If in the past it meant going to a race track and placing a bet on a horse that you feel may win, nowadays betting is conducted quite differently. Namely, a large proportion of it is done online. It’s simpler, faster and much more convenient. All you need to do is turn your laptop on, go online, and you are few clicks away from making a bet and, hopefully, earning a lot of money if you get the result(s) right. Online betting works just like regular betting. In fact, all of the major bookmakers in the UK and elsewhere are also present online.

How to open a Betting Account?

In order to open an online betting account you simply need to do is go online to the website of the bookmaker where you want to have an account. Then you’ll notice, usually in the top corner of the screen a ‘button’ that says “register”, “join”, or something of the sort. Once you click on it, it’ll take you to a section where you can fill in all the necessary personal details that you’d have to fill in before you’re allowed to open an account. At reliable and trustworthy betting sites you will be fully protected and your personal data won’t be accessible by third parties. As soon as you fill in your name, age, location, choose a nickname and a password, you’ll be sent an email, usually with a link that you’re supposed to click on before your account can be verified.

Once you click on this link and verify your account you are free to make deposits, make bets, and eventually win money. It’s just like going to the betting shop on the high street in your neighbourhood, without the hassle of actually having to go there. Any time of the day, whenever you feel like, you can simply go online and open an account. And simply opening an account costs nothing, you only need to deposit before you make your first bet.

Why you should have more than one Account!

Now, we’ve explained how to open an account and be able to bet only and as you can see it is not difficult at all. But, we already mentioned that there are numerous betting sites and that almost every bookmaker is now online. How do you choose which is the best betting site for you? A more important question is- who says that you have to choose?

For example you want make a bet in a week when the following three matches take place: Liverpool- Arsenal, Chelsea- Leicester City and Manchester City- West Ham. You think that the first match will be a home win, the second will be an away win and the third will be a draw. At your favourite betting site you get a 13/10 odds, 2/1 for the second and 9/4 for the third. But at another site the quotes are 7/5, 21/10 and 58/25 respectively. This means that if you bet on the first website, you’d win £224.25 with a bet of £10, whereas on the second you’d win £247.

As you can see, such a difference is not to be neglected and that’s why it is our advice to have more than one account and always check where you would get better options the bet that you have in mind. In addition, some betting sites may offer types of bets that are not offered elsewhere.

Choosing good Betting Sites

Licence

Online betting is completely legal in the UK for people who are 18 or older. Online betting in the UK is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, it is a body in charge of all sorts of betting, including sports betting. There are three types of licences issued by the Commission in regards to betting, an operating licence, a personal management licence and a premises licence. The operating licence is the most important type of licence and every company that wants to legally allow people to place bets on sports matches via their website has to obtain such a licence. In cases where the operator is licenced overseas, it is not required that it holds a licence issued by the UK Commission. In other words, if a site doesn’t have this licence, then you definitely shouldn’t consider choosing that website.

Bonus Offers

Most trustworthy and renowned betting sites have ways of attracting new players and one of the most common and most effective ways is by offering bonuses and promotions. These bonuses offered can be standard or special. On the most common standard bonuses, that are offered to new players are the so called welcome bonuses. These bonuses are either a fixed amount of money that is given to the players or a match bonus on their first deposit, or first few deposits.

So, it could either be a bonus of £10, £20, or £30, regardless how much you actually deposit, or a percentage of your first deposit, 50%, 100% or even 150% or 200%. It should be noted that these bonuses are given only to players who are new and these bonuses are given only once.

Once you receive the bonus you can bet the money you have received, but before you can withdraw any of the potential winnings you’ll need to bet an amount several times higher than the bonus, it could be 3 times, 5, 8 or 10. There’s also limit on the odds for these bets. At some betting sites that odds can’t be below 3/5, or something along those lines. This means that if you want to make a bet and have that amount counted towards fulfilment of the necessary requirements in order to be able to withdraw any eventual winnings from the bonus amount, the quote of your bet must be 3/5 or above.

In addition to any type of a welcome bonus given to new players, many betting sites offer free betting tokens, vouchers, cash-back bonuses and various promotions, like if you bet on 6 matches you get a 5% bonus on your prize, then 8% on 7 matches and so on.

Betting Markets

Surely, betting on who is going to win a particular English Premier League match, or which horse is going to win a certain race is pretty straightforward and even people who aren’t that much into betting understand how it works, but there’s a lot more to it. For example, not all of us want to bet on football on horse racing. Maybe someone is a fan of a sport that isn’t very popular in the UK. In addition, there are a lot more markets that can be placed on a match. For example, many people like to predict if a team is going to score at all, or how many goals they will score.

If say, Tottenham are playing Liverpool at Anfield and they aren’t scoring a lot of goals in that particular season, whereas Liverpool have conceded quite a few goals and are pretty sound defensively, then you may want to bet that they won’t score a goal, or that they will not score more than one goal. Then, you may want to bet on whether a particular player is going to score or not. These are the standard bets that would be offered for any match that the betting site has included in their offer.

