Written By: Dean Carr | Fact Checked By: Sarah Lunness
In recent years, sportsbook brands have moved away from the traditional high-street shops, and have moved to the world of online and mobile betting. Today, if brands don't have a mobile app, they simply cannot compete against the more advanced betting brands.In this guide we're going to look at the best of those mobile apps: the best sports betting apps the UK has to offer.
There are plenty of excellent betting apps in the UK, making it difficult for some to know which ones to go for. We've taken the hard work away by listing the best betting apps the UK has to offer below, coming from some of the best betting sites in the UK.
Best Betting Apps UK Reviewed
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bet365
bet365 put a lot of time, energy and money into developing a world-class betting app and it shows. This is hands down one of the best betting apps in the UK if not the world. It is compatible with both Android and iOS, provides state-of-the-art Live Streaming, offers betting markets on every major and most minor sporting events, leagues and tournaments from around the world and has a clean, intuitive interface that makes sports wagering simple and exciting. There are speciality markets, in-play betting, boosted odds, existing customer promos, a Bet Builder and a Cash-Out option. Oh yeah, and they'll also give you £30 in Free Bets for signing up and making a first bet of £10.
William Hill
The William Hill betting app does not try to dazzle you with goofy graphics or hard-to-understand specials that may or may not be so special. Instead, they give the UK punter what they want: horse racing aplenty, all the football action they can handle and blanket coverage of every major sports league, tournament, race and match from Manchester to Melbourne. The William Hill app is famous for its daily odds boosts, its groundbreaking UFC betting markets and William Hill radio where you get expert analysis around the clock. And just to wet your whistle they will give new customers £30 in Free Bets for signing up and making a first bet of £10.
Betfred
No discussion of the UK’s best apps for sports betting would be complete without mentioning the Betfred mobile betting app. While punters were not exactly quick to adopt this app they slowly came around to the huge number of sports, the vast number of betting markets, the company’s commitment to enhanced odds, a plethora of Live In-Play betting options and Live Streaming of most major sporting events. Betfred even went one better than other mobile betting apps by being compatible not just with Android and iOS phones but with the Apple Watch as well. The fact that they have one of the best Welcome Offers out there did not hurt either. Bet £10 and Get £40 in Free Bets to use as you wish.
BetVictor
If you think the best betting apps should be lightning fast, glitch-free, offer Live Streaming, In-Play betting and thousands of markets on sports from around the world then you will love the BetVictor mobile betting app. The BetVictor app is a master class in user-friendly design. Whatever you’re looking for is never more than a few taps away, navigation is intuitive and everything is laid out to facilitate the user experience. And for those who may be reluctant to join up and take advantage of this world-class betting app, they offer a Bet £10 Get £40 in Free Bets Welcome Offer.
Betway
The Betway mobile app has come a long way in the past few years and is now considered one of the best online betting apps around. Big improvements in navigation and layout have made the app much easier to use and a commitment to include more existing customer promos and speciality markets has drawn punters from near and far. They have also invested heavily to bring their Live Streaming up to world-class status and their In-Play betting options are as good as any of the competition. New customers that sign-up to Betway today can claim a £30 matched free bet, as well as 50 bonus spins, if their first acca loses.
BetUK
Although it is only been around for about 5 years the BetUK mobile app has managed to attract a lot of loyal users. How? By offering a vast array of markets, including speciality markets, and providing maybe the most comprehensive coverage of worldwide football action to be found anywhere as well as peerless horse racing coverage. The mobile-only Welcome Offer is nothing to scoff at either. Bet £10 and Get £30 in Free Bets when your first bet is at odds of at least 1.5. For a new name in the sports betting world, we were left impressed the betting app that BetUK has developed.
Virgin Bet
Virgin Galactic may be grounded permanently but Virgin Bet is flying higher than ever. This is one of the UK’s best betting apps for horse racing, football, golf and a variety of other sports. What makes the Virgin Bet app particularly attractive is the clean, intuitive design that facilitates an stress-free user experience. Odds are competitive if not groundbreaking, Live Streaming is available for hundreds of events, the promos are first-class and they have a no-nonsense Cash Out feature a lot of punters can't resist. If you like boosted odds, Bet Builders, In-Play betting and speciality markets you will love Virgin Bet. Those who sign up to Virgin Bet today can get £20 in free bets from a £10 qualifying bet..
