The UK's Best Online Gambling Sites - 2022

How We Define a Gambling Site

Gambling sites come in all shapes and sizes. Some can be defined simply as online casinos, and these tend to provide online slots, classic table games like blackjack, roulette, and baccarat, and a selection of live dealer tables.

An online casino may particularly specialise in slots and offer less in the way of table games, but generally you know what you’re going to get: virtual versions of the kinds of games that have been played in land-based casinos for generations.

Then there’s what we like to think of as all-round gambling sites. These go beyond casino games and offer an enhanced array of betting options.

While the most common addition is sports betting, the best online betting sites can also encompass bingo and lottery games, online poker rooms, fantasy sports, and more. 

There’s certainly plenty of fun to be had at straight-up online casinos, but if you want the freedom to play slots one minute and place wagers on your favourite sporting events the next, gambling sites are the way to go.

One major plus point is you won’t have to worry about managing different accounts for casino gambling and sports betting, which makes keeping an eye on your budget and bankroll a bit easier. Then there’s the prospect of the various bonuses and promos on offer. 

The best gambling sites can serve up different deals for the different categories. Novibet, for example, offers new members a £10 free bet for its sportsbook and up to £150 in matched deposit bonus funds for its casino. New betting sites, keen to make a great first impression, can lay out particularly generous bonuses for casino players and sports bettors alike.

Ready to find out more? This guide covers the ins and outs of online gambling sites, and will point you to some of the top examples in the UK.

Pros and Cons of the Best UK Gambling Sites

Here’s a quick overview of the advantages and disadvantages of playing at online gambling sites.

• Fun and entertainment – the main element of gambling should always be in having fun, and the best online gambling sites are ideal for that. You should be careful never to view gambling as a means to make money, there’s no such thing as a guaranteed winner in any casino game or bet;
• Variety – the top gambling sites have the best of both worlds when it comes to sports betting and casino games;
• Ease of use – easy access either on desktop or mobile, and user-focused site and app design, make placing online wagers a total breeze;
• Offers – the best gambling sites regularly reward new and existing members with bonuses and promotions, from free bets to free spins;
• Live streaming – if you’re a sports fan and don’t have access to every subscription service you need to see your team every week, live streaming at gambling sites is a fantastic perk;
• Safety and Security – licensed gambling sites offer encryption on your transactions, excellent customer service, ethical practices and features, and legal protection if anything goes wrong.
• Play your way – no matter how you want to fund your account, whether you prefer mobile gambling apps to desktop sites, like to set hard limits on your spending and playtime, the best gambling sites have got you covered.

• Convenience – if you struggle with problem gambling or addiction, the ease of access and convenience of gambling sites can be enabling. Take a look below for our advice on responsible gambling and where you can find help;
• Unlicensed sites – unlicensed sites are not held to the standards you can expect from licensed ones, and they can be a hotbed for scams. Always place your bets at a licensed gambling site;
• Wagering requirements – while bonuses are plentiful, so too are strict terms and conditions like wagering requirements, time limits, winnings caps, payment restrictions, and more. Always check the T&Cs before claiming a bonus;
• Payout speeds – there are plenty of sites offering fast payouts, but unfortunately many gambling sites still take over 72 hours to process withdrawal requests.

How We Review and Rank the Best Gambling Sites

Gambling sites are complex beasts, and there’s a lot to think about when it comes to reviewing and ranking them against each other.

We take a comprehensive look at every factor that can influence your experience, including licencing, security, game libraries, sportsbook depth, mobile functionality, and more.

Read on for the finer points of this process and get a better understanding of how we can confidently point you in the direction of the best online gambling sites.

Licence, Safety and Reputation

Player safety is our top concern, and for that reason, you’ll never find an online casino or gambling website listed on TopRatedCasinos that isn’t fully-licensed by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) in June 2022.

The UKGC is the UK gambling industry’s regulatory body, overseeing the development and rollout of legislation that seeks to protect consumers. In other words, a gambling site that’s licensed by the UKGC meets the standards set by the body.

Not only that but licensed operators must continually update their offering in order to remain compliant with evolving regulations.

