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The United Kingdom has a long tradition of legal gambling. Housie and chemmy once enjoyed immense popularity, and it was common to see people getting dressed in their finest for a night out at a bingo club.
Of course, there have been sweeping changes over the years, with modern gaming establishments and operators emphasizing convenience over elegance. The advent of online gambling in the UK also presents a unique set of difficulties, as the European nation is a coveted prize for most Internet gaming operators.
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We start this overview on UK online gambling with a look at choosing the best sites for a reason. This decision stands above all others in importance when it comes to gambling online in the United Kingdom. If you fail to get this right, you can’t expect to have a positive experience with your online gambling.
On the other hand, if you do choose correctly, you can concentrate on your bets and your games because everything else will fall into place quite nicely. We’ve provided you with a list of the sites that we recommend above all else for gambling online in the UK. If you start there, you really can’t go wrong.
You might be wondering how it is that we came to that list. Our experts looked for certain qualities that are essential to the gambling experience, whether it’s an online casino or a sportsbook. Read on to find out what we mean.
The best UK gambling sites will help you every step of the way with this process. Sometimes it will be an active role with actual representatives assisting. And other times it will merely be the structure and technical makeup of the site itself that makes things easy for you.
What are the qualities then that stand out when it comes to UK betting sites? Consider this a Top Ten list of the must-haves that will make your experience a wonderful one when you choose the top sites.
If you’re going to gamble for real money in the United Kingdom, you’re going to have to put real money at stake. You’ll also have to surrender some personal information as well. That means that you have to choose a site that takes great care to protect this information.
First of all, you have to choose a site with a reputation of being trustworthy and not trying to scam its customers. But you also have to look for sites that have the proper software to keep your information free from hackers. With all of this in place as a foundation, you can begin your online betting with a feeling of comfort.
If you were going to sign up for some sort of service that you didn’t know too much about, you’d probably rely on the word of others. Online gambling sites in the UK provide a service, which is why you should do the same kind of research. Reviews from other bettors play a big part in us choosing the top UK gambling sites.
We don’t trust the reviews that are found on the sites themselves, because they can easily be manipulated. Instead, we go right to the source and seek out the impartial, honest reviews of folks who know their stuff. If they feel good about these sites, chances are you as well.
If we’re talking about UK online sportsbooks, variety shows up in a couple of different ways. The site should allow you to wager on many different sports. And within those sports, you should have access to many different types of bets.
When it comes to online casinos, you should be looking for many different types of games. That can mean different slot machines themes, several different varieties of the top table games, or even specialty games that you might not even be able to find in brick-and-mortar casinos. You should feel like you could play something different every day at the site and it will never grow stale.
In terms of online sportsbooks, fair odds can only occur if the site keeps its takeout low for each bet that’s made. The more that they take out, the less likely that you’ll be able to find value. You should be looking for sites with sports odds that are similar to the national standard for each game or event.
Online casinos should try to provide games with as low a house edge as possible. We know that some games (blackjack, video poker) will provide better return to player than others (slots) on average. But within each of those groups of games, the overall winning opportunities should be on a par with what you can get at live casinos.
We’re going to explore bonuses in-depth in one of the sections below. But for now, suffice it to say that bonuses are a must-have if you want to strengthen your gambling bottom line. They help to fight against the house edge we just mentioned.
Remember that online casinos offer these robust bonuses as a way of separating themselves from the competition. Take advantage of them as much as possible. And choose the sites that offer both the widest range of bonuses and keep the restrictions on collecting them low.
Again, we’re going to dive a little deeper into this subject below. But you need to know at the moment that this is an area that novice gamblers often overlook when choosing a site. And it can come back to haunt them down the line.
Just as you might have a preferred way of paying for things in your daily life because of cost-efficiency or convenience, so too should you have a preference for your online gambling. Sites that keep your options limited might end up prohibiting you from using the payment or payback method of your choice. And that can ultimately end up costing you in many ways.
