How to Place a Bet Online
Wondering how to place a bet online? If you’re new to online betting, we’ll take you every step of the way so you can use betting sites confidently.
Note: Odds may appear in American (+200), decimal (3.00), or fractional (2/1) format depending on your region or sportsbook. Most sites allow you to toggle your preferred format.
Choosing a Betting Site
Before you place a bet online, the first step you need to take is to choose a bookmaker to bet with.
You can rest assured that online bookmakers and betting apps featured at Gambling.com have undergone a stringent review process to bring you only the best on the market.
We recommend you keep these criteria in mind when choosing where to bet online:
- Licensing: Betting sites should be licensed by a reputable regulatory authority, ensuring they are fully regulated and operate within legal parameters.
- Markets: Sites should have a range of markets across all sports.
- Odds: The best betting sites offer competitive value on all their odds and all types of bets, ensuring you get the most for your money when betting online.
- Promotions: From a welcome bonus to ongoing promotions, choose a site with plenty of offers for its customers.
- Special Features: Consider the sites that keep up with the latest trends, offering features like live streaming.
Signing Up Online
Once you’ve chosen your betting site, you must sign up online. The registration process generally looks like this:
- Navigate to the site through one of Gambling.com’s links and click sign up/join now/register.
- To verify your identity, submit personal details, such as name, age, address, and email.
- Verify your account using your email address or mobile device.
- Choose a payment method from the options available.
- Enter the amount you wish to deposit into your account. Sometimes, you must meet a certain threshold to qualify for a welcome bonus.
Step-by-Step Guide to Placing a Bet Online
Now comes the exciting part: placing your bet.
Follow these step-by-step instructions below to learn how to place your bet:
- Step 1: Visit your chosen site or app.
- Step 2: Use the navigation tools to select which sport you wish to bet on.
- Step 3: Select the market you wish to bet on, view the relevant odds, and make your pick.
- Step 4: Your bet slip will appear.
- Step 5: Enter your stake into your bet slip.
- Step 6: Click “Confirm,” or some variation of such a button, to place your bet.
Multi-Leg Bets Explained
How to Place a Multi-Leg Bet Online
Multi-leg bets (accumulators, parlays, or multis, depending on your region) allow you to bet on multiple markets spread across competitions, matches, or races. A leg refers to a single selection within the overall bet, such as a specific game or race winner.
These bets allow you to increase the value of your bet, although it can come at a greater risk given the number of variables involved. You lose the entire bet if one leg in your bet doesn’t hit.
The process of making a multi-leg bet is similar to placing a single bet—you click the odds for each additional game or race you want to include. Each selection will be added to your bet slip to create a multi-leg bet.
Once you’ve added all your selections, enter your stake and confirm the wager.
Bear in mind that the best betting sites allow you to combine markets from various sports and events into one multiple bet, so you don't need to stick to one sport when placing your accumulator.
How to Place a Single-Event Multi-Leg (or Same-Game Parlay) Bet
Also known as a bet builder or same-game parlay (SPG), depending on your region, this bet type allows you to select multiple markets within the game to combine into one bet. This feature is offered in several sports, including football, cricket, tennis, basketball, rugby union, rugby league, NFL, MMA, and boxing.
The method to place this type of bet is the same as for a multi-leg bet, except you choose multiple outcomes from one game or match instead of several. (Note that some selections may be excluded, depending on the betting site.)
Make your selections from a single game or match, and they will be added to your betting slip. Then enter your stake and confirm your bet.
