Discover the best betting apps in the UK, compared and ranked in order of overall quality.
Every betting app featured in our list is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission so you can be sure that they are trustworthy and legitimate.
The same criteria is used to evaluate every betting app, including usability, speed, promos, and in-play betting.
Best Betting Apps in Detail
The Best Sports Betting Apps Ranked
1Paddy Power
Risk Free Bet Up To £20 Refunded In Cash If Your First Bet Loses!
Place a first bet up to £20 and if it loses your stake will be returned in full in cash.
2Fitzdares
Bet £50, Get £25 in Free Bets + 10 Free Spins
Deposit a minimum of £10 and place a qualifying bet of £50 on any sports at minimum odds of 2.0 (1/1) and receive £25 in free bets and 10 free spins on settlement.
3Betfred
Bet £10, Get £50 in Free Bets!
Deposit and place a minmum of £10 and get £30 in free bets to use on sports markets and £20 to use on accumulators.
4Betfair
Bet £10 Get £30 In Free Bets
Simply make an initial deposit of £10 and bet £10 on a sports betting market and get £30 in free bets!
5William Hill
Bet £10 Get £60 Free Bets
Get £60 in free bets when you deposit & bet £10
6LeoVegas
100% Profit Boost up to £100
Get up to £100 extra winnings on your first bet at LeoVegas with your 100% Profit Boost
7bet365
Bet £10 and Get £30 in Free Bets
If you deposit between £5* and £10* you will receive three times that value in Free Bets, upon settlement of qualifying bets. For example, if you make a qualifying deposit of £5, you will be able to release £15 in Free Bets or if you make a qualifying deposit of £10 or more, you will be able to release £30 in Free Bets.
8LivescoreBet
Bet £10 and get £30 in Free Bets
Place a bet of £10 or more on ANY sport at odds of 1/2 (1.5) or greater to qualify for two £10 free bets and two £5 Bet builder free bets upon bet settlement — regardless of whether your bet wins or loses.
10BetUK
Bet £10 and get £30 in Free Bets
Get £30 in Free bets to use across our sportsbook when you join and bet £10
Above you'll find our definitive list of betting apps for the UK market - as evaluated by our trusted experts. All fully licenced, and all offering an excellent user experience along with the best promos and bonuses in the market.
Top Betting App by Category
Different bettors want different things from a betting app, so whilst the list above is useful if you want a strong all-around app, it’s not great if you’re looking for something more specific.
That could be a particular sport, it could be a feature, or it could be a certain bet type. There’s no point in downloading the best betting app overall if it’s not the best at the aspect you want it to be best at.
We’ve picked out some of the most popular categories that punters look for when considering a new bookie, and the top betting app for each one.
bet365 - The Best for Football Betting App
There’s a number of things that bet365 does right but none more so than football betting, with excellent odds and a huge range of leagues to bet on across a multitude of countries.
Bet365 also offer some of the best mobile betting promos out there for football, with early payout on offer if your team goes two goals up and money back on select markets if a game ends 0-0.
Football (or soccer as it’s known on bet365) is displayed right at the top of the Sports list on the bet365 app, and there’s usually a direct link on the homepage so it’s easy to get to.
BetGoodwin - Best for Horse Racing Betting App
BetGoodwin is one of the leading racing bookies so it’s no surprise they’re the best betting app for horses, too.
There’s odds available on races all over the world, including France, Japan, Chile, Argentina, and the USA, plus Best Odds Guaranteed on all UK and Ireland meets.
You can also get money back on certain races if your horse is beaten by a nose or comes second to a 50/1 (or greater) shot.
William Hill - The Best Betting App for Accas
Every betting site lets you build accas on your favourite sports, or even across multiple sports, but William Hill is great for accas because of the user experience of their betting app.
Clicking on the selection brings it up at the bottom of the screen and doesn’t intrude on you trying to add more to your acca, allowing you to easily create your multi.
William Hill also occasionally offers free bets that can be used on accas, making the betting app even better.
BetVictor - The Best Bet Builder Betting App
Bet builders allow you to put multiple selections from the same game into a single bet. The BetVictor betting app leads the pack when it comes to this type of wager thanks to their large market range and good odds.