Part of the equation on fast payback from UK gambling sites depends on the method of withdrawal that you use. That goes back to having many banking options that you can choose. That’s just another reason to stress banking methods when making your choice of UK gambling sites.
But it’s also crucial that the site itself features a solid process for taking your withdrawal requests and responding to them. You can expect that the best sites will make it a priority to act as quickly as possible when you request money from your betting account. That will speed along the process of receiving your winnings.
Maybe you’re one of the lucky few who has a job or a life that allows them to part themselves in front of your home computer all day. That would make mobile gambling less important to you. But for the rest of us who spend a lot of our lives on the go, we need mobile gambling as part of the menu at UK gambling sites to maximize our experience.
Luckily, the sites that we’ve recommended all have mobile options that bring everything that their sites offer to your phone or mobile device. They might go about in different ways – some with a mobile app and some with a version of the site for mobile that you can access through a browser. But the bottom line is that they all let you gamble from anywhere you might be.
You’ll often have to navigate a gambling site in a hurry to make a bet that’s time-sensitive (especially if you’re betting on sports.) That’s why it’s so important that sites make this easy for you. They should have it set up that every move that you make seems to come intuitively to you.
On top of that, sites should have operating systems and game software in place to ensure that there aren’t any glitches ruining the experience. Glitches can frustrate you in a hurry, especially if they interfere with your bets or games. This is one of the reasons it’s important to consider long-running sites over newer ones: The veteran sites will have already worked all those kinks out.
If you’re new to online gambling in the UK, you might feel a bit at sea upon trying it out for the first time. But choosing a site with solid customer service will help you overcome that. The site’s representatives will walk you through anything you need to know along the way.
Customer service from online gambling sites also comes into play when something seems to go wrong (or at least you think something has gone wrong.) If the site representatives react quickly and solve the issue quickly, these problems can be just little bumps in the road. But if they don’t, they can turn into huge obstacles.
In our opinion – although we’re not lawyers and this information is only for entertainment purposes – online gambling is legal within the United Kingdom. Players should feel free to sign-up with any casino, sportsbook, or card room that’s willing to accept their business, and they can do so without fear of government prosecution.
Passed into law by the UK Parliament, this significant piece of legislation was meant to extend to all forms of gambling. The Gambling Commission was brought into existence, and the ability to license different types of gambling was taken away from the magistrates’ courts.
Futher Info:This was also the first law to attempt to regulate online gambling in the UK. The newly-created Gambling Commission was given the responsibility of licensing and overseeing Internet gaming operations, as well as levying fines and possibly revoking licenses. Whitelisted jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man were initially exempted from having to obtain a license.
Remote gambling was also defined. According to the legislation, it involves any form of gambling where the participant uses a remote form of communication such as radio, television, telephone, or the Internet.
The legislation was meant to complement the 2005 Gambling Act. One of the most notable changes was that all online gambling services with equipment or remote gambling facilities in the UK would be required to obtain a license (even those on the former white list). A 15% tax on the gross profits of wagers placed in the UK was also added, a move that caused several virtual casinos to abandon the market or launch court cases.
The other major area of the legislation involved gambling advertising. Under the new rules, a site can only advertise their services to residents of the UK if they’re licensed by the Gambling Commission. Children (15 and under) and young people (16 or 17) are prohibited from appearing in gambling-related marketing materials, and those 18 to 24 may only play a significant role in material displayed at locations where betting takes place.
In the case of advertising for free bets and bonuses, casinos are required to be forthcoming about elements such as withdrawal and wagering requirements. Even in the case of a tiny pop-up banner, these details must be no more than one click away and clearly labeled as such.
The Gambling Commission conducts a survey four times a year, asking questions about gaming habits to 4,000 individuals who are representative of the country’s various demographics. In the following list, we’ll look at the popularity of games among those who claim to wager one day per month.
The popularity of various forms of gambling in the United Kingdom varies depending on how many times the subject wagers per month. While the numbers above represent casual players, they look quite different for those who gamble once per week. In this case, in-person spread betting and football pools are the most popular, while online wagering on virtual dog and horse racing is third. An online lottery other than the state-run contest was second on the above list, but it falls to 12th among more serious punters.
