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
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
The knockout stages of the Champions League 2021 continue with the semi-finals, first legs due to be played 27/28 April and the second legs scheduled for 4/5 May. Being the semis both matches are feature ties, although it is Mauricio Pochettino’s PSG taking on his old rival Pep Guardiola’s Man City that gets the nod. Poch came out on top the last time they met at this stage taking Tottenham to the 2019 final, which he then lost to Liverpool.
Given the strange year we are all having it is very hard to predict how teams will fare in the latter stages of this years competition. There are a number of added factors including heightened injuries that could all come into play due to the sheer number of games players have had to place in a shorter space of time than usual. Teams also have to play behind closed doors and some in neutral venues, all of which can throw spanners into the works.
How teams react to these challenges will vary and this could make some shock results more likely than in the past. The bookies also can’t rely on historical data and form like they usually would to price markets, which means if you are savvy you could find a lot of value for some markets.
The old ones are the best and despite the proliferation of snooker globally the World Championship, at the famous Crucible Theatre, will always remain the pinnacle.
The format hasn’t changed much in 50 years, no bad thing – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The world top 16 ranked players are joined by 16 qualifiers who play in five knock-out rounds over two weeks from Easter weekend to the the final on May bank holiday weekend. This is a straight knockout event ranging from the best of 19 frames in round one to best of 35 in the final. This is about serious competitive matches between top players, none of this league or group stage BS that has permeated so many other sports.
Ronnie O’Sullivan is a threat as always, he failed at the first hurdle in 2019 to an amateur qualifier but then won it in style in 2020 & 2022 – you never know with Ronnie! The only person that is likely to stop Ronnie winning a record 8th title (beating Hendry’s record) is Ronnie. Should the legend of the game falter then Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson and Mark Allen will all be waiting for an opportunity to win the crown – or perhaps there will be a surprise like when Mark William’s stormed the competition beating John Higgins in 2018? Maybe John himself is due a 5th title having lost three on the bounce from 2017-19?
Watch: BBC
The flat horse racing season in the UK gets underway officially with the Lincoln Handicap in late March / early April each year. For many though the season doesn’t really begin properly until the Guineas at Newmarket, the first two of the traditional five English classics.
Both races are held on the famous Rowley mile at Newmarket, the home of the jockey club and seen as the birth place of elite flat racing, having been hosting racing sine the 1600’s. Predictably they are both one mile long with a prize purse over £500,000 with over £283,550 for the winner.
The 2000 Guineas is held first on the Saturday and is in fact older than the 1000 Guineas on the Sunday. The 2000 is open to three-year-old colts and fillies and for four of the last seven years has been won by Aidan O’Brien trained horses, he is also the leading trainer with 10 wins since 1998.
The 1000 Guineas is an identical race held on the Sunday but only open to 3-year-old fillies. This race has also been dominated in recent years by O’Brien horses, winning in 2016-18 and 2020-21. He is also the leading trainer of modern times for this race with 7 wins since 2005. He is favourite to win the race again in 2024.
The Guineas is a perfect time to see how the best milers are running early in the season and also a good time to see all the new bookies offers for the flat season.
Watch: ITV
The biggest race in America, and dating back to 1875 the Kentucky Derby is truly ancient by their standards. The 1 mile 2 furlong feature flat race at Churchill Downs commands an incredible prize pool of over $3M with over $1.86M for the race winner. You can see now why this race draws such a high amount of international attention from punters.
The Derby itself comes at the end of an entire festival built around it that includes two full days of high profile racing, including the 1 mile 1 furlong Kentucky Oaks on the Friday. Unlike in the UK however when they say ‘festival’ in the US they mean it, and racing is just part of a two week long event of celebrations.
As the home of horse racing and with so much going on in the summer many bookies pay little attention to foreign racing, especially for promotions and enhanced value. The Kentucky Derby is a distinct exception to this however and if wait until a day or so before the race to bet and you shop around you should be able to get some decent offers.
Watch: NBC Sports
Sweden will host Eurovision 2024, having won the event in Liverpool in 2023. It will be the seventh time the country has hosted the event. Whether you love it or hate it you can’t ignore it, Eurovision has become a musical phenomenon watched by up to half a billion people across the globe, including in many countries that do not even participate, such as China.
Generally popular TV competition events attract pretty poor odds from bookmakers, driven by high market uncertainty that makes pricing hard, and low competition. Eurovision is different in this regard as it is so damn big it actually forces the bookies to price markets more fairly, meaning if you shop around you can find good odds. This is also one of the few events that you can find betting offers for to add further value.
One thing you can almost guarantee is that the UK will not win, although betting on them to come last is a popular market in recent years, the UK finished last in 2019 and 2021 and with zero points in 2021 – although they did surprisingly come 2nd in 2022 but that was largely due to the UK supporting Ukraine. The event is so politically motivated that the ‘best song’ rarely wins, but then if you think you’ve got your finger on the button of which countries like each other then you could take advantage of that fact.
Watch: BBC One
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
While the world had hoped to see Tyson Fury take on AJ last year it was not to be as they couldn’t agree terms. Fury wanted to take on AJ to settle the question as to who is the greatest British boxer of this generation. With the fight in limbo Fury instead decided on a trilogy fight against Derek Chisora, which he again won easily.
He followed this up with a fight that was purely about money against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia. The 10 round fight was a boxing match but Fury’s WBC belt wasn’t on the line and he might have been thankful of that as he certainly didn’t win it easily. The fight was called to Fury to split decision but many felt Ngannou should have won, especially as he knocked down Fury in the 5th. It is hard to know how much of the real Fury was on display that day but he will need to be better in the next fight; the long awaited unification fight with Usyk.
Usyk was also knocked down in his last fight with Daniel Dubois. It wasn’t an official knockdown as the punch was declared below the belt (controversially). Usyk went on to knock him out in the ninth but it showed some weaknesses that Fury could exploit if he can get some lower punches away to the body.
There is no firm favourite in this fight and it could genuinely go either way. Boxing fans are just thankful to have a fight like this having waited years. What we do know is barring a draw we will have our first unified heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
Round betting is where the value can be found if you have an inkling as to when the fight might end. William Hill especially are renowned for price guarantees and enhanced specials if you wait until the week of the bout to bet.
Watch: TNT Sports
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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.