Most prices, particularly day-of-race ones, seem to be merged with their sister company anyway. One area where Ladbrokes surpass Coral is on bet boosts, with up to four per day available. One of these is reserved for sports betting, which is an area where Ladbrokes remain a major player. In the early days of online betting, Paddy Power tended to lead the way.
In terms of marketing, they are still well in front.
Many sportsbooks offer live streaming of multiple events, and mobile apps are a great way to watch them. The video quality and betting features are usually top-notch with an application. Betting applications are generally available for both iOS and Android. However, some bookmakers may have an application for just one operating system. Ville is an iGaming industry veteran who has written thousands of gambling-related reviews and articles since 2009.
He is an IT engineer with a passion for game and strategy optimisation and for teaching the world to play better. Lauri began his career in the gambling industry in 2019. He has experience from technical and commercial roles to innovative positions in online casino and sports betting companies. This experience has made him into an all-around expert in online casinos. Avery is a Content Manager at Bojoko, specialising in sports betting and iGaming. When it comes to what they can actually offer clued-up punters, others have caught up. Nowadays, a Paddy Power account performs well on many metrics: early prices will often be second up after William Hill, each-way terms are comparable with anyone outside of Sky Bet. But as that implies, your Paddy Power account will stand out on few counts in 2024. The favourite of each-way punters, Sky Bet will often offer the most places on the major Saturday handicaps. Seven and even eight places is not uncommon on fields with 20 runners or more. Sky Bet also tend to offer a wide range of short-term ante-post bets.
He writes and updates casino and sportsbook content, including reviews, bonus pages, and app guides, drawing on years of hands-on editorial experience. With professional experience across the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, Avery brings an international perspective to his work and creates content that is accurate, practical, and player-focused. Picking the best bookmaker used to be no more difficult than seeing which firm had a betting shop near to your house. Online betting is the dominant force now, which means among other things the choice extends further than just the retail giants like Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill. Of course, this shift means that product matters more than ever.
Convenience is still part of the equation, but that is more likely to make punters stick with the same bookmaker for horse racing betting than they always have, rather than shop around for the best prices, enhancements and offers. All serious bettors know that this is to be avoided. You do not need an account with every single online bookmaker, but you should have several options to consider ahead of any bet that you strike. The RP Recommends team are not just judges of horses. All are also dyed-in-the-wool horse racing bettors. It has been observed that their overrounds on these races can be among the tightest, though, so tread carefully. Focus heavily on the big betting races Decent range of short-term ante-post markets If so much of choosing the best online bookmaker is putting as many colours as you can on your palette, then mixing in a bit of Tote betting is necessary from time to time. If you are an SP punter, the Tote guarantee will ensure that you never lose out compared with the industry SP.
| App Name | Key Feature | Average User Rating | Available on iOS | Available on Android |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OddsMaster Pro | Live odds movement tracker | 4.7 | Yes | Yes |
| BetCompare 360 | Multi-bookmaker cash-out | 4.5 | Yes | Yes |
| ValueFinder | Arbitrage opportunity alerts | 4.3 | Yes | Yes |
| PuntPulse | Social betting feeds | 4.0 | Yes | Yes |
| SharpLine | Professional bettor tools | 4.6 | Yes | Yes |
Previous analysis by the Racing Post has shown that the Tote’s SP guarantee makes it better than the traditional prices offered and competitive with the Betfair SP.
The flip side is that they do not go in so much for the marketing-led campaigns such as enhanced place terms on ITV races and early concessions on Cheltenham or the Grand National. That said, they are joint best-in-class when it comes to best odds guaranteed. Joint best-in-class for best odds guaranteed ‘The Magic Sign’ will always have heritage appeal to a subset of punters. Newer arrivals to horse racing betting might wonder what bet sports betting apps new customer offers all the fuss is about. Generally speaking, when it comes to racing you will be better off with Coral. However, it must be said that the latter still wins out more often than not. The Tote is also the home of the Placepot, which comes with guaranteed pools sizes on at least one card every day. The easiest, but not the only way to play in the Placepot, is directly through the Tote. Exotic bets like the Swinger (pick two of the first three, in any order) are handy to have in your quiver.
| Region/Country | Bet365 | DraftKings | FanDuel | BetMGM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Licensed | Not Available | Not Available | Not Available |
| United States | Limited States | Licensed | Licensed | Licensed |
| Canada (Ontario) | Licensed | Licensed | Licensed | Licensed |
| Australia | Licensed | Not Available | Not Available | Not Available |
It is also the best place to bet on French racing as since 2023 Tote have commingled with the French PMU pools.