Note:When the focus shifts to those who gamble at least two times a week, the results are once again different. Online casino games are tied for the top spot with land-based wagering on virtual animal racing, while online spread betting beats the in-person version 23% to 13%. Other Internet gaming options to make the top 10 include bingo, football pools, and slots.
If you’re wondering what these percentages mean in terms of real-world numbers, let’s use online sports betting as an example: the total number of Internet bettors in the UK is more than 2.1 million, and those who wager on sporting events are estimated to generate more than 650 million pounds in annual revenue for virtual bookmakers.
In addition to the research presented above, the Gambling Commission also conducts several studies each year to determine who’s gambling across the nation. Participants are asked if they’ve gambled in the previous month, and the data is compiled to determine results for the calendar year.
The following percentages were based on 2013 research:
The first percentage in the above list is especially telling, as it indicates that more than half the population of the United Kingdom engages in some form of gambling during the year. While this pales to the obsessive level of devotion shown by Australians, it still marks the UK as a country that loves its games of chance.
As we mentioned above, you’ll likely find it very important that a site features a method of funding that you find convenient and economical. Most sites will feature a page called something like “banking” that details all of the ways that you can pay or get paid. If you check this page out before signing up, it can save you a lot of trouble.
Most sites, even the lesser ones, will feature certain standard methods of deposit and withdrawal. But the best UK gambling sites go beyond that and give you options galore. Here are some of the payment methods you should consider:
You might find other banking methods available depending on what sites you choose. In any case, what you should be seeking is the opportunity to be flexible with how you pay and get paid. Sites that provide that can prove extremely valuable to you.
We briefly mentioned in the section about the qualities of the best UK betting sites how important it was to use bonuses to help out your chances of making a profit. Doing that requires finding the sites that provide both a wide variety of perks and making sure that the ones they do provide have some impact. How do you measure that?
Well, here are some of the key factors to consider when choosing bonuses:
We mentioned the term “rollovers” above. What are we talking about? Well, a rollover is a requirement that you have to meet before you can collect any winnings attached to your bonus amount.
Tip:The rollover is usually expressed as a multiplier, such as “10x.” You would multiply this amount by either the bonus amount or the bonus amount added to the deposit amount to see the amount you must bet to collect the bonus. Read up on the terms and conditions of the site to find out how they calculate these rollovers.
Rollovers are a necessary evil in the world of UK online gambling, as they prevent sites from being fleeced by customers who would simply collect the bonuses and never gamble. But you should still strongly consider activating any bonuses that are available to you. Here are some of the top options you can find at UK gambling sites:
Finding out about the bonuses offered by UK betting sites will help you to determine which site is for you. Don’t forget to check out those terms and conditions. Some bonuses might be better suited to you than others based on your frequency of wagering and the amount that you generally put at stake.
Online gambling can prove to be entertaining, exciting, and lucrative. But we like to be honest with our readers, which is why we must tell you that it’s not for everyone. This is certainly the case if you’re someone who struggles with an addictive personality or impulse control.
After all, you’ll be putting real money on the line at these online casinos. And losing that money can have major consequences in your daily life. Many people turn out to be problem gamblers, and those people should be very wary of trying out even the most reliable UK betting sites.
How do you know if you’re a problem gambler? Think about the following signs:
As we mentioned, you should try to remove yourself from any type of gambling environment, including online betting sites, if you start to resemble any of the examples above. But if you have a hard time doing that, there are resources available that can surely help you out. Consider the following:
There will also be resources available on a local level if you choose to go that route. The bottom line is that you should seek some sort of help at the first signs of addiction. If you aren’t a problem gambler yourself but know someone who is, don’t be afraid to look into these programs and organizations yourself.
Over 130 brick-and-mortar casinos are operating in Great Britain alone, and a flourishing sportsbook scene exists as well. Why then would you consider online gambling sites over going to an actual gambling establishment in person? Here are some of the few top reasons why online gambling might be the way to go.
