Our Methodology – How We Rate & Review Bookmakers

There’s never been a better time to be a sports betting fan than now. Not only are there more bookmakers out there than ever before, but they boast more sports, more betting markets and a plethora of increasingly exciting special features. The only issue – and it’s a good problem to have – is that you’re almost spoilt for choice, which makes finding your ideal bookmaker a difficult task.

That’s where we come in. At BettingOdds, we conduct knowledgeable and impartial reviews of dozens of bookmakers and in addition to giving each one an overall score based on their general quality, we’ll also break down our review into distinct sections looking at all of the most important features of a sports betting site, giving each one a score for each of those features.

That way you can decide which of those features matter most to you and decide which bookmaker ticks the most boxes for your own personal preferences. Let’s look at each of these criteria more closely, and why they are so important.

Licensing and Regulation

We only endorse bookmakers that have a licence from the UKGC – the UK Gambling Commission – as this ensures that the bookie in question is compliant with regulatory standards of fairness and safety. A licence is an indication of a site’s reputation and trustworthiness, so we simply won’t review a site that does not hold a UKGC licence.  

Regulatory compliance includes proving that the bookie has anti-money laundering and anti-fraud processes in place, a secure website, certified responsible gambling tools, and that they are financially responsible for their customers’ winnings.

Safety & Security

It may not be the most exciting aspect of sports betting, but safety and security are paramount when reviewing UK betting sites. The last thing you want to happen when you’re focusing on placing good-value sports bets and enjoying your betting experience is to find that your personal data has been leaked or accessed from that betting site, or that your hard-earned funds have been stolen by a hacker.

The responsibility to make sure these things don’t happen lies with the sportsbook, which should have data protection measures and two-factor authentication in place, as well as SSL encryption software that ensures no one else can access your data or money.

Additionally, we want to be sure that there are independent security audits conducted by recognised and respected bodies to make sure there won’t be any security breaches happening anytime soon.

Available Payment Methods

Getting your money in and out of your chosen sportsbook is another important part of your betting experience. You’ll want a good variety of deposit/withdrawal options at your chosen sportsbook, including: debit cards such as Visa and Mastercard; e-wallets such as PayPal, Neteller or Skrill; bank transfers;  prepaid cards or alternative payment solutions like Trustly.  

Additionally, a good betting site will have short processing times (many deposit methods are instant while withdrawals can take up to 5 days, but the quicker the better), minimal fees or no fees at all when executing transactions, and ideally high maximum deposit/withdrawal limits and low minimum deposit/withdrawal limits that cater for all budgets.

Odds - Quality and Variety

Any experienced gambler will argue that the quality of the odds on offer is the single most important factor when placing sports bets. Depending on your budget, they may not make a huge difference in the short term but, but a few extra quid here and there can go a long way. 

There are odds-comparison tools on websites such as our own, that allow you to see what the different bookmakers are offering on any given market (e.g., a Premier League match winner market, a horse racing event), so you’d be well-advised to use those so you can quickly see who’s going ‘best price’ on selected markets.

Offering lots of different sports and events within those sports is important too, as is market variety. In other words: that old and new betting sites cover all the bases by having outrights, match winner markets, props, Asian handicaps, Bet Builders, accas, special bets and more.

Sign-Up Bonuses & Existing Customer Promotions

Any betting site worth its salt will have a welcome offer of sorts to attract new customers to sign up and deposit with them. But the value of welcome bonus offers can vary considerably. These days most welcome offers come in the form of free bet promotions, and there’s a big difference between say a ‘Bet 10 Get 10’ offer (you place a qualifying bet of £10 and receive a £10 free bet) and a Bet 10 Get 50 offer, which gives you far more bang for your buck.

But of course, the promotions shouldn’t end there. The best sites also run ongoing offers such as more free bets, Odds Boosts, the Best Odds Guaranteed promise on horseracing, reload bonuses and cashback offers.

In all cases, there should be transparent bonus terms and conditions, so you know exactly what to do, what not to do and how exactly the promo works, plus fair wagering requirements. Ideally, there are no wagering requirements at all, meaning that if bets using a bonus go on to win, you’ll be able to withdraw the winnings straight away. But if there are wagering requirements, they shouldn’t be any bigger than 2x.

Betting Features

We’ve already discussed most of the basics of a sports betting site, but where one can stand out from the rest is in terms of its betting features.

For example, how well do they perform as a live betting platform? How many live betting events do they offer every week, how many markets within those events and how quickly do they update their odds after necessary market suspensions?

The best sites also have live streaming availability for the likes of football betting, horse racing, tennis, greyhounds and selected other sports, available for free (as long as customers are active or have funds in their account)..

Cash out options are another valuable extra as they allow for early settlement of bets, meaning you can receive a chunk of the potential final payout before the event finishes. If the site has partial cash out in addition to full cash out, then so much the better.

Other good features include the availability of on-site stats, in-market racing tips from the likes of Timeform or the Racing Post and a knowledgeable and insightful blog, with contributions from experts within that sport, all of which help to inform your next betting decision. 

Variety of Betting Markets

Not everyone wants to bet solely on the most popular sports such as football, horse racing or tennis. Some prefer the likes of chess, surfing or badminton, so we’re looking for sports coverage of as many markets as possible, with at least 30 being a good benchmark.

