged by your sports book for Neteller transactions although you will have to pay fees to Neteller. The STS, Karamba and ManisonBet entries in our top 10 betting sites all accept Neteller as a payments method.

Paysafecard

Paysafecard (owned by the same company as Skrill and Neteller) is not another eWallet as some people think, but an eVoucher scheme. Paysafecard eVouchers can be purchased from real-world vendors and used to make online payments. A Paysafecard eVoucher is – in reality – a unique 16-digit number. If you buy a Paysafecard eVoucher for £20 (plus a small fee) for example then you can use that £20 to make online purchases, including deposits at an online sports book.

To do that, head to the cashier and chose Paysafecard as your payment method. You will be prompted to enter your 16-digit code. Once confirmed, your money will be transferred from your eVoucher to your sports book account.

Paysafecards cannot be topped up. Once the money on your eVoucher has been used, the 16-digit code becomes redundant. Typically, you can only use Paysafecard eVouchers for deposits, and not withdrawals. Online bookies in the UK that allow Paysafecard deposits include MansionBet, Novibet and Paddy Power.

Boku

Although the internet began via desktop computers, the majority of internet traffic in the 2020s ends up on (or is transmitted by) phones and tablets. Since 2010 there has been something of a mobile internet revolution, and that extends to both established and the latest betting sites.

Boku is a popular way of using your phone account to make payments at the best betting sites. You choose Boku as your payment service, and then enter your mobile phone number and your deposit amount. You’ll receive an SMS explaining how you can confirm the transfer. If successful, your deposit will appear on your next mobile phone bill.

Despite being extremely convenient, Boku comes with a few disadvantages. Fees are high (as much as 15 percent) and you are limited to £30 per day in deposits. Only certain carriers (in the UK – Vodaphone, EE, O2 and 3) allow Boku payments and you cannot withdraw via Boku.

Sportsbooks in the UK that allow Boku payments include Boyle Sports, Netbet, Betfair and Betfred.

Apple Pay

Here in the UK we are swiftly moving towards a cashless society. Why bother carrying money around in your jeans when you can just use your phone? Contactless payments are available at most retailers, and a range of services such as Apple Pay (Google Pay and Samsung Pay are similar services) have been set up to enable payments via debit/credit card terminals.

You can use Apple Pay online too, including at online sports books in the UK that accept Apple Pay payments. You just need to head to the bookmaker’s cashier and choose Apple Pay as your provider, and your deposit amount. Enter your Apple ID when prompted to confirm the transfer. Your money should be ready for you to bet with immediately. Apple Pay can usually be used for withdrawals too. Transaction speeds for deposits and withdrawals are usually pretty swift, although even the best betting sites may delay withdrawals by around 24-48 hours.

Old and new betting sites UK that accept Apple Pay include 888Sport, Unibet and Ladbrokes.

Bitcoin

Okay, so the ‘Bitcoin revolution’ hasn’t happened yet and plenty of people are still a hesitant about using this highly volatile non-fiat currency, but in terms of anonymity and security, Bitcoin cannot be bettered. Bitcoins are transferred between your Bitcoin wallet (which these days is normally stored in the cloud) and the merchant you are paying, without the intervention of any financial services provider. Transfers are largely (but not wholly) anonymous and secure.

Bitcoin is the most commonly-accepted cryptocurrency by online sports betting UK sites, but there are others including Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Neo. Bitcoin transactions are usually instantaneous, and can be used for both deposits and withdrawals.

UK-facing sport books that accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are very hard to find, but that situation may hopefully change in the future.

The Evolution of Sports Betting Sites

When the internet first became a ‘thing’ it was basically viewed as a hobby network for nerds. Connections were slower than the arrival of Christmas Day for a six-year-old, and fledging sites looked as if they had been hammered together by that same six-year-old, especially as EVERY site contained at least one gif of a dancing hamster.

By the time speeds improved and eventually broadband came in, companies were starting to think about how the internet could be used to make them money. Retail businesses soon offered their customers online purchasing options, and then a few companies worked out that the internet could be used to offer gambling possibilities too.

The first sports betting site was called Intertops, which opened in 1996. Swiftly, many of the biggest online UK bookmakers were opening online betting UK sites – William Hill, Coral, Ladbrokes, Betfred and other names that had been known by punters for years. Pretty soon they were joined by a number of online-only sports books that had no previous experience of IRL bookmaking.

Thanks to online betting, football betting now eclipses all other markets

Horse racing was by far and away the biggest UK betting pastime before the internet age, but thanks to the advent of online betting sites football betting soon began to catch up with those jockey-whipped beasts. Eventually football raced past horse racing and now completely eclipses it in terms of betting. People in the UK spend around £20 billion per year on sports betting, with 47 percent of that spent betting on football compared to 27 percent on horse racing.

