You may look at the betting and gambling industry and think there is a lot of healthy competition, with hundreds of brands now vying for our pennies. Many companies however, although they might seem independent, are in fact part of the same group, and you may never know it. As with many markets, there are in fact a few big players and the rest are left to scramble for the remainder of the custom.

• What's The Best Online Betting Site
• Which Is The Best Online Betting Site
• Sports Betting Uk
• Online Betting Sites Uk
• Online Sports Gambling Sites Uk
• What Are The Best Online Sports Betting Sites

With over 10 years experience in online betting, Unibet is one of the largest and most trusted betting companies in Europe. Read the William Hill Sports Review William Hill was established in 1934 and is one of the largest betting companies. One of the world's leading online gambling companies. The most comprehensive In-Play service. Deposit Bonus for New Customers. Watch Live Sport. We stream over 100,000 events. Bet on Sportsbook.

Fast becoming one of the biggest betting companies in Britain and Europe the Kindred group includes Stan James, 32Red, Bingo.com and Maria. Unibet is of course the jewel in the crown, the. The online sports betting venue was launched in 2019, a year that saw very few new sports sites spring up in the UK. While MrPlay’s bonuses are highly rewarding, the site’s main attractions include a broad range of markets and betting types that are coupled with great payout percentages and low betting.

It isn't just the old high street bookies like William Hill and Betfred that occupy the top spots in the biggest betting company leagues. Many early online only bookmakers have already beaten the old land based operators, such as Bet365, and the world's biggest and first online exchange, Betfair. Mergers between already large companies such as Ladbrokes and Coral and Betfair and Paddy Power has created behemoth bookies. These giants have further merged to create collosus billion pound companies such as GVC and The Stars Group. The future of bookmaking in the UK is in the balance as it risks becoming a monopoly of a very few massive companies, very much like the energy markets.

In this article we also look at the development of the UK gambling industry, the size of the profits made along with the progressive switch to online betting and gaming.

Largest Betting Companies

Many mergers are often just about money. Coral didn't really bring anything new to Ladbrokes for example, but the merger between Betfair and Paddy Power in 2016 to create the third biggest betting brand was certainly mutually beneficial to both parties.

The group, renamed Flutter Entertainment, completed a second merger in 2020 with The Stars Group, owner of Sky Betting & Games, PokerStars and a whole host of other poker related sites. Together this group overnight became the largest betting company in the world in terms of revenue and market share (38% online market share at the time of the takeover). Unlike GVC the new Flutter Stars Group has a much more diverse portfolio and a bigger international reach so it is likely they will go on to strengthen their position at number 1.

Paddy Power, one of Ireland's biggest bookmakers, was founded in 1988 but it was the online age that really saw the brand come to life through its often controversial advertising strategies. Holding over 600 shops across the UK and Ireland and boasting retail revenues of nearly £1 billion Paddy Power brought the real world locations, marketing strategy and cash to the merger.

Betfair on the other hand had a very different history in the betting industry. Launching as a peer-peer betting exchange rather than a traditional bookie in 2000, Betfair became the biggest of its type in no time at all. Despite better odds on offer in the exchange, the market still remains fairly small (see later) and so in order to compete Betfair launched a fixed odds sports book in 2011. Betfair are the smaller party in the merger, generating less than £500 million in revenue. For this reason PP shareholders received 52% and Betfair 48% of the Flutter company when it was formed.

William Hill were ousted from top spot following the merger in 2016 of Britain's second and third largest bookmakers in 2015, completed 2016. The new company, imaginatively named Ladbrokes-Coral Plc, generated nearly £2.5 billion in revenue each year and employed over 30,000 people.

In 2018 the new group was further purchased by GVC (the former name of Entain) in a deal worth around £4 billion, adding further power to the brand on an international scale. GVC also own and run sites such as sportingbet (although we wouldn't recommend them to bet with), partypoker, Gala, Foxy and Bwin.

Ladbrokes, Britain's oldest betting company founded in 1886, and Coral, established in the 1926, have over 200 years experience of being a bookmaker between them. The group own nearly 4000 betting shops, although were forced to sell over 300 in their 2016 merger, and are two of the most recognisable brands on the British high street.

Coral, started by Joe Coral an on track bookmaker in the 1920's, grew rapidly following legalisation of off-course betting shops in 1961, becoming one of the first bookies to take advantage. Merging with another company in 1971 to become Coral Leisure the group was acquired by Bass in 1981. In 1997 Ladbrokes made their first attempt to buy Coral from Bass but this was blocked by the UK Monopolies and Mergers Commission at the time. Coral was sold to Morgan Grenfell, a private equity firm in 1999 and also merged with Eurobet, one of the first online betting sites, in the same year. Gala bingo, founded in 1991 and operating over 150 halls with an additional online presence, merged with Coral in 2005 to form the Gala Coral Group.

