Written By: Dean Carr | Fact Checked By: Sarah Lunness
While it has made virtually no inroads in the Americas or East Asia cricket is nonetheless an incredibly popular sport in places like Australia, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa and England. Tournaments like the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and The Ashes attract vast amounts of betting action, while the Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the best-attended pro sports leagues in the world.
In this guide, we're going to look at the best cricket betting sites and their Welcome Offers so that you can make an informed decision the next time you want to bet on cricket.
There are plenty of bookmakers offering the opportunity to bet on cricket, but we have narrowed it down to only the best. Our list includes the best UK betting sites and we have broken down what each offer below.
Best Cricket Betting Sites UK
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bet365
In recent years bet365 have made a pretty convincing argument that they should be considered one of the best, if not the best, UK online sportsbook. They have done so by providing unparalleled coverage of all major and most minor sports leagues, sporting events, races, tournaments and matches, including wall-to-wall coverage of world cricket. In-Play cricket betting opportunities and competitive odds abound at bet365 making them a no-brainer for our list of best cricket betting sites. Their Bet £10 Get £30 Welcome Offer is just icing on the cake.
William Hill
William Hill has been around since The Ashes tournament was still relatively young. With that kind of experience, you can bet they understand the importance of providing punters with scores of exciting cricket markets for all the big T20 contests, Test matches, ICC tournaments and IPL play. William Hill go the extra mile by providing lots of cricket live streaming opportunities and In-Play betting markets. The William Hill Welcome Offer is nothing to scoff at too, with a £10 qualifying bet producing £30 in Free Bet credits.
Betfred
Betfred do not make a lot of noise about their cricket offerings but a little bit of investigation reveals that they are among the best cricket betting sites in the UK due to the variety of markets they offer, their competitive odds, boosted cricket odds on certain markets, In-Play Betting and the number of live streams they offer for IPL matches and the top tournaments. If you are looking for action on T20 matches, The Ashes, The Hundred, the ICC Cricket World Cup and more you’ll find it at Betfred. You will also find one of the best Welcome Offers anywhere in the form of the Betfred Bet £10 Get £40 in Free Bets offer.
BetVictor
BetVictor does an admirable job staying on top of all the major events in the world of cricket and enabling punters to participate. You will find markets on IPL, BBL, The Hundred, The Ashes, Internationals and much more. Their odds are generally competitive and they sweeten the pot on a regular basis with price boosts and enhanced odds. We also can’t say enough about their Bet £10 Get £40 in Free Bets Welcome Offer.
Betway
At first glance, Betway may seem a pretty uninspired choice for this list of best cricket betting sites. Their overall coverage of the sport is average, their odds nothing out of the ordinary and do not even get us started on their Bet £10 Get £10 Welcome Offer. But dig a little deeper and you discover that every week they hand out £10 in cricket Free Bets and that their Indian Premier League coverage is among the best anywhere.
BetUK
Bet UK provides above-average cricket coverage with the Indian Premier League, the Big Bash League, the Pakistan Super League and even some obscure African and Caribbean leagues. The variety of cricket betting markets available at Bet UK is impressive, they provide plenty of In-Play betting on big-time matches and their odds are always competitive. And let's not forget their Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Bets Welcome Offer.
Virgin Bet
Virgin Bet does a good job providing coverage of not just top-of-the-line events like The Ashes, but also some oft-overlooked tournaments like the Plunket Shield. You will find the exact same markets available on the Virgin Bet website, mobile site and mobile app along with the same Live Streamed matches and the same In-Play Betting opportunities. Unlike several of their competitors, they provide a variety of speciality markets as well, which always makes for a splendid time. Their Bet £10 Get £20 Welcome Offer will not set the world on fire but if it is cricket betting you are after you will find plenty of quality action at Virgin Bet.
LiveScore Bet
Although they are relatively new to the UK online gambling space LiveScore Bet have gone out of their way to make a good first impression. And it is worked. Their cricket betting is a good example. They offer countless betting opportunities on all the biggest Test matches, T20 leagues and Internationals, 1-Day Internationals and events like The Ashes, The Hundred and both the T20 World Cup and the ICC Cricket World Cup (to be played in India in 2023). Competitive odds, Live Streaming and Live In-Play Betting round out the argument that LiveScore Bet are one of the best cricket betting sites. If you need more reason to sign up consider their Bet £10 Get £20 Welcome Offer.
Mr.Play
Mr.Play is another relative newcomer that understands the need to provide punters with comprehensive cricket coverage. With the popularity of cricket surging worldwide no online bookmaker worthy of the title is going to turn a blind eye and Mr.Play provides a textbook example of how to cover cricket in a way that both experienced punters and absolute beginners can appreciate. The only downside here is the bookmaker’s milquetoast Welcome Offer that provides £15 in Free Bets for a qualifying initial bet of £10.
Popular Cricket Betting Markets
Cricket provides a wealth of betting opportunities due to the incremental nature of the sport. Every time the bowler delivers the ball any number of things could happen and each represents a potential betting market. The following are just some of the most popular markets offered by the top cricket betting sites.
