Peter has been writing for the gambling industry since 2013, and joined the SportsCasting team in July 2024. Outside of work Peter is a runner, gig rower, guitarist and musician (releasing two albums under the name 'ShiroToKuro'). Peter is also a lover of manga, anime and Japanese cinema and can even read and speak Japanese at the conversational level.
Get to know Peter Addison better
Ian Bruce became interested in betting in 1987, when he landed a winning Yankee on his first attempt. That stroke of luck (and he admits that's exactly what it was) sparked an interest in understanding the strategies behind successful wagers. Over the years, he has become one of the UK's most prolific writers on betting and gaming, and is best known for his systematic approach to winning. Ian's career in the industry now spans over three decades. His favorite betting method is Dutching because, in his words, "It's the one I win with more often than not."
All posts by Ian BruceThis is your guide to the best betting apps in the UK. Want to bet ‘on the go’? This page will explain all you need to know about which apps deserve a place on your devices and which betting apps do not.
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Top 10 Betting Apps in the UK
Let’s get you app-y with a list of the top 10 best betting apps currently available to punters in the UK. Get downloading, get registering, and get betting!
- Spreadex – Superb betting app for spread and fixed odds betting.
- Bet365 – Clearly the number one betting app for football.
- Betfred – A length ahead in the race for the title of best horse racing betting app.
- BetUK – Get a weekly £5 football free bet via the bet app.
- 10bet – Use the app to get free live bets on multiple sports.
- Tote – The only betting app for pool betting on horse racing.
- BoyleSports – An excellent app for live-streaming popular sports.
- QuinnBet – An app hot for enhanced odds deals on racing.
- Betway – The app with the best football bet builder?
- Fitzdares – Weekly cashback up to £50 via the app.
Best Sports Betting Apps in Detail
That’s our concise list of the best gambling apps UK punters can use to place bets out of the way. Let’s now drill down a little deeper as we get to meet five of these betting apps a little more closely in turn.
1. Spreadex – Superb Betting App for Spread and Fixed Odds Betting
We’ve often noted at SportsCasting UK that Spreadex is the best site by far for sports spread betting. We also feel that it provides the very best app for sports betting on the whole. We are sure the question you are immediately going to be asking is, ‘What if I don’t want to do spread betting?’
Fortunately, it’s a question with an easy answer – at Spreadex, you can place fixed odds bets, too! All that’s needed is to press the ‘fixed odds’ button on the app and you can switch over to fixed odds betting if that is what you would prefer.
The site has dozens of markets covering all the most popular sports, from American football to virtual sports. The app is highly responsive and the fastest-updating app we have seen. Spreadex also provides a large number of streams that you can stream directly from the app. Plus a staggering array of in-play betting options.
To download the apps, you can either visit the Spreadex site on your mobile devices, where you’ll find the links at the bottom of the home page, or search for the apps yourself at the App Store or Google Play.
Bet Here Because:
- The best site for spread betting.
- Fixed odds betting is available at the click of a button.
- Plenty of live streams can be viewed via the app.
But Bear in Mind:
- The app always defaults to spread betting.
2. Bet365 – Clearly the Number One Betting App for Football
If you’ve visited our pages before, then you will know how often we wax lyrical (a little too much, perhaps) about bet365. It will come as no shock to you that bet365 is placed high on our top 10 UK betting apps list. It really is tops for football, although – and this is our only gripe with bet365 – it insists on calling football ‘soccer’, which is ridiculous for a UK company. Everything about football (not ‘soccer’) is brilliant with the site and app, including bet365’s long-standing policy of paying out bets as wins as soon as the side that has been backed takes a two-goal lead.
For whatever reason, bet365 does not advertise the existence of its betting apps, so you will have to go hunting around the Apple App Store and Google Play to find them. You can then install the apps in the normal way. Once installed on your device, just pop them open to get betting. You can easily fund your account via the bet365 app, and watch all the live streams that are available there. You can also play ‘Goals Giveaway’ via the betting app and win up to £50 in bet credits every week.