Ladbrokes was started by two men who acted as a commission agents for horses (trained at Ladbroke Hill). Following a move to London in the early 20th century the company became a bookmaker for rich clients. Falling on harder times following WWII the company was sold for just £100,000. The same legalisation of betting shops that drove Coral's rise in 1961 however reversed the fortunes of Ladbrokes too, who were later floated on the stock exchange for £1M in 1966. With forays into the hotel (Hilton Group) and home convenience industry the Ladbrokes group grew to second largest UK bookmaker. Prior to their Coral merger Ladbrokes also acquired BETDAQ, the second largest betting exchange, 2013.

The group now generate nearly half of their profits from digital sources and between them have more online customers than any other company. In late 2020 the group changed its name to Entain PLC. For more about each brand see our full reviews.

Bet365 meteoric rise has all come form the digital industry, and considering that only now is the online gambling market bigger than the high street (excluding national lottery) that is a pretty impressive performance. When they say in their advents that Bet365 is the worlds favourite online betting company they really are not lying.

Established in 2000 from a small temporary building in Stoke by now multi-billionaire Denise Coates, the highest paid woman in Britain, Bet365 now generates massive online revenues and is the largest private employer in Stoke. They even own the football stadium.

Denise started the business by borrowing against her fathers brick and mortar bookmaking business, established in 1974 by Stoke City chairman Peter Coates. Selling off the shops to Coral in 2005 Bet365 became an online only operator where they have gained a huge customer base of over 45+ million people from 200 countries. The brand has the best reputation within the betting and gaming industry from both punters and insiders and boasts one of the most loyal customer bases of any business.

Often cited as a success story of British online business, if you were to rule out the offline gambling sector then these guys would be the biggest. Multi-award winnings and constantly developing new technology and ideas the only way this company is going in the future is up.

For a long time William Hill were the largest betting company in the UK with over 2300 shops and just under £2 billion in annual revenues. The operator, which now generates up to £200 million in annual profits and is listed on the FTSE 250, comes from humble beginnings.

In 1934 the company was founded by Mr William Hill, who following some early failures and illegal enterprises found he could make money using a loophole that allowed off-course betting using credit or post. Hill's entered late into the betting shop industry, opening their first 5 years after the change in law in 1966, due to the founders belief they were a cancer to society. He relented when he saw how quickly his competitors were getting ahead.

The company changed ownership many times down the years. Bought for £700 million in 1997, the brand was again sold two years later for £825 million and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2002.

The William Hill group have had some corporate failures over the years but their aggressive strategy, especially online, has allowed them to dominate the market landscape. Probably the most well known bookmaker in the world, largely down to the fact Hill's have spread outside the UK more than any other bookie, and also due to their vast amount they spend on advertising and sponsorship.

The Betfred journey to becoming one of the biggest independent betting companies in the UK is more heart-warming than most others. Established from a single shop in Salford by Fred an Peter Done in 1967, the group now have a multi-billion turnover and up to £1 billion in revenues annually. Based in Warrington the company has never been sold or merged and remains in the same hands as it started in.

Fred Done is known in particular for paying our early on Manchester United to win the league twice only for them lose on both occasions (1998 and 2012). He also lost £1,000,000 in a private bet with Victor Chandler (owner of BetVictor) betting again on Man United, this time to finish higher than Chelsea in 2005 - which they didn't. Despite these misjudgements Fred is also known for inventing the Lucky 15 and other full cover bets.

The company has a large betting shop operation, and since buying around 300 shops that Ladbrokes-Coral were forced to sell now own in the region of 1650 stores in the UK. Famed for being one of the best racing bookmakers Betfred increased their exposure in this market by buying the tote in 2011 for £265. This allows them to licence totepool bets to other operators as well as providing bespoke tote bets others don't have. Despite this Betfred's future looks mixed and will likely hinge on how well they grow online in the coming years.

What's The Best Online Betting Site

Kindred is a name you will likely not have heard of, it is in fact the rebranding of the old Unibet Group Plc following the acquisition of over a dozen other brands.

Fast becoming one of the biggest betting companies in Britain and Europe the Kindred group includes Stan James, 32Red, Bingo.com and Maria. Unibet is of course the jewel in the crown, the Scandinavian brand has grown to become one of the biggest online betting sites with over 15 million customers.