Once you’ve gambled online, either on sports or on casino games, you might wonder why you would bother going to a gambling establishment and dealing with all the hassle. When you gamble online, there isn’t any traffic to get to the casino. You don’t have to deal with unfavorable weather conditions to get there.
And you also don’t have to muscle your way through crowds to get to your favorite slot machine, for just one example. All you have to do is log on to the website (or app, if you’re doing mobile gambling) and get rolling. That kind of convenience is what usually hooks people to do all their gambling online in the UK.
Brick-and-mortar casinos in the UK do indeed offer perks to their clientele. Most of them are of the VIP variety, which means that you get rewarded based on how much you play. But introductory offers to rank-and-file gamblers tend to be a bit meager.
But online gambling sites don’t have to worry about the overhead that live casinos tend to have. And these online sites also have to top their competitors in terms of bonuses, because they know that gamblers are looking for more oomph from their betting investment. As a result, you can expect your gambling bonus offers to be much more robust at the top gambling sites.
When you go into a physical UK casino, you’re limited to what they can provide in the space available. That might mean a limited amount of slot machines and table games. It also might mean that you don’t find either your favorite game or the version of a game that provides you with the best odds.
But digital space in online gambling sites is essentially limitless. You’ll find the games you want with no problems, or else you can just surf to another site and find them there. When you can pick and choose what you want to play, rather than have it chosen for you, your chances of winning will rise.
For a lot of people, gambling is a bit of a sensitive subject. They might enjoy doing it, but they don’t like the fact that other people know they’re doing it. Or it might be a case of wanting to concentrate on what they’re doing without the distractions of other people all around.
Important:If you’re gambling online at a top UK betting site, only you will know your gambling habits and how much you’re spending. You can also take your time and play games at your own pace without any distractions. It’s the ideal environment for optimum play.
There are some reasons why some might choose to play in a live casino rather than online. It can come down to personal preference, but mostly choosing the in-person experience over online comes down to the following factors:
Online casinos bring the games that you can find in regular casinos to you in a digital format. You can play them on your computer screen. Or, if you choose a site with a mobile option, you can play them on your phone, tablet, or whatever portable connected device you might have in your possession.
The way the games are played, from the rules to the odds you have of winning, essentially remains the same. You can win real money from these online casinos as well. By funding a gambling account, you can use that account to make bets on various games.
Let’s take a look at some of the games you can expect to play in online casinos in the UK:
Many other casino games will pop up at the top gambling sites in the UK. On top of that, most of the top sites now offer you the chance to play so-called “live casino” games. How do these games work?
Instead of the deals, rolls, and spins taking place in an automated fashion, you’ll see an actual human being on your screen facilitating the action. Streaming technology allows this to happen. You make your bets and your choices via your mouse or your touchscreen, and they’ll get that information and administer the action.
Many people enjoy this type of action because it does include the best of both worlds. You get the convenience of playing online. But you also get the interaction and human touch that will make it feel as if you’re actually in the casino.
While you can consider poker a casino game, it stands apart from the rest of the typical games when it comes to the online sphere. Some UK sites focus on nothing but poker. And not all of the casino sites include it (at least not multi-player, tournament-style poker) as part of their offerings, because of the technical requirements.
With a poker betting site, you will play against others who also have accounts at the site in either cash games or tournaments. You can peruse the menu for the style of play you want (e,g. Hold’em, Omaha, etc.) and your preferred betting limits. The site will then display when tournaments or cash games are starting up if you want to join.
What do you get out of poker betting sites? Here are some of the following reasons you might choose to play at one of these sites:
We must admit that there are some advantages to playing against others in person in an actual poker room that you should consider. They are:
What specific qualities should you be looking for from a poker betting site? Here are a few:
The United Kingdom has long enjoyed a tradition of citizens betting on sports. Bookmakers have always been a part of the landscape, laying down odds on the top sports and enticing the public to make wagers on the action. That practice has now largely become the province of online sports betting sites, which offer excellent convenience.