Bet Here Because:
- The best football betting app.
- Plenty of streaming, although no EPL, EPL, UCL, etc.
- Win up to £50 in bet credits with ‘Goals Giveaway’.
But Bear in Mind:
- STILL refers to football as ‘Soccer’!
3. Betfred – A Length Ahead in the Race for the Title of Best Horse Racing Betting App
Betfred is one of the most well-known names in the UK for bookies and remains synonymous with horse racing and ‘pub’ sports such as snooker and darts. We happen to think it’s one of the best betting sites for horse racing, and the Betfred app is definitely the best betting app UK for horse racing. Whenever you pop open the Betfred app (once you have downloaded it, of course), horse racing is the first thing that pops open on the menu, unlike many other sites where it’s football that remains top of the betting shop.
Via the app you will get access to all the horse racing promotions that Betfred offers on a daily basis. These include ‘Fred’s Daily Double’, which is a daily enhanced odds deal on a selected double on that day’s race card. There’s also ‘Pick Your Punt’ where you can choose from between half a dozen and a dozen combined bets. The offers stretch in range in terms of betting from odds close to Evens and long odds if you fancy a hopeful bet. The Betfred app is not entirely about horse racing though, and all popular sports are naturally covered.
Bet Here Because:
- The best app for horse racing betting
- Plenty of coverage of all other sports
- Daily specials such as ‘Pick Your Punt’
But Bear in Mind:
- App could be more user-friendly
4. BetUK – Get a Weekly £5 Football Free Bet via the Bet App
So far, we’ve looked at the best all-round app for betting and the best app for football betting and horse racing betting. Now it’s time to take a look at another all-rounder, the excellent BetUK betting app. The app is available for Apple devices and for Android ones too. You can find the links for the apps at the bottom of the BetUK home page, although you are free to visit the app stores for Apple and Google and download them from there, too. The apps are kept up-to-date as BetUK continually seeks to improve them.
![The Best Betting Apps in the UK in [cur_year]](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20240%20493'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
You may notice a few negative reviews on Google Play and the App Store about the slowness of the app. Note that such reviews are now over a year old. And the betting app has improved significantly since then. The site combines both sports betting and casino play, but if you’ve no interest in the BetUK casino, that’s fine, as it does not get in the way of sports betting. The app streams all UK and Irish horse races daily and includes BetUK’s super BetBuilder which allows you to build bets exactly how you wish.
Bet Here Because:
- Another top-performing all-round app
- Access to BetUK’s fab online casino too
- The app has one of the best bet builders going
But Bear in Mind:
- Some users claim the app runs slowly
5. 10bet – Use the App to Get Free Live Bets on Multiple Sports
The final spot on our top five UK betting apps list is taken by 10bet. This is another site where the availability of a betting app is not publicised for some reason, so it’s another treasure hunt that needs to be undertaken at the Apple App Store or Google Play. It’s worth the (brief) hunt, though, as this is another top-notch app that deserves a place on your mobile device(s). Like all betting apps, it has a few negative reviews, but most are either very old (some are from 2018) or from disgruntled slots players moaning they didn’t win a million after a single ten-pence spin on Starburst.
The 10bet app does emphasise football but gives second top billing to many sports including tennis, cricket, football and volleyball. For once, horse racing takes a back seat, but there is still full coverage of horse racing via the 10bet app. The site and app also provide live streaming of horse racing, but other than eSports, that’s the only live streaming 10bet provides. The app is especially hot for live betting as it offers free live bets on multiple sports as long as you’ve reached a betting threshold on that sport during the previous week.
Bet Here Because:
- Obtain multiple free live bets, week-in, week-out
- Access dozens of markets via the app
- Live streaming of horse racing and eSports
But Bear in Mind:
- App availability not advertised on the site
Best Betting Apps in the UK Compared
Let’s now take a quick look at the most pertinent aspects concerning betting apps in the UK to see how each app fares compared to the others on our best betting apps UK list.