Not only is this true for football, it’s also true for NFL, NBA, and MLB, giving punters plenty of different sports to create bet builders on.
Unibet - The Best Betting App for In-Play Betting
The Unibet app is excellent for in-play betting thanks to the simplicity of their mobile layout, making it easy to live bet on any sporting event that’s currently going on.
In-play betting of major sports is available on the homepage and you can even bet on a few different markets without clicking into the game itself, saving valuable seconds.
Betfair - The King of Apps for Cash Out
Cash out is a basic feature of all betting apps these days and Betfair take it to the next level by making it as straightforward as possible for punters, ensuring they avoid unnecessary hoops.
The central button at the bottom of the app takes you directly to your bets that are eligible for cash out, and from there it’s just another tap to confirm the bet you want to settle early.
You can also do partial cash out which enables you to cash out just a portion of your stake, letting the remainder run until the end of the bet or until you cash it out.
Coral - The App of Choice for Streaming
Coral offer live streaming of horse racing, football, and tennis on their app, allowing you to watch and bet on select events without leaving the app.
Lots of other bookies offer live streaming but our experience of using Coral was head and shoulders above the rest, mainly in terms of reliability and speed.
BetMGM - The App of Choice for Bonuses
BetMGM are new to the UK betting scene but their experience from operating the US has propelled them to be one of the overall best betting apps, and particularly for bonuses.
There’s regular no deposit free bets on offer and every day comes with bet boosts in a range of sports, including football and horse racing, allowing you to get the best odds on certain markets.
The BetMGM app also has a loyalty club where you can get a £5 free bet every week for placing a £10 football accumulator and a £10 football bet builder.
How We Review Betting Apps
It’s important for our betting experts to use the same process every time a betting app is reviewed as this ensures fairness and transparency.
It also means that each app is judged on identical criteria, including how it is to use, how fast the app is overall, and how easy it is to place bets both in-play and pre-match.
The criteria we use to rate betting apps is listed below, and then you can use the same aspects to judge betting apps for yourself to establish whether it’s right for you.
Usability
This is most crucial aspect of any betting app is whether it’s user-friendly. After all, there’s no point being a great bookie in other aspects if your app is too difficult for bettors to use.
A good mobile app needs to be easy to navigate and present users with logical menus, whether that’s for finding their favourite sport or for getting to the match they want to bet on.
The homepage is also key as this shouldn’t immediately overawe a bettor, and instead should provide links to popular sports as well as show some attractive promos.
Many homepages also have in-play betting odds on a range of sports, usually allowing you to place basic bets like match result without having to click into the event itself.
Speed
It’s important for betting apps to load quickly when you initially boot them up, allowing you to log in and get on with betting.
Links to sports and events should also be fast loading with no noticeable delay, seamlessly switching between from one page to another, and similarly across tabs within the event so that you can easily find what you want to bet on.
This is especially true for in-play betting when time is of the essence, so a fast app enables you to find the market and place a bet on it before the odds change or get suspended.
Notifications
Nobody really likes push notifications from phone apps because they can be so intrusive and often pointless notifications are mixed in with ones that are actually important.
The best mobile betting apps ensure to only deliver notifications that are relevant, such as updates to the bet like a goal being scored, or free bet offers that the user will consider.
Bookmakers lose points in this section if they push through too many notifications, or they send through ones that focus on casino or bonuses that the user won’t be interested in.
Live Streaming
Live streaming allows you to tune into a game on the betting site as it happens, making it easy to watch and bet on your favourite sports.
The best betting apps only require you to have a funded account or have placed a bet within the last 24 hours to watch a stream, so you don't even have to bet on the event in question most of the time.
Watching live streams through a betting on app your phone needs to be reliable and responsive, with limited buffering and ideally of a good quality so you aren’t just watching pixels run around.
Some betting apps even allow you to follow betting markets on the stream, overlaying odds of basic markets so you can see how prices change and bet on them when they get to odds that you like.
Welcome Offer
Having a strong welcome offer gives punters bonuses like free bets or a matched deposit, enabling them to test out the betting app and decide whether it’s for them.
