Betting on Football for Irish Punters - Which is the Best Bookmaker?

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OLBG tipsters have been betting on football for over 15 years and they overwhelmingly favour bet 365 as the best bookmaker for football betting.

The tipsters highlight bet 365’s early prices, depth of markets, value odds, soccer bonuses, and their innovative bet builder facility.

These features easily make bet 365 their first choice when it comes to footy betting.

If you are in any doubt Just take a look at the tipster’s reviews on the dedicated bet 365 review page.

As football bettors ourselves we like to flick between bookmakers taking the best prices and freebies as they come up.

Within this article, you will find the best football betting sites to suit all types of football betting punters. 

We hope we can guide you to the best bookie for your betting life. 

Read on to discover the Best Football Betting Sites and make this your ultimate Guide to Football Bookmakers.

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Best Football Betting Site by Category

Many of these bookmakers offer free bets when you join them, these offers vary from month to month, just check all the banners for the current free bets on offer.

Below we have highlighted our opinion on which bookie is best for a range of different criteria.  

This table is a quick representation of the best football betting sites based on what we know football bettors value.  This table will be regularly updated.

The following sections go through in detail each of the different football betting areas, all have been thoroughly researched to produce the list of best betting sites.

Best Bookmakers for Football Odds

Football betting in Ireland and across the globe is extremely popular and the best football betting site will very much depend on what you value with your football bets.

Our bookmaker review page feature ratings and reviews for nearly 100 bookies. The ratings are from OLBG members who highlight what they consider the best Irish online bookmakers. 

If we are going to make a long-term profit then WE MUST always take the best odds available. 

This does mean having a few live bookmaker accounts, make sure you have these ready to go when you notice a standout price. 

Best Bookie for Football Odds

We record football betting odds every day from the top bookmakers, and the table below is a reliable football odds comparison guide.

This table highlights how often [in percentage terms] which bookie offered the best football odds throughout the month. 

The table varies from month to month although in the Home/Draw/Away markets bet365, bet victor, Betfair, are consistently towards the head of the table. 

They seem to always have stand out odds and pride themselves on offering bigger footy odds than other bookmakers. 

We suggest you always check them, especially on those leagues you bet on most regularly, EPL/ Championship/ La Liga/Serie A /League of Ireland.

Which Bookie Covers the Most Football Leagues?

Do you bet on Argentinian football? Are you an expert on teams from China?  Do you know the players from Slovenia or Slovakia?

If you do then you need to find a bookie who offers these world leagues, so you can profit. 

Not all of them do – especially the smaller bookies whose league choices can be limited.

bet365 should be the first bookie you visit when looking for a specific league, we counted 137 different leagues on offer for betting as of 2020, + they also cover a plethora of global cup competitions.

You'll struggle to find a bigger selection of football matches to bet on than at Bet365. 

The level of world football coverage from the big bookies is excellent but Bet365 really takes it to another level. 

In the ante-post markets for Ireland Bet 365 covered the following leagues: 

• Premier Division
• 1st Division
• U19 National League

However, we noted that all the major bookies had good coverage of Irish football.

Which Bookie Has The Most Football Betting Markets?

Moving on to depth of football markets, meaning which bookie covered the most individual markets BTTS, FGS, AGS, Handicaps etc this was a close-run thing, with William Hill just coming out on top, ahead of bet 365.

As an example of this depth William Hill for the opening game of the EPL season (Liverpool v Norwich) had nearly 200 individual markets on offer.

If you favour a more obscure market we suggest you use the William Hill website or app. 

Bet 365 are strong on Asian Handicaps with around 15 variations, if you bet on football Asian handicaps use bet 365, they also cover more goals betting options.

Non-Premier League and European Match Markets

When it comes to the less high-profile matches, the number of markets on offer naturally decrease but William Hill and Bet 365 are still excellent choices for markets other than 1X2 (HDA) on less popular games. 