App iOS App Android App Size (MB) iOS Version User Rating Size (MB) Android Version User Rating Spreadex 16.3 11.0+ 4.7 4.7 14+ 4.0 Bet365 66.3 12.0+ 4.7 52.6 13+ 4.7 Betfred 143.3 15.0+ 4.4 15.1 13+ 4.1 BetUK 62.6 13.0+ 4.6 19.2 13+ 4.3 10bet 100.2 14.0+ 3.5 16.8 12+ 2.5 Tote 100.4 16.0+ 4.6 11.5 12+ 4.8 BoyleSports 45.4 12.0+ 2.8 10.4 12+ 3.9 QuinnBet 68.3 14.0+ 4.7 8.3 11+ 4.3 Betway 79.8 12.0+ 4.8 26 13+ 4.2 Fitzdares 135 13.0+ 3.6 3 14+ 2.8 Best Betting App UK Offers
What kind of offers can you claim via betting apps in the UK? Well, any kind of betting promotion that’s on offer! Betting offers via betting apps should be available no matter how you acquire them, from a desktop site or an app. Here are a few offers that you are likely to be able to acquire when using any of the top 10 betting apps UK punters can download to their mobile devices.
Mobile-Exclusive Betting Offers
Sadly, the time of the mobile-exclusive betting offer seems to have been and gone. These were mobile-only offers that incentivised you to download and install apps to your devices as opposed to your desktop PC or laptop. Sites felt you’d be more likely to place bets or play slots on your phone than a computer. These days, most of us use phones much more often than we use computers. So, betting sites feel less of a need to reward us for downloading their apps.
If you find a mobile-exclusive betting offer these days, it is more likely to be a slight ‘trick’ hidden within T&Cs so that people mess up and try to claim bonuses when signing up on a desktop, rendering them ineligible to receive a bonus.
Welcome Offers
If you are brand new to a betting site and you download their app before registering, you will be eligible for a welcome bonus. Note that if you are already registered at a site and then you download their app, you probably won’t be eligible for a bonus.
Most welcome offers are in the form of ‘Bet X Get X’, where if you place a bet using your own money, you will get the same amount in bonus money once it has settled. With some deals, you only get the bonus money if your qualifying bet loses. With others, if you make a deposit, you will get the same amount in bonus money between minimum and maximum limits. Once you have wagered your deposit, your bonus money is released.
Bonus money can only be used for betting and can never be withdrawn. If you use it as the stake for a bet, for example, and that bet wins, you will only get your winnings, not your stake, returned as a normal bet.
Odds Boosts and Acca Boosts
The odds of any outcome of any market dictate how much you get back from your bet if your bet wins. With some deals, you can get boosted odds, which are odds that are better than normal. Most odds boosts can only be used on a specific outcome from a specific event. Some sites offer odds boosts that you can choose how to use. With most deals, money won over what you would have won with the normal betting odds is paid as bonus cash, which can never be cashed out.
Acca boosts are designed to boost your winnings should you be fortunate enough to secure a winning acca or accumulator. Normally, they start with a small boost for four selections. The more selections in your winning account, the bigger the boost up to a maximum limit. Most acca boosts are paid as cash. But you might find an acca boost deal where the boosted money is paid as bonus money.
Acca Insurance
Accas are tough bets to win, but they can be well worth the effort. That’s because, if you do secure a winning acca, you will probably win a tidy sum in comparison to a small stake. There is nothing worse, though, than having an acca that loses by a single selection… oo, so close!
Acca insurance, as available via numerous betting apps, can ease the pain of coming so close to a winning acca, but it’s only really sticking a band-aid on a broken leg. You will get your acca stake back as a free bet.
