New Football Betting Sites

Live Streaming

Live streaming is great but it is also not cheap.  It is why you don’t see many new sites offer streaming for football.  Still, there are plenty of newer well backed sites out there that do have streaming licenses and do stream football.

You won’t be able to ever stream the likes of the Premier League in the UK, for example, but you will find sites offering games from La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, etc.  Not all sites have the same packages so it depends what football you want to watch.  If you want to watch lower league UK football you will be better looking for a UK-focused site but if you are more concerned about South American football, for example, you might need to look for a site with a broader focus.

If you haven’t watched much streaming don’t expect the world from it.  The viewing windows are small and the quality is often not exactly HD but they are good enough to enjoy a game and follow the action. It is key to know that streams are at least 30 seconds behind the real action, which makes sense as it gives bookies time to react before you see something.

With a handful of sites streaming is free to all customers but with many you will need either a funded account or to have placed a bet on that game or any bet within a certain time frame.

In-Play Betting

When it comes to pre-match betting most sites are fairly similar.  There will be sites with more market choice pre-match and the odds can of course vary, but ultimately there is not much in it when betting pre-match between different sites – for the main markets at least.

For those that place a lot of live bets, however, the difference between platforms is huge.  The whole point of in-play betting is for you to be able to find things quickly and bet quickly.  What you find, though, is many platforms have interfaces that are clunky with convoluted menus.  This can make in-play betting extremely frustrating.

If you do place live bets you really can get a lot more for your custom if you shop around.  If you want an in-play interface that is clear and fast there are some really good sites out there.  If you want your sportsbook to give you lots of stats and a neat illustration of the action in the game there are also some nice sites out there.  There are sites that focus on in-play promos and sites that prioritise market depth.  There is a lot of choice when it comes to betting live and it is worth thinking about.

Too often, though, new sites treat their in-play offering as an after thought but for those that enjoy live betting it can be the most critical factor when choosing a new site.

Cash Out

Generally those that like live betting more than pre-event tend to also like using the cash-out function more.  Before we get into this its worth pointing out that cash out is not a good value tool.  In effect when you place a bet a margin is factored in by the bookie and when you cash it out a second margin is factored in.  Overall you are paying a double margin and over a long period of time, therefore, you may lose more by using cash out than if you didn’t use the feature.

Still, cash out does have value as every bet and scenario is unique and there are times when cashing out can make a lot of sense.  If the availability of the tool is important then you need to look for a site that not only offers cash out but where it is available most of the time.  Just because a site advertised the feature doesn’t mean it will necessarily be available when you come to use it.

Some sites also offer partial cash out.  This lets you cash in a proportion of your bet and stake and let the rest ride, e.g. to lock in a positive return on a bet but still allow some of the bet to ride and if it wins you can earn a greater return.  Likewise some offer auto cash out to, which as the name suggests will cash in the bet automatically once a set payout is reached.

News & Stats

You can get football news and stats form literally millions of sites around the world so for many people they don’t care whether their sportsbook has news and stats or not.  For others though it is a convenient tool, especially when betting live or with limited time.

Having stats and news available can be time saving for some punters and saves them needing to leave the site to research a bet.  For others having news and stats clutters the interface and if they don’t read them anyway what is the point.

For new sites paying for stats costs money, although any that set their own odds will be paying for stats services anyway.  Likewise paying for news content costs money.  If you get something out of this it is worth shopping around to find a site that delivers stats in the way you want them and editorials that you find interesting.

Bear in mind that having news and stats in itself will mean a site is spending money in that area as opposed to elsewhere.  If this stuff doesn’t matter to you it can be better to choose a site that doesn’t have much of it.

Market Coverage

You will not struggle to find a site that covers elite leagues like the Premier League and top national and international competitions.  If you bet on mainstream football you can pretty much choose any site and there will be markets available.

If, however, you like a more diverse choice of leagues then there are massive differences between sites.  Some can cover 200+ leagues and competitions others might cover just a dozen.  Similarly some sites only cover the professional leagues where as others let you bet on the National League and below.  It really does depend what football you bet on.

