Tote Sign Up Offer for September 2024 – Tote UK Review

Tote Overview

The Tote is the UK’s premier sports betting site for pool betting. The Tote has been around for a very long time – since 1928. Short for the ‘totaliser’, it was launched as a legal way for people to bet on horse racing at a time when fixed odds betting was illegal.

You can still bet on the Tote at UK racecourses and betting shops, but the most convenient way is to bet using the fabulous Tote betting site and app. This Tote review should tell you all you need to know about the Tote sports betting site, including what you can bet on, how you can bet and what you can get from the Tote sign up offer.

Just a quick word on pool betting – when you enter a betting pool, all bet amounts are pooled together (hence ‘pool betting’) for that event. A commission is extracted and what remains is shared among those who picked the winning bet on a pro-rata basis i.e., someone who bet £20 will get double the share of someone who bet £10, and so on.

Bet Here Because:

  • Pool betting often gives you more returns than fixed odds betting.
  • You don’t have to be a betting expert to pick winners.
  • Plenty of betting options for you to consider.
  • Has a complete fixed odds betting portfolio, too.
  • ‘Colossus’ will allow you to join pool betting syndicates.

But Keep in Mind:

  • Pool betting is mainly only for horse racing.
  • The Tote subtracts a large commission from the betting pool.

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Tote Sign Up Offer and Promotions

The Tote UK has a decent selection of betting offers for its customers. The most interesting is probably the welcome bonus, which can serve as a superb introduction to pool betting if you are unaccustomed to it. It includes 50 free spins that you can use in the Tote ‘Games’ section. Details of the bonus are provided below.

Bonus Type Tote Sign Up Offer
Tote Bonus Code No code needed
Promo Details Bet £10, Get £50 in Bonuses
Minimum Deposit £10
Bonus Terms £10 min stake, ‘to win’ or £10 EW bet only. Receive £20 Tote Credit, £20 Free Sports Bet + 50 Free Spins on Big Bass Bonanza within 48 hours of qualifying bet settling
Minimum Odds Not applicable as can only be used on pool betting
Expiry 7 days

Tote Sign Up Offer for [cur_month] [cur_year] - Tote UK Review

Fans of online casino sites should note that although the Tote does have a casino (or a ‘Games’ section), there is no separate welcome offer for the casino. Remember though, you do receive 50 free spins when you complete the Tote sign up offer for use in the Tote casino.

How We Rate The Tote

4.6/5

Expert Rating by Peter Addison

4.6/5

Expert Rating by Peter Addison

Betting Markets
4.8/5
Odds
4.8/5
Support
4.7/5
Payment Methods
4.0/5
Bonuses/Promotions
4.4/5
Withdrawal Speed
4.8/5
Safety
4.9/5

Our rating system explained

betting markets

4.8/5
The emphasis at the Tote UK is on horse racing, as most established sports betting punters are likely to already know. Pool betting, by its very nature, is only available on horse racing and nothing else. The 'Colossus' section at the Tote online bookmakers opens up football for pool betting, but on a single match basis, and with the option for joining a syndicate or creating a syndicate of your own. The sports betting side of the Tote has the normal range of markets and bets. Drilling down into, for example, top class football matches should see you unearth up to one hundred individual markets per match, with other markets for cricket, both rugby codes, snooker, darts and US sports not far behind.

odds

4.8/5
Naturally, with pool betting users create their own odds by the amount of backing any particular market selection receives. What's nice about the Tote in this regard is that the site will always pay out at the minimum starting prices odds no matter what, so you are guaranteed, over time to make more money (or lose less money) with pool betting as opposed to fixed odds betting. The odds offered by the bookmaking side of the Tote are consistently decent, if not spectacular.

support

4.7/5
The Tote is yet another sports betting site that has 'suffered' a bots invasion. Yep, if you head to so-called 'live chat' you will be yapping with an AI bot - at first at least. Fortunately you are able to declare the bot unhelpful and switch to a real person with the click of a button if you don't get the answers you want. We did and, we hate to admit, find the bot more helpful than most other customer service bots we have encountered. We upped the Tote's score here a couple of notches as their is also phone support in the UK (0800 032 8188), plus email [email protected].

payment methods

4.0/5
Ah. We would love to give the Tote a decent score here, but ... with just debit cards being available, we simply can't. Okay, so it's great with low deposit limits and no withdrawal limit, and with super speedy withdrawal times, but only having that single option is not so good. We understand that anyone with a bank account in the UK has a debit card, but not everyone want to use their debit card online. Just the addition of PayPal and/or bank transfers would up our mark considerably.