From a player’s perspective, the licensing guarantees are as follows: 

• Every game offered by a site is fair and subject to regular audits that ensure this is the case.
• All customer transactions must be protected by SSL encryption technology, scrambling your details in such a way that hackers will be unable to read them.
• Operators must behave in an ethical and compliant manner, upholding measures put in place by the UKGC to protect players. This includes updating their processes in particular ways when prompted to by the regulator. A recent example of this is in making opting-in to self-exclusion service GAMSTOP mandatory for all UK gambling operators.
• Terms and conditions, and other vital bits of information, must be clearly detailed on-site, with any and all important details being readily available and straightforward to understand.

Deposit and Withdrawal Options

You can deposit and withdraw using a debit card at every top online gambling site, but what if you want to use an alternative banking method?

If you prefer to use an e-wallet like PayPal, Neteller or Skrill, or if you want to deposit with Paysafecard, ecoPayz, or a phone bill payment method, make sure your preferred option is accepted before signing up.

As well as checking out the accepted banking methods, make sure you also read up on minimum and maximum limits to ensure they are suitable for your budget.

Don’t forget about withdrawal times, either — these vary at different online gaming sites, with some of the best sites offering fast payouts for certain banking methods.

Bonus Terms and Conditions

Bonuses are one of the most prominent factors you’ll notice whilst browsing through gambling sites at TopRatedCasinos, and they can be just as complex as they are enticing.

There are plenty of bonus and promo varieties out there, and they each will typically come tied to terms and conditions limiting their use, the total you can win with them, and how challenging it will be to make withdrawals against them.

It’s worth bearing these factors in mind as you select a new casino, along with which bonus is best suited to the type of player you are.

We pay close attention to the quality and value offered by individual gambling site bonuses—along with how their terms and conditions impact usability—as we review and rank the industry’s best, but the best casino bonus is always a subjective call. 

Take a look at our bonuses section below for a detailed breakdown of each major bonus type, as well as the wagering requirements and restrictions you’re likely to come across.

Product Offering

UK gaming sites are a diverse bunch, and some have more to offer than others in a very literal sense.

Slots, sports, poker, bingo, e-sports, lottery, scratchcards, live casino, and more can be found across the online gambling landscape, and the more of these a site offers, the better.

As we assess a site’s product offering, we look at how comprehensive their games libraries are and the quality offered across each vertical.

Some sites specialise in a particular vertical, such as new slot sites, with a smattering of other options to choose from — provided their specialism is delivered in a top-notch way, we’re also keen to promote sites that take a focused approach.

Mobile and Apps

Mobile compatibility is par for the course with any gambling site today ‒ a reflection of the huge number of people who like to play from their handheld devices.

As a bare minimum, sites should be properly optimised for mobile use. Usually that means they’re built with the latest HTML5 technology to ensure a seamless experience on any size of screen, whether you’re an Android or iOS user, and the layout should be thoughtfully designed so it’s just as easy to use as the desktop site.

Many of the best gambling sites go the extra mile and provide a native app that can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store. These apps are specifically tailored to mobile devices, meaning they’re a bit snappier and more usable than their web counterparts. We expect a bespoke app to offer all the same functionality as the desktop site — that means access to banking, account settings, not to mention the library of games. And through the enabling of push notifications, you’ll never miss an offer from your favourite site.

Site Design

Maybe it’s not top of mind for everyone, but site design is definitely something to consider. Gambling is supposed to be fun, but it’s much harder to enjoy yourself if you’re playing on a clunky website that’s poorly laid out or prone to glitches. We expect the best gambling sites to feature user-friendly design so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for — that includes filtering tools to help you narrow down your search, whether it’s for a specific slot in the casino or an unusual betting market on the sportsbook. 

The icing on the cake is the appearance of the site itself; which affects the experience of our players. We love sites with a clean and modern aesthetic that’s easy on the eye, but sites with unique character are welcome too  — bonus points for dark mode. 

Customer Support

There’s always going to be some level of suspense when you gamble — that’s all part of the thrill. But that suspense isn’t so welcome when it comes to any problems you have at the site, whether you’re struggling to withdraw your cash, claim a bonus, or anything else. 

It’s imperative our recommended sites score highly in this area. That means a slew of channels through which you can seek help, and round-the-clock availability so you’ll get a speedy response. Email, phone, live chat, and social media are some of the contact options we look for, with the best gambling sites offering at least one channel 24/7, 365 days of the year. Players shouldn’t be left waiting for a reply, and it should be courteous and helpful when it arrives.

