Welcome to OnlineBetting.org.uk, your premier guide to the world of betting and gambling on the internet. Whatever your sport or game we are here to offer expert advice on where to place your bets, with recommendations and guidance based on a combined experience of over 40 years.
On the site we provide up to date and detailed reviews of all major UK bookmakers, as well as a handful of carefully selected online-only sportsbooks and casinos – all of which are licensed and regulated right here in the UK. As well as individual reviews, we have also written a number of guides which recommend bookies based on sport, bet types or offers so that you can find the best betting sites for your needs.
Whilst we prefer to give more detailed advice based on the features you’re looking for or sport you want to bet on, we also understand that some people just want a list of betting sites to try out for themselves. For this reason we’re kicking things off with a list of our favourite bookmakers. For details of promotions for existing customers see our reviews or visit or betting offers page.
Best UK Online Betting Sites
Welcome Offer of the Month
Virgin Bet: Bet £10 Get £20
Sometimes with offers we focus on the biggest ones or the ones that give most in promo funds but in reality what most people want are simple and clear sign up bonuses. This is why we are giving the welcome offer of the month slot to Virgin Bet this month with their simple but effective £20 in free bets if you bet £10.
You can place your £10 qualifying bet on any sportsbook market so long as the wager is placed at odd of 1/2 or more (1.50). You have two weeks to do that from registration. Note that if placing an each-way bet only the win part would count, so this would need to be a £10 each-way bet to qualify.
For this you get two £10 free bets that you need to accept within 7 days and are then valid for one week and can be used on any single markets (i.e. not each-way or multiples). As with all free bet offers the stake is not returned with any winnings.
Virgin get high marks for their straight forward introductory offer but is it actually a good sportsbook? Well, as with most things that carry the Virgin branding it is good looking, nice to use and vibrant while maintaining focus on the product. The depth is fantastic in terms of markets, streaming and promotions once you become a customer. You can read more about them in our Virgin Bet review.
New Customer Enhanced Odds Offers & Free Bets
In addition to the standard welcome free bets and bonuses you can read about on this site, many betting sites also run enhanced odds and free bet event specific specials.
If you are planning on betting on a certain event, especially a high profile one (e.g Premier League, Cheltenham, Wimbledon, etc.), then you can sometimes find added value compared to the general welcome offer by taking a bespoke deal.
At OnlineBetting.org.uk we focus on the nuts and bolts of betting but we also have a sister offers site that carefully screens new and existing customer promotions for all sports and events worth knowing about.
From the World Cup to the Ryder Cup, Champions League to Royal Ascot, if you are looking for something for a given sport or event then head over and take a look. We also list a wider range of betting sites if you would prefer to see a longer list of UK licensed operators.
What’s On & Upcoming Major Events
Below we list the major sporting events on now and upcoming to help you plan your betting.
Many bookies often give boosted odds and high value retention offers surrounding these feature events that can boost winnings or reduce loses for diligent punters.
It is often worth waiting until closer to an event start time to utilise the best prices, insurance offers, free bets, money back and other promotions available. You can visit our sister site, featured in the section above, LatestBettingOffers, for event specific odds and deals for both new and existing customers.
The Premier League is the worlds biggest sporting competition in terms of revenue, number of people watching, wages, attendance and pretty much any other stat you want to look at; including betting, accounting for over half of bets placed on football in the UK.
Let’s face it the league is elitist and based on money, and for a long time this caused stagnation with three teams dominating the first 20 years; Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal. Lately, however, the league has gained a new competitive streak, most notably with Leicester winning in 2015 and then two new dominant forces arising in Liverpool and Man City, who look set to continue their battle in 2022-23, in the way United and Arsenal did 15 years ago – that is except the level is now much higher, as seen with Liverpool coming second in 2019 with an astonishing 97 points.
In the UK 70% of bets are placed on football and nearly three quarters of those wagers go on the Premier League, making this one event responsible for around half of all bets placed. Considering this if you bet on the PL you would be insane not to search around for the best offers and odds from our leading bookies. Read our detailed guide for more.
Watch: Sky Sports, BT Sport & Amazon
It’s the pinnacle of European club football and the competition every fan wants to win and this year with no less than four English teams in the competition and this means even more attention than before. Liverpool are of course the record English side in the competition and were finalists in 2018 and 2022 and won the competition in 2019 but they are not in it this year.
This year, however, it will be last years champions Man City who will be the club to beat. Having now won their first Champions League it could now open the floodgates and it is likely more wins will follow. Arsenal, Man United and even Newcastle cannot be discounted and if they make the knockout rounds anything is possible. Despite not quite being the team they were Real Madrid will also surely be on the radar again as they always are.
