There are literally hundreds of online sports betting operators, and choosing the right one for you can be overwhelming when presented with so many choices. That is why, when starting to look for an Internet betting company, we recommend following below simple steps to narrow your search down to what you need.
- Jurisdiction
More and more countries are catching up with the online betting industry and started regulating this area. Therefore, your first concern when choosing the online betting website should be its legality to operate in your country of residence. While still not all countries have such regulations in place which means you can bet with any bookmaker, the ones that have means its residents should only register and bet with licensed operators by the governing body of that respective country.
If you do not know whether your country has such regulations in place, we are making it easier for you by listing these jurisdictions and a link to only regulated bookmakers that should be used if residing in such a jurisdiction:
- United Kingdom – regulated – check UK regulated online betting companies
- Australia – regulated – check Australian regulated online betting companies
- Ireland – regulated – check Irish regulated online betting companies
- Sweden – regulated – check Swedish regulated online betting companies
- Denmark – regulated – check Danish regulated online betting companies
- France – regulated – check French regulated online betting companies
- Spain – regulated – check Spanish regulated online betting companies
- Italy – regulated – check Italian regulated online betting companies
- Bulgaria – regulated – check Bulgarian regulated online betting companies
- Greece – regulated – check Greek regulated online betting companies
- Portugal – regulated – check Portuguese regulated online betting companies
- US – regulated – check New Jersey US regulated online betting companies
- Romania – regulated
- Belgium – regulated – check Belgian regulated online betting companies
- Netherlands – regulation coming soon
For many other countries where there is no regulation in place, it’s users can choose from a wider range of bookmakers to register with. However even in this case, we do recommend using only sportsbooks licensed in trusted and supervised jurisdictions like Malta regulated bookmakers or Gibraltar regulated bookmakers.
- Safety
Once you have narrowed down your list of internet bookmakers to bet with, we recommend passing this list through the safety filter: is it ok to trust that brand with your money? Are they fair with their customers?
From this perspective we always recommend choosing larger brands that have a strong user base and proven record of dealing fairly and safely with their customers. Such brands can easily be spotted based on their ratings – and some of the largest brands are Bet365, Unibet, Betsson, Betsafe, Betfair, William Hill, Ladbrokes.
- Betting offering
Whiles this is set on the third point here, it is not less important. Each user has different needs and requirements in terms of betting. Maybe you are looking to bet on some more exotic sports, in which case there are only a few professional bookies offering such odds. For regular / recreational punter, most Internet betting brands would just do the job, but if you have special betting requirements like betting on exotic sports, betting on special markets, access to live streaming services, you are professional punter looking for best odds – then a different range of bookies should be considered for each case.
- Bonuses, Free Bets, Promotions
Last thing in our mind would be the promotional bonuses available at online bookmakers. Each online sportsbook offers a welcome package that includes either a deposit bonus or a free bet bonus. Some offer larger bonuses than other, so taking advantage of these welcome packages depends entirely up to each user.
Further to the welcome bonuses, there are also promotions along the way, created specially for different sporting events or more general ones available all year-round. These promotions can also sweeten the deal by offering money back specials, bet insurances or even bonuses and odds boosts.