Types of Gambling Sites

Gambling is a deeply diverse pastime, and there’s a website out there for every persuasion in June 2022.

While we’re always excited to see sites that offer a comprehensive experience, the fact remains that most sites have a specialism that they particularly excel at, and it’s easy to stick most gambling sites into a particular category.

Take a look below for details on what you’ll find in our list of gambling sites and what to expect from each one.

UK Gambling Sites – Online Betting and Sportsbooks

You can place bets on all sorts of things at UK gambling sites — the most high-profile competitions in the world like Wimbledon and the World Cup, motorsports like Formula 1 and MotoGP, niche sports like handball and Gaelic hurling, and even non-sporting events like elections. 

If you’re new to online betting, the magnitude of choice can be a little overwhelming, so we’ve run through some of the best sports you’ll find at gambling websites below.

The Best Sports to Bet On at UK Gambling Sites

Football

There’s no doubt football is the biggest game in the world, with an estimated 4 billion fans spread across the globe. In the UK alone, roughly 40% of the country watched live coverage of the Premier League in 2021, so it comes as no surprise the sport has a strong presence at UK gambling sites — in fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a bookie that doesn’t offer bets on football. 

Naturally, nearly every gambling site covers the major events and leagues including:

• FA Cup
• UEFA Champions League
• UEFA Europa League
• Premier League
• La Liga
• Bundesliga
• FIFA World Cup

Many UK gambling sites also offer markets on less high-profile matches around the world, and if it’s kicking off, there’s a strong chance you can place a bet on it. Supporting your home team in one of the regional contests like National League North or South? Want to wager on something further afield like the Japan J-League, the India Delhi A Division, or the Cambodia Cup? There are hundreds of matches available to punters at UK gambling sites.

You’ll also find plenty of diversity in terms of the bets you can make. Of course, you can keep things simple with a wager on the outcome of the match — but if you’re looking for something more adventurous, there are some weird and wonderful markets. You can bet on in-match events like own goals or red cards; over/unders like number of corners, goals, or free kicks; or even drill down to specific actions a particular player will take during the match. Combine several of these in an accumulator and the ways you can bet on football are virtually limitless. 

Golf

Another huge sport at gambling sites is golf. As the linksmen do their best to make it round the course in as few shots as possible, you’ll be able to place bets on a variety of events and situations. There are plenty of occasions throughout the year, offering punters a wealth of opportunities to wager on golf. 

There are four Majors: the Masters, the US Open, the British Open, and the USPGA Championship — and these four high-profile tournaments are a great time to watch out for bonuses and free bets at gambling websites. There’s plenty more in the golfing calendar, including the Ryder Cup, the BMW PGA Championship, the World Golf Championship, not to mention the booming LPGA golf scene.

The simplest option is a straight-up bet on a particular golfer to win the tournament, but you can also place an each-way bet if you’re less certain they’ll take the number one spot. There are plenty of other options focused on specific players, like:

• First round leader
• Top 10 and top 20 finishes
• To make the cut
• Dual forecast – two players to come first and second in any order
• To get a hole in one
• Nationality of winner

Match-ups or straight forecasts can be another highly exciting bet, where you’ll pit two players against each other — the bet comes good if your chosen golfer beats the other at the end of the tournament. Similar permutations exist, including 3-ball bets and 2, 3, 4, or 5 vs the field. In any case, there’s never a shortage of options when you bet on golf.

Tennis

Tennis is a wildly popular betting market for punters across the world, especially Brits — two weeks of the year give way to the prestigious Wimbledon tournament every summer, played on grass courts at the All England Club. 

With legendary players like Nadal and Federer close to retirement, tennis is certainly an exciting market to keep an eye on. Rising star Emma Raducanu caused a stir in 2021, claiming victory at the US Open without losing a single set throughout the tournament. Alongside Wimbledon and the US Open, there are two other Grand Slams: the Australian Open and the French Open. Throw in contests like the ATP and WTA World Tours, the Challenger Tour, and the Davis Cup, and there’s a plethora of tennis betting opportunities at gambling sites.