Bet Builder Offers
A bet builder is a popular betting tool that allows you to build a bet based – usually – on the same football match. Say you are betting on the Arsenal-Tottenham derby. You could combine Bukayo Saka to provide at least one assist, Ben White to get booked, and Tottenham to win at least three corners. If these all happen in the match, then you get a nice combination winning bet.
Some apps offer better odds on pre-defined bet builders, i.e. bet builders that they have designed themselves. If you take up the offer, you get the better odds. Boosted bet builder winnings are usually paid as cash, but with a few deals, money won over the normal odds will be paid as bonus money.
Best UK Betting Apps by Feature
What you want from a betting app may be different from what the next person wants from a betting app. Below, we have taken five reasons why you might be interested in downloading and using a betting app and selected the best apps out there that you will probably find the most useful for your specific needs.
Best Betting Apps for Markets
The most popular markets at betting sites in the UK are football and horse racing, and by some distance too. However, that does not mean they are the only markets betting apps should have available. It’s vitally important that betting apps give access to as many markets as possible so that the needs of as many betting punters are covered, too. In terms of the best betting apps for markets, we recommend bet365, BetMGM and 10bet.Best Betting Apps for Speed
Speed is a double-edged sword when it comes to even the top betting apps, as no matter how speedily a betting app functions, the speed of the responses largely depends upon the speed of your internet connection. This is crucial when you are betting ‘on the go’ as you may not be able to connect to a wifi network and instead have to rely on 4G or even less. We recommend that you only bet when you’re connected to a secure network, and for speed, we recommend the betting apps provided by Spreadex, bet365 and Betway.Best Betting Apps for Betting In-Play
Mobile betting is ideal for in-play betting. In-play betting is most associated with events you can watch, so you will not want to stop watching to head to your PC or hunt for your laptop when you want to place a bet, especially when your phone is probably right by your side. In-play betting is now available at all UK betting sites, but the in-play betting options at some sites are better than others, such as the market coverage, updating speed and the ability to cash out bets you’ve already placed. For an in-play betting app, we advise you to hunt out the apps provided by BetUK, BoyleSports and QuinnBet.Best Betting Apps for Live Streaming
Live streaming almost runs in tandem with betting in-play. You may be watching an event on your TV you want to bet on, but not all events are available to view or stream on ‘traditional’ video platforms. Many events are solely streamed via betting sites, although you won’t be able to view top-class events such as the EPL, UCL or EFL in football, or major tennis or golf tournaments. Horse racing, though, is tops for betting apps streaming as many betting sites stream all UK and Irish races, and some sites stream foreign races, too. With this in mind, we think QuinnBet, bet365 and Betfred are the best apps for live streaming.Best Betting Apps for User-Friendliness
![The Best Betting Apps in the UK in [cur_year]](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%200%200'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The design of any app is crucial, as we have already mentioned. Betting sites have to cram in tens of thousands of potential bets every day, and arranging that in a way that’s presentable on a small phone screen is a tough ask. Many of best bet apps manage it, though, because it’s so important for them to have presentable apps that are easy to use. Badly designed apps can leave you frustrated, hunting around for the bets you want to place with betting offers and graphics for the attached online casino getting in the way. If you want to use an app that excels when it comes to user-friendliness, we suggest you download the apps provided by BetUK, Fitzdares and 10bet.Best Football Betting Apps
Football is now the most popular sport in the UK for people to bet on. If you love your footie, then these are the best football betting apps for you.
Best Horse Racing Betting Apps
Despite the popularity of horse racing betting falling over the past decade, there are still plenty of punters who enjoy a flutter on the races. If you fall within that demographic, then these are the apps you ought to be downloading and installing.
Best Live Betting Apps
The rise of interest betting has seen the creation of live betting – the ability to bet on elements of an event after the event has started. You can bet on any available market, from the event winner to, say, in football, the next team to win a corner. If live betting floats your wagering boat, then these are the apps you ought to consider.