Additionally, we want to see a big market variety within those sports. If it’s football for example, in addition to the most obvious markets like match winner, over/under 2.5 goals and correct score, it’s important that they also have markets around corners, cards, shots on target, fouls, passes completed and all of the other variables punters like to bet on these days.

A good Bet Builder product is another must, given its recent meteoric rise in popularity, which means being able to combine selections from lots of markets, in sports other than football, and at good odds.

For those who like more complex types of bets such as Trixies, Patent Bets, Heinz or Lucky 15s, it’s vital that the bookie offers those too and makes them quick and simple to put together.

User Experience & Design

A betting site must be well-designed so that you can find all of your favourite sports and markets without wasting too much time. For example, sports should be listed A-Z, ideally with three to five of the most popular ones also being displayed at the top of the page to make them easier to find and return to. Additionally, the biggest events should be clearly displayed in order to avoid tedious navigation. Of course, the cashier section should be clearly signposted and neatly designed, so that you can get your money in and out of your account nice and quickly.

Also, if you come across a slightly less-well-known market like ‘method of dismissal’ in cricket, there should either be an explanation of what it is next to the market, or a link to all of that sport’s markets explaining how they work, any special rules and how a bet is settled on it.

Mobile Compatibility & App Functionality

The majority of today’s betting in the UK happens on mobile phones, and while there is nothing wrong with a sportsbook not having a mobile betting app, bettors should still be able to use their mobile browsers to access the mobile-optimised versions of the site These days, however, most UK bookies offer both.

So, when using an app, the following factors are important: speed; ease of navigation; a user-friendly interface and cross-compatibility with iOS/Android. Ideally, you also want the app to allow you to do almost everything you could on your computer, including live betting, taking advantage of bonuses, watching live-streaming and speaking to Customer Support.

Responsible Gambling Features

Though a bookmaker cannot force you to gamble responsibly, responsible gambling tools and advice should be readily available at UK betting sites. 

That starts with letting you do self-assessment quizzes that can detect whether you might be betting too much or too often, or even whether you might have an actual gambling problem. It should also provide you with responsible gambling tools that allow you to set deposit and time limits, or alert you if you’ve been logged in for a long period of time. They should also provide self-exclusion tools allowing you to opt out of accessing betting sites altogether, whether temporarily or permanently.

It’s also important that if you do recognise the beginnings of a gambling problem, the bookie has partnerships with responsible gambling organisations such as Gamcare or Gambler’s Anonymous and provides links to their sites from their own, meaning you can easily seek professional help if needed.

Customer Support

No matter how good the bookmaker is, problems will always arise when placing bets online. 

Ideally, each site will offer round-the-clock customer support, or, failing that, for at least 16 hours a day, and the more ways of getting in touch there are – phone, e-mail, Live Chat, social media – the better. And once you get through, you want their CS agents to be friendly, polite, knowledgeable and efficient in solving your query. And yes, most of the readers of this website will be fluent in English but not everyone is, so if they have CS in other languages, that’s another plus point, too.

But you can avoid getting in touch with CS altogether if they provide thorough, easy to digest and helpful FAQs that answer all your questions so that CS don’t have to, saving you time, hassle and possibly money, in the process.

Our Blacklist Criteria

A few shortcomings here and there are expected at UK betting sites, but there are some things we cannot abide. Below is a summary of our blacklist criteria, and if any site we’re reviewing fails to comply with just one of these, we will not feature them on our site. 

• Don’t pay out winnings - Either because they argue that you shouldn’t have won on a particular bet (when you should) or because they make the verification process (KYC) so complicated and pedantic that they are virtually impossible to pass. Deliberately delaying a withdrawal so you gamble your winnings and lose them rather than letting you withdraw your cash is a major red flag.
• They limit or close your account as soon as you start winning - If you’re compliant with all of the site’s codes of practice, a spontaneous closure of anyone’s account is another dealbreaker. Additionally, if they limit the sports you can bet on, the stakes you’re wagering, or worse still, close your account as soon as you start winning, they’re to be avoided.
• Excessively high wagering requirements - There’s no point receiving bonuses if when you claim them, use them and win on them, you’re then faced with impossibly high wagering requirements. Wagering requirements on free bets should be within reason, or else there is no point signing up to that bookie over those listed on our site.
• Poor odds - A sportsbook consistently offering 4/1 when others are offering sixes is a good enough reason to choose a different betting site. It’s one thing having a house edge of 5%, it’s quite another to insert a house edge of 10% or more on all bets so you always get paid out far less than you should.
• No licence - As stated previously, a valid UKGC licence is a must for bookies operating in the UK. If you can find no such licence, you should look elsewhere in the UK. It’s possible a site will also have a licence from the MGA (Malta Gaming Authority). If a betting site has no licence, they are not to be trusted.

Why Trust Us?

Of course, as an affiliate we have partnerships with a number of different UK bookmakers, but we would lose all credibility if we were anything other than fair and impartial when conducting our reviews of UK betting sites. Our team of experienced writers and reviewers – many of whom have backgrounds in sports journalism – are all bettors themselves, and provide honest assessments of the sites in question. If we take issue with a particular bonus or feature, we will be sure to let you know.

Our in-depth knowledge of the industry allows us to know all the most important aspects of the ideal online sportsbook, and we are always thorough in evaluating how each bookmaker performs for all those metrics.

Once we’ve gone through all that and set it out in a clear but detailed way, you’re in the perfect position to evaluate which bookie (or bookies) are the right ones for you.