With so many betting sites available to sign up and bet on, how do you distinguish which one is right for you? By looking at the below list of key factors and assessing each one against the betting site you’re about to choose is the best way to ensure you have a positive experience with any betting sites you decide to bet on.
Mobile experience
Over the last few years the way people view the internet has changed. Smartphones have become far more prominent in our day to day lives as technology has advanced four-fold. This now means it’s easier to bet on sports on the move using apps designer for these betting sites which has streamlined the whole betting experience.
For this reason, if you intend on doing some mobile betting it’s critical that you find a sports betting site that has an easy-to-use app that still includes all the features you need access too. (See our Full guide on choosing the best betting app here)
Sign up process
The sign-up process can be a real headache on some betting sites. You can have to provide loads of data that you don’t feel comfortable with in order to prove your identity and age in some cases. Although this is 100% necessary some betting sites streamline this process so it’s extremely quick and painless.
Market variety
The variety of markets available may be a deal-breaker for those of you who like to experiment with different sports betting markets. Some websites may have a plethora of markets for some sports but not so many for others so it’s important to choose the right ones from the get-go.
We’d recommend heading the websites of some bookmakers and taking a look through the available markets before you decide to create your account. Alternatively, you can head to our specific sports betting sites pages to find out which bookmakers have the most available markets for each sport.
Bonus and offer
As you may have seen from the top of this page, different betting sites offer different welcome offers and bonuses. These can be a great way to get started as using free bets will give you the opportunity to try out a few different sports betting markets and any cash you win using them is yours to keep!
So how do you choose the right offer? Head over to our bookmaker offers page and look through all of the available offers we have from the top betting sites. You’ll see there are 3 main types of welcome bonuses:
- Free Bets/ Bonus Credits – When you sign up to a new betting site and place the required deposit the bookmaker will reward you with some Credits to spend on bets.
- Matched Bonus – A Matched bonus or free bet is when a betting site matches your first deposit. So if you deposited £10 into your account the betting site would give you £10 free to spend on a bet.
(Read all offer T&Cs before betting in order to make sure you meet all requirements, or you may not receive your bonuses)
Payment Methods and banking
This is often an overlooked feature of betting sites but it’s important to consider which ways you’re allowed to deposit into your account. For example, you need to make sure your preferred payment method is accepted. In addition to this it’s worth looking into the withdrawal times and rules of some betting sites so there are no hidden caveats once you start winning some bets.
For users in the United Kingdom, betting sites will not allow you to use Credit Cards to deposit funds as a new law was recently brought in for this.
Industry Reputation
It is difficult to judge a bookmaker due to its industry reputation due to a lot of online reviews that will tell you different things. All bookmakers will have a mix of happy and unhappy customers and it’s usually the unhappy ones that take to leaving negative reviews online.
Our recommendation is to look at our bookmaker offers page and choose one from there as we are familiar with all of our partners and we can answer any issues you have with them directly via our Twitter page @oddschanger.
Licencing
All of the betting sites that we feature on our website are 100% fully licenced and trusted. This means choosing an offer from our website will help to protect you from any fraudulent activity that you may find from smaller unlicensed bookmakers.
If you do decide to go down that route though you can check if a bookmaker has a licence by visiting your countries licensor. For the UK this can be checked on the Gambling Commission website.
Odds and pricing
With so many betting sites available to place your bet on there is a lot of competition to get your business. One way they do this is by providing great offers and bonuses, the other is by offering competitive odds.
This is the main reason why you might want to open an account on a few different betting sites. You may find that you get a better price for the same bet on a different betting site so it’s worth comparing the odds for your bets.
For all of our tips on the website we automatically compare the odds for you so that you can see which betting site is offering the best price for all of our tips so you don’t have to guess. (Head over to our Football tips page now to see this in action!)
User experience
The user experience is one of the most important factors for choosing the best betting site. It should play a vital role in helping you decided. The user experience of course refers to how easy and rewarding the betting site is to operate and the many features it houses.