bonuses

4.4/5
The welcome bonus is decent enough, but beyond that, the Tote can be given top marks for being very inventive with what's on their 'promotions' page. The 'Stayers Club' is a nice to have and it's not too demanding to get your weekly free bet, but beyond that ... let's just say the Tote is a little lacking in this department, as our mark reflects.

withdrawal

4.8/5
No complaints here. If you withdraw via a Visa debit card, you'll get your money within a couple of hours. If you're MasterCard you will have to wait a little longer, but unless you withdraw at 3am on a Saturday morning, not too much longer.

safety

4.9/5
It's the Tote, and it's nearly 100 years old. Businesses don't stay in business a century if they're unfair to their customers. The Tote has always been seen as a friendlier, more casual way of betting on horse racing and that appeal has been maintained online. With zero UKGC sanctions too, we know you are going to be perfectly safe at the Tote.

How to Claim Your Tote Sign Up Offer

It’s very easy to open an account with the Tote and even easier to claim your Tote welcome bonus. Here is a quick guide to getting your Tote account up and running.

  1. Visit The Tote

    Click any of the buttons on this page to take you through to The Tote website. You can do this on a desktop PC, a laptop or any mobile device.
  2. Sign Up

    Click the ‘Join’ button and fill in all the requested information. This should include your email address, your chosen password and your personal details, such as your name, address and phone number. Also, make The Tote aware of your marketing preferences.
    Sign Up
  3. Make a Deposit

    When the sign-up process is completed, pop across to The Tote’s cashier and make a minimum £10 deposit. We advise you to use a debit card to make this deposit as opposed to the other available payment methods. You do not (currently) need a Tote promo code to claim your bonus, and your bonuses should be with you once your first bet of a minimum £10 value has been placed and settled.

Tote Sign Up Offer Details

Let’s now explain in detail about The Tote sign-up offer and what, precisely, you have to do to claim it. Once you have completed your Tote registration, head over to the Tote cashier and make a minimum £10 deposit. As usual, we recommend that you use a debit card to make this deposit, although The Tote does not have a great many options when it comes to making payments.

Once your deposit is available, head over to the racing pools and choose any ‘to win’ bet. You can place an each-way bet, but as the ‘win’ part of the each-way bet must be for £10, that will double your qualifying bet to £20. Note the minimum odds needed to qualify are 1/1 (2.0).

As soon as your qualifying bet has settled, you should receive your bonus cash although it can take up to 48 hours for this money to appear. If you check your Tote cash balance, you should eventually notice that you have been awarded £20 in Tote credit and a £20 Free Bet. You will also receive your 50 free spins, which at the time of this Tote review could only be used on ‘Big Bass Bonanza’.

You can use your Tote credit to place pool bets at the site however as is usual with these kinds of promotions, your Tote credit will be removed from your account once it has been used and cannot be withdrawn.

Other Tote Sports Promotions

We’ve already told you about the Tote’s welcome bonus. What you are going to be asking now probably is whether the Tote has any promotions for ongoing customers. Whenever you head to the Tote site, make sure you click on ‘Promotions’ to find the most pertinent answer to this question.

When we looked … there wasn’t much. The welcome bonus was included again (naughty) and there was mention of the Tote’s policy of making sure returns on win bets were always at least as beneficial as the same starting price bet on fixed odds. The site also mentioned it has live steaming on all races (hardly a promotion) and the Stayers Club, which rewards you with free Stayers Credit each week if you’ve placed a minimum of six bets during the previous seven days.

Tote Casino Bonus Details

Let’s now see if the promotions offered at the Tote Casino, or ‘Games’ as it is known, are as disappointing as the ones offered by the sports betting site. The answer is … yes. Here is what the Tote thinks of as casino bonuses:

  • Game of the Week: A week-long slots (or otherwise) tournament on a specific game.
  • Daily Treasure Hunt: Open the specified slot to win a turn on the prize wheel. Spin the wheel once to see if you win free spins on the same slot, or not.
  • Drops and Wins: Slots players will already know all about this – this is the random cash prize drop feature available on all Pragmatic Play slots.
  • Reel Rewards: Opt in and play enough games each week to be awarded ten £1 free spins on a specific slot. The minimum total stakes required on slots is £100 for each week you want to qualify for the free spins.

It’s a tight selection, but at least it’s better than nowt.

The Tote Key Features

All the best betting sites have plenty of key features that make them worth your while using. What does the Tote offer, and is what it offers better or worse than other betting sites of a similar ilk? If you want to find out, please keep on reading …

Main Site Features

The Tote site is split three ways. The primary side is dedicated to pool betting which habitual users of the Tote should know all about. The popular pool bets are PlacePot, QuadPot, and Exacta. The middle section of the betting site is your traditional sports betting site, with fixed odds betting on all manner of sports including rareties such as Lacrosse and Basketball 3×3.