The future intention of this brand is clear from their recent history of takeovers, paying £19 million for Stan James (which includes a new real world presence) and £175 million for the top rated online casino 32Red.

888 is a thoroughly modern betting company, there is no romantic back story here. Now part of a rather convoluted corporate structure, 888 Holdings is the gambling arm of parent company Cassava Enterprises. Initially founded as Virtual Holdings running an early casino site, casino-on-net, by two Israeli business men, the company grew in step with the rise of the internet.

The brand was renamed 888 in 2002 and despite taking a hard hit when online gambling became illegal in many US territories in 2006 has continued to grow in all areas of online gambling. The group operate a sports (888 Sport) and poker site (888 Poker) along with several casino (e.g. 888 casino, 777 casino)) and bingo brands (e.g. 888 bingo, 888 ladies, Wink Bingo) with a distribution of 61% casino, 18% poker, 11% sport and 9% bingo.

888 are a global online specialist which will only grow in the future. The company was fined nearly £8M by the gambling commission in 2017 for failure to properly protect vulnerable gamblers in the UK. This may slow down the aggressive growth strategy of the company, although only slightly.

Market Share and Gambling Revenue Distribution

The pie charts above show a general representation of the distribution of gambling revenue in the UK. Offline gambling is still the largest sector as this include the national lottery (28%), compared to high street bookies (27%) and land-based casinos (5%) only online betting is larger (40%). The trend from offline to online is expected to continue in the future.

Within the online market casino is the largest (slots 37% and other games 15%), followed by with sports (40%). Exchange betting (3%), online poker (2%) and online bingo (2%).

The Size of the UK Gambling Industry

The UK gambling sector currently generates around £15 billion in annual revenues and is growing rapidly at up to 8% a year. Of this total over a third (£5 billion +) is made from online gambling, with a rough split of 60% casino and 40% sports betting.

The industry as a whole is responsible for contributing around £8 billion to the UK treasury each year and directly employs over 100,000 people (perhaps up to 500,000 if you include indirect employees).

High Street Bookmakers and Land Bases Casinos

Despite the constant shift towards online betting since the turn of the millennium there are still around 9000 betting shops in the UK (90% of which are controlled by Coral, William Hill, Ladbrokes and Betfred), 600 bingo halls, 1800 arcades and 150 land-based casinos (63 owned by the Rank Group and 41 by Genting). There are currently in the region of 200,000 gaming machines operated in the UK too, of which around 40,000 are the controversial fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs).

The National Lottery (and other lottery) revenues are also included in the overall gambling revenue figure. This make up to £3.5 billion of the total, with in the region of £250 million going back to good causes.

High street bookmaking is responsible for a similar figure, £3.5 billion annually, claiming over 95% of the non-remote gambling revenue in the UK. Pool betting (such as the Tote) makes up 4% with other sources, such as on-track bookies, making up just 1%.

Land-based casinos create £1 billion in annual profits. Just under half of this comes from roulette (44%), a quarter from blackjack (25%), a fifth (20%) form slots and other electronic games and the rest from other tables and games.

Online Betting and Casino

Approximately 57% of online gambling revenues comes from remote casinos. Of this three quarters derives from slots, with the rest coming from table and other games (an opposite trend to land based casinos). Poker, which is classified under casino, generates less than 2% of the total revenue.

Sports betting is the second biggest sector, producing up to 37% of the overall revenue. Of this around 54% comes from football betting, around 32% from horse racing and the rest from other sources (of which tennis makes up nearly half).

Other sources of revenue include exchange betting (~3%), online bingo (~3%) and pool betting (~0.5%).

In 2014 the online sector made up 29% of the total market share, by 2016 this had grown to 32%. By 2020 the industry could approach 50% of annual revenues generated from gambling related activities in the UK.

Evolution of High Street to Online Betting

Apart from the odd independent bookie and some of the stalls you see at racecourses, all bookmakers now provide online betting. Of course, it didn't used to be this way, and prior to the internet age breaking into the industry was easier said than done. For a full history of gambling see our dedicated page.

Pre-1960's

Prior to 1960 in the UK it was illegal to take bets away from horse and greyhound tracks. Gambling was heavily regulated by the government and although illegal operators did exist, overall you would find it hard to place a wager away from the track.

Bookies did still take bets off-course through loop-holes in the law that allowed bets to be taken by phone or through postal order. This is how William Hill started out. If you were rich enough of course there were always options open to you, Ladbrokes for example started out as a gentleman's bookmaker for high profile clients. If you were however a normal working-class lad or lass however, there were very few options open to you.

