Written By: Dean Carr | Fact Checked By: Sarah Lunness
Football betting in the UK has grown immensely in popularity over the recent years. An industry that used to be confined to brick-and-mortar betting shops has gone digital with football betting websites now pulling in (and paying out) billions of pounds per year. But just as the majority of sports betting migrated from shops to websites things are changing again as they shift from websites to betting apps.
In this guide, we'll look at the best football betting apps in the UK, what makes them so good, how they keep punters coming back for more and what sort of Welcome Bonus they offer for downloading and signing up.
As of this writing there are nearly 50 online football betting sites licensed to operate in the UK and all but a lonely few have their own dedicated app. But not every online sportsbook with a football betting app is created equal. Below we present 9 UK football betting apps we believe rise above the rest.
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UK Football Betting Apps
bet365
bet365 earns a place among the best betting apps for football by providing everything we want to see in such an app. The array of benefits begins with an outstanding range of football betting markets as well as boosted odds, acca insurance and specialty bets such as the number of free kicks, throw-ins, yellow cards and more. And they don't just focus on the big boys in the Premier League either. Oh no.
They also offer action on a wide array of 2nd and 3rd tier leagues both in the UK and scattered around the rest of the world. Add to all that peerless live streaming and you have got a football app that never misses. Oh, and let’s not forget their Welcome Offer whereby a new customer can get up £30 in Free Bets by signing up, depositing at least £5 in their account and placing a qualifying bet of at least that amount.. You'll be rewarded with 3x your qualifying bet in bet credits once the qualifying bet has settled. This bet365 bonus code is one of the best offers that you will find.
William Hill
William Hill has been around the block a few times. They are one of the oldest sportsbooks in the UK and learned a long time ago that if you want to keep UK punters happy you will give them plenty of opportunities to play and win with football. The William Hill app was introduced a few years ago and quickly went on to cement its place among the best football betting apps.
It is not just that they offer a head-spinning variety of football markets including specialty markets that makes them so good. It's their outstanding YourOdds bet builder feature, the fact that all you need to watch any of their high-quality live streams is a valid account, and their plethora of existing customer promos. The app is also very intuitive, features rock-solid security and is largely devoid of wacky and distracting graphics. As if all that was not enough they also feature a Welcome Bonus that is virtually identical to that of Bet365 in that you earn £30 in Free Bets for opening an account and placing a qualifying bet of at least £10.
Betfred
The Betfred app lures a lot of punters in with its £30 of Free Bets Welcome Offer. But it doesn't take long before those new customers realise there are a lot of other things that make the Betfred app one of the best football bet apps around. The appeal of Betfred starts, as we said, with their Welcome Offer where you earn £30 in Free Bets for opening a new account and placing a first bet of at least £10 at even odds or better, and extends to the insane number of football betting markets, their state-of-the-art live streams and their competitive odds.
But we would be selling them short if we did not also mention the array of specialty markets they offer, the variety of funding options, the minimum deposit requirements of only £5, the unmatched number of existing customer promos and the great selection of live in-play football betting options.
BetVictor
When people think of the best betting football apps, not a lot think of BetVictor. But they should. The BetVictor betting app provides one of the best selections of football markets you'll find on any app or sportsbook website. The app is cross-platform compatible, offers clear intuitive navigation and provides live streams of most key football fixtures which you can view if you have a funded account.
Speaking of funding your account, the BetVictor app accepts debit cards, PayPal, Bank Transfers and most popular e-wallets including Neteller and Skrill. Once properly funded you will have plenty of ways to get in on the action including a Bet Builder feature, boosted odds, acca insurance and a steady stream of existing customer promos that will keep you coming back.
Betway
The Betway football betting app has been getting a lot of attention lately from punters and critics bowled over by the 15,000 betting markets it offers, the ultra-competitive odds, the BetYourWay Bet Builder and the sheer volume of live in-play betting and live streaming options. This is an extremely user-friendly app with a clean design, intuitive navigation, world-class security and regular automatic updates.