From 10am until 15 minutes before the off, bet365 will match the prices of Ladbrokes, William Hill, Paddy Power, Coral, Sky Bet and BoyleSports on all ITV races. It is a strong offer for any Saturday punters who bet in the mornings. Counter to that, bet365 rarely offer the very best each-way terms on major races. Take a view and hold it more often than most The Betfair Sportsbook was introduced in 2012 but has rarely stood out. Prices will often mirror those of sister firm Paddy Power and enhanced each-way terms, while better than most, can often be beaten by Sky Bet, another Flutter stablemate.
Betfair remain a huge player, because they are the dominant betting exchange. Near bet free uk betting sites list the off in a race, exchange odds will typically beat traditional odds. The Betfair Exchange also offers a starting price mechanism these days. Similar to show prices, the Betfair SP beats its traditional rival far more often than not. This is true even after the exchange’s commission is factored in. Traditional bookmaker odds on French racing generally have huge overrounds and are best avoided. If you want a price and no-one else is offering it, Unibet can be a good place to go. Their ante-post suite is usually the most extensive of any bookmaker and they will price up races that are not available anywhere else.
Otherwise, Unibet’s bet boost offerings are solid.
| App Name | Max Legs in Parlay | Same Game Parlay | Enhanced Odds Offers |
|---|---|---|---|
| OddsMaster Pro | 12 | Yes | Daily |
| BetCompare 360 | 10 | Yes | Weekly |
| ValueFinder | 8 | No | No |
| FanDuel | 15 | Yes | Daily |
They are in the pack when it comes to the best online bookmakers. Not afraid to price up a race A few years ago, William Hill started pricing up a lot of races within a couple of hours of declarations. This meant that they would be the only bookmaker offering odds for a good 24 hours before others went up or any money worth mentioning went into the Betfair market.
Most of us have been around for as long as online betting has, so we know how the landscape has changed, for the better as well as the worse for punters. The individual firms and our main recommendations will be covered in this article. Read on to learn about the top online bookmakers worthy of your time and stakes when it comes to betting on horse racing. Ensure you get the best betting experience for Grand National with our experts’ recommended horse racing betting sites. Keith Melrose has been the Racing Post’s betting editor since February 2019 and has spent his near 20-year career in the fields of form and betting.
In 2021 Keith was nominated for the HWPA’s specialist writer of the year award, with submissions that included a punter’s guide to finding the optimum stake for any bet using the Kelly criterion. When it comes to horse racing, bet365 offer few frills but get the basics right more than most. They have a solid tendency to take their own position on markets, as opposed to many firms who track one another’s prices. They will often hold their prices for longer, too, even when offering standout odds. There is also a major offer on ITV races that rarely gets discussed. It is a bold approach, and there is a lot of fun to be had – and ricks to be found – betting effectively person-to-person with the Hills odds-compiler. However, they are naturally defensive in such an exposed position. High stakers will not last long if regularly skinning these early prices.
Hills also do not go in for BOG at all, which is presumably related to their early-pricing strategy. Away from that, Hills are second only to Sky Bet when it comes to enhanced place terms. They also offer daily bet boosts, although these come with similar caveats to taking Hills’ early prices. Sports bettors should similarly have BoyleSports on their radar. Many of BoyleSports’ leading offers are on football, and some of their standout racing promotions are football-led.
In some ways, Coral is the Honda of online bookmakers. They’re reliable and not especially sexy, but my Honda CR-V is still hard on the bridle after 110,000 miles. Parent company Entain’s strategy seems to involve pitching Coral increasingly as the online bookmaker for horse racing punters. What this means in practice is that, relative to other bookmakers, Coral place something more of an interest on trading. In theory, good punters can expect to be entertained for longer by Coral. The ability to lengthen your odds by specifying a winning distance is sure to have been influenced by the popular bet builder offer on football.
The Betfair Exchange is also the best platform for punters to engineer strong positions on races, by considered utilisation of the lay function. Mathematically, this is almost always a much better play than the cash-out function offered by online bookmakers, which has a margin built in that far exceeds Betfair’s commission. Ability to back and lay is a big advantage Multiples punters, particularly those who love a Lucky 15, need to have Betfred among their options for betting on horse racing. Beyond their long-established bonuses, Betfred are a useful firm to bet with. They are competitive in most aspects, without standing out on anything besides the aforementioned bonuses. When it comes to the basics, BoyleSports remain competitive but rarely stand alone. As the UK’s favourite commercial sports talk radio station, talkSPORT BET has moved into the betting market and offers some decent opportunities for those looking to punt on racing.