Even then most betting at the time was for horse and dog racing only. Football betting was largely outlawed, except for low stakes pool betting syndicate games, such as the football pools (which still exists today).

Basically before 1960 betting wasn't very easy as you needed to go to a race-track to do it (or do it illegally in a back street gambling den). That is unless you were rich when the law didn't really apply to you and you could bet through discreet merchants.

1960 Betting and Gaming Act and Betting Shops

In 1960 the government finally embraced the new age. Normal people had more disposable income in their pockets and they wanted more freedom with how to spend their money. The betting act for the first time allowed off-course gambling and by the following year, May 1961, a whole host of new betting shops opened across the length of the country at a rate of 100 a week.

Betting was still largely restricted to horse racing, with rules in place such as the 'trebles rule' on football. This meant all footy bets needed to be accumulators with at least 3 or more selections otherwise you couldn't bet. The only sports you could place singles on was racing.

Still this new industry was embraced by the people of Britain, sowing the seed that eventually led to the UK becoming the biggest gambling nation (per head) in the world.

One of the first people to open one of these new betting shops was Joel Coral and 10,000 shops are reported to have opened within the first 6 months. Ironically the UK's now biggest high street bookie, William Hill, initially refused to open betting shops, stating they were a cancer on society. He reneged in 1966.

1970s and 1980s

The bookmaker industry grew exponentially in the decades following legalisation of high street betting. By the 1970's there were 15,000 shops in the United Kingdom.

This is the time when many of the biggest names we know today made and solidified their reputation. Britain's oldest bookmakers, Ladbrokes, William Hill and Coral were earning so much that they even began to invest in other leisure sectors.

1990's

Despite the huge success of high street bookies in the previous three decades the industry had a restricted clientele. The vast majority of punters using betting shops were working class men and the reputation of stores as being seedy dark dens full of smoke and foul language didn't help to change this.

Bookies sought to create a larger customer base by introducing new features, such as live sport in shops and new football coupons to encourage more diverse customers and bets. The removal of the 'trebles rule' on football in 1990's went a great way towards helping the bookies branch out, with punters now able to back singles on a range of sports.

A progressively better image, wider range of bets and markets, more televised sports (especially Premier League football) and an ever-increasing disposable income, saw the fortunes of bookmakers rise again.

By the mid-1990's the industry seemed locked down with five massive companies dominating the landscape, along with a few independents across the country. Many thought betting and gaming would be like this forever. That was until the internet came along.

New Millennium and the Internet

As the 1990's drew to a close a new threat began to emerge to the old established order, online betting. This was more dangerous to the established high street bookies than you might imagine.

High street bookmaking was regulated by various betting and gaming acts and more importantly bets were taxed (9p/£1 staked). Online gambling however was a little bit like the wild west, you could basically set up wherever you wanted, launch a website and start taking bets from customers – tax free.

Although avoiding tax on gambling stakes and winnings was at the time technically illegal it was almost impossible to police. New companies along with the old high street bookies began to set up new websites, mainly based off shore in Gibraltar or Malta, to take advantage of this tax free trade (most are still based there today).

In the late 1990's and early 2000's the market share online was still very low and although the new unregulated online trade was a concern it was not prevalent enough to cause changes yet. The bookies were still making enough from the high street even though tax avoiding new brands were now taking a slice of the profits.

Victor Chandler and Tax

In 1999 Victor Chandler (now BetVictor) moved his bookmaking business off shore to Gibraltar in protest at the betting tax rates in the UK, selling his 41 shops to Coral. This allowed Victor to provide betting opportunities to world-wide clients, particularly from Asia, without paying UK tax. It also allowed UK punters to bet without paying the 9p/£ stake tax.

It is believed it was this decision that led the then UK chancellor, Gordon Brown, to remove the betting tax in 2001. Saying that although he removed the tax paid directly by the punter new taxes were levied on the bookies profits earned in the UK and by this point the ship had largely sailed and most traditional bookies were running their online operation from abroad.

2005 Gambling Act

Eventually the government realised the status quo couldn't continue forever. This wasn't just about taxing companies either, anyone could set up a website abroad and this offered little protection to UK customers under law.

In 2005 the UK government created a new independent body that answers to the Department of Culture, known as the Gambling Commission. This body was set up to issue and regulate new UK gambling licences required by law under the new Act for any company wanting to provide gambling services (both offline and online) in the UK.