Ladbrokes and Coral also deserve a mention, Coral especially comes out well in our tests for televised and the main matches from European leagues. 

EPL Betting on The Big Six

More bets are placed on the big six EPL teams, they feature in more TV games and this naturally attracts more betting activity.  

All the big 6 have tie ins with bookmakers or even outright sponsorship deals, they often have different sponsors for different continents.

• Arsenal - VBet
• Chelsea -1xBet
• Liverpool- 1xBet
• Man City – Marathon Bet
• Man Utd- Yabo
• Tottenham – William Hill/Fun88/Betway

It can be advantageous to look at the odds on these teams from these individual firms + they often run bonuses and freebies on these teams.

Where Can I Find Football Betting Stats?

Bet365 and Coral both offer football stats however overall it is a mixed bag from bookmakers and there is plenty of room for improvement.

Football Acca Insurance Refunds - What is Acca Insurance?

When you place a multiple footy bet you should use a football Acca insurance bookmaker. Here the bookies will either refund your Acca stake (sometimes as cash as sometimes as a free bet) if one selection lets you down.

In order to qualify for acca insurance you will have to include a minimum number of selections in your bet (often 4 or 5 teams).

We know how often 1 team lets us down so Acca insurance is therefore extremely popular. You always need to check the T’s and C’s before placing any bets to make sure you understand when you get a refund.  

The following bookmakers offered the best football acca insurance:

• Paddy Power
• Ladbrokes
• Boylesports

You can check out more details in our comprehensive Irish acca insurance bookies article. 

Football Enhanced odds offers

The best-enhanced odds offers tend to be reserved for those opening new accounts, with punters often able to obtain double-digit odds on a selection that was previously odds on.

New customers can also receive enhanced odds on accas when signing up to a new bookie.

We have witnessed a sea change from the bookmakers in relation to odds boosts and enhanced odds for regular customers.

This may have been in response to the Kwiff App which randomly boosts football betting odds. 

To a degree, the bigger bookies have stolen the Kwiff thunder.

Betfair, Ladbrokes and William Hill, seem to be leading the way with odds boosts with the last named battling it out to be the most generous.

Bookmakers that regularly offer huge odds enhancements for customers:

• 888Sport
• Betfair
• Betway
• Coral
• Ladbrokes
• Paddy Power
• William Hill

Which Bookmakers Offer Football Live Streaming?

Streaming of football unlike the stats offering has improved greatly on bookmaker websites and apps.

Bet365

You need a funded account but once you have that you can watch 36 European Leagues including La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1. Bet365 also have the best selection of matches from around the world.

Bet365 Live Streaming

Geo-restrictions apply. 

To use the Live Streaming service you will need to be logged in and have a funded account or to have placed a bet in the last 24 hours.

Betfair Streaming

You don’t need to place a bet to access Betfair streaming but do need a funded account.

Betfair has a decent range of football offered including international games, 8 European Leagues and a host of non-European footy matches.

William Hill Streaming

Spain's La Liga, Germany's Bundesliga and France's Ligue 1 are available on William Hill. 

They also stream international matches and club games from around the word. International matches and football from around the world. 

If you have placed a bet in the last 24 hours or have a funded account you can access their streaming service.

Ladbrokes Streaming

Ladbrokes have 6 European Leagues on offer but that does include Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie A. 

Ladbrokes also offer action from around the world and a selection of international matches too.  

Like William Hill if you want to you need a funded account or to have placed a Ladbrokes bet in the preceding 24 hours.

Unibet Streaming

It’s free to watch Unibet live streaming if you have funds in your account. Unibet offer Spain's La Liga, Germany's Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A and France Ligue 1 alongside other, leagues from other continents and international football.

Please always remember that there will be a delay of up to 10 seconds on bookmakers streamed football matches.

A goal may have been scored or a player sent off, but your stream is still showing the lead up to an event. 

If the odds change considerably but nothing has occurred on your live stream please be cautious

Football Betting Related Questions