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Beating the bookies consistently is a difficult job. If you've read through this site for a bit you're probably already convinced
of the need to have a lot of bookmakers to give you the choice in both odds and markets to let you get the maximum return when you have a winner.
 However its probably not necessary (or even advisable) to open accounts with every single bookie you've ever heard of, but depending on
what your main focus is, below we've listed the standout bookmakers in some of the more popular betting niches.
Best Bookie for Early Morning Prices on the Racing
If you're a serious racing punter then sometimes getting on early can make a big difference. Most bookies cover UK & Irish racing pretty well but for early prices these three are essential
 Betfair - Open their markets for trading 24 hours before the off
Sporting Odds - One of the first bookies to put prices up and have early prices on every race every day
BetOddOrEven – a lesser known emerging bookie doing all the right things
VCBet - have a great offer where they'll pay your Racing UK subscription every month if you bet with them
Ladbrokes - just started offering live online coverage of all racing if you bet with them
These others price up some races early each day. For those seeking early morning value you shouldn’t be without any of them.
Stan James
Blue Square
William Hill
Coral
Bet365
Paddy Power
Bet Direct
Totesport
Any one of these is quite capable of having odds 10% better than the others for a particular selection. You cant afford to pass that up.
Watch Racing Online
At VCBet, Bet365, Totesport, Blue Square and Ladbrokes you can now watch the horse racing live via your PC.
Simply place your bets on the race you wish to view in the normal way and watch the race via the bookies website. You will need to stake at least £5 on a horse in each race you wish to view. You will need a broadband connection and for those tempted to bet in running you must be aware that there may be a slight delay on the live feed. Remember to launch the live pictures before the off as you cant join part way through a race. Then sit back and enjoy the race!
Best Bookie for In-Running Bets
There's lots of live sport on TV these days and that means lots of betting opportunities. Many bookies have started offering a wide range of bets you can make during the game which can offer some good opportunities if you know what to looks for. In particular you can often quite quickly get a feel for whether a football match is likely to be high or low scoring, or if its going to attract a lot of card. In Ladies tennis you can often spot matches where serve is broken more often than its held and make good money betting on a break of serve in game by game betting markets. Equally in horse racing there is sometimes value in backing a hold up horse in running as its price may often drift due to being at the rear of the field, despite this being its normal way of running.
While most bookies have a good coverage of markets for the big events, and many also cover a lot of different sports, the following 4 are the key accounts you need to be able to get the most out of your in-running betting.
Betfair offer a huge range of in-play markets. This is one of the few places where you can bet in-running on horse races. They are also very strong on tennis and football.
Bet And Win - have a really nice integrated betting and results section that makes it very easy to keep track of what's going on
Bet365 seek to offer more in running markets than any other bookie with up to six exciting in play markets on many football matches. They cover just about anything that’s televised and have an in-running diary of what's currently on offer and what's coming up
SkyBet – If its on TV Sky bet will cover it with a great range of in running opportunities. Their online account is integrated with the interactive betting so you can bet 2 ways.
Blue Square are also worthy of mention for the broadcast of a growing number of live football matches through the web.
Best Bookie for Football Accumulators
There is no shortcut to betting at best odds. The difference becomes even more apparent with accumulators. While its relatively easy to find the best odds for a single selection, when you are looking at multiples its almost impossible to work out which bookies is best for your chosen combination. Our accumulator tool will do the work for you, but be prepared, the difference can be substantial and the best bookie may not be what you expect. The more accounts you have the better the return you're going to be able to get.
However on top of getting the best odds there are also a few bookies offering regular special bonuses on accumulator bets which if you're smart can substantially increase your returns.
Gamebookers offer cash back on all football accumulators which means you get up to 15% of your stake refunded without affecting your potential payout
Bet365 have a cracking offer on premiership accumulators with up to a 60% bonus offer.
Best Bookie for Asian Handicap
Many see this fairly new form of betting as exceptional value. The prices and handicaps can in particular with what is essentially the same bet being available at totally different odds. For example the odds on the handicap bet Arsenal -0.5 may not be the same as the odds on a normal win bet on Arsenal yet these are exactly the same bet. Margins on AH bets are often amongst the lowest of any market so it pays to get to know this area well if you are a football punter. The leaders for AH betting are generally regarded as
Pointbet - Specialist site focused mainly on offering exceptional odds on Asian Handicap football betting - regularly on the best price on at least one outcome
Pinnacle - while somewhat US focused it covers the key football markets and most importantly at very low margins. Worth the extra effort.
PremierBet - a football only bookie (for now at least) specialising in competitive odds
A lot of the traditional bookies and exchanges also cover the AH markets quite well now but their odds are variable so without the 3 above you will be losing out.
Best Bookie for Prices
Legend has it that the betting exchanges offer 20% better odds and there is certainly no denying that they regularly do offer very good odds. However this certainly does not mean they always have the best odds, indeed in many cases every day there will be at least one bookie offering substantially better odds on something. Also when you factor in the commission fees deducted by exchanges and the potential lack of liquidity (the amount you can bet) at best odds then its clear that you cannot survive off exchanges alone.
Best Bookie for Range of Football Leagues
Many shrewd punters have realised that there's a lot more value in some of the minor European and International leagues than in the high profile ones. Much of this is to do with the lack of knowledge bookies may have as to significant players in a minor team or team changes, and consequently they tend to price markets in a more systematic and routine way. Some of the better bookies for covering these more obscure leagues include
Betfair - huge coverage of every country you've ever heard of and some you haven't
Gamebookers - strong European focus
BetOddOrEven - good coverage in an easy to navigate format
Bet365 - good international coverage and a good range of markets on each
Best Bookie for US sports
Not all the bookies give US Sports fans much coverage but those that specialise in it have some particularly useful features. With much US sports betting being handicap based rather than just straight win, a useful feature offered by a few clever bookies is the ability to adjust the quoted handicap (with a corresponding change in odds).
For example the standard quote at most bookies may be something like Broncos -4 at 10/11.
However maybe you think Broncos will win but -4 is a bit risky - so you can adjust the bet to say -2.5 at 8/11
Or if you think the Broncos will run away with it you could get better odds by taking Broncos -6 at 5/4.
You choose!
Bet365 in particular has highly customisable handicap betting
Bowmans also offers a "buy a point" adjustment you can make.
Adding these two bookies to your portfolio should help you get the right bet at a decent price.
Best Bookie for Tennis
Tennis betting is becoming increasingly popular with many punters realising that if your careful in your timing there can be money to be made backing the major stars especially in the first few rounds. While the odds individually can be desperately low, accumulators with the likes of Federrer, Roddick, Hewitt, Nadal, Clijsters, Henin-Hardene and Davenport can give good returns if you shop around for the best price.
Bet And Win
- as well as win and set betting has some additional interesting side bets
Stan James
- often early to price up games and continue with in-running markets
Specials
If the winner of X-Factor or the next US President is more your thing then these bookies have a strong coverage.
Coral - unusually for a big bookie, Coral have an extensive coverage of specials especially for reality TV
Paddy Power
- lead the way in controversial and topical betting like next pope Bet365
- cover all the main markets plus some more obscure ones too
Betfair - a broad range with international coverage of TV, politics, awards, financial and weather
That's 20!
If you add up all the bookies we've mentioned above you'll see that's 20 bookies. While one or two you might be able to do without depending on your interests, that's really the sort of number of accounts you need to have if you want to give yourself a chance of making regular profits from your betting. |