Overnight this changed the landscape of online betting, with all companies having to be licenced to operate legally in the UK. You can read more about this on our Licencing and Law page.

2010's

The old high street bookies had the best of all worlds. They still had their old high street operation, which while not growing at the rate of pre-online days, wasn't declining in the way many expected. It seemed both online and offline betting was flourishing and those big old companies were in the best position to exploit this.

Still they didn't have it all their own way. Already a few businesses that began in the late 1990's and early 2000's were beginning to outdo the old order, namely Bet365, Betfair and 888. Between them by 2010 they had secured a large proportion of the online market.

The second decade of the new century witnessed a critical switch, online betting overtook high street wagers. More and more people now had access to the internet, particularly on the move through mobile phones. Combined with the lack of stigmatism with betting online vs the high street, the industry saw its biggest growth since the 1960's.

It wasn't all win-win for the big bookies, the 2010's also saw a whole host of new companies launch into the market. Many of these new brands were not shackled by the costs of running a load of high street stores or by having a lot of employees. By also focusing on niche markets they were able to compete with the bigger companies. The effect of this has been a lot of mergers and acquisitions in recent years as the bigger operators try to hoover up competitors and new innovations.

2014 Gambling Act Amendment

By 2014 the majority of gambling was done online through companies based in non-UK markets. The result of this was the UK government losing out on a lot of tax.

The 2014 gambling act amendment was brought in for a number of reasons, such as more focus on responsible gambling and protecting vulnerable people. The main reason being honest though was to allow the government to better tax the industry.

The act brought in a new point of consumption tax for UK licenced betting sites and bookies. This meant, whether based in the UK or not, all merchants with who wanted to offer gambling services in the UK had to pay tax on their UK profits. This levelled the playing field, and to be frank played into the hands of the already bigger operators.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions are not a new thing among bookmakers, and many have been buying up smaller independents for years. The trend in recent years however of the big companies merging is unprecedented and perhaps represents a new era of bookmaking.

As with all free markets the challenge in the future will be maintaining competition. When markets are new (as online betting was in late 1990's, early 2000's) there are many new niches for companies to occupy. As time goes on however money talks and the bigger operators are able to buy up smaller players, either to incorporate their products or just to close down the competition.

Only time will tell but there is a distinct possibility a number of betting companies will corner the market and, just as has happened in banking and energy markets, could begin to collude. This will only be a bad thing for punters and new companies looking to enter the market.

The UK is the friendliest nation to those who enjoy a punt on football, horse racing, cricket, golf or any other sport. Betting shops have been legal here since 1961 and we have 8,500 of them in England alone. There are also betting booths at all our major stadiums. Our mature betting market makes it no coincidence we are home to the most wagered domestic football league in the world. The Barclays Premier League has four teams that are shirt sponsored by online betting sites, and every team has official betting partners. Despite having plenty of bookies where we can get a bet on in person, the biggest advantage to betting in the UK is that we have an unrestricted open internet betting market. UK punters can use the websites of our major betting shop franchises, but can also use the internet divisions of reputable bookies from around the world. Whilst many punters are naturally drawn to wagering with our major retail brands, understand using all available options allows us to find better odds, make use of free bet offers and also to avail of bonuses and promotions from multiple online sources. In this article, I’ll cover online betting sites first then provide history and information on our top corporate chains.

Online Betting Sites

Those new to sports betting are strongly advised to start by taking advantage of free bets and bonuses offered by online bookmakers to first time depositors. The best betting sites accepting GBP currency with such offers available are listed below.

• Why We Like’em
• Owners of the Tote they offer a free £50 bet to all new players who register an account.
• One of the UK’s top online bookies they give all new punters a £88 free bet.

Understand the value does not stop at sign up. One of the best ways to make profit with online betting is to be aware of who offers what for on-going promotions. When betting Premier League or Champions League at 888Sport.com if a goal scored from the 88th minute onwards turns a winning wager into a losing bet, you’re awarded a 100% rebate up to a £50 maximum. For all football matches regardless of leagues Bet365 refunds losing correct score, half-time/full-time and Scorecast wagers up to any amount when regulation time ends a 0-0 bore draw. Paddy Power has many enhanced odds promos (some exclusive to twitter followers) and has “refund losing bets” promotions too. The above is just a small sample of the value offered by online bookmakers. Taking promotions into consideration when evaluation betting options is a great way to improve long term win rates or reduce gambling losses.