All of that helps make it one of the best football betting apps in the UK, but there’s more on tap here as well. By that we mean the constant stream of loyalty reward promos, boosted odds and customer service that’s some of the best in the business. New customers can get up to a matched £30 free bet, as well as 50 bonus spins, if their first accumulator bet loses.
BetUK
The BetUK betting app is a triumph of form meeting function at a happy place so that punters can easily find what they want and take advantage of all the features the app has to offer. Those features include a cash-out option, a wealth of live in-play betting options, live streaming on select matches, competitive odds and plenty of existing customer promos.
The BetUK football betting app is lightning-fast and fully compatible with both Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. It was designed with an emphasis on creating an agreeable user experience and it succeeds brilliantly. Technical glitches that can plague some other apps are virtually non-existent and you will get a good connection even when your signal is not so great. And then there's the Welcome Bonus. Just open a new account, opt-in to the bonus while signing up, deposit at least £10 and place a qualifying bet of at least £10 within 7 days and you'll receive 3x£10 Free Bets.
Virgin Bet
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic may have gone bust but Virgin Bet is still very much alive and well. In fact, Virgin Bet offers one of the best betting apps for football in the UK market. The layout of the app is clear and uncluttered, navigation is intuitive, it is compatible with both Android and iOS platforms and security is beyond reproach. The Virgin Bet app offers action on all major and most minor football leagues and tournaments with many hundreds of football markets available every week.
There are lots of existing customer promos, boosted odds on featured matches and specialty markets aplenty including but not limited to, number of yellow cards, number of free kicks, amount of stoppage time, managerial changes and many, many more. New customers at Virgin Bet can claim their Bet £10 Get £20 in Free Bets Welcome Bonus today.
LiveScore Bet
The LiveScore Group was founded in 1998 but LiveScore Bet was not launched until just a couple of years ago. But while this online sportsbook may be one of the new kids on the block they have obviously done their homework and produced a football betting app that will impress even the most hardcore punters. The LiveScore Bet Welcome Bonus - whereby you Bet £10 and Get £20 in Free Bets - is available to all new customers that sign up today.
The real value of the LiveScore Bet app, and what makes it one of the best football betting apps, is the surprisingly competitive odds, the wealth of existing customer promos, (some of which are fairly innovative), the fact that they accept 5 different kinds of debit cards and the hundreds of markets you will find on everything from Premier League fixtures to Campeonato Brasileiro Série B matches.
Mr.Play
The Mr. Play online sportsbook launched a mere 5 years ago, yet in that short time it has managed to carve out a significant niche for itself in the crowded UK online betting space. Part of its popularity no doubt has to do with the company’s cross-platform compatible football betting app. What we really like about the app right out of the gate is the clarity of its design. Why can not all mobile betting apps be so clear and easy to use?
Mr. Play gets high marks for the number and variety of their existing customer promos, their specialty markets, the number of deposit methods and the competitiveness of their odds. Mr.Play have the smallest but still worthwhile welcome offer of a £10 free bet token when you place a £10 qualifying bet.
How to join a Football Betting App
Installing and joining a sportsbook through a football betting app is a lot easier than most people think. The following steps will apply to most of the best football betting apps that come from UK betting sites.
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1. Determine which bookmaker’s football betting app you want to use and then download it either from Google Play, the App Store or the bookmaker’s website.
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2. Install the app on your smartphone. Should take about 30 seconds.
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3. Once installed tap on the app to open it.
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4. At the top of the homepage there will be a brightly coloured button that says “Join” or “Register” or the equivalent. Tap it.
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5. An application form will open. Fill in all required fields.
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6. Select a username and password. You may also have the option of choosing biometric login.
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7. Accept the Terms & Conditions.
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8. Tap the “Join Now” or equivalent button.
Now that your account is open you will need to fund it using one of the payment methods specified by the bookmaker. (Not all bookmakers accept the same variety of payment methods.) Also, if you want to take advantage of the bookmaker’s Welcome Bonus make sure your first deposit is made using the proper method. Typically that means a debit card.