The final section is ‘Colossus’ which is syndicate pool betting offered via the Tote by a different company. These ‘bets’ are on selected football matches in which eight elements of a match (correct score, penalty awarded yes/no, red card yes/no and so on) are selected for you to bet on. Bets are pooled and the winner is the punter with the most correct selections. You can go it alone, just an existing syndicate in an effort to win more cash or create a syndicate of your own for people to join.

Live Betting

Pool betting is not available for live betting, nor will it ever be as it’s only available on horse racing which is not a sport that’s commonly available for live betting. You can bet in-play via the sports betting side of the Tote, though. Just click on the ‘In-Play’ button to see what’s available. Your main options are going to be football, cricket and tennis, but any sports event currently happening should be available for live betting.

Early Cash Out

Cashing out early runs in tandem with live betting but you should be able to use it for any bet available at this sports betting site. This feature allows you to take an offer on a bet you’ve placed before the event you’ve wagered upon has concluded. This is useful if you have a winning bet that you don’t think’s going to last the distance, or a losing bet that you think is not going to take a sudden u-turn and you want to minimise losses. At the Tote, cashout is available on all bets you place.

Live Streaming

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the Tote – given its decades-long association with horse racing – streams all UK and Irish horse races, plus some races in France, South Africa, the US and even Sweden! You don’t have to have a bet on the race to watch any race; you just need a currently funded Tote betting account. That is it, though, as far as live streaming goes here at the Tote.

Bet Builder

A bet builder is a tool that allows you to combine several elements of an event, usually the same football match. If Liverpool are at the Etihad, for example, you could bet on Mo Salah to score, Kevin de Bruyne to provide at least one assist, and Andrew Robertson to get booked. You can create unique bets with high odds that could reward you handsomely for a relatively small stake. The Tote does have a bet builder and it seems to be available on most football matches, and football only.

Promotions and Loyalty Program

We’ve already mentioned the Stayers Club at the Tote. Normally we tell you to take care with rewards schemes as you could end up wagering more than you intended just to get some reward. With the Stayers Club, you only have to make a minimum of six bets per week to gain your free bet credit, which we feel is very reasonable. The amount of credit you receive depends on the size of your bets, i.e. for six £2 qualifying bets, you will receive £2 bet credit, and so on, up to a maximum of £2.

There is no equivalent of the Stayers Club at the casino, and this club only counts pool bets placed as qualifying bets for the potential weekly reward.

Responsible Gambling Tools

We take responsible gambling very seriously here at SportsCasting, and we are pleased to see that the Tote betting site does, too. This online bookmaker offers many safer gambling tools, including reality checks and gaming opt-outs, so you can ban yourself from specific sections of the site (such as games) if they cause issues. You can also set deposit limits or even close your account if you are struggling. You can also self-exclude for a specified period from six months to five years (you can also do this globally via GAMSTOP).

The Tote also provides a long list of support and advice functions, including GamCare, GambleAware, Gambling Therapy and a whole heap of others.

What You Can Bet On at the Tote

The pool betting side of the Tote is solely on horse racing, while the ‘Colossus’ side is only syndicated pool betting on football. The sports betting side, though, has a very comprehensive list of available sports, and you can find the complete list of options in the table below.

Football Olympics Tennis Basketball Baseball
Cricket Golf Darts Boxing MMA
Rugby League Rugby Union Table Tennis F1 Ice Hockey
NASCAR Volleyball American Football Lacrosse Aussie Rules
Biathlon Badminton Basketball 3×3 Cycling Diving
Field Hockey Handball Ski Jumping Snooker Speedway
Specials Water Polo Weightlifting Wrestling

The Tote Betting App

Betting on the Tote has always been synonymous with simplicity, and if you want to simplify your Tote betting life as much as possible, then you ought to download the Tote app to as many mobile devices as you want to bet with. The Tote doesn’t provide links to the sports betting apps, so you will have to go on an app hunt yourself at the Apple App Store or Google Play, depending on the flavour of your device’s operating system. You can also go mobile with the Tote using any mobile browser.

The Tote betting app

The app at the Tote perhaps won’t be winning any awards, but it is a pleasure to use. It mirrors the perfect simplicity of the Tote online bookmaking site, with the same familiar theme. You can place any bet you want with a few stabs of a finger, and navigation around the site via the app could not be simpler. You can do everything using the app that you can on the desktop site, including making deposits and requesting withdrawals. We think that using the Tote app will swiftly become your preferred way of using the Tote!

The Tote Payment Methods

The Tote is not hot for payment methods as there are only two accepted – Visa and MasterCard debit cards. The Tote does not currently accept any eWallets, even though the (obviously outdated) T&Cs say that it does. No PaysafeCard, Trustly or bank transfers either. Note that you can only register a single debit card to your account.

