Last Updated Apr 28, 2022, 11:48 AM ET
Covers, the preeminent digital authority for UK sports bettors, boasts more than two decades' worth of sports betting excellence. Our experts cut through the clutter to uncover actionable and trustworthy information about the best UK sports betting sites. We never recommend a bookmaker that we wouldn’t use ourselves. Our unbiased bookmaker reviews — backed by the Covers BetSmart System™ — are designed to make smarter sports bettors.
Affiliate Disclosure: Covers may receive advertising commissions for visits to a sportsbook or casino betting site.
Covers, the preeminent digital authority for UK sports bettors, boasts more than two decades' worth of sports betting excellence. Our experts cut through the clutter to uncover actionable and trustworthy information about the best UK sports betting sites. We never recommend a bookmaker that we wouldn’t use ourselves. Our unbiased bookmaker reviews — backed by the Covers BetSmart System™ — are designed to make smarter sports bettors.
Affiliate Disclosure: Covers may receive advertising commissions for visits to a sportsbook or casino betting site.
Covers BetSmart System™
Covers has been running the rule over bookmakers for over a quarter of a century. During this period we honed our Covers BetSmart System™ to ensure that when you gamble at one of our recommended online betting sites, you can be safe in the knowledge that it is reputable and legal. The main factors that go into a bookmaker's overall rating are bonuses and promotions, banking and payout speeds, key features, security and trust, and customer support.
We don’t limit our reviews to these five key criteria alone, but instead, provide you with as much relevant and up to date detail as possible in order to help you choose the book best suited to your needs from our list of top online bookies. To that end, our team of experts do everything a client would do from signing up and funding an account, to redeeming bonuses, placing bets and withdrawing the winnings. We test all features so you don’t have to.
Learn how we rate bookmakersAll bettors want their winnings quickly, so payout speed is an important factor in our evaluation process. We’re also looking for a nice variety of deposit and withdrawal options.
While a big welcome bonus is always nice, we also check to ensure that the terms and conditions around it are fair. We also evaluate the sportsbook for reload bonuses and promotions for existing customers.
This is a broad category but we like to see sportsbooks that push the envelope to deliver an amazing experience to sports bettors. Some of the features we look for include: mobile app, competitive odds pricing, variety of betting markets, live betting, early cash out, streaming options, poker and casino offerings, responsible gambling features.
With real money at stake, you need to know you’re depositing at a site you can trust. Before recommending any sportsbook, we’ll make sure they have a valid license for the jurisdiction from the appropriate regulators. We’ll also ensure the website is safe and secure so that your data is protected.
If an issue arises, you should be able to have it solved quickly and conveniently by a real person. We like to see different options to reach customer support and how quickly they resolve the issue.
While the five categories above are the basis for our sportsbook ratings, we dig deep and look at everything we possibly can at every online sportsbook we review: the sign-up process, verification process, limits, localization, VIP or loyalty program, user experience.
Covers takes pride in being the most trusted site for sports betting information and we want you to have the best experience wagering at safe betting sites. So when a sportsbook doesn’t meet our standards, or when we get multiple reports of bad practices from our users, they end up on our blacklist.
Competition is tight among UK bookmakers in 2022 and we’re seeing online betting sites using bonuses, free bets, and other promotions to attract new customers. With so many different types of promotions going on, it’s important that you understand them so that you choose the offer that is right for you. Be sure to read the terms and conditions of the bonus before claiming it.
| Bonus | Description | Find this bonus at |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit Match |
These are the most popular bonuses awarded by bookmakers. Deposit match bonuses are usually given as a percentage of your first deposit. For example, get a 50% deposit match bonus up to £50. |
 MansionBet
|
| Bet Credits |
A bet credit is money added to your account that can be used to make a bet but can’t be withdrawn. You can, of course, withdraw any winnings made from bet credits. |
bet365
|
| Free Bets |
A free bet works just like a bet credit where you're given money to wager with, but it can't be withdrawn. Any winnings from a free bet are yours to keep! |
Betway
|
| Bet & Get |
Some online bookmakers will reward new bettors for making their first real money wager by offering free bets as a reward. For example, make a first bet of £10 and get £30 in free bets. |
William Hill
|
| Risk Free Bet |
A risk-free bet works exactly how it sounds. If you win your risk-free wager, you keep the winnings just like any other bet. But if you lose the risk-free bet, the bookmaker will refund your stake up to the amount specified by the promotion. |
 Guts
|
| Backup Bet |
A backup bet is also known as a risk-free bet in the gambling industry. Make a wager according to the terms of the promotion and get your stake back if that bet loses. |
Sportingbet
|
Bettors in the UK wager on a wide variety of sports but these six tend to pull in more bets than the others, with football being the undoubted king.
Betting on football, from the pitch to the pub, is front and centre with punters. While the Premier League drives plenty of action, these trusted soccer betting sites offer a huge menu of leagues and markets, including in-play betting and accumulators.
NBA betting is well worth the late nights, when you can get bets down with the most trusted basketball betting sites on everything from point spreads to player props on the league’s biggest stars.
There’s no denying the global popularity of NFL betting. Sundays are quickly becoming a busy night for online betting, as football fans cash in on the hard-hitting action of the NFL. The best football betting sites are adding more features to meet the demand.
“America’s Pastime” is finding a home with sports bettors in the UK. MLB baseball betting is a great way to spend the summer months and the best baseball betting sites give you multiple markets to choose from, such as 5-inning odds and in-play betting.
Tennis betting is nearly a 365-day event, with tournaments happening every day around the world. If you love gambling on the ATP, WTA, and every tournament in between, you’ll want to make sure you’re playing at the best sports betting site for tennis odds.
Take a swing at golf betting with tournaments on the board every week. The top players in the PGA and on the European Tour do battle year-round, and the best golf betting sites offer a wide array of odds that will have you hitting the green more than the golfers.
With daily betting at the track, horse racing is a popular option in the UK. Racing fans can find odds from the biggest local tracks as well as live horse racing betting from famous tracks around the globe.
We have had our finger on the pulse of the sports betting industry for more than 25 years.
The bookmakers we recommend have been personally reviewed, rigorously curated, and frequently updated by our team of experts.
News outlets turn to Covers for our earned reputation as a trusted and authoritative source of sports betting information. These are among the notable publications and media outlets that have referenced Covers.com and our industry experts.
Yes, online bookmakers are legal in the UK.
Our top UK betting site for 2021 is bet365. The rest of our favourite bookmakers are listed above. All have been reviewed and vetted using our trademarked Covers BetSmart System.
Our research has shown us that bet365, William Hill, and 888Sport consistently have some of the best odds in the UK. Best odds can vary by sport and even by game, however, which is why it is important to shop around before placing a bet.
Many online bookmakers in the UK accept PayPal, including bet365, Betway, William Hill, and many more. Check out the deposit options in our top listings above for more bookmakers that accept PayPal.
No, you don’t need to report sports bettings winnings in the UK if you are a casual gambler.
Football is definitely the most popular sport for UK punters to bet on. Horse racing, tennis, and the major US sports are other popular options.
Joshua Howe is a commercial content editor at Covers, assisting experts in making smarter sports bettors.
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