Game Result
This is the most common type of cricket wager mostly because it attracts not only diehard cricket fans but also relative novices who only bet occasionally to show support for their local team or a player they are a fan of. There are three possible game results: a team won, a team lost or the match ended in a tie. (It should be noted that ties in cricket are extremely rare.) The game result wager is quite popular with those who enjoy Live In-Play betting too.
Total Runs
A pretty straightforward bet total runs is exactly what it says if: you bet on how many runs in total you believe will be scored in a given match by both teams. A variation on this wager is the over/under wherein the punter bets on whether the total number of runs will be more or less than a specified amount.
Top Batsman
This is an extremely popular market especially when it comes to major tournament action. As the name suggests your job is to pick the batter who will score the most runs in a given match. Some punters believe this is an easier market to ace when there are lesser teams involved who may only have 1 or 2 standout batters between them. When you get to the highest levels of competition everyone is good and so acing the Top Batsman market takes some real skill.
Top Team Batsman
This is a variation on the Top Batsman market that focuses strictly on which batsman on a given team will end up scoring the most runs during a match. If you are going to wade into this market it pays to have a fair amount of knowledge about the players involved, their histories and who is trending hot and who is trending not.
Most Match Sixes
With this wager the punter guesses which player will hit the most sixes in a given match. A six is recorded when the batsman hits the ball and it lands outside the boundary. In that sense, it is not unlike a home run in baseball. Guessing the most match sixes is not easy, especially in matches where there are no bonafide big hitters in the lineup.
Player of the Match
Player of the Match, also referred to as Man of the Match, is awarded to the player who match commentators believe contributed the most to their side's victory. In a majority of cases, the honour will go to a batsman, but bowlers have also been known to walk away with the title by stifling a particularly hot batsman or taking wickets at strategic points during the match. Most punters will stay clear of this market during Test matches simply because there are so many top players who could potentially make their mark over the 5 days of a Test.
How to join the Best Betting Sites for Cricket
As you can see from the list we compiled above the best betting sites for cricket are often also some of the best UK betting sites, period. Many of these are bookmakers that have been active for decades and active online for 15 - 20 years. They have well-established ways for new customers to open an account and the process is very similar from site to site. Here’s how you can join new betting sites UK.
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Determine which of the best cricket betting sites you want to join.
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Navigate to their website’s homepage or download and install their mobile app, then open it up.
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At the top of the page, you will see a brightly coloured button that says “Join” or “Register”, tap it.
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Tapping the button opens an application form.
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Fill in the required fields. Typically this means your name, address, age and a few other items.
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Choose a username and password, or choose biometric login and follow the directions.
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Accept the bookmaker’s Terms & Conditions.
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Tap the “Join Now” or “Register Now” button.
That’s it!
Once your registration is confirmed you will need to fund your account. And remember, if you want to take advantage of the bookmaker’s Welcome Offer you will probably need to make your first deposit using a debit card and make sure your first bet conforms to the bookmaker’s conditions regarding what constitutes a “qualifying bet”.
Most Popular Tournaments at Cricket Betting Sites Online
The Ashes
The Ashes can trace its roots back to 1882 when an Australian side first won a Test match on English soil. In response to the defeat a sports writer of the day wrote a satirical obituary declaring that English cricket had died, the body had been cremated and the ashes had been taken to Australia. Today the 5-match series is hosted by the nation that won the previous test and the winner receives a replica of a tiny (4”) terracotta urn that legend has it, holding the ashes of English cricket dating from that long-ago loss. The Ashes is one of the most popular events in world cricket.
Indian Premier League (IPL)
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is without a doubt the top T20 league in the world, with millions of passionate fans and some of the world’s best cricket players. The league has recently seen its valuation skyrocket to more than £5 billion reflecting the growing popularity of the format and the intense loyalty of an ever-growing number of fans. The most popular teams in the IPL include the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Delhi Capitals and the Chennai Super Kings. The best crickets sites provide blanket coverage of the IPL season.
Big Bash League (BBL)
Australia’s BBL or Big Bash League was formed in response to the success of the Indian Premier League and has proven an immense success with both fans down under and punters in faraway England. The Big Bash League comprises 8 teams that play their matches during the Aussie summer in December, January and February. The current champions are the Perth Scorchers who just recently wrapped up their 5th title. All the best cricket betting sites in the UK provide end-to-end coverage of the BBL season.
The Hundred
There has been a lot of innovation within the professional cricket community in response to a desire from fans (not to mention television networks) to shorten the length of cricket matches. T20 was born of such a desire as was The Hundred. During The Hundred each innings lasts 100 balls and is (more or less) limited to 65 minutes in length. Should a team be unable to bowl the last 5 balls within the 65-minute time limit one fielder is removed as a penalty. Like T20 cricket The Hundred tournament has proven immensely successful and has contributed mightily to the surge in cricket interest since the turn of the century.
ICC Cricket World Cup
Seems everyone has their own “World Cup” these days and cricket is no exception. The Cricket World Cup is held every 4 years now with teams from all over the world competing. England are the defending World Cup champions having defeated New Zealand in 2019. The 2023 Cricket World Cup will be held in India and will feature 10 teams vying for world cricket supremacy.
