Best Football Betting Sites 2021

Football Betting: The Basics

Football betting generally involves you betting on the outcome of a football match or tournament. For individual matches, you’ll bet on which team will believe will win, while in tournaments, you’ll bet on which team will win the event. However, it’s worth pointing out that the best betting sites for football wagering allow you to bet on other things through specialised wagers, which we’ll explain in more detail below.

These special bets involve you betting on other events that can happen during a game or event, such as a particular player scoring a goal, certain teams beating others in rounds of a tournament, teams scoring a select number of goals within a tournament, and more. Alongside the above, there are non-game football bets, such as bets on transfers and managerial changes.

Do All Betting Sites Offer Football Bets?

Yes. In our history of reviewing betting websites, we’ve found that most gambling websites that offer sports betting do provide you with football betting opportunities, allowing you to bet on the sport and its associated games and tournaments. We’ve even found that online casinos with sports betting services offer football betting opportunities, which is great.

However, it’s important to note that the type of football bets available will vary between websites, as well as their odds. This is why it’s important to check a website before registering with it and placing any bets.

Football Bets Explained

As mentioned above, there is a wide range of football bets available for you to place at online betting websites. What’s available will depend on the individual betting website, but we can run you through some of the most common types of football bets available for you to enjoy. Take a look at them below:

• Full-Time Result: Betting on whether the Home or Away team will win or whether the game will end in a draw, but it does not include the final score after extra time or penalties, only the main 90-minute game
•  Full-Time/Half-Time Result: Betting on the result at the game’s half-time and betting on the result of the game’s full-time
• Correct Score: Betting on the correct score of a game
• Outright Betting: Betting on the result of an entire tournament rather than a single game
• Scorecast Betting: Wagering on a first, last or anytime goalscorer, and then betting on the score of the game. If the wagered goalscorer does not start the game, the bet is refunded
• No Goal No Bet: Betting that a certain team will make the first or last goal in a game. If a game finishes with no goals, the bet is refunded
• Wincast Betting: A combination of a Scorecast bet and a Full-time Result bet
• H2H Betting: Known as head-to-head betting, two players or teams that aren’t confronting each other will be paired together and bet settled based on their performances
• Double Chance Betting: Placing a Full-Time Result bet and backing two outcomes
• Asian Handicap: When a team is given an advantage and you place a wager on which team you think will win
• Over And Under Betting: Betting how many times an event will happen, such as goals or yellow or red cards

The above bets we’ve listed are the most common football betting options available to use. As we’ve already mentioned, the availability of these bets will depend on the betting website you’re registered with, and we suggest you take a look at what’s on offer before registering with the website.

Picking The Right Bets

With the sheer number of bets available, it can be difficult to work out which bet is best to place. Well, that answer depends on your confidence as a gamer, how well you know the teams playing, and how well you know its players. This is why we recommend you research the teams and players as much as possible or at least, only bet on teams you know inside out.

If you’re new to sports betting, we also suggest you stick to simple bets, like Full-Time Result bets, which simply require you to bet on which team you think will win the game. Outright bets are also great choices, but they require a little more research into the teams playing in a tournament.

Our Recommended Football Betting Sites

Since most online betting websites allow you to bet on football games and tournaments, it can be difficult working out which sportsbooks are worth registering. If you’re looking to register with an online sportsbook, why not consider the website’s we’ve mentioned below, all of which are licensed for the UK and are completely safe for you to play at.

William Hill

William Hill is one of the biggest sports betting operators in the UK, operating dozens of betting shops across the United Kingdom. The brand also owns an online betting website which is available in the UK and across Europe too, allowing you to wager on a variety of different sports, including football. William Hill also operates an online casino where you can enjoy a variety of casino content. If you’d like to know more about the website, check our William Hill review here.

Bet365

Bet365 is another major name in the UK betting market, and one of the best football betting sites. Like William Hill, the Bet365 website allows you to bet on football games and tournaments, along with a variety of other sports such as greyhound racing, tennis, basketball, golf, and more. Bet365 also runs numerous promotions, allowing both new and returning players to claim bonuses. More details on what’s available can be found in our Bet365 review.

BetVictor

BetVictor is one of the best football betting sites in the UK. The website allows you to bet on a variety of popular sports, including football. It also runs an online casino and a bingo website, allowing you to enjoy other gambling content too. The website support in-play betting too, which may be worth trying. Check out our BetVictor review here for more information.

Mansion Bet

Mansion is an online casino brand that also operates a sports betting service known as Mansion Bet. Registered users can enjoy betting on football and dozens of other sports, can claim a variety of sports betting promotions, and play traditional online casino games through the Mansion Bet casino website too. All of this combines to create what we believe is one of the best football betting sites around. Our Mansion Bet review will have more details about the website and what you can enjoy.

10Bet

10Bet is one of the best betting sites for football, although it’s not as big nor as well-known as the other websites we’ve listed here. The website allows you to bet on various sports, including tennis, basketball, ice hockey, cricket, darts, and football too. Like other websites, you can also enjoy casino games, live casino games, and more at 10Bet. Check our 10Bet review for more details.