Best Accumulator Pay-outs

An accumulator is a wager that involves adding multiple bets to a ticket in order to combine them to a single wager. These are attractive because they offer large pay-outs relative to stake. To win an accumulator wager all selections on the ticket must win, otherwise the stake is lost; it is an all or nothing deal. Many punters are not aware that accumulator pay-outs vary depending where you are placing your bets. www.bet365.com has the best accumulator odds on European football. This applies to any combination of selections from Premier League, Serie A, Primera Liga, Bundesliga 1 and Champions League and is due to a bonus they pay on winning tickets. The bonus is 5% extra for trebles, 10% extra for 4-fold and 5-folds, 20% for six-folds and 10% more for each fold all the way to a 100% bonus for 14-folds. This does not show on the wager ticket, but as covered on their promotion page is paid on top of what the ticket pays as a cash bonus.

Due to this promotion you’d be foolish to wager European football accumulators with any source other than Bet365. Also note that Bet365 is highly reputable. They are a UK company based in Stoke-on-Trent, are licensed by the UK gambling commission and own the Barclays Premier League franchise Stoke City FC.

Asian Bookies Offer Great Odds

If you’re betting singles, more often than not you’ll find Asian bookmakers have better odds than UK bookies offer. This is true for home / draw / away (1X2), Asian handicap, total betting and odds or even. Now if you’re thinking perhaps Asian bookies are less reputable than UK bookmakers think again. www.188bet.com is an Asian bookie that offers UK punters making their first deposit a £25 risk free bet. They are highly reputable and licensed in Isle of Man which is a British Crown dependency. This is where the online division of Ireland’s top bookmaker PaddyPower and the world’s largest poker site PokerStars are also licensed. 188Bet is the principle sponsors of England’s northern premiership rugby union team the Newcastle Falcons, has been on-shirt sponsor to several Premier League teams (mostly recently Bolton until they were relegated), and are official betting partners of Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton. This is a safe Asian bookie very popular with UK punters.

Online Betting Basics

Understand online betting is done on a post-up basis. A balance is held with the online bookmaker and you’re allowed to wager up to the amount stored in your account. Let’s say for example your balance with Bet365 Sportsbook is £1,000. You then wager £100 to win £100 that the Manchester City vs. Liverpool match will have over 2.5 goals.

As soon as you confirm your wager the £100 is deducted from your account balance bringing it to £900. If the wager is a win the £100 stake is added back to your account balance and you £100 winnings are added too. You now have an £1100 account balance. This means to get started you need to make a post-up deposit.

The methods to deposit from the UK in GBP currency are many. Credit cards such as MasterCard, VISA and Diners Club are accepted by most online betting sites. The major European sites also accept PayPal. There are other e-wallets available too which function similar to online bank accounts. These include Skrill, NETELLER, EntroPay, ECOCard, Click2Pay, ClickandBuy and Webmoney. You can discover which e-wallets a betting site accepts by visiting their cashier.

It is also possible to purchase PaySafeCard or UKash vouchers with cash in person at many retailers and then use these to deposit. As internet betting is open and unrestricted in the UK you’ll have no trouble using any of these methods. The “how to” is well explained on the deposit page of each site’s cashier. When you want to withdraw all or part of your account balance from an online bookmaker, visit their cashier. You’ll find in most cases the same method used for deposit are available as payout methods. You can also request wire transfers, cheques or in some cases even Western Union. Now that you know how to deposit and withdraw, and understand some of the bonuses and promotions available, I’ll provide some detailed historical coverage of our top corporate bookmakers. Each offers an online betting site and has hundreds of locations for making wagers in person.

UK Betting Shops

Which Is The Best Online Betting Site

Betting Shops have been legal in the UK since 1961. At one time the number of shops was over 17,000 but has since been reduced in half due to the internet boom. Whilst today the UK bookmakers all run online betting sites, most were not quick to embrace the internet.

First UK Betting Sites

The first UK betting site was not operated by a bookmaker. It was a partnership between the Mirror Group and Press Association’s sporting-life.com. It launched on 8 July 1998 as part of Sporting Life, but then became BetOnline.co.uk in September 1998.This site was later acquired and merged with www.bluesq.com which is the betting website of the Rank Group. While they don’t own any betting shops they are a massive gambling company. They own 35 casinos under their Grosvenor Casinos brand name and 103 bingo halls under their Mecca Bingo brand name. Provincial Racing was a small bookmaker based in Stoke established in 1974 by the Coates family. In January 2000 they had 49 UK licensed betting shops when daughter Denise Coates decided the internet was the way to take the business her father Peter Coates started global. This same month she purchased the domain bet365.com from eBay for £10,000. They would later take out a loan against the betting shops and sell them going pedal to the medal building an online business. Of course the rest of this story is history. Today Bet365 is one of the largest private employers in the UK and has an internet betting site that is more than double the size of the online divisions of both William Hill and Ladbrokes combined. Several other betting shop franchises followed a similar path. Victor Chandler sold most of their betting shops off to expand internet operations as did Stan James. These are two other massive online betting sites well known across the globe.