Deposits must be for a minimum of a fiver, and they are processed instantly. You can only ever withdraw to a card you have registered on your account, and only then if you’ve previously made a deposit from it. Withdrawal requests can be for any amount, although only withdrawals over £10 can be processed automatically. You cannot withdraw more than £9,000 in a single calendar day, and withdrawals can take between two hours (Visa) and up to five business days (MasterCard).

Payment Method Fees Min. Deposit Min. Withdrawal Processing Time
Debit Cards (Visa, Mastercard) Free £5 No minimum Instant (Deposit)

1-3 days (Withdrawal)

How Safe is the Tote?

The Tote, perhaps, is unique in UK betting, and not only in terms of sports pool betting. It was originally set up by the UK government at the time, almost a century ago. It has been a mainstay of British horse racing betting ever since, with a fine reputation. It is held in high regard by everyone who prefers pool betting to fixed odds betting. It is not, though, owned by the UK government any longer. They sold it to Betfred in 2011. Betfred, though, sold it in 2019 to a group of racehorse owners, breeders and investors who set themselves up as a business called ‘UK Tote Group’ (since renamed TDCO Limited). They remain the owners of the Tote up to the present day.

All this information should reassure you about the Tote’s safety, as it has such an immense reputation it is hardly likely to risk that and start swindling its customers. It has a full and proper UKGC licence, awarded in 2019, and a completely unblemished record. The Tote is the only site TSDCO Limited runs.

The site uses all the necessary data encryption protocols to keep your sensitive information safe and secure.

The Tote UK Summary

Founded 1928 Headquarters London
Operator TDOC Limited UKGC License 54779
Address 6th Floor, 6 Kean Street, London, WC2B 4AS

The Tote Casino Review

You’ll find the Tote casino entrance portal on the topmost menu at the site, cunningly disguised as ‘Games’. Despite the ‘not the usual’ title, this is a casino with well over 600 different games for you to enjoy – slots, table scores, scratch cards, instant win games and jackpot games.

tote games

The games come from several different providers, including Microgaming, Pragmatic Play and Eyecon. You can play established hot games such as Mega Moolah, Fluffy Favourites and Big Bass Splash alongside new games like Irish Cash Chips, Wolf It Up and Rick & Morty Strike Back. Table games sit alongside slots, and include all the usuals such as roulette, blackjack and baccarat.

Amazingly, the Tote does not provide a live casino, which is a real shocker. The games mentioned above include eleven jackpot slots and around twenty instant win games like Lucky Keno, Dice and Royal Charm.

tote fantasy

Just a couple more things to mention:

  • Tote Fantasy – Fantasy Football for horse racing fans! Build your own stable of mounts and score points depending on how well your horses perform. Top the league to take home the winner’s jackpot!
  • Ten to Follow – A season-long horse racing competition. Pick ten horses and earn points for their performances. Entry is just £5, and if you finish in the Top 500, you are guaranteed a cash prize. The higher up the field you place, the more money you win.
  • Virtuals – your complete portfolio of virtual sports to place your bets on, including horse racing, greyhounds, football, cricket, basketball, American football, motor racing and even marble racing (we kid ye not). Events begin every two to three minutes, and you can watch the ‘fake’ footage to see how your bets fare.

Our Final Verdict

The Tote has long been established as a cornerstone of UK racing. Even today, you can still bet on the Tote at UK race meetings and in betting shops. This being the internet age, you are free to bet on the Tote online, too. The Tote online sports betting site brings the option of Tote horse racing pool betting to anyone with an internet connection, as well as a traditional sports betting arm plus an online casino.

We sincerely hope that you have found this Tote review useful and that you have a firm grasp of what you’ll find when you take advantage of the Tote sign up offer. You can do so by clicking the button presented below!

Offer logo

Bet £10, Get £50 in Bonuses

Play Now
New customers online only. Eligibility restrictions apply. Only valid with code B10G50 on registration. £/€10 min qualifying bet at 1/1 (2.0) odds or greater across sports or racing (if EW then min £10 Win + £/€10 Place). Receive £/€20 Tote Credit, £/€20 Free Sports Bet and 50 Free Spins on Big Bass Bonanza within 48 hours of qualifying bet settlement. 7-day expiry on free bets & Tote Credit. Your first bet will be your qualifying bet. One per customer. UK & ROI customers only. 18+. Full T&Cs apply. http://Gambleaware.org.Full T&Cs apply.

Tote UK FAQs

Does the Tote have an app?

What is the difference between the Tote and a bookie?

What is a Tote place bet?

What is a Tote Exacta?

What is the Tote sign up offer?

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Peter Addison
Content Provider

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.

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Author photo
Peter Addison Content Provider

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.

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