Casumo Sports

Casumo is primarily an online casino, but the brand launched a sportsbook service several years ago, so we think it’s worth mentioning too. Registered users can enjoy everything Casumo’s casino offers, along with all of the betting opportunities available on the Casumo sports betting service, including football betting, which makes it one of the best betting sites for football. If you want to know more about Casumo’s online casino and betting service, take a look at our review here.

All of the betting websites we’ve mentioned here are completely licensed for the United Kingdom by the Gambling Commission, which means they’re completely safe to play at. If the best betting sites for football we’ve listed aren’t of any interest to you, we suggest you take a look at alternatives in our guide on the best online betting sites.

Finding The Best Betting Sites For Football

We’ve shared what we believe are the best football betting sites above, but we suggest you read through our in-depth reviews and conduct additional research to work out what might be best for you. When you do this, there are several factors you’ll need to take into consideration, all of which we’ll explain here.

When looking at the best betting sites for football, you’ll need to check what other sports are available for you to wager on. This will vary depending on the website, but generally includes rugby, tennis, horse racing, boxing, basketball, cycling, darts, and numerous others too. A wide range of sports to bet on will help retain your interest.

In addition to looking at the availability of sports, you should check whether the betting site offers other casino content, such as video slots, jackpots, table games, and live casino content too. The best betting sites for football other some other type of content, and it’s always worth checking what is available before registering.

Alongside checking at what content you can enjoy, it’s important to look at promotions. The best betting sites for football offer free bets to new users who make a deposit and place a bet, and most websites will also offer other promotions for long-term users, such as cashback bonuses, boosted odds, additional free bets, and more. If the betting site also offers casino games, it will likely also offer casino promotions.

Finally, there are several other factors you’ll need to check when considering an online betting website, and they include the availability and timing of payment options like PayPal, the customer support available, and the mobile-friendliness of the website, a topic we discuss in detail later on.

Once you’ve found a football betting site that meets all of your requirements or needs, and it’s safe for you to register with and play at, go ahead and enjoy it.

Football Betting On Mobile

Like with casino gaming, you can place football bets on mobile. To do this, you simply need to have registered with a sports betting website and must either download a dedicated sports betting app from the Android Google Play or Apple App Stores like with casino apps, or you load up the betting website in your smartphone’s internet browser and then log in. Both methods will allow you to place bets on football games and tournaments, requiring you to simply select the game or tournament, pick your prediction and bet, enter how much you want to bet, and confirm the wager.

Playing on mobile works just like playing on the desktop website, the main difference is that you can do so from anywhere. However, it’s important to note that if you’re playing through a dedicated app, you usually won’t have access to the betting site’s other content, and will instead have to download an alternative app. If you play in-browser, you won’t be affected by these restrictions and should have access to the entire website. Also, downloading a dedicated app will take up storage on your smartphone device, while playing in-browser does not. If you’d like to learn more about what the best online betting apps are, check our guide here.

Other Football Betting Experiences

Virtual Football Betting

Alongside traditional betting, a majority of the best football betting sites in the UK also offer virtual betting, which does not involve wagering on real-life events. Instead, virtual betting involves you wagering on virtual games and sports. These virtual games are all fictional but feature lifelike visuals and sounds, making the games feel incredibly close to reality.

Virtual betting has become incredibly popular over the last few years as they run 24/7 at a betting website and take place every two to three minutes. This gives gamers a chance to bet on their favourite sports at any time of the day, and their fast-paced nature makes the games incredibly exciting too. However, it’s important to note that the betting options on these virtual games are much more limited as you can only bet on which outright outcome of a game, no other bets are available.

Betting websites offering virtual betting provide you with several sports, including horse racing, greyhound racing, motor racing, tennis, and football. The virtual sports available will depend on the betting website, so make sure to check before registering with it.

In-Play Or Live Football Betting

Alongside traditional and virtual betting, there is also in-play betting. Traditional betting requires you to place your bet before the game begins, but in-play or live betting allows you to place bets as the game is taking place right up until it ends. This type of betting will allow you to watch a game or tournament before betting any of your hard-earned money, giving you some extra time to check player or team performances before deciding on anything.

What’s more, the best betting sites for football will provide you with a way of keeping track of the game. For example, Betfair provides gamers with access to their Betfair Live Video provided the account is funded. The service live streams hundreds of games each week, so there’s no need to watch the match on TV. Other betting sites offer similar services too, which is great.

Many gamers enjoy live football betting as it allows you to analyse the game as it’s happening and place your bet, rather than having to predict ahead of time. The fact that odds change depending on what happens during the game can also make live betting fun, but can also make live football betting a little riskier.

What’s Better?

Many people enjoy wagering on virtual sports because it runs 24/7 at a betting website and takes place every few minutes. They’re a great alternative when there are no real-life games that you’re interested in betting on, and since they’re available all day, they’re great for anyone that has an irregular work-day. However, there are disadvantages to betting on virtual sports; they lack in betting options, and since these games involve fictional games and players, it can be difficult to decide what you’re going to bet on since you cannot research anything. What’s more, you usually cannot claim promotions on virtual games while you can with real-life games.