If you choose a UK focused site then you are likely to have a lot of depth for British clubs but if you like to bet on the Belarussian Premier League then you may be better looking for a more European focused brand.

It is not just the choice of games that matters too.  Some sites have over 200 markets for just one match, others will have 30 or less.  If you bet on the match result that won’t matter much but if you bet on things like throw-ins, corners, shots and more special markets you will need to find a site that caters to it.  If you also want a site that offers things like betting on player transfers, the next manager or ‘specials’ then the list will be shorter as many don’t provide these markets.

You might also want to consider how far in advance markets are made available.  If you want to bet on matches or competitions in the future then some sites produce odds early and some wait to see what other bookies are offering before setting their own prices.  Generally independents with their own traders tend to offer markets further in advance than those sites that are white labels or use third-party odds feeds.

Finally there are a few new sites, those with their own traders, that will let you request your own bets.  This means you can create your own markets, although don’t expect the odds to be good value.  If that matters to you seek out sites that offer it and are active on social media where bets are commonly requested.

Odds Value

For many punters this is their one and only concern.  They will put up with some terrible clunky platforms if that sportsbook runs lower margins that means odds value is better.  Odds prices can vary wildly, especially away from the mainstream leagues and competitions.

Let’s face it if you are only concerned with getting the best odds you should be betting using an exchange anyway.  Still, there are many that prefer traditional bookies and looking for value is still well worth it.

You will generally find that the plainer no-frills sportsbooks that don’t offer a huge amount of features or offers are the ones that will run tighter margins.  Often choosing the ones that don’t look like they are the best can be the way to source better prices.  That is not a given but a decent rule of thumb.

The best thing to do is to pick some matches taking place in the near future and compare between different sportsbooks.  White labels and those running third-party feeds will have odds set by the same traders but it is the brand that can choose the margin they run, so there can still be differences in odds between two sites that look identical.  It is always worth checking.

Some people choose sites based on their enhanced or boosted odds, which we cover below.  This can be great if you just stick to backing those lines, but what you will often find is the sites that do the most price boosting are the ones that have the poorest basic odds.

Bet Builders

Another one where we need to point out before we go into this that bet builders are really bad value bets.  They are in effect multiples but placed on the same match.  When you combine markets together that can influence each other it is known as a related contingency.  It’s why you can’t place a double on the first goalscorer and correct score, you have to place a scorecast instead.

What you will find is that bet builders are bespoke bets on related markets and the nature of them means there is less competition between bookies.  They also can’t balance a book on a complex market like this.  All of this means they run much higher margins.  The match result market may have a margin of 5-10% but a bet builder can have a margin like 50-100% or even more.   They look attractive because when you combine scenarios the odds increase but the odds you get vs the true odds are generally bad value.

We know why then that bookies push bet builders but they can still be useful even with the bad value.  If you have a very specific prediction for a game then you can get better odds with a bet builder than betting on conventional markets, if you accept that the overall value is poor but you are very confident in your predictions they can work out.

More and more sites offer bet builders now, because, just like accas they can earn bookies lots of money.  The choice of markets you can build, however, can vary a lot between brands.  You often don’t need an account to build a bet so it is worth trying sites out with this feature before choosing to sign up.

Free Bets For Existing Customers

Free bets are very much attention grabbing and if you really like free bets there are plenty of sites that offer lots of them.  One thing you should maybe ask yourself, though, is are you getting the best overall value from sites that provide lots of free bets?

Free bets cost operators money, naturally, as some people win with them.  Operators also pay tax on free bets these days so they are not even free to offer in the first place.  If a sportsbook does a lot of free bet promos they are probably pulling resources from elsewhere to pay for that.  Whether that be poorer basic odds or a lack of other features.