In addition, you have the special bets, which are the most interesting type of bets for a lot of players. They depend on the situation and are very specific. For example, if it’s middle of the season, a bookmaker may offer a bet where you have to guess which team out of two will finish higher on the table at the end of the season. You may even bet on which manager will leave his position next, or which manager will be appointed to an empty spot.

Payment Methods

We discussed opening an account and betting on sports matches, so the question of payment options arises naturally. How does one deposit money in a betting account? Well, there is more than one answer to that questions and it really depends on your preferences. Most betting sites try to be as accommodating as possible, so there are a lot of options to choose from. First there are major credit and debit cards, such as Visa and MasterCard, with all of the variations. Some other credit and debit cards may be accepted as well.

E-Wallets like Skrill, Neteller and PayPal are also very popular, the deposits are instant, the minimum deposited amount doesn’t have to be very high. Then there are pre-paid cards. Paysafecard is the one of the most popular prepaid card in the UK. It saves your identity and it’s quite easy to use, all you need to do is type in the 16-digit code. Plus, there aren’t any additional fees.

Live Betting and Streams

Traditionally, you would analyse the matches before you plan on betting before making a bet, you would maybe read some articles on the teams and their form, see if any of their key players is injured, and compare the odds from at least few betting sites before reaching a decision. But, what if you’re watching a match and based on what you’ve seen so far you think that you can predict the outcome of the match?

Don’t worry, because that is possible too and it’s called live betting. With live betting you can place a bet on a match that’s being played currently. And there are all sorts of different markets as well. For example, you’re watching Chelsea against Arsenal at home, it’s half an hour into the match, Chelsea had more chances so far, but somehow you are convinced that Arsenal will score first in a counter attack. Then you can make a bet on a market that Arsenal will score the first goal in the match.

Live betting is really fun and thrilling and in addition it has another perk that you’ll be looking forward to. Namely, betting websites allow you to watch a live stream of the matches that are available for live betting, even if these matches aren’t broadcasted on TV. And even if you’re not betting on that particular match you’ll be able to watch it, provided that you have an account on that website.

User-friendliness

Navigation through a website is crucial for visitors. It is even more important if these visitors intend on spending money on that website, in this case, spend some with an intention to earn more. This is one the user-friendliness of a betting website shouldn’t definitely not be neglected.

Mobile Betting

A research conducted in 2013 showed that about 4.5% of all iPhone owners in the UK, have at least one betting app on their phones. That percentage is surely greater now as phones are becoming more and more computer-like. This research also showed that a lot of people have more than one app on their phone. If you’re going to be online, there’s a large possibility that sometimes you’d want to bet on your phone and that’s why the quality of the mobile app of a betting website isn’t irrelevant at all.

Support

If anything is not going as planned or you simply have some questions, you would need to contact the customer support team. There might be several ways to do that, either via phone, email, live chat or a directly through the website. In most cases the response time is the key factor, so phone would be an ideal option, especially if it is toll-free and preferably available 24/7. Of course, issues that aren’t urgent can be addressed via email or otherwise.

It’s very easy to make your first Bet

As you can see from all that was stated above, it is very easy to make your first bet. You can select the betting website first, and then choose the matches, but we reckon that it would be wiser to select the matches first and then see which betting website gives the best options for the particular markets that you want to play. Afterwards you should select your deposit method, select the amount that you want to bet and then wait for the matches to start and hope for the best. Predicting an outcome of a match in a sport that’s as unpredictable as football, or any other sport for that matter, surely isn’t easy, but who knows you might get what they call “beginner’s luck” and win with your very first bet.

Conclusion

The conclusion is very simple and it practically draws itself. If you like watching sports, you’d love betting on sports matches, it adds excitement to the whole watching experience. Online betting is much more convenient that traditional betting, because it can be done from home, or from anywhere really, if you’re using a mobile app. It is best if you open multiple accounts because then you can see for yourself which betting site offers the best odds and conditions in general.

FAQ

Do I pay taxes on the money I win?

– No, you don’t have to pay taxes on your winnings. The government taxes the owners of the betting sites on their incomes, so they don’t tax the winners. Also, if they did, then they’d have to offer tax reliefs on the amounts that they bettors have lost.

Is there a legal guarantee that I will receive the money I have won?

– Yes, there is a legal obligation enforced on bookmakers that guarantees that all the punters will get their money. This is all regulated with the Act enforced in 2005. It’s just like purchasing goods from somewhere, they are obliged to provide them you.

Can my account be limited?

– Generally speaking, yes your account can be limited by the bookmaker. If you win too much money too often they might decide that they want to limit your account, simply because you cost them too much. This is hardly likely though and one of the most useful ways of avoid it is by placing bets on different betting sites.

What if I forget my password?

– Don’t worry, it’s not a serious problem. Most betting sites have instructions on how to obtain your password or how to reset it and choose a new one. If you can’t manage with the information provided on site, then you should contact their customer support, they’ll surely assist you with this issue.

Can I close my account?

– Yes. You are allowed to close your account, whatever your reason for that may be. In the future if you change your mind, you can re-open your account, but you will no longer be eligible for the welcome bonus. Also, if you open and close your account on several occasions, the website may refuse your re-opening request.