The markets on offer are somewhat simpler than other sports, with straight bets and over/under bets making up the majority. Punters can place bets on who will win the match, the total number of games, who will break their opponent’s serve first, and more. Those looking for longer odds might be interested in the score prediction markets — you can place a bet on the final results, the score of specific sets, or even the score of a player’s first service game. 

Rugby

While it’s certainly not on the scale of football, rugby has a passionate fan base and many UK punters tune in for the top tournaments — like the Six Nations and the Rugby World Cup — aided by live streaming coverage at top gambling sites. 

Many bookmakers will distinguish between rugby league and rugby union on their sites, and there are a few key differences between the two:

There are other rules too: 

• Union has rucks when players are tackled, whereas league involves the ‘chicken scratch’.
• Union uses lineouts when the ball is kicked off the pitch, while league restarts play with a scrum involving eight players. 
• Teams in rugby league must give up ball possession after being tackled six times; there’s no such limit in rugby union. 

Union is more popular across the globe, with international competitions like Six Nations and the World Cup are played in this format. There’s also the Premiership, pitting English teams like Harlequins, Wasps, and London Irish against each other. League maintains a strong following in the UK, as well as Australia and New Zealand, with tournaments such as the National Rugby League and State of Origin.

As for betting options, there’s a wide array: match winner bets are the most popular, but you can also wager on things like winning margin, half time/full time score, handicaps, and over/under bets. 

Horse Racing

Horse racing is another sport with fervent support from UK punters. A mainstay at pretty much every gambling site, there’s a rich history to horse racing — as evidenced by prestigious events such as Royal Ascot, with the Queen and Royal Family often in attendance. Five days of racing make up Royal Ascot, including numerous Grade I courses like the Commonwealth Cup and the Coronation Stakes. 

Aside from Ascot, there’s plenty more to bet on, both at home and internationally. The Grand National is one of the most popular races to bet on for horse racing fans and non-fans alike, taking place at Aintree Racecourse every year. There’s also Cheltenham Festival, a National Hunt festival which takes place over four days, and the Epsom Derby. Further afield, you’ve got betting opportunities in the Kentucky Derby across the pond, the Melbourne Cup down under, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France, and much more. 

In terms of bets, many punters stick to simply backing a horse, either to win, to place, or an each-way bet where half your stake is allocated to both outcomes. Other bets often involve backing multiple horses: forecasts and tricasts let you predict two or three horses, specifying place order or not (a reverse forecast or tricast); doubles, trebles, and accumulators let you combine bets across multiple races, with the possibility of huge payouts if all of them come good.

As for promotions, best odds guaranteed is probably the most common — that’s where you’re paid out at the best odds on the horse if it wins, no matter when you placed the bet. Acca insurance is another popular promotion, refunding your bet if just one leg of your accumulator fails. 

American Football

It’s no secret the Super Bowl is one of the biggest events in America’s sporting calendar, but as each year passes, American football’s rising popularity in the UK continues to accelerate. Perhaps it’s the grandeur and pomp of the half-time show that first draws punters in, and they’re hooked once the action begins. There’s a large social aspect to the Super Bowl too, with many bars and pubs broadcasting the match — so it’s often a great time to pick up a mobile betting bonus. 

The Super Bowl is the play-off match to determine the winner of the National Football League (NFL), preceded by a three-week preseason and 18-week regular season. The title is contested by 32 teams, split between the AFC and NFC — the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers currently have the most Super Bowl wins with six each. You might also be able to place bets on college football at the best gambling sites, including the NCAA.

There’s a wealth of betting options to keep things interesting too, including:

• Match winner
• Outright
• Spread bets and handicaps
• Under/over markets
• Player props like passing/receiving yards, tackles, and assists
• To go to overtime
• Player to be crowned MVP

Greyhounds

Greyhound racing isn’t dissimilar to horse racing — punters bet on which dog will make it round the track first. It evolved from a type of hunting called coursing, where dogs would chase hares. While the sport maintains a lower profile than many others found at gambling sites, it remains popular in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and the US, with these countries providing most of the betting opportunities to punters. 

The biggest UK greyhound racing events you can place bets on are the Scottish, English, and Irish Greyhound Derbies. These run over six rounds and around 180 dogs race in each. There are also Category One, Two, and Three races, run over 1–4 rounds and with less prize money.