Best Betting Apps for iOS
The Apple App Store is a closed shop – you can only use apps on your iPhone or iPad if they are downloaded from it, plus they are locked geographically. In other words, US apps can’t be used on UK phones. Here are five recommended UK top betting apps for iPhone and iPad users.
Best Betting Apps for Android
You have more flexibility when it comes to Android as opposed to iOS. You can download apps from Google Play but you can also install them natively from apk files if you know how. Here are the five best betting apps for UK punters on Android devices.
What Makes a Best Betting App?
What indeed does make a decent betting app? Our content providers are all experts when it comes to the UK betting sector and have downloaded and installed more apps than they’ve had winning accas. Below is a summary of what we look for when judging the best sports betting apps for UK punters.
FunctionalitySafety and SecurityUser-FriendlinessSpeedBonusesCustomer ServiceAestheticsApps are sports betting websites that have to operate on a much smaller screen than a desktop PC or laptop, so functionality is key. Betting sites have to carry a huge amount of information (thousands of markets and tens of thousands of potential betting outcomes), so how that information is presented is crucial. A bad betting app has you stabbing in the dark, spinning around in circles, trying to find the bet you want before you eventually give up and throw your phone across the room. In our opinion, it should take no more than four stabs of a finger to place any bet via a betting app, no matter what it is.
The same goes for other functions – making deposits, requesting withdrawals and seeking customer support. It should all be easy to do.
If you are betting via a desktop PC or laptop, you are probably connected to your home network. If you are betting via an app you could be anywhere and connected to any kind of network – a coffee shop, a random access point or the cellular network (3G/4G). That is why safety and security are crucial when it comes to betting apps, as you don’t want to experience the disaster of having your data intercepted, especially financial data such as debit card information or bank account details. When we check out an app, we always check to see the security protocols, such as data encryption, that have been put in place.
This mirrors much of what we talked about in ‘functionality’, but in some aspects, it is different. If you download a betting app, you might get casino, bingo and poker options attached. That’s fine, but what if you only want to place bets? Are your efforts to do so constantly thwarted by offers of ‘ten free spins on Big Bass Splash’? Apps that do this become annoying as they prevent you from doing what you want to do!
Interactive apps are great, though. These apps learn from what you want from them and push you in the right direction every time. Many apps can monitor your betting habits and respond accordingly, making them much more useful to you personally.
The responsiveness of an app really depends on the resilience of your internet connection. If you are connected via Wi-Fi or 4G/5G, then the responsiveness of the app should be instantaneous. If you can only manage a 3G connection or even cellular, then you can perhaps forgive even the best betting apps for slowing down.
Information passed from and to the app is directed straight to the servers of the company that has provided the app. The amount of traffic that these servers can cope with is called ‘bandwidth’ and is something companies can control. Servers with low bandwidth mean that your app could function slowly. Especially at times with high traffic levels (such as Saturdays during the football season). For that reason, you should use apps from betting companies with high bandwidth if you need to get your bets on quickly.
As app-specific bonuses rarely exist any more, this section is more about general bonuses offered by betting sites. When you download and install a betting app, it is always worthwhile checking to see if the bonuses offered by a betting site’s desktop version are available via the site’s app, too. Some sites will throttle bonuses offered via apps so that they don’t have to offer them to every single client.
You need to check the quality, frequency, and variety of the bonuses, too. We’ve already discussed the scope of bonuses typically available via betting apps, but they should include the welcome bonus, reload bonuses, enhanced odds deals, acca boosts, and insurance.
Since 2023, both betting sites and betting apps have seen the rise of the customer service bot. This is a grave disservice, as they are seldom useful (one site – we won’t mention which – has a customer service bot that doesn’t understand a single thing you ask it). Even the best bots push you towards site FAQs before eventually giving up and handing you over to a real, living person.
This is why useful customer service via betting apps is so important. You may never find a need to use customer services, but when you do, the responses should be quick and helpful. When we check a betting app, we always contact customer services just to see how satisfactory (or frustrating) the experience is. We also give brownie points to any app that provides a phone number you can call to actually talk to someone!