The sign-up bonus is usually displayed pretty prominently on the app with basic information of what it is plus how to claim it, with a separate page dedicated to more details of the offer.
Being able to unlock and complete the welcome offer entirely on the app will give a bookmaker a high score in this category, as it makes the process of claiming the bonus as smooth as possible.
Promotions
There are plenty of exclusive mobile betting promos that you specifically have to claim and use on the app, so that’s perfect for phone bettors.
App-only promos can be anything from bet and get free bets, no deposit free bets, enhanced odds, and money-back specials. Some bookmakers even make their welcome bonus exclusive to their app, although this is usually if they don’t operate a desktop site.
Promos are usually displayed clearly on the homepage and in the promotions section of the app, since bookies wouldn’t be running bonuses if they didn’t want people to use them.
Sports
Top betting apps have a range of sports available to bet on. The usual number of sports is between 28 and 34, so anywhere around that is ideal for punters.
Of course, some mobile betting apps have fewer than this, but you shouldn’t automatically discount them if they have a strong focus on a sport you want to bet on.
Odds
Odds quality is make-or-break when it comes to deciding on the best betting app. Generally speaking, you should always look for betting sites with the best odds on whatever market it is you want to bet on, as this gives you better returns on successful bets.
Don’t expect a betting app to be amazing on every market as this is extremely unlikely, so it’s really just a case of finding bookies that offer competitive odds.
Markets
Betting apps should carry an extensive range of markets in most sports, allowing you to essentially bet on anything that comes to mind on whichever event it may be you fancy a punt on.
Bigger sports like football, horse racing, and NFL generally have most markets, whether that’s outright, pre-match, or in-play.
Features
The extra features of a betting app varies massively depending on the operator.
Pretty much every app has basic features like cash out and bet builder (or an equivalent under a different name), so bookies score highly here if they go above and beyond those.
Some examples could include partial cash out, auto cash out, acca insurance, and super boosts.
In-Play Betting
All betting apps have in-play betting so this is about how good their odds are, how many markets they have, the sports they have live betting on, and how frequently they suspend odds.
Apps also get good ratings in this section if they provide accurate live scores and data to help you out with your betting, allowing you to punt on markets without having to check other apps for stats.
Customer Service
You hope to never have to use customer service but if you do, it’s annoying to have to leave the app to access live chat or the FAQs – which is the case with many betting apps.
Even if it brings up an overlay screen with a full help section or a live chat, that is far more preferable than your phone automatically switching apps to Safari or Chrome or another browser.
Once you’re in the customer service section, it’s important for the agent to be able to answer whatever question you have quickly and correctly.
Payment Methods
Betting on a mobile app actually unlocks more payment options compared to desktop, thanks to the advent of Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Having one of these set up on your phone (depending on whether you have an iPhone or Android) speeds up the time taken to deposit as you don’t need to type in your card details or login to PayPal.
If you don’t have Apple Pay or Google Pay, or the betting site doesn’t accept them as payment methods, then it’s important to be able to seamlessly deposit and withdraw using your preferred way.
Some deposit methods may require authorisation through an external app, such as your bank account or PayPal, and the betting app should be equipped to switch straight to the third party app.
Which Sports Can I Bet on With My Phone?
The sports you can bet on using a betting app doesn’t change from those you can bet on using your desktop. Every bookie should have a list of A-Z sports available on their mobile app so you can see which are available.
The list is usually displayed on a menu on the left-hand side or via a quick navigation button at the bottom, allowing to easily check which sports you can bet on before registering.
Here are all the sports you can bet on with a mobile betting app, but note that not every bookie has odds on all of them:
- Football (Premier League, EFL, Champions League, etc.)