LiveScore Bet
LiveScore Bet represents a new generation of UK online sportsbooks. They broke from the gate hard a few years ago and have been keeping the pressure on the leaders ever since. They invested heavily in their mobile app and to their credit have delivered an agreeable user experience that provides thorough coverage of most major sports and sporting events worldwide. The app is cross-platform compatible, offers reliable Live Streaming, is relatively glitch-free and provides lightning-fast navigation. Like Virgin Bet above, new customers can get £20 in free bets when they register an account today.
Mr.Play
Mr. Play has not been around very long compared to some brands in this list but they obviously put a lot of thought into their mobile betting app. The result is a remarkably uncluttered app with a first-class selection of sports from around the world, thousands of markets, comprehensive football and horse racing coverage, one of the widest selections of Live In-Play betting you’ll find anywhere and plenty of loyalty bonuses and promos. Mr. Play is currently offering new customers the opportunity to claim a £10 free bet token when they sign up and place a £10 bet.
How to sign up to a UK Betting App
A lot of people think that signing up for an account with the best sports betting apps is a long, complicated process. Nothing could be further from the truth. Opening a new account with one of the best betting apps is simple. Just follow these steps.
Step 1: Decide which betting app you want to open an account with.
Step 2: Download that bookmaker’s betting app from Google Play, the App Store or the bookmaker’s website and install it on your phone. Should take about a minute. Maybe two.
Step 3: Once it's installed, open the app. You will see a brightly coloured button at the top of the page that says “Join” or “Sign Up” or something similar. Tap that button.
Step 4: Tapping the Join button will open an application form. Provide some personal information, choose a username and password (you may be able to opt for fingerprint sign-in) and then check the box that says you accept the Terms & Conditions.
Step 5: Tap the “Join Now” or “Register Now” button.
That’s it. You now have an account with the UK betting app of your choice. All that’s left to do is fund your account with one of the accepted payment options.
Remember, if you want to take advantage of their Welcome Bonus your first deposit will likely need to be made with a debit card or bank transfer. There will probably be a minimum deposit amount involved too. So read the Welcome Bonus details before making your first deposit.
Once you've funded your account you are good to go.
How we select the Best Sports Betting Apps
When making our selections for the best sports betting apps we weigh the following considerations:
Range of Sports
There are a few fundamentals that any good sportsbook or sports betting app are built on, and this is one of them. We want to see more sports than necessary, not fewer, beginning with football, horse racing, tennis and basketball and including NFL football, golf, rugby, cricket and F1. There should also be a variety of second and third-tier sports like skiing, track and field, Japanese baseball, badminton, snooker, and table tennis. The best betting apps should also throw in speciality sports like curling, fencing, polo and more.
Competitive Odds
All the sports in the world will not matter much if the sportsbook doesn't offer competitive odds. The people behind the best apps for sports betting know this and so they make a point to enable punters to not only bet on their favourite sports, but to collect a decent payout. Nobody expects true odds from a sports betting app, even the best ones. After all the gap between true odds and the price offered is where the bookie makes their money. But we want that gap to be as small as possible. That typically means the offered price should be 96 or 97% of the true odds. Anything lower is the bookmaker getting greedy.
Usability
This is a purely technical consideration, but it's crucial if the user is to have an enjoyable experience. The last thing you want is for a betting app to be glitchy, logging you out without warning or invalidating selections for no apparent reason. You also want navigation to be intuitive, the information to be displayed in a clear and understandable fashion and for everything to move along quickly and smoothly. If an app doesn't check all those boxes it does not make our list of the best betting apps in the UK.
Bonuses and Promotions
Welcome Offers aside for a moment a great betting app should also provide promos that reward customer loyalty. These should be easy to access, easy to understand and provide a decent opportunity for loyal customers to make some real hay. Existing customer promos should be primarily focused on sports like football, horse racing and tennis. But they should also offer something for those who love niche sports like darts, handball or beach volleyball. In addition, we want to see worthwhile promos associated with major events like The Open, the Super Bowl, Cheltenham and the Kentucky Derby. Examples of bonuses we would expect to see include free bets, deposit bonuses and welcome offers.