Online betting has also caused many real-world UK bookmakers to struggle to stay solvent. There are under 7,000 betting shops left open in Britain according to the most recent estimate, down from a peak of 10,000 in the 1980s. Online betting offers convenience (you don’t have to pop a hat and coat on and battle sleet, hail and rain on a chilly December evening to pop a quid on Harry Kane scoring for Spurs against Arsenal if you bet online) and a trio of key aspects that betting shops cannot match.

Online sports betting certainly represents a big chuck of the UK’s passion for a punt, but it still only accounts for around 7 percent of the money spent gambling in the UK per year, dwarfed by lotteries and scratch cards at a combined 51 percent. Despite regulatory clampdowns by the UKGC in recent years, the UK’s passion for sports betting online shows no signs of diminishing.

Take Your Game to the Next Level with our Betting Guides

Do you know what BTTS stands for? If someone offers you Acca Insurance would you think they’re offering to insure your car? When you hear the term ‘Asian Handicap’ do you immediately think of a Japanese guy in a wheelchair? If all these terms mean zilch to you and you’re interested in sports betting then you are significantly missing out.

Here at Safe Betting Sites we want you to get the most out of your sports betting, which is why you will find a number of online betting guides designed to help you achieve just that. We explain the jargon behind terms such as BTTS (‘both teams to score’) and detail how you can improve your betting skills and understanding of the wagering world. We are not the kind of shysters who promise you ‘betting profits – 100% guaranteed’, but we will help you expand your betting knowledge and so increase your chances of coming out on top with your sports betting endeavours, time and time again.

Safe Betting Sites – The Bottom Line

If you are looking for the best, safest and latest betting sites than we here at Safe Betting Sites have your back. We aim to be your number one resource for every single aspect of your safe online sports betting experience, and we know that’s something we’re going to achieve.

We will provide you with the best experience possible when it comes to wagering in the UK at safe betting site – and that’s something you can bet on with confidence!

Betting Sites FAQs

What is the current legal status of sports betting in the UK?

Sports betting in the UK is completely legal. If you bet online though, the site at which you are betting must have a United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) licence.

How old do you have to be to bet online in the UK?

You have to be at least eighteen years of age.

Can I use a credit card to pay for my online betting in the UK?

No. Since 2020 credit cards such as MasterCard have been banned in UK from being used at online gambling sites. This includes sports betting, online casinos, slots sites, poker sites and online bingo.

How secure are payments made to an online sports betting site?

Most online betting websites use something called ‘128-bit SSL’ encryption which is the same level of encryption as used by online banks. Basically, all the information contained in the data that is sent across the internet is converted into a meaningless string of numbers and characters. The data is then unencrypted when it reaches its destination. If the data ends up where it is not supposed to be, it is completely indecipherable.

Can I live stream events at online betting sites?

Yes you can. Sites such as Bet365, Unibet, William Hill, Paddy Power and Betfred will all occasionally allow you to watch events online at their sites. Leagues and competitions that have signed broadcasting rights with media companies (such as the EPL with Sky, BT and Amazon) are not available for live streaming.

Is a ‘free bet’ genuinely ‘free’?

Yes and no. If you receive a free £10 bet then you can only use it to place a bet – you cannot withdraw that £10 and go down the pub with it, so it’s not actually free money. What’s more, if you were to bet £10 of your own money on the Buccaneers beating the Chiefs in the Superbowl at 3.0 (2/1) you would get back £30, which would be your stake and your winnings. If you used a free bet you’d only get back £20, as your free bet stake is not returned.

Can I make a deposit at a sports betting site using a debit card and then withdraw my winnings via Skrill?

No. You can only withdraw to a payment method that you have previously used to make a deposit. In the example above you could only withdraw to your debit card, or to Skrill if you had previously made a Skrill deposit.

I made my first deposit at an online sports book via Neteller and I didn’t get my free bet. How come?

Online sports books generally do not allow you to use any eWallet to claim a free bet. If it were not for this rule, you could set up different accounts at a sports book and deposit at each as a ‘first time’ depositor using a different payments provider – Visa, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, ecoPayz, Boku and so on. This would enable you to claim a free bet first deposit offer multiple times, which would put the online sports book at a disadvantage. The ‘no eWallets’ rule prevents this from happening.

Which online sports books have the best odds?

Most sites will offer ‘the best odds guaranteed’ but that’s because there are people who work at the site who make sure the odds that are offered on any particular event are on a par with the odds offered by other leading betting sites with little variation. We checked on an up-and-coming football match and the range of odds offered by twenty different online betting sites on a home win ranged from 2.19 (19/16) to 2.05 (21/20), a range of just 0.14.

Why is my online sports book asking for an image of my passport?

The UKGC have tightened ‘KYC’ (know your customer) requirements for online sports books over the last year or too. This is to help prevent underage gambling and from problematic gamblers from opening multiple accounts. Online betting sites are now legally required to make sure that they have made a significant effort in uniquely identifying the individuals who have access to their site. This is done by uploading a proof of identity (passport, driving licence, ID card), proof of address (recent utility bill or bank statement) and source of funding (image of debit card, account summary from bank or eWallet).