Best Sports Betting Options UK 2022 - Top Online Bookmakers

How Does Sports Betting Work?

Sports betting, in its simplest form, is a type of gambling in which people bet on the possible outcome of a sporting event.

For example, let’s say you are interested in a particular football match, whether as a fan or a casual observer. If you want to add a bit of extra entertainment or incentive to the game, you can put down a wager on one of the teams to win. But you aren’t just limited to betting on match outcomes. You can also bet categories like the total goals scored in a match, or whether a certain player will score.

Read below to learn more about how to bet on sports.

How to Bet on Sports

Want to learn more about how to bet on sports? Read our short guide below to get started on your sports betting journey!

STEP 1: Choose a Sportsbook

Before you can make a bet, you have to choose a site to bet on. Think about what you want out of a sportsbook, whether that’s great odds, quality bonuses, or elite market variety, and make an informed decision based on your priorities.

STEP 2: Select a Sport

Pick a sport that you want to bet on. Preferably, this should be a sport that you are both knowledgeable about the rules of and currently up-to-date with on the latest news.

STEP 3: Find a Market

Choose your bet type, whether it’s simply betting on the outcome of a match, betting on a player to score, or putting together a multiple leg accumulator bet across different market types.

STEP 4: Examine the Odds

In sports like football, you might have hundreds of matches available to bet on across hundreds of different leagues. Make sure to use your knowledge, along with Odds Scanners betting tools, to find the match with the best odds for your sports betting needs.

STEP 5: Place Your Bet

After examining your bet along with your budget, think about how much money you are comfortable risking. Once you’ve chosen the amount to wager, place your bet, sit down, and watch the action unfold.

How to Choose the Best Sports Betting Platform

Before you can make your first bet, you first to have find a sportsbook to bet with. With 500+ options in the UK, it can be hard to narrow down which bookie is the right one for your betting needs. Below, we have listed the main points that you should consider when selecting a sports betting platform.

Licence & Reliability

The last thing you want to be doing is giving money to an online bookie who aren’t even registered as a gambling operator in the UK. To make sure a bookie is reliable and in good-standing, confirm that hey have a non-expired licence to operate with the UK Gambling Commission.

Reputable sites will have their licence information listed at the bottom of the home page, which you can then double check with the Gambling Commission database.

Privacy & Security

Since online bookies will have access to your personal and banking data, it’s absolutely paramount that they have top-of-the-line privacy and security.

Some features to look out for include HTTPS and SSL Certificate checks, which guarantee secure and encrypted communication, Face ID/Touch ID, which confirms that you are the only one who can access your account, and Two Factor Authentication, which ties your personal phone number or email in for an added layer of security.

The most trustworthy bookmakers will have features like these built in, and it’s important to check for these features before entering your personal and banking information.

Sign-Up Offer

For new customers, few things matter more than a quality sign-up offer. At most popular sportsbooks you can expect to receive a welcome bonus, usually in the form of a free bet ranging in value between £20 and £50.

But before you go out and join the sportsbook with the highest bonus, keep in mind that not all sign-up offers are created equal. Many of these offers have restrictions that should be taken into consideration such as minimum odds, minimum deposit amounts, and expiration dates.

Make sure to thoroughly review the terms and conditions of the bonus to make sure there aren’t any hidden restrictions that will hinder you in earning your bonus.

Sports

All of the largest bookmakers in the UK have a wide variety of sports on offer, but some are more catered to certain markets than others. If you have a favourite sport that you want to bet on, review each bookies offerings for that particular sport to make sure you’re getting the best league and market variety possible.

And remember, more sports and leagues to bet on means a higher possibility of finding good betting opportunities.

Odds

When it comes to online sports betting, the one thing that impacts your wallet more than anything is quality odds.

What are betting odds? Odds are the measure of how much you win vs your initial bet.

How do betting odds work? In the UK, fractional odds are the most popular. For example. If you’re betting on the outcome of a match at fractional odds of 2/1, you’d win £2 for every £1 you bet.

Differing odds are one of the biggest variants between bookmakers, and exploiting these odds discrepancies is a great way to earn some winnings. Remember, if one bookmaker has 4.5/1 odds on a certain bet, while yours only has 4/1, you’re losing potential pounds even if you win.

Mobile Betting User Experience

If you’re someone who is out and about and doesn’t have much time to sit in front of a computer, you’re going to want to find a bookie with a modern and functional mobile app.

Before placing any bets, it might be a good idea to download the bookies mobile app and see if it meets your sports betting needs. Pay notice to the layout, navigation speed, and the presence of essential features such as cash out and live streaming.

Payment Methods

If you want to be able to place bets, you need to join a sportsbook that accepts payment methods available to you. Review popular bookies deposit and withdrawal methods to make sure you have variety and options when it comes to depositing your funds.

And it’s not just all about the variety of payment methods. It’s important to review each bookies payment system below the surface. Take note of their minimum/maximum deposit and withdrawal amounts, processing times, as well as any added fees they might put on the user.