Payment Methods
Things got a little tighter a few years ago when the UK government outlawed using credit cards to finance gambling. But most of the major online sportsbooks have adjusted. These days the best apps for sports betting accept debit cards, prepaid cards like PaySafeCard, PayPal, payment services like Apple Pay and Google Pay along with a variety of e-wallets including Neteller, Skrill and Trustly. What they do not accept is crypto for the simple reason that it is too volatile.
Security
Any sort of activity that requires you to provide banking information needs to have rock-solid security. And the best betting apps measure up to that ideal. The last thing any of these multi-billion pound businesses want is for hackers to gain access to their user’s financial and personal data. That would effectively signal the end of their company. With that grim possibility in mind, UK bookmakers pour vast amounts of money into security to ensure a safe, enjoyable time for everyone.
Special Features
When we say “special features” we do not mean that they provide a Live Stream of the Eurovision song final. We mean they provide punter-specific goodies like Bet Builders, Best Odds Guaranteed, acca insurance, daily boosted odds and Cash Out. Apps earn extra points with us if they offer more than the usual number of withdrawal options, if they make an effort to provide speciality markets and if their app is accessible from a variety of countries so that customers are not locked out if they cross The Channel or holiday in Florida.
Speed
Apps are hosted locally on your phone or other mobile device so they should open immediately every time. Once open you should be able to skip around the app without delay. If you experience delays with the app we would suggest you uninstall it, download the app again from a different source and re-install.
Best Betting Apps for Android
All of the best betting apps we profiled above are compatible with both Android and iOS platforms, but some shine a bit brighter on one over the other. In the case of the best betting apps for Android, we would tip our hat to William Hill, BetVictor, 888Sport and bet365. Not that the others are not also perfectly serviceable, just that these seem the most reliable.
Best Betting Apps iOS
Because there are many times more Android phones in the world than there are iOS phones you can understand why sportsbooks prioritize Android-friendly development. That said, there are still a few that go the extra mile for iOS fans and those include bet365, William Hill and Virgin Bet.
Best Betting Apps for Football
We have an entire guide dedicated to the best betting apps for football. You can check it out here. That said, our experts determined that as far as UK mobile betting apps go the best ones for football fans tend to be bet365, Betfred, BetVictor, Betway, BetUK, Virgin Bet and William Hill. These are recognised football betting sites that have done a tremendous job of adding an immersive experience for mobile users. Are there others that also provide plenty of football action? Sure. But as of this writing, these do the best job of it.
Best Betting Apps for Horse Racing
Many of the brands featured above also make the list of the best betting apps for horse racing. When it comes to betting on horse racing, we were left most impressed with the betting apps developed by bet365, William Hill, Betfred and BetVictor. A somewhat surprising honourable mention should go to Virgin Bet who offers state-of-the-art Live Streaming of countless races both in the UK and abroad that you can watch for free if you have a verified account.
What to do if you have a gambling problem
We understand that gambling can be fun, but it's important to gamble responsibly. If you're struggling with a gambling problem, please do not hesitate to ask for help. There are people who can help you get on the road to recovery.
Here are some resources that can help you:
- National Gambling Helpline: 0808 8020 133
- GamCare: https://www.gamcare.org.uk/
- GambleAware: https://www.begambleaware.org/
Betting Apps FAQs
Are UK Sports Betting Apps free to download?
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What are the Best Betting Apps?
Any of the betting apps included in our guide's list are some of the greatest available in the UK. If you decide to establish an account with any of those amazing bookies, you can be sure that you will get a tonne of bonuses and promotions, competitive odds, a large selection of sports to bet on, and an overall exciting, cutting-edge, and secure experience.
How to download Sports Betting Apps?
Downloading and installing one of the best apps for sports betting could not be easier. All you need is a smartphone and an internet connection. Simply go to Google Play or the App Store, type the bookmaker’s name into the search box, download their mobile app and install. In most cases the app will open automatically when the installation has finished so you can tap the “Join” button and sign up straight away.
Are sports bonuses and offers available on Betting Apps?
Bookies nearly always offer the same incentives and promotions on their mobile applications as they do on their desktop and mobile websites. As a matter of fact, a few of them offer both their customary benefits and promotions and app-only savings. Because of this, if you use one of the greatest online betting applications, you will not have to be concerned about missing out on bonuses.