With no World Cup to worry about in 2023-24 the Champions League returns to it’s usual dates, although it will be the last competition in the current format. Form 2024-25 the competition will expand again with a new league phase replacing the group stage.
Watch: BT Sport
The 2024 FA Cup could be one of the best in years, yes there is an expectation that Manchester City may simply walk it, but then they said that in 2012 when Wigan produced the biggest shock of the last 30 years. This is the 143rd edition of the world’s oldest and best domestic cup competition and see 732 teams compete in 764 games to find a winner.
Despite the magic and all the giant killings it remains true that the FA Cup has been won by only three teams other than Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea since 1992. That doesn’t stop fans believing however and an upset is due again soon surely? After all, Leicester won it in 2021.
Man City have their eyes on other prizes this year there is no doubt, but then they have one of the deepest squads to cope with it and are aiming to win as much as they can. On the flip side the likes of Man Utd, Newcastle and Chelsea will be taking the tournament more seriously this year as they won’t win the Premier League, a lot of clubs will also be courting the Europa League spot available to the winners along with the trophy.
Watch: BBC and ITV
The darts Premier League takes place from February to May every Thursday evening, it moves around each week meaning that 17 different venues across the UK and Europe will be used this year.
The format changed in 2022 and now takes place over 17 evenings with 8 players competing in a series of 16 mini-tournaments before a final play-off. For the first 16 nights players play quarters, semis and a final with the winner getting 5 league points and a £10k bonus, runner-up 3 points and losing semi-finalists 2 points.
The top 4 players in the league progress to the final play-offs and the final due to be staged on 26th May. The world’s eight best PDC players compete in the Premier League. Michael Van Gerwen won the 2022 and 2023 versions and is record holder with 7 titles, ahead of Phil Taylor with 6 titles. MVG also won four titles in a row between 2016-2019.
The event was only conceived in 2005 and yet has already become one of the most high profile events on the darts calendar, second only perhaps to the World Championship.
You can find some excellent linked free bets and price boosts, especially from the previous event sponsor Unibet. For nights 1 to 16 each match is best of 11 legs, the semi-finals best of 19 legs and the final best of 21 legs.
Watch: Sky Sports
Having moved from August to May in 2019 the US PGA Championship is now the second rather than last major of the year. The move took place to prevent the tournament conflicting with the start of the new NFL season.
The 2024 Championship is being held at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. The course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, hosts the event for the fourth time (1996, 2000, 2014). The last time it hosted in 2014 was the last time that Rory McIlroy won a major, who would have thought he wouldn’t win again for at least another 10 years – maybe this year is the time?
A fairly long course at 7458 yards long (around 6820 meters) with some long distance holes to go with it, the 7th for example measures 597 yards, par 5, with 12 of the 18 holes being over 400 yards. Being set on the outskirts of Louisville set back from Ohio River means the course is less susceptible to changeable weather and strong winds, often an advantage for less technical players.
There are a lot of players in contention this year, including the rejuvenated Tiger Woods. If Tiger Woods can recover in time and win it again he would equal Jack Nicklaus record of 5 wins. That will be no easy task, even on the back of Tiger winning the 2019 US Masters, as he is surrounded by many talented golfers – in particular American Brooks Koepka who won last year and has won the event back to back in 2018 & 2019, the first to do so since, you guessed it, Tiger Woods.
Watch: Sky Sports Golf
The French Open is the most unique of all the slams because it is contested on clay. Clay is the slowest surface and this means it is harder to smash your way through an opponent with big serves and returns. For players to win on clay they must play a slower tactical game and this is one of the major reasons the big names of the grass and hard courts don’t always perform well. Novak Djokovic, for example, has 3 French titles from 23 grand slams and Roger Federer 1 from 20 grand slams.
The king of clay is Rafa Nadal, the record winner has almost the opposite statistic with 14 wins at Roland Garros out of 22 total slams. On top form it is hard to see any other player coming close to stopping him winning his 15th title in 2024, despite the fact he will be 38 years old. Novak seems the most likely on the back of his performance that took him to victory in 2021 and 2023. As always it will depend ultimately if the Spaniard has an off-day.
The women’s game by contrast is much more open. Since 2004 only 4 different players have won the men’s title but by contrast 14 different players have won the women’s singles. Only Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Iga Świątek and Justin Henin have won it more than once in the last 17 years. If you are therefore looking for a good market to bet on the women’s title seems to be the one to go for.
