It’s common for Brits to spend all of 5 minutes when choosing which bank to use, despite it being a company they will interact with every week for potentially decades. So, it’s no surprise then that even less thought goes into which bookmakers they should sign up to. Whilst you will do just fine by picking one at random from a list of online UK bookmakers, it’s better to spend a little longer ranking them in order of how well they meet your needs.
You may be wondering, why can’t the internet just tell me what the best bookies is? Whilst there are some universal criteria we can go by, there will be some things to consider that only apply to you. Here is the breakdown:
Universal Criteria
First and foremost, we could compare which bookies have the best odds. This is something that is easy to discover, either by reading reviews or physically comparing odds for yourself between them. This is important because using a bookmaker that has lacklustre odds can really impact you in the long run, even though it may seem insignificant in the short term.
Secondly, we can also compare what bookmakers have the largest bonuses. Bonuses are important to all of us, as it can often mean free money or free value. And, given there are only a few types of bonuses, such as free bets, boosted odds, and matching deposits, we can easily compare which companies have the most appealing promotional deals.
We can also compare which bookmaker has the highest ratings among different users. So, accumulating mass feedback can indicate which companies leave punters feeling satisfied, and which leave a lot to be desired. Things like how good the customer service is often reflected by the user ratings, and it’s universally important to have good customer service.
Criteria that only apply to you
Some factors in your decision should be a little more subjective. For example, what markets the bookmaker doesn’t provide bets in is irrelevant to you if you only bet on football. Likewise, going by what other customers deem to have a “good choice of markets” is pointless if they don’t have bets in UFC, your favourite sport.
Secondly, some of the above criteria is also worth exploring more to see if it applies to you. Perhaps good customer service is nice, but maybe you only like to speak over live chat – so we need to see if they have this.
Also, going off which bookmaker has the highest matching deposit bonus is no good if you prefer free bets. The app ratings can be fairly universal in that bugs and glitches are usually reflected in a poor rating, but you may want to see if you actually like the user interface yourself. Perhaps you don’t find it intuitive and difficult to find markets.
Finally, think about what features are important to you before signing up. Do you like to bet in play? Watch the game itself or the live statistics? Because, some bookies are better at delivering these kinds of features than others.