Ultimately it comes down to what you get from betting.  If you like specific free bet offers then you have a wide choice of sites but if you tend to place specific bets and are not swayed by free bet retention offers you could be getting more value in the longer term by choosing sites that don’t do that many of them.  Concessions and insurance can actually be better than temporary free bets, which we will move on to now.

Concessions and Insurance

We’ve all seen the sites that constantly push free bets and this and that but often the best value sites are the ones that have concessions and insurance that run automatically for certain bets.  Often, in the longer term, concessions can be better value than retention free bets for punters.

Here we are talking about things like early payout if your team goes two goals up, acca insurance, money back on certain markets if the game ends 0-0, substitute insurance for players subbed before a first goal, etc.  These effectively run in the background and often you don’t realise how useful they can be until you lose a bet and find your stake refunded, either as cash or a free bet.

If concessions matter to you, and they should, you need to look a bit harder as often sites don’t shout about them as much – which is strange.  Flash in the pan promos can also influence us to bet on things we maybe didn’t want to whereas concessions are useful for bets we would place anyway.  Don’t see a concession or insurance as less important than other retention offers.

Enhanced Odds

We mentioned in the odds value section that those sites that do a lot of price boosts generally will have higher margins and poorer value on their basic odds.  Still, enhanced odds can be great if you were going to back that specific market anyway.

If you like boosted prices the best thing to do it have several accounts with sites that enhanced markets regularly.  Then shop between them to see which ones are boosting prices on the bets you would place anyway.

What is not advisable is to place bets just because they are enhanced.  This is akin to buying something we don’t need just because it is discounted.  If you use enhanced odds sensibly you can find value in them longer term, but it often involves using several sites, which can of course take more time.

Free Games

Many people see free games offered by sites as a con.  They are not a con, well no more than conventional promos are.  The point of them is to get you to come back to the site, whether that be daily or weekly to play.  The idea being you might place some real money bets while you are there or the next time you do bet you will choose them out of loyalty.

Effectively these come in two main shapes and sizes.  There are prediction games that ask you to guess the correct scores or results of a selection of games and there are those that ask you to guess a series of events within a single game.  Get some answers right and generally win a low value free bet, get all correct for a jackpot prize.

The chances of winning these games is very low, e.g. the chances of predicting 6 correct scores is thousands to one.  They can be fun to play, though, and you can win many smaller prizes.  The key really is to not be led by the games themselves, many will offer betting options at the end but these should be avoided unless this is what you want to back.

As mentioned in other sections if a site is offering free stuff they have to pay for it and that can detract from other products, features and odds.  Free games may be worth less than better odds, for example, but that depends on you and what you get from them.

Ownership and White Labels

If you want the best choice it makes sense to have several accounts as no one account can be perfect for everything.  Within that, though, it is worth avoiding sites like white labels that run on the same platform.  If you bet with two different Progress Play sites, for example, then all of them have their sportsbook, feeds, features and odds provided by BetConstruct.  There is no variety between them.

Likewise consider sites that are not owned by the same parent.  For example, Coral and Ladbrokes have the same owner as do Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet.

One of the best ways to have a wider choice is to join independents who create their own platforms then supplement this with one brand from each group of companies.  If you bet with white labels or sites that use third party providers then choose one ProgressPlay, one FSB, one SB Tech (Draft Kings), etc.

UK Focused Vs Broader Scope

As we’ve touched on on this page if you mostly bet on UK football then you are generally better placed going with a British brand and a UK-focused site that understands the market the best.  If, however, you like to bet on all sorts of different European and global football it can make sense to choose a brand that has a more European focus.

If you are somewhere in the middle of those then it can make sense to open multiple accounts and bet with your UK-focused bookie for UK football and have a more European facing site for betting on foreign leagues and events.

It’s a bit like being on a high street.  You might pop into M&S for some British focused design and you might head over to H&M for a more European twist on your fashion (they come from Sweden).  The thing is most people don’t do this when it comes to betting sites, sticking with between 1 and 3 of them.   Really the more we shop around the closer we get to having the all-round experience that no one site can deliver.