Watch: ITV & Eurosport
When the Derby and Oaks roll around each year we know that the summer is here and the flat racing season is in full swing. The fact that there is little else on in early June means that for the feature races like the Derby and Oaks classics punters can get some fantastic added value if you wait until a day before to place your bets.
Racing takes place over the Friday (Ladies Day), which features the Oaks, and Saturday (Derby Day), which of course features the Derby. These are just the two biggest races however out of 14 in total that include the group 1 Coronation Cup along with a further 2 group races, 2 listed races and some seriously competitive handicaps.
Epsom is synonymous with high level racing having seen horses running there since the mid-1600s. It is close enough to London to draw big crowds, and a lot of royalty (on normal years!), but far enough away to be set among the rolling green hills of the south downs.
Both the Oaks and the Derby are held over just over one and a half miles and are two of the five British classics. The winner can expect to take home in the region of £900,000 from a purse worth over £1.6M, for winning either race.
Watch: ITV
The ICC T20 Cricket World Cup will be joint hosted this year by the US and West Indies, the 9th incarnation. The competition takes place over the course of 5 weeks there will be 55 matches between the 20 teams involved. It has been expanded from 16 teams and 45 matches in 2022.
The group stage sees 4 groups of 5 teams compete in a round-robin (4 matches each team, 40 in total). The winners and runner up from each group then progress straight to the Super 8 stage. The Super 8 stage sees the 8 remaining teams split into two groups of 4 teams who play 3 matches each in a round-robin (6 matches per group, 12 total). The top two teams in each Super 8 group progress to the semi-finals.
Matches will take place at different grounds in the US and West Indies. It is the 1st time that US has hosted the T20 World Cup and 2nd for WI. West Indies & England are the current record holders with 2 previous wins from the 9 world cups to date, Sri Lanka are historically the best performing team with the highest number of wins, they have won it once (2014) and been runners up twice (2009 & 2012).
Fans can only hope the 2024 World Cup lives up to the spectacular 2022 edition that England won against Pakistan in Melbourne.
Watch: Sky Sports Cricket
Euro 2024 will revert to having a single host again after taking a pan-European approach across 11 countries in 2020. This time, Germany will host the competition so received automatic qualification.
England and Scotland both qualified confidently from the group stages, with group matches taking place from 23 March to 21 November 2023.
For detailed event information see our European Championships page.
Watch: Sky Sports & ITV
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Modern online gambling allows you to deposit and withdraw to and from betting accounts using a vast array of payment options. Our banking guides discuss the difference in funding methods, bookmakers that accept them, how to use them, fees, security, limits, bonus availability and more. Whether you want to use an e-wallet, bank account cash alternative or even real cash we will tell you how.
About Our Online Betting Guide
At OnlineBetting.org.uk we provide impartial betting advice whether you are a complete novice or you have been doing this for years. All guides and reviews are written by Matt (that’s me) and our in house team, or by carefully selected and vetted expert writers. We update our offers daily and we revise our reviews and guides regularly.
A little introduction to me, Matt. I have been betting for many years in all formats, I love all sports and games and as we all know there is no better way to get into an event than by having a cheeky flutter. Everything written on this site comes from first-hand experience and has been fully tried and tested by either myself or our team or our expert writers. I aim to guide you through all things betting from old school bookmaker’s shops to modern bookies that solely offer online betting tools. We assess the pros and cons of online vs betting shops, conventional desktop sites, mobile betting, payment options, offers/promotions, live betting and betting with streaming and more.
I am a diehard Liverpool FC fan and I truly love my football but I also like watching and going to, Horse racing, Dog racing, Cricket, Tennis, Darts, F1, Rugby, Golf, Snooker, Boxing and even the odd NFL game. If you watch a sport or game in my opinion it is worth placing a bet on it but given the wide range of choice and offers available in the world of online betting it is often hard to know who to bet with. In my own experiences I have made some mistakes but I have found a lot of gems that can make betting on events a lot more fun, and profitable.
Maybe you want to find the best bookmaker for betting on football for example, or you might want to know how to bet with cash online, who offers Cash Out, live streaming, who has the best mobile app or who provides the best live betting – whatever your query or question we have complied a comprehensive resource to online betting to help answer it.
Here we list good, established, UK licensed (by the Gambling Commission), reliable betting sites for punters and by having a good relationship with these companies in many cases we are able to offer you exclusive and one-off deals you cannot find direct with the bookmaker. If you like what we do come back and visit us often and see what’s new, share the love too and tell your friends about us.