Customer Service

Even at the largest and most reputable sportsbooks, occasional issues still arise, and it’s important that your bookie of choice has the customer service infrastructure to handle them.

Before signing up for any sportsbook, you should review their customer service offerings. Check to see if they have dedicated phone and email support, a detailed FAQ, and alternate forms of communication such as 24/7 live chat and social media help pages.

Important Online Betting Features

The most popular bookmakers in the UK stand out from the crowd thanks to the myriad of features that they offer to their customers. Features such as cash out, bet builder, and live streaming are among the main ways that bookies drive new customers to their sites. Read below to learn more about how these features can improve your sports betting experience!

Stats & Scores

If you want the most educated and informed betting decisions, you’ll need up-to-date information when it comes to the latest stats and scores.

You’ll be hard-crossed to find a popular bookmaker in the UK that doesn’t offer real-time stats and scores to all their customers for sports such as football, cricket, and tennis.

Cash Out

What is cash out in betting? Cash Out is a feature that allows customers to settle their bet early, even if all parts of the bet haven’t finished.

How does cash out in betting work? Here’s an example. Let’s say you put down a multiple bet on three different players to score during a given Premier League matchday, and two have already successfully scored. With cash out, you will have the opportunity to settle your bet early for a reduced payout, regardless of the outcome of the last leg.

Bet Builder

A bet builder is a handy feature that allows you to combine multiple bets across different markets into a single bet.

For example, if you want to bet on the match result, winning margin and total goals for a particular match, you can combine them into a single multiple bet with increased odds.

Live Streaming

One way that the top bookies in the business separate themselves from the competition is with top-quality live streaming services. Live streaming allows users to watch sports such as football, basketball, cricket tennis, and more in real-time right on the bookmakers site.

Live streaming can be incredibly advantageous for punters because it allows them to make the right decision in real time. Live streaming allows you to place bets on the fly while watching, enabling expert punters to perfectly time their bets.

Types of Sports Bets

Sports betting can be so much more than just betting on the winner or loser of a match. Follow along with us as we explain the most common types of sports bets, including moneyline, parlays, point spread, and more!

Moneyline

Sports betting doesn’t get any simpler than a standard moneyline bet. A moneyline bet is simply a wager on the outcome of a match. Nothing matters except who wins and who loses.

For example, a Premier League moneyline bet may give you odds like 1/4 odds for a win for the home team, 9/1 odds for a win for the away team, and 5/1 for a draw. No matter how many goals are scored and who scored them, you will win at your chosen odds as long as you predict the final outcome correctly.

Accumulator

By their simplest definition, accumulator bets, more commonly referred to as acca’s, are bets that involve more than one selection, and often consist of four or more. In order to win an acca you must guess every one of your selections correctly.

Because the odds are multiplied with each additional selection added, acca’s can be incredibly advantageous to your bank account if you win one.

For example, let’s say you put down an acca on the outcome of three rugby matches, at odds of 2/1, 3/1, and 4/1 respectively. If you were to win, you’d receive a massive 24-times (4x3x2) your initial investment.

Point Spread

Point spread betting is still concerned with projecting the outcome of a match, but on a more even playing field. The spread of a match is meant to estimate the margin of a victory for a given team by assessing each teams’ strengths against each other.

For example, if the spread of a basketball game is -8 for the home team, that means the bookie estimates the home team will win by at least eight points.

Teasers

A teaser is a type of bet that is rarely found in the UK and European gambling markets, but can be commonly found in the United States. It allows you to combine bets on two different games while also having the opportunity to adjust their point spreads. Because you are able to adjust the spread, teaser bets will yield a lower return in the event of a win.

For example, let’s say you want to bet on an American football match at odds of +2.5 for the home team and the over at a line of 44.5. With a six-point teaser bet, you can raise the odds by six to +8.5, and lower the over/under by six to 38.5, giving yourself better odds of winning.

Totals (Over/Under)

An over/under bet is another common bet type that allows you to bet on the total number of goals/points that both teams will combine to score in a given match.

For example, let’s say a Premier League match has an over/under on total goals at 2.5. That means if you bet the under, you’ll win if there are two or less total goals in the match. And for the over, you’ll need at least three total goals to secure your winnings.

Prop Bets

Props encompass a wide variety of different bets, but in short, they include any wager that is not directly tied to the outcome of a match. This can be tied to individual player performance or team performance in a specific statistical category.

Let’s head once again to football for an example. A prop bet could involve you betting on a particular player to score in a match, or it could involve you betting on the total number of corner kicks, or how many players will get a yellow card. Prop betting allows for a myriad of betting opportunities while also letting knowledgeable punters flex their expertise.

Live Betting (In-Play Betting)

Live sports betting, otherwise known as in-play betting, is simply that betting that goes on while a match is being played. Live bets are not mutually exclusive with other bet types. You can make a live money line bet, a live prop bet, and even a live accumulator bet. It has become an especially popular form of betting as of late with the rise of online livestreaming.

Futures Betting

Rather than betting on a single match, futures betting allows punters to bet ahead of time on league champions or award races. With futures betting, you can bet on the who you think will win the Premier League, or who you think will be next year’s Ballon d’Or winner.

