Online Betting Guide

Online betting has rocketed in popularity over recent years with hundreds and thousands of punter now placing bets online each week. If you’re familiar with high street bookmakers but totally new to football betting online the choice of bookmakers operating online betting options can be quite overwhelming. If you’re an absolute novice to betting in general then it’s definitely a good idea to familiarise yourself with the basics before you start online betting. Hopefully our guide to online betting below will prove invaluable when placing your first bet.

A Guide to Online Betting

The first thing that you need to decide is which bookmakers you want to start online betting with. All of the big high street bookmakers have an online presence with Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill probably the biggest and best. Online bookmakers that you won’t have heard of due to a lack of visibility on the high street include the excellent 888Sport and Europe’s largest sports betting operator, Sportingbet. Check out our online bookmaker reviews section to find out more about what it’s like to bet online with each of the bookmakers that we feature.

It’s actually a pretty good idea to open a few accounts with a variety of online bookmakers as it allows you to benefit from the slight variances in odds that exist between each of them. This can be as much as 10% on some bets or even more when you consider betting exchanges like Betfair. Once registered there are a number of websites offering odds comparison services that allow you to see each bookmakers odds on certain markets.

Online Betting Offers

Due to the large amount of competition surrounding online betting, most online bookmakers look to attract new customers by way of a bonus bet offer. This bonus bet is typically around the £10 to £25 mark and simply requires you to open a new account and place a qualifying bet. Once your bet is settled you’ll more than likely receive a bonus bet that equals the amount that you first bet. Take a look at our bonus football bets section to compare the latest offers.

If you open a new account with any of the online bookmakers that we feature you can be guaranteed that the company is financially stable, has a good track record for operating fairly and is totally safe and secure. There’s also no limit to the amount of accounts that you can open or the number of bonus football bets that you can claim. If after reading our bookmaker reviews you’re still unsure who to go with then we’d recommend that you start off with Paddy Power who are one of the most polished and complete online bookmakers going.

Signing up for a new account when online betting, is relatively straightforward with most online bookmakers simply requiring a small amount of personal information. Once registered you’ll be presented with a variety options for depositing funds into your new account. This is where it starts to differ from traditional high street betting shops. Obviously you can’t just hand your money over to the cashier because they don’t exist. What does exist though is a virtual cashier that allows you to fund your account online via various methods. Almost every online betting bookmaker accepts MasterCard or Visa as well as most UK debit cards like Switch or Maestro. Most will also accept cheques, bank transfers or Western Union for larger deposits.

Once you’ve decided to place your first bet online our handy section covering all of the different types of football bets available is a great resource for understanding how each bet works. A Football bet is without doubt one of the most popular bets placed online with in-running betting an up and coming favourite. When it comes to online betting on football there’s usually a huge range of markets with more opening up as matches progress.