5 Largest UK Betting Shop Franchises

Today William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral, BetFred and Totesport combine to share 80% of the UK betting shop market. William Hill is the largest and was the only of these to jump into the internet betting arena early having done so in late 1998. Coral expanded to the internet due to takeover. They were purchased by internet betting company Eurobet in late 1999. Ladbrokes was a slow mover considering they were neck and neck with William Hill for top spot. They came online in late 2000, but were slow as they approached it initially as a partnership with Playboy Magazine, before pushing their own brand more aggressively in 2002/2003. The racing side of Totesport came online in 2002, but the sports side in 2004. This was the same year BetFred embraced the internet as well.

Today these top UK bookmakers operate some of the largest and most successful online betting sites. For reasons their histories are quite fascinating I’ll conclude this article by discussing each.

William Hill Established 1934 Has 2,325 UK Betting Shops

William Hill is the actual name of the bookmaker that founded the William Hill company. He was born in 1903 in Birmingham, England as the second of thirteen children. Legend has it he left school as a young lad to go to work. Through a stint employed by BSA works, and time serving as a Black and Tan he was very active booking bets while just a teenager. It wasn’t until 1934 however that he established the company William Hill. By this time he was already successful in gambling and had ownership stakes in horse racing tracks in London England.

Sports Betting Uk

In 1934, cash bookmaking was still illegal in the UK. All that was allowed was credit transactions and there was no legal recourse available. The laws were such that punters did not need to pay when they lost and bookmakers did not need to pay the punter when they won. The industry was rife with scams and William Hill used this to his advantage. He opened an off-track betting shop in Park Lane London and required punters to post up a check. The deal was he would only cash the check if they lost. If they won the check would be returned along with their winnings. This worked and with a model of “book a bet, pay a bet” it wasn’t long before he was the most trusted bookmaker in the industry.

In 1944 he expanded beyond horse racing and pool wagering by becoming the first bookmaker to offer fixed odds wagering on football. This was the talk of the sports betting underground and it’s believed by the 1960’s William Hill had serviced over 500,000 punters. When betting shops became legal in 1961, William Hill wanted nothing to do with them. He was a Roman Catholic and socialist and went as far as calling betting shops a cancer that preyed on the working class. Whilst an odd comment coming from one of the largest bookies, Hill had spent his career servicing a much different type of clientele. Betting shops however became so wide spread he realised there was no choice but to adapt. He began doing so in 1966. He retired in 1970 and died a year later. Oddly enough, William Hill would grow into the largest bookmaker in the United Kingdom where they now have 2,325 betting shops. They are also the United States’ largest bookmaker due to their acquisition of three sportsbook chains Lucky’s, Leroy’s and Club Cal Neva. They are publicly traded on the London Stock exchange and are part of FTSE 250 Index with a market capitalisation value of £1.93 billion.

Ladbrokes Established in 1886 Has 2,119 UK Betting Shops

The story of Ladbrokes began in 1886. This is when a man known only as Pennington partnered with Messrs (Harry) Schwind and the two began working as horse racing commission agents at Ladbrokes Hall in Ladbroke village located in Warwickshire, England. They took on the company name and began working as bookmakers in 1902 when Arthur Bendir joined the partnership.

Originally the trio booked bets at upscale clubs such as the Whites, the Carlton and the Athenaeum. In 1913 Ladbrokes expanded their business to include on track betting. Unheard of at the time, in 1918 they hired Helen Vernet of a noble Scottish family to act as their on track representative. She became known as the first lady bookmaker. This proved much more than just a publicity stunt as she would continue to hold a management position until her death in 1956. That same year the company was purchased by Cyril Stein and his uncle for a reported fee of £100,000.

Perhaps its best said that Ladbrokes took advantage of what William Hill refused to do. When betting shops were legalised in 1961 they were first to the market and had new shops opening week after week. In 1963 they copied William Hill’s fixed odds football ticket and became the first legal betting shop to offer fixed odds football betting. William Hill actually sued them over this and won. This was done more over his then opposition to betting shops as covered earlier in this article. The good sport and wealthy man he was, in good faith he requested only £1 in damages plus cost.

