Dean Ryan
Dean Ryan has been a devoted racing fan for as long as he can remember. Dean is a horse racing broadcaster, formerly with RacingFM, who now hosts the popular #racehour podcast.
Our experts have ranked and reviewed the best horse racing betting sites in the UK to help you find your ideal online bookmaker. Use the list below to claim offers from licensed horse racing betting sites.
Below are some of the pros and cons of the best horse racing betting sites in the UK for December 2023, as well as alternative options for each type of site.
Best Features: bet365 is renowned for its live betting service, including its live streams. We were able to watch races in high-quality on the bet365 app and website from the UK, Ireland, France, USA, Australia, South Africa and even Japan.
Biggest Negatives: bet365 does not offer a loyalty club.
Alternative: Unibet
Our View: We always want to watch the race we're betting on and that's usually possible with bet365. We enjoyed racing promotions here like the 'Price Promise', which ensures bet365 odds are never beaten for races shown live on ITV.
Best Features: BetGoodwin has a range of money-back specials that refund your stake if your bet narrowly loses. You're refunded with a free bet if your horse is beaten by a nose or less than half a length, if it falls at the last, or if it finishes second to a 50/1+ winner.
Biggest Negatives: Unique sign-up offer won't appeal to everyone.
Alternative: Betway
Our View: We love the money-back specials offered here but this site isn't a one-trick pony, as you also get best odds guaranteed and live streams of races from the UK and Ireland (with no minimum stake needed to watch a race).
Best Features: Spreadex provides a compelling alternative to the standard fixed-odds betting from other horse racing bookmakers. Here you'll find a range of unique markets, where profits and losses are not fixed and you win or lose money depending on how accurate your bet is.
Biggest Negatives: Spread betting can be risky, so proceed with caution.
Alternative: Ladbrokes
Our View: We enjoyed mixing up our racing betting with spread bets and also took advantage of racing promos in Spreadex's fixed-odds section, such as 'First Past The Post' (you still win your bet if your horse finishes first and is later demoted).
Best Features: BoyleSports' bet £10, get £20 welcome offer can be used to bet on horse racing. There's also money back as a free bet offer if your horse finishes 2nd to the SP favourite, along with lots of extra place races and best odds guaranteed across the board.
Biggest Negatives: The betting app could be improved.
Alternative: Fitzdares
Our View: A regular range of promotions and free bets keeps BoyleSports fresh on a daily basis. When it comes Cheltenham and the Grand National, BoyleSports offers more than most other sites, including great-value extra place terms.
Best Features: Seasoned punters often choose to bet with the Tote, which is the world's largest pool betting operator, as this form of betting can offer larger payouts. All the money staked on a market goes into a pool, so winnings can often be greater, especially on less-fancied runners. The placepot is this site's standout promotion, with a £100k prize fund for bettors who predict six horses to place at a selected meeting.
Biggest Negatives: There are no fixed-odds markets to bet on at the Tote.
Alternative: Ladbrokes
Our View: Pool betting is a useful tool in any racing punter’s arsenal and the Tote is the leading UK pools betting option. We enjoyed trying out this site's fantasy games 'Ten to Follow' and 'Tote Fantasy' as well for something a bit different.
When ranking the best horse racing betting sites, these are the main factors we take into account. We recommend considering these yourself when deciding which bookmaker to sign up with:
The better the odds are, the more money you stand to potentially win. That’s why we're always on the lookout for horse racing betting sites with value pricing. We compare odds across a range of horse racing bookmakers, to find out which sites consistently offer the best odds.
Good horse racing bookmakers will have a range of markets to choose from. A myriad of betting options should be available for all major races in the UK and Ireland, while the best horse race betting sites also have markets for international races from places like the USA and Australia.
It is crucial to bet with a horse racing betting site that is licensed and regulated by the UKGC (UK Gambling Commission). Licensed horse betting sites protect your personal details and provide the best responsible gambling tools.
The best horse betting sites should support your preferred payment method. Whether it’s a debit card or e-wallet, you should always have plenty of choice. Deposit and withdrawal limits, as well as processing times, should be reasonable also.
Horse racing betting apps and mobile sites allow you to bet on the horses no matter where you are. Horse racing bookies should have easy-to-use apps or mobile sites with all the same features as desktop versions. You may even get extra perks like notifications for the latest offers.
Promotions separate the best horse racing betting sites from the rest. Odds boosts, extra places and best odds guaranteed are some of the staple offers we look out for.
Horse racing betting websites should have customer support teams that are available round-the-clock. There should be a number of different ways to contact the support team, including live chat, email and telephone support.