Apps should be functional, secure, user-friendly, and responsive, but they also need to look nice. If you are a frequent punter, you are more likely to want to use a handsome app rather than one you’re embarrassed to be seen using in public. Nice-looking apps enhance the user experience, such as using icons rather than text to indicate markets and sliders to select your bet size as opposed to having to stab at the numbers on your keypad.
It is important, though, that aesthetics don’t interfere with functionality. If you have to scroll through a list of huge icons to get to the markets where you want to place bets, then obviously, that is going to be more than a little off-putting.
Why Use Betting Apps?
There’s no reason to use a betting app, as all betting sites are available on desktop PCs and laptops. So why use one? Well, we’ve selected a few reasons why you ought to use a betting app over a desktop site, just in case you can’t think of any!
Accessibility
The sale of home computers holds steady (ish), but mainly because a lot of Gen Xers use a PC for gaming and there’s the rise of remote working. But – you’re on your PC because of work, and who wants to boot up their computer to place a few bets, especially in the evenings or at the weekends? You’re probably never more than a few feet away from your mobile, so why not download the apps for your favourite betting sites and have them to hand so you place bets with a few stabs of your finger?
Convenience
Another issue with using your home computer or laptop for betting is that usually, you have to be at home to use it. Okay, you can use a laptop anywhere. But do you normally carry your laptop around with you all day, every day? We’re betting you take your phone with you when you go out. That means you’ll always have a betting app or apps on hand so you can place your bets wherever you may be. All you need is a decent and trustworthy connection to the internet.
Security
Security is always an issue when it comes to connecting to the internet. Fortunately, problems with security when using a phone or tablet are exceedingly rare. Mobile devices are built to be secure. And internet connections are doubly secure because you will be able to connect to roaming networks. You don’t have to worry about internet traffic when using an app either due to the high levels of data encryption.
One recommendation here is to secure access to your phone and not allow apps to auto-fill usernames and passwords unless they are also secured. This will prevent people from accessing your betting apps and accounts should your phone be lost or stolen.
How to Start Using the Best Betting Apps
Using betting apps is very similar to using any other app on your phone or tablet, but if you think there are grey areas, here is a complete walkthrough of how to get online betting apps on your phone.
- Select an app from the entries on our best sports betting app UK list
- Head to the Apple AppStore (iOS) or the Google Play Store (Android). Then type the name of the betting company into the search field. The app will then be available to download.
- Download and install the app in the normal way. Note, for Android users, you may also be able to download and install an apk file from the betting site providing an app. You may find apk files for betting apps in other places, but we do not recommend installing them.
- Once downloaded, tap to open the app. If you are registered with the betting site, then log in; otherwise, complete the registration process and log in.
- If your account balance is currently zero, head to the cashier and fund your account. Should this be your first deposit, make sure it is in line with the welcome bonus requirements if you want to claim it.
- Hunt around the app for the bet you want to place. Again, if you are placing a bet to claim a welcome bonus, make sure this qualifying bet meets the requirements.
- Tap the odds of the outcome you want to bet on. This will transfer that outcome to your betting slip. Transfer other ouctomes to your slip if you want to make a multiple or system bet or build an acca.
- Set your stake.
- If everything looks hunky-dory, then hit the ‘Place Bet’ button to place your bet.
Conclusion
We hope we have done enough to convince you of the usefulness of betting apps and how they add convenience to your betting experience. Why not download an app or two from our best mobile betting apps UK and list see what you think? We think you’ll be app-y with our recommendations!
18+ begambleaware.org. Spread betting losses can exceed deposit. Place a qualifying £10 fixed odds bet at odds of 1/2 or greater. Qualifying bet cannot be placed in-play or cashed out early. Free bet stakes not included in any winnings from the free fixed odds bets. Free bets expire in 28 days if unused.FAQs
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