Futures bets are popular because they allow punters to have money down for multiple weeks without having do full-scale research for individual matches.

Most Popular Sports Betting Markets

All of the UK’s most popular bookies give their users a wide variety of sports to choose from. Below is a list of common sports and leagues that you can expect to find at any reputable sportsbook.

Tennis: ATP Tour, WTA Tour, Wimbledon, French Open, Australian Open, US Open

Basketball: NBA, WNBA, FIBA, EuroLiga

Horse Racing: Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Breeders’ Cup

Cricket: T20 World Cup, The Ashes, Indian Premier League, Caribbean Premier League

American Football: National Football League, NCAA College Football

MMA: Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator MMA, ONE Championship

eSports: DOTA2, Overwatch 2, League of Legends, CS:GO, Valorant, Rocket League

Sports Betting at Odds Scanner

At Odds Scanner we offer one of the most in-depth betting platforms on the market. Read below for more information on some of the feature and tools that we offer to help you get more money in your pocket.

Tips & Predictions

For every important match, fight, tournament, or race happening, Odds Scanner will provide you with predictions and tips from our team of experts, with the specific goal of help you maximize your profits. If you’re not an expert in a particular sport or league but still want to place a bet, don’t worry, we got you covered.

Betting Offers

At Odds Scanner, we provide you with detailed breakdowns of the best offers and promotions from bookmakers to help you maximize your potential winnings. We offer extensive and thorough reviews of all the most popular online bookmakers, including detailed analysis of sportsbook payouts, bonuses, and more.

Betting Calculators

Our wide variety of betting calculators help you gather as much information as possible to ensure maximum winnings. With Odds Scanners betting calculators, you can do things like check for sure bet opportunities, calculate fair odds, and project your accumulator pay-out.

Betting Tools

Odds Scanner offers betting tools that will give you the best odds available including sure bets, value bets, and dropping odds. Sure bets allow you to take advantage of differing odds between bookmakers.

Value bets are ones where the probability of a certain outcome is actually mathematically higher than the odds reflect. And dropping odds allows you to find bookmakers that have yet to adjust their odds to the latest trends.

Sports Betting Tips

Sports betting at its core is a simple concept, but it requires utilizing a variety of different skills to become a true expert. Read below for a few reliable sports betting tips to help improve your performance.

1.    Technical Analysis

Being an expert in a chosen sport isn’t going to turn you into a profitable punter overnight. Knowing the technical side of sports betting is just as, if not more, important than the sport itself. And a key part of being a proficient technical punter is having access to the right tools

Odds Scanner’s tools like sure bets, value bets, and dropping odds help to point you in the right direction of bets that have the largest chance of earning your profit. And our wide range of betting calculators give you the information and analysis you need to make sound financial decisions.

2.    Bankroll Management

Having the best bankroll management in sports betting is absolutely essential to making sure your generating long-term profit. Bankroll management is all about managing the careful balance of risk vs reward that is inherent in any type of betting.

One quick way to improve your sports betting bankroll control is to look at making a profit as a long-term process. You can’t try and make all your winnings on one risky bet. The most successful punters are those that aren’t overly-aggressive with their funds and are willing to wait for the right bet to come along.

3.    Emotional Control & Discipline

When money is on the line, sometimes emotions can get the best of you. But if you want to be successful in sports betting, it’s important to not let your feelings cloud your judgement.

Emotional control in sports betting is all about not getting carried away by your results, whether good or bad. Don’t let massive winnings lull you into complacency and don’t let your hefty losses bring you into a risk-taking mindset. It’s critical to always approach things from a numerical and analytical perspective when making sports betting decisions.

Sports Betting Terms & Acronyms

The sports betting landscape is filled to the brim with terms and acronyms that new punters may not be acquainted with. Below we will present the meanings of some of the main acronyms and terms found in sports betting.

• Spread: An estimate of a particular teams margin of victory in a match.
• PK: Stand for pick’em. When both teams have identical odds, indicating no clear favorite.
• Each Way: A bet that is placed into two separate parts, a win bet and a place bet. The selection must win for the win bet return, and must place in within the predetermined places for a place bet to return.
• Over: A bet on both teams to score more than the total listed.
• Under: A bet on both teams to score less than the total listed.
• ML: Moneyline, betting on the outcome of an event.
• SU & ATS: SU stands for ‘straight up’, as in betting on the outcome of a game rather on the spread. ATS stands for ‘against the spread’, or how well a team does in comparison to the spread.
• OTB: Stand for ‘off the board’. That means the bookie is no longer accepting bets for that particular event.
• Rollover: The amount you must spend on an online sportsbook to become eligible to withdraw your bonus money.
• Draw No Bet (DNB): A type of bet that removes the outcome of a draw.
• Odds: How much you can win in relation to how much you bet.
• Hook: The half point on a point spread, such as the .5 in 6.5.
• Parlay: A singular bet placed on multiple outcomes.
• Handicap: Handicap betting provides favored teams with a goal disadvantage, makes these matches more interesting to bet on.