The biggest races of the year should take priority when it comes to horse race betting online. For the likes of the Cheltenham Festival, Royal Ascot and the Grand National, you should get lots of betting offers from your bookmaker. These could come in the form of price boosts, free bets or extra each-way places for major races.
If you can't watch a race, having a punt on a horse isn't nearly as exciting. Top horse racing bookmakers have live streaming available on a daily basis, so you can (hopefully) cheer your selection on to victory.
We check online reviews and feedback from bettors to gauge an online bookmaker's reputation. Comments on payouts, customer service, and overall user experience are good indicators of a site's overall quality.
At Gambling.com, we have assembled a team featuring some of the foremost horse racing betting experts in the UK and Ireland. You can rest assured that they know what to look for in a good horse racing betting site. Get to know our racing experts a bit better below:
Dean Ryan has been a devoted racing fan for as long as he can remember. Dean is a horse racing broadcaster, formerly with RacingFM, who now hosts the popular #racehour podcast.
Diarmuid has worked in the betting industry for just under 10 years across a variety of roles. He is a published horse racing journalist and co-founder of the weekly #racehour podcast and Twitter community, which has amassed over 18,000 followers.
The best horse racing betting apps and sites offer a range of bonuses for new and existing customers. These are some of the best offers to look out for:
You have dozens of races to choose from each day at the best horse racing bookies. However, a handful of meetings generate the greatest buzz and attention each year. These are the top events to look out for at horse betting sites:
The Cheltenham Festival is the most important meeting in the UK jumps racing calendar and takes place every year in March. It hosts 14 of the 40 Grade 1 races that take place throughout the season, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
This Festival attracts the best chasers, hurdlers, trainers and jockeys from across the UK and Ireland each year. Additional highlights include the Champion Hurdle, the Champion Chase, the Stayers’ Hurdle and the Ryanair Chase.
Cheltenham offers are always worth looking out for, as the best horse betting sites tend to ramp things up for the Festival in order to compete for business.
The Grand National is the most popular horse race in the world and comes hot on the heels of the Cheltenham Festival each April. It attracts more than 600 million viewers across the globe, which puts it ahead of Australia's Melbourne Cup in terms of viewing figures.
34 of the sturdiest stayers battle it out over a gruelling four miles and 514 yards at Aintree. With over 30 brutal fences to navigate over two laps of the course, many fail to complete the race. Popular obstacles such as The Chair and Canal Turn make the Grand National an epic spectacle.
The race has a prize pool of £1 million, making it the richest National Hunt race of the season. It is a British betting institution and often attracts casual punters that don't normally bet on racing. It's usually the busiest day of the year for the bookies and you'll always find lots of Grand National offers available for that reason.
Royal Ascot is the most prestigious flat racing event of the year in the UK. It has a total prize purse of more than £9.5 million, making it Britain’s richest meeting.
Royal Ascot includes eight Group 1 races: the Queen Anne Stakes, King’s Stand Stakes, St James’s Palace Stakes, Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the Ascot Gold Cup, the Commonwealth Cup, the Coronation Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes.
The Royals have always maintained a strong presence at the meeting, which adds a great deal of prestige and ceremony to proceedings. The best UK and Irish trainers, jockeys, sprinters and stayers take part, but it also attracts elite runners from countries such as the USA, Australia and France.
Gambling.com's list of the best Royal Ascot betting offers ranks the best free bets and promotions available for this Festival, which takes place in June each year.
At this point, you should have the information you need to bet on horse racing online with confidence. Remember that we only list licensed horse racing bookies at Gambling.com, so all of the sites featured here are legal and regulated.
If you need more information before deciding whether to sign up, click through to any of our in-depth bookmaker reviews to find out more.
The Grand National is probably the most famous horse race in the UK. Other huge annual events include the Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival and the Epsom Derby. You can wager on dozens of daily races from the UK and around the world at any of the horse racing betting sites featured on this page.
You should avoid UK horse racing betting sites that are not licensed. Without a licence from the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, a bookmaker might not be safe to use. The horse racing bookies highlighted at Gambling.com are licensed and legal to bet with in the United Kingdom.
Horse racing odds are the most crucial factor when choosing a bet. You need a price that gives you value, so compare odds from a number of bookmakers before taking a price. Other considerations include a horse's form, a jockey's form and a horse's previous performance at the racecourse in question.
Each-way betting allows you to bet on a horse and still get a return even if it doesn't win. For example, if you each-way runner finishes second, you will get still get a return on your bet. Your return will be shorter odds than a win bet, typically 1/5 or 1/4 of the win odds.
Live streams of races in the UK and Ireland can be watched at the best horse racing betting sites in the UK. These racing bookies also provide live streams of international racing from the likes of the USA, France and Australia. You usually need to have placed a bet or have a funded account to watch the action.