The idea behind online sportsbooks in the UK is pretty simple. You sign up with a site and fund an account. After that, you’ll use money from that account to bet on different games and matches as offered by the online bookmakers.
What are some of the bets offered by UK online sports betting sites? Take a look at a few of the most popular:
When you think of all the bets listed above, you might think of them in terms of wagers made before the action begins. But did you know that you can make wagers on UK sporting events after they’ve started via top UK sports betting sites. This is a process known as live betting (or in-game betting.)
Futher Info:Although it’s a relatively recent innovation among top gambling sites, live sports betting has risen in popularity in a hurry. You can make most of the bets listed above as part of a live betting menu. The odds will keep changing as the action progresses to reflect what’s happening.
If you choose, you can limit your wagers only to live betting, which would allow you to base all your bets based on the game action you can see with your own eyes. Or you could use live bets as a way of complimenting the wagers that you’ve already made. In any case, you should check out the live betting options at top UK gambling sites to see if they have the wagers you want to make.
You might see the odds for the various sports bets you can make listed in different ways for each site that you visit. Some UK sports betting sites might even give you the choice of how you want to see the odds. In any case, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with each method so that you know how to read them and see how much you’ll get paid back for any given sports bet you want to make.
This might be the method with which most UK sports bettors are most familiar. It’s a system used often in horse racing (more on that in a moment), which people in various parts of the United Kingdom have been betting for hundreds of years. You’ll see two numbers with a dash in between, like so:
The dash reads as the word “to,” so that example means that your odds are 10 to 1. As far as the numbers, the first is your potential profit and the second is your base bet. In this case the odds are telling you that you are going to win £10 for every one that you bet.
Decimal odds at top UK betting sites are simply a single number that represents how much money you’ll return depending on a bet of a single British pound (or another unit of currency.) The key to understanding this is that this number doesn’t represent the profit. It represents what you’ll get back from the site if you win, a number that includes the amount of your original bet.
For example, look at the following decimal odds:
This should not be read as 1.2 to 1. Instead, it’s telling you that a 1-unit bet will return you .2 of profit. The 1 that you bet is also returned to you. Hence, 1 plus .2 is 1.2.
American odds are so-named because it is the system most popular in the United States. It’s a bit more involved because it not only involves a number, known as the moneyline, of at least 100, but it also includes either a plus sign or minus sign that will affect how those odds are read. In this case, let’s look at the game odds of two teams playing each other to illustrate how it works:
To read American odds (or moneyline odds, as they’re also known), you have to remember the following:
Thus, in the example above, we know that a £100 bet will earn £250 in profit if Team One wins. A bet of £200 will bring £100 in profit on Team Two. To reduce the American odds so that you can see how much you’ll be getting per single unit bet, simply divide the moneyline numbers by 100 and apply the same rules to the plus and minus.
Pari-mutuel odds generally only come into play at top UK sportsbooks online when you’re wagering on the sport of horse racing. Most other sports use the fixed odds format for online wagers. The key difference is what happens when you make you make your bet.
With fixed bet odds, your odds freeze the moment that you make the wager. Even if something happens to drastically change the odds for everybody else who bets after you, your odds will stay the same. Hence the term “fixed odds.
But with pari-mutuel bets in horse racing, your odds won’t be set until all bets are in. Then, and only then, will they be determined based on what other people have been betting on the race. For example:
You’re talking dozens of sites when you limit it just to those that originate in the United Kingdom. That number rises into the hundreds when you include sites that accept wagers from UK gamblers but originate from elsewhere in the world. Many of those offshore sites are more beneficial to you as a bettor than the local UK sites.
You have to know how to look for them. But there are certainly online casinos that offer you reliable gambling within the United Kingdom. Be sure to play only at these casinos to prevent disaster.
Many top UK gambling sites will allow you to demo games that they have on offer for free. But for the most part, the only way that you can win money is by risking money. The exception would be something like a slot tournament that offers free entry but gives out monetary prizes for the best performers.