What we look for from the Best Cricket Betting Sites
If you read through our list of the best betting sites for cricket you noticed that they also happen to be some of the best overall online sportsbooks. That’s because there are no online betting sites dedicated solely to cricket.
With that in mind, and in order to determine which of the online sportsbooks does the best job of providing cricket lovers with the coverage they want, we applied a variety of criteria, including:
Range of Markets
Like tennis, NFL football and baseball cricket is an incremental sport wherein the game advances through a series of starts and stops. This structure is ideal for wagering as each time players reset a new set of variables is in play. Because of this, we want, even expect, to see plenty of betting markets associated with any given cricket match. When we were sizing up online bookmakers to see which were the best cricket betting sites the variety of markets was never far from our minds.
Bonuses and Promotions
Bonuses will always play a big role in the user experience at an online bookmaker. We will always look to find bonuses such as free bets offers, loyalty clubs and welcome bonuses that will help whet the appetite of prospective punters. The best betting sites will always offer a range of bonuses and promotions for their customers to claim.
Competitive Odds
It should go without saying that competitive odds are a must when it comes to determining which are the best UK cricket betting sites. From set pre-match odds to the odds associated with a site’s Live In-Play Betting offers we want to see bookmakers push things as close as possible to real odds. If a bookmaker offers enhanced odds relative to certain outcomes, then even better.
Match Coverage
Perhaps no other major team sport offers as many different competition formats as cricket. The best cricket betting sites online provide coverage of cricket in all its various manifestations including Limited Overs, Test Matches and Twenty20 Internationals. It is also a big plus when one of the best cricket betting sites also provide action on lesser-known tournaments in countries where cricket is not an obsession as it is in India and elsewhere.
Mobile
There are more punters betting via their phones than ever before, making it crucial that they are catered for. We will always inspect the quality of the the mobile platform that the bookmakers provide, including the betting apps that are available to be downloaded and the quality of the mobile site.
Security
Of course, any website through which you conduct financial transactions needs to provide ironclad security. We checked into every bookmaker’s history to see if there were instances of significant data breaches or other incidents. Any betting site with a history of lax security didn't make it onto our list of the best cricket betting sites.
Payment Methods
Numerous individuals were concerned that online sportsbooks would disappear once the UK government outlawed the use of credit cards for gambling a few years ago. Needless to say, those fears were unfounded. Bookmakers adapted quickly, as did punters, and today the best UK cricket betting sites provide multiple ways a member can fund their account. Truth be told they would prefer that all customers used debit cards because it is so straightforward for everyone involved. But they also allow punters to use other methods including PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, PaySafeCard, bank transfers and more.
Cricket Live Streaming Betting Sites
Wireless broadband is now standard in much of the world and with it has come the expectation by punters that many, if not most, important sporting events should be live streamed by online bookmakers. The best cricket betting sites in the UK today all offer live streaming. Although to be sure the amount of live streams dedicated to cricket varies considerably from bookmaker to bookmaker. Some will stream just about every noteworthy match regardless of where or when it occurs, while others will offer live streaming only on major competitions like The Ashes. There are plenty of live streaming betting sites that will be worth your time when it comes to cricket.
Cricket Betting Apps
Technology is advancing by leaps and bounds and online sportsbooks are always among the earliest to adapt to new technologies. So it is with mobile apps. All of the best betting sites for cricket now have state-of-the-art mobile apps that are free to download and install. In fact, most cricket wagers these days are placed by people using mobile betting apps rather than the bookmaker’s PC-based website or mobile website. Apps have several advantages over browser-based sites. They load faster, provide more reliable service and do not require a rock-solid internet connection.
What to do if you have a gambling problem
We understand that gambling can be fun, but it is 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:
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National Gambling Helpline: 0808 8020 133
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GamCare: https://www.gamcare.org.uk/
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GambleAware: https://www.begambleaware.org/
Cricket Betting Sites FAQs
Are Cricket Betting Sites legal in the UK?
In the UK, using betting sites for cricket is permissible. To be clear, there are not any well-known bookies that specialize on cricket alone. The best websites for cricket betting also offer action on several other sports. To put it briefly, they do a great job of covering cricket. This holds true for other websites as well, such sports websites. There are those that excel at reporting on horse racing. people hitting tennis or golf.
What are the best Cricket Betting Sites?
The best places to bet on cricket are the online sportsbooks mentioned above, according to our research. While other bookmakers not listed here also offer betting on cricket they failed to make the list because they only offered spotty coverage, or the variety of markets they offered was unimpressive, or because their odds were not up to snuff. Pick one of the bookies mentioned above to make sure you are getting the most out of your cricket betting experience.
Can you bet in-play on Cricket Betting Sites?
Granted, some UK bookies do provide live in-play cricket betting, but this isn't always the case. Moreover, a number of cricket betting companies exclusively provide live in-play betting on specific events, including the Ashes series or important national team games.