- Horse Racing (UK, Ireland, International)
- Greyhound Racing
- Tennis (ATP, WTA, Grand Slams)
- Cricket (Test, ODI, T20, The Hundred)
- Rugby Union (Six Nations, Premiership, World Cup)
- Rugby League (Super League, NRL, World Cup)
- Golf (PGA Tour, European Tour, Majors)
- Darts (PDC, BDO, World Championships)
- Snooker (World Championship, UK Championship)
- Boxing (Heavyweight, Lightweight, PPV Events)
- Mixed Martial Arts (UFC, Bellator, PFL)
- Formula 1 (Grand Prix Betting)
- Motorcycling (MotoGP, Superbikes)
- American Football (NFL, College Football)
- Basketball (NBA, EuroLeague, College Basketball)
- Ice Hockey (NHL, European Leagues)
- Baseball (MLB, Japanese Leagues)
Betting App Payment Methods
The range of payment methods available varies massively between the betting app you choose, with some bookies only having a couple of options whilst others provide upwards of 10.
VISA and Mastercard debit cards are overwhelmingly popular for punters and so are offered on pretty much every betting app, with PayPal also exceedingly common.
As well, there’s Skrill and Neteller that operate in a similar way to PayPal as they are all ewallets, plus the likes of bank transfer and Paysafecard.
The main advantage of using a betting app to deposit and withdraw is that you can use Apple Pay and Google Pay, neither of which are available on desktop.
Using Apple Pay or Google Pay, depending on whether you have an iPhone or Android device, saves you from inputting your card information again and allows for faster payments.
How to Register on a Betting App
Registering on a betting app is simple and, in many ways, much easier than doing it on a desktop site.
This is because of Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations, which require you to upload verification documents like picture ID (usually passport or driving licence) and proof of address.
Doing this on your phone allows you to upload the documents through the betting app, rather than having to use a webcam or email yourself a picture. You usually have to complete KYC when you register or before you withdraw for the first time.
Simply follow the steps below to register on a new betting app:
- Pick a betting app from the list at the top of this page.
- Download the app to your phone through either the App Store or Google Play.
- Click on the “Register” (or similar) button to begin the process.
- Enter your personal information, including name, address, date of birth, email address, mobile phone number, and nationality. All this information needs to match the information on your documents.
- Set you deposit limits for either daily, weekly, or monthly deposits. This is optional but recommended.
How to Download iOS Betting Apps
Downloading betting apps to your iOS device is easy. All you need is an iPhone or iPad and to follow the instructions below:
- Choose a bookmaker from the list of best betting apps at the top of this page.
- Complete registration and verify your account.
- Open the App Store and search for the betting app.
- Press “Get” on the right hand-side, confirm the download using Face ID or your passcode, and wait for the betting app to install.
How to Download Android Betting Apps
Downloading apps to Android is largely the same as it is on iOS, and is just as straightforward:
- Choose a betting site from our list at the top of the page.
- Complete registration on the betting site with your personal details
- Open Google Play and search for the app.
- Confirm the download by pressing 'Install’ and wait for it to install.
Are Sports Betting Apps Legal in the UK?
Yes, sports betting apps are legal in the UK. Just like with betting sites, companies must be granted a licence by the UK Gambling Commission and this allows them to operate and accept bets.
There is no specific mobile-only licence so bookmakers have to apply for a betting licence as normal, even if they have no plans to operate a desktop site or physical betting shop on top of their app.
Conclusion
Finding the best betting app in the UK ultimately depends on your individual preferences, whether you're looking for great football odds, top-tier horse racing markets, or innovative features like bet builders and cash-out options. Every app listed on this page has been rigorously tested using the same criteria to ensure a fair comparison, with only fully licensed and reputable bookmakers included.
While some apps stand out for their all-around quality, others excel in specific areas, so it’s important to choose one that aligns with your betting needs. From fast loading times to intuitive user interfaces and enticing promotions, the best betting apps enhance the overall experience, making it easier and more enjoyable to place your bets.
With so many great options available, the best approach is to download the app that suits you, take advantage of the welcome offers, and explore its features firsthand. No matter which betting app you choose, always gamble responsibly and ensure that your betting experience remains enjoyable and within your limits.
FAQs
Yes, betting apps are free to download and use, but you have to deposit real money when you want to place bets on them.
The best betting apps give our regular bonuses and promotions, including bet and get free bets, no deposit free bets, odds boost tokens, enhanced prices, and money back offers.
The best odds depends on which sport and which market you want to bet on, which is why it’s important to compare betting apps before deciding which one to place bets with.