The publicity of this was equally good for both companies. Ladbrokes continued to be the most aggressive opening betting shops. In 1967 they owned over 100 shops and 5 credit offices when they floated on the London Stock Exchange. The IPO had 1,350,000 shares offered at £0.50 each. It turns out they were massively oversubscribed by some £60 million. As a public company they grew and grew and grew some more. This included acquiring London & Leeds Development Corporation in 1972 to expand to over 1,100 UK betting shops. They later purchased casinos, racecourses and even hotels.

The red Ladbrokes branding is instantly recognisable in both their real world and online businesses

The biggest deal came in 1988 when they purchased Hilton International for £645 million giving them ownership of all Hilton Hotels outside the United States. This wise investment paid off when in 2005 the Hilton Hotel Corporation purchased back their international properties for £3.3 billion. Today Ladbrokes has 2,119 betting shops in the UK, and their total number worldwide exceed 2,700. Their website offers sports betting, horse racing, financial wagering, poker, online casino games and bingo where a player can use one log-in ID to access all products. The same as William Hill they are publicly traded on the London Stock exchange and a member of the FTSE 250 Index. They employ over 14,000 persons in the UK and had 2011 net income of £117.8 million

Coral Established in 1929 Has 1,629 UK Betting Shops

Coral was started in 1929 when Joe Coral entered a partnership with a local café who gave him the start-up capital required to start his bookmaking business. He originally focused on greyhounds, horse racing and speedway. His business strategy was similar to William Hill in how he built his business in the 1930’s and 40’s. However when legal gambling came around Mr. Coral was not hesitant to embrace it. When a 1960s laws made off course race booking legal he established several shops around London. When betting shops were allowed in 1961, he opened several that same year.

Online Betting Sites Uk

Coral continued to grow and beginning in 1981 went through a series of ownership changes. With 650 betting shops at the time they were purchased by the British Ale & Beer Company, Bass. In 1997 Ladbrokes acquired Coral but this was broken up as being a monopoly a year later. They were forced to unload their Coral shops. In 1999 they were purchased by Eurobet becoming Coral Eurobet. Then more recently they merged with Gala, to become Gala Coral. Despite changing ownership many times they are now the third largest bookmaking company in the UK. Coral employs 9,000 in England alone. In addition to their 1629 betting shops they are also the largest provider of UK bingo with 143 bingo halls in our nation. Their past two fiscal years earnings average out to roughly £260 million per year in profit. This one the top gambling companies in the UK. They also run and internet website www.coral.co.uk which is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission.

BetFred Established in 1967 Has 849 UK Betting Shops Whilst the others of the top 5 UK bookmakers were established in 1886, 1929, 1934, and 1928 BetFred is a much younger company. This was founded by Fred Done and Peter Done who opened their first betting shop in Salford in 1967 and their second in 1969. It took all the way until 1997 for them to reach 100 betting shops. This was a small family owned business that grew in time. They only began offering telephone betting in 2002 and they didn’t even have any shops in London yet.

Betfred are now one of the UK’s top 5 bookies and plan to expand further

Online Sports Gambling Sites Uk

Finally in 2004 they embraced the internet and were a huge online hit. With one of the most exciting and rewarding websites for sports betting they grew, grew and kept growing. As only a rather small company in 2004 they now have 849 BetFred Betting Shops and 450 more branded ToteSport. They purchased the UK’s tote on 13 July 2011 for £265 million making them the owners of both the UK’s fourth largest and fifth largest betting shop franchises. They can be found online at www.betfred.com.

ToteSport Established in 1928 Has 450 Betting Shops

What Are The Best Online Sports Betting Sites

The Tote, originally known as the Horserace Totalisator Board, from its establishment in 1928 until it was sold to BetFred in 2011, was owned by the UK government. Since its establishment it has been the sole source of legal pari-mutuel horse race betting the United Kingdom. Even today more than 7,000 UK betting shops including those of William Hill, Ladbrokes, and Coral offer betting on the various totepools. It can also be wagered at online betting sites such as www.bet365.com. The Tote was granted permission to also accept sports bets beginning in 1972 and opened its first betting shop in 1973. In 1997 it was granted permission to accept bets all forms of wagers including numbers. In 2004 they rebranded their sports betting side Totesport and there are now 450 betting shops in the UK using this branding. The racing side has since been branded Totepool. They also run an online betting site www.totesport.com. Though owned by BetFred the company still has close ties to the UK government and is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. Totesport is perhaps the most reputable and well regulated bookmaker in the industry for pool wagering and sports betting done both in person and online.