Once your account is active and funded you are now free to wager to your heart’s content. Just remember that in order to take advantage of the Welcome Bonus your first wager will need to meet certain criteria established by the bookmaker. This will be the steps that you can expect to take with most new sports betting sites when downloading their app.
Choosing The Best Football Betting Apps
When determining which sports betting apps in the UK are the best football betting apps we weigh the following considerations:
Live Streaming
The advent of wireless broadband has made live streaming of sporting events possible. As such live streaming has become something of the holy grail of betting apps definitively separating the best from the rest. If live streaming is important to you make sure the football app you've your eye on features it. Not all of them do.
Cash Out
Cash Out is something most punters want to see from a betting app. But not all football betting apps currently offer it. That will probably change in the near future due to popular demand, but anything that complicates the already complicated business of running a world-class betting app with hundreds of thousands of daily users is going to be introduced only when the bookmaker is good and ready, and we can understand that.
Bet Builder
All of the best football bet apps now offer Bet Builder. The Bet Builder feature enables the punter to fashion his or her own bet by combining several selections into a single wager. It's not quite an acca but it's similar. An accumulator features a number of selections from different events, while a Bet Builder contains numerous selections from one event. The Bet Builder feature on the different football betting apps contain slight variations that make them unique to the bookmaker in question. But they are all fundamentally the same.
Football Betting Offers
The football betting market in the UK is huge and highly competitive. Every bookmaker wants to carve out a bigger piece of pie for themselves and to do that they need to offer eye-catching promotions for both new and existing members. For that reason, we want to see a variety of worthwhile promotions that will reward punters for their loyalty and keep them coming back. That includes mobile-only offers.
Competitive Odds
Live Streaming, Cash Out and Bet Builders are all important when determining which are the best football betting apps in the UK, but they don't mean much if the bookmaker is offering second-rate odds. For that reason, we take a good close look at the odds offered by the different football betting sites and, by extension, their mobile apps and choose only those who do right by their customers.
Security
If football betting apps had the same kind of lax security so often displayed by social media sites they would not last long. When developing a football mobile app the bookmaker must put a premium on security. If they do not, and hackers gain access, the whole edifice crumbles into dust. We took a good look at the reputation of each betting app to determine if they measure up security wise.
Payment Methods
A couple of years ago the UK government outlawed the practice of using credit cards to fund gambling. Therefore bookmakers had to find alternatives and many have adjusted fairly well. Without a doubt most sportsbooks today would prefer all customers fund their accounts using debit cards. But they also understand that is not feasible. So the best also accept payment through PayPal, Bank Transfers and a variety of e-wallets such as Skrill and Neteller. They don't, however, accept crypto for the very sound reason that it is far too volatile. All that said, one of the most common shortcomings amongst the top sports betting apps in the UK is a shortage of funding options.
Welcome Bonus
Football betting apps need a way to entice people to sign up, so they use the tried and true method of the Welcome Bonus, or SignUp Bonus. This typically entails giving away Free Bet credits to new customers who make minimum first deposits and qualifying first bets. In other cases, the bonus may take the form of guaranteeing the first bet up to a predetermined amount. Or the bookmaker may match the size of your first deposit up to a given amount.
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 are struggling with a gambling problem, please don't 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/
Football Betting Apps FAQs
Can you access football live streams on betting apps?
Some of the best football betting apps offer live streaming, but not all of them do. Some exclusively broadcast live coverage of the major tournaments. On the other hand, some don't even offer it. Bet365 and Betway are two of the greatest football betting applications with outstanding live streaming availability.
What are the best football betting apps?
The previously mentioned football betting programmes have all shown to be highly beneficial in providing football fans with the kinds of betting chances and other conveniences that smart bettors need. However, not all of them provide precisely the same qualities. For instance, you should pass on Mr. Play because it does not offer live streaming, if that is important to you.
Can you download football betting apps for free?
100 Percent! theres plenty of betting apps that are downloadable for free. Our top suggested free betting app are bet365 and William Hill. take a look at this article to find out why.