In-play or live football betting, meanwhile, is another great form of football betting. Live football betting is perfect for someone who isn’t confident in their abilities or for someone who doesn’t have an immediate grasp of a particular football team. They’re also great for anyone who just wants to enjoy the match and place bets while it happens. Like other forms of betting, however, there are some drawbacks to live football betting. The changing of odds can make it a little riskier to play, and you usually cannot use promotions on in-play betting.

We can’t tell you whether virtual football betting or in-play betting is better than traditional betting, as this is something we believe you should try and work out for yourself. All types of betting have their advantages and disadvantages, which is why we believe you should give them all a try yourself if possible. If you find that you enjoy all of them, why not just use them all?

Football Betting Tournaments

One of the reasons football betting is so popular is because there are dozens of tournaments available to wager on. The tournaments available are all different, featuring a variety of matches and teams, and most of them take place throughout the year, so there’s always something for you to wager on. Now, some of the most popular football tournaments for betting include:

• UEFA European Championship
• FIFA World Cup
• EFL Cup
• UEFA Champions League
• FA Cup
• UEFA Europa League
• Copa America
• EFL Leagues One and Two
• EFL Championship
• UEFA Nations League
• Premier League

There are dozens of other football tournaments available throughout the year, and some of them don’t even involve British football teams. However, the availability of these tournaments will depend on the betting website you’re registered with. While most betting websites will allow you to bet on major tournaments, lessor events may not be widely available, which is why it may be a good idea to register with different websites in order to bet on all the events you enjoy.

Are There Football Betting Promotions?

Yep! Online betting sites tend to provide customers with a range of online betting offers for regular users, and if a big-name football tournament is on, you can usually claim a specialised bonus on them like free bets. When it comes to these promotions, however, the betting website will usually require you to place a specific bet of a varying amount to qualify. This is why it’s also important to read up on a promotion before claiming it, so you know what you’re required to do to qualify for a bonus and what’s needed to claim it.

Other Betting Promotions

There are numerous more promotions available at betting websites, and they can be claimed by both new and existing players. For example, most betting websites will provide new users with free bets that can be claimed once the customer has verified their account and placed their first wager. There are usually no restrictions on which games the free bet can be used on, but there will usually be expiry dates, wagering requirements, and sometimes even maximum win or withdrawal limits depending on the promotion.

If the above isn’t enough, long-term users can enjoy various other promotions. Depending on the website, these can include boosted odds, additional free bets, cashback bonuses on a percentage of losses, and so much more too. If you’re someone who enjoys claiming promotions, we suggest you check the bonuses available at football betting sites before registering with it, and you should read through the terms and conditions before claiming anything so you have a clear understanding of the promotion’s limitations.

Football Betting Tips

Sports betting can be a little overwhelming, particularly when it comes to football due to all of the various wagering possibilities. Unfortunately, unlike other gambling activities, there is no football betting strategy to guide you through the activity. In fact, most football betting strategies are actually hints in disguise. Despite this, we thought we’d compile a list of football betting tips to help all of you first-timers out. Check them out below:

#1 – Place Simple Bets

As we mentioned earlier, anyone new to sports betting should stick to simple bets. These can include Full-Time Results bets and Outright bets. These bets simply require you to predict the winner of a game or tournament. The other bets available to place are much more complicated and are better suited to those who are more experienced in betting and know the playing teams and players well.

#2 – Do Research Before Placing Bets

If you’re not very familiar with a certain football team or players, we suggest you research them before placing any bets. This is particularly important for anyone that is new to football betting, as the research can help you determine how strong a player or their team is, and can provide you with some insight on what to wager on.

#3 – Be Careful With Promotions

While it can be incredibly tempting to claim a football bet promotion, sometimes they just aren’t worth it due to the tight restrictions and limitations imposed on them, like wagering requirements. So, as we’ve already mentioned, please ensure you read through the terms and conditions of a bonus to work out whether or not it’s actually worth claiming.

#4 – Search For The Best Odds

One important factor to consider when making football bets is that sports betting websites all feature different odds. So, if you’re thinking about betting on a specific game or tournament, it’s always a good idea to check different online sportsbooks to ensure you’re given the best odds for your bet. Don’t be afraid to shop around, it can help you.

#5 – Enjoy The Experience

Ultimately, you’re betting on football games and tournaments for entertainment, making winnings is just an added benefit. And while gambling is a fun hobby, it can easily spiral out of control. This is why we suggest you impose limits on yourself with safer gambling tools, helping to prevent you from overspending, losing too much money, and spending too much time gambling. These tools are available at the best betting sites for football and using them will prevent harm and can help keep gambling fun.

The above tips won’t help you make more wins or magically improve your chances when betting, but we believe that they can help you make betting more fun and help prevent you from developing any stress over losses.