Australia has a wealth of events — the Melbourne Cup, Australian Cup, and Perth Cup prize pools run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Meanwhile in the US, only two racing tracks will remain active once Arkansas’s track closes at the end of the 2022 season. 

Greyhound racing bets also have much crossover with horse racing: wins, places, and each-ways are all available, as are forecasts and tricasts, accas, and more. You’ll often find similar promotions too, including best odds guaranteed and acca insurance. 

How Betting Odds Work

Whether you’re completely new to sports betting or simply looking to brush up your knowledge, a solid understanding of how odds work is essential to online gambling. Not only do odds describe the amount you stand to win on any given bet, but they also give you a sense of that outcome’s probability. 

You’ll most commonly see fractional odds at top UK gambling sites, but decimal and American odds are also often available, so it’s a good idea to get to know them all. Many of the best gambling sites allow players to set how odds are shown according to their preference.

Fractional Odds

You might see fractional odds referred to as British or traditional odds. They’re usually expressed as a fraction or ratio — e.g. 1/2, 6/1, 11/5 or 1-to-2, 6-to-1, 11-to-5. It’s simple to work out the expected payout from a wager with these odds: the numerator is what you’ll receive back when you bet an amount equal to the denominator. 

• Take the example of a market offered at 6/1 — for every £1 you bet, you’ll receive £6 if you win. If you wager £5 and win, you’ll get 6 x £5 = £30, plus your original £5 stake, so a winning bet at 6/1 will return £35 in total. 
• In the case of 11/5, you’ll win £11 for every £5 bet. We can also think of that as £2.2 for every £1. If you bet £10 on a market with 11/5 odds and win, you’ll get back £32 in total — that’s £22 profit plus your £10 stake.
• When the numerator is larger than the denominator, your profit will be smaller. For a market at odds of 1/2, you’ll get back £1 for every £2 bet, which is the same as 50p for every £1. A winning £50 bet would see you take home £25 in profit and your original £50 stake for a total of £75.

Decimal Odds

Also called European odds, decimal odds are simple to understand. They look like 1.5, 3.0, or 10.1, and represent the total payout if the bet wins, including your stake. A quick way to calculate the profit is by subtracting one from the decimal odds and multiplying the answer by your stake size.

Let’s say you bet £10 at each of these odds:

• A win at 1.5 odds returns £15 in total or £5 profit.
• A win at 3.0 odds returns £30 in total or £20 profit.
• A win at 10.1 odds returns £101 in total or £91 profit.

Some players prefer decimal odds to fractional odds as it’s easier to make like-for-like comparisons between outcomes — the higher the decimal odds, the less likely the outcome, and thus the larger the payout.

American Odds

American or money line odds are popular state-side, and they make it easy to tell which team is the favourite to win. Positive money line odds tell you how much you’ll win from a £100 stake, while negative money line odds tell you what you need to wager to win £100.

• If you stake £100 on a team with +340 odds, you’ll win £340 profit plus your stake for a total of £440.
• If you bet on a team with -200 odds, you’ll need to wager £200 to win £100 in profit. A winning £200 bet returns £300 — that’s £100 profit plus your stake.

How Odds are Calculated

At the end of the day, bookmakers are here to make money, and that goal is central to how they calculate odds. Every gambling site has a team of experts to price each market, doing its best to reduce the variance on each event and balance the betting book.

First off, the pricing team tries to calculate the true probability of each outcome based on statistics, past performance, and a bit of personal opinion too. The profit margin is then subtracted — let’s say a team has odds of 2/1 to win and the bookie’s profit margin is 5%, they might offer odds of 19/10. This profit margin is called the vig, vigorish, edge, or juice. Bigger sports like football tend to offer better value odds with a lower margin, because there’s less guesswork involved when the bookies are calculating the probabilities.

Probability isn’t the only factor used to determine odds pricing. Bookmakers don’t want to be overexposed on one outcome, so they’ll tweak the odds to encourage punters to bet in a certain way. That’s why you’ll often see odds change in the run-up to an event: there’s an imbalance of bets on certain outcomes and the sportsbook is trying to shape betting behaviour to minimise its risk.

Balancing the book is key to the bookies making a profit and it’s harder to do on markets with more outcomes. You’ll often find better value or lower vig on simpler markets like win/draw/win.