Bet In-Play – Best Sites for Live Betting 2020


Bet In-Play – Top Live Betting Sites 2024

Live Betting, also known as in-running, or in-play, has added a potentially profitable twist to traditional sports betting. The first bookmakers to offer this to players were the betting exchanges, Betfair, BetDaq, and Matchbook, but it is now widespread across the sportsbook industry. With so many betting websites available today, it can be a challenge trying to choose the one which offers the best Live Betting opportunities – so how can you narrow down the options and make an informed decision on which one provides the ultimate service for fans of in-play betting? Where will you find the most value in Live Betting odds? We have all the answers for you in the list below.

Best Sites For Live Betting Mar 2024

Bookmaker
Bonus
Website
£10 Money Back Bet as a free bet
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When you decide to sign-up with Bwin, you’ll be awarded a welcome bonus of £10 money back as a free bet if your first sports bet loses.

£30 in free bets when you bet £10
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To claim your bonus, simply register, log in then deposit £10; place a bet of £10 or more at odds of 1/2 or higher then get your £30 free bets plus a £10 casino bonus. Minimum deposit of £10 using deposit code 30FB - A qualifying bet is a ‘real money’ stake of at least £10 placed on any sports market - Minimum odds of 1/2 (1.5) - Free bets credited upon qualifying bet settlement and expire after 7 days - Free bet stakes not included in returns - Casino Bonus must be claimed within 7 days • To withdraw bonus/related wins, wager bonus amount x40 within 14 days • Wagering req. vary by game • Withdrawal restrictions and Full T&C’s apply

100% deposit bonus up to £50
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Min. deposit £10. Only debit or credit card. You must enter the code MB50. Deposit & bonus amount must be wagered 6 times (min. odds 4/5).

£40 in free bets
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Promo code SPORTS40a. 1st sports bet of £10+ at Odds of 2.00+. £30 free bet paid in 48 hours of settlement, valid for 7 days. Full T&Cs apply.

What Is Live Betting?

Live Betting is different from traditional sports betting, as it allows you to place a wager after the start of the event. In the past, once the game had begun, there was no way to take advantage of what you were seeing unfold, by wagering some money on your predicted  result. In-play betting gives you that opportunity, and the level of excitement it adds to the process is palpable.

What Are the Benefits?

One clear advantage of betting while watching a game is the removal of the usual guesswork and statistic searching you have to do beforehand. You can make gains as the odds change throughout the process by placing wagers based on what you see with your own eyes. The bookmaker analyses every action, and the odds change frequently, reacting to their algorithm’s predictions of the current most likely outcomes.

How Does Live Betting Work?

The process of Live Betting starts in the same way as a standard pre-game wager, but there are a few crucial differences we will explore together now. Let’s take Football as an example, but you can imagine how it works for almost all other sports.

Bet In-Play Process

When the match kicks off, the odds start to fluctuate based on the events on the field of play. Minor happenings such as one side retaining more of the possession than the other will begin to impact the odds in that team’s favour. The number of dangerous attacks or completed passes could be another factor. Imagine if the team’s most significant player takes a knock; that will reflect in the live odds, too.

Betting Suspended

This is the action taken by the bookmaker in the event of a potentially game-changing incident that makes one team more likely to score. It suspends all betting options until it has been resolved, and the odds will update once the algorithm has parsed the new information. This usually happens in the event of a corner, free-kick, or penalty as those could affect the outcome of the game.

Another time you will see this happen is when a player is booked or sent off. In this situation, the odds will swing in favour of the team with more players left on the field. All these factors can create value for you, the punter, if you understand how to take advantage.

Cash Out

Another area of in-play betting is the ability to cash out. Say you backed a team to win who had long odds and were the underdog. Your team is winning, and there are still 30 minutes left in the game. The pressure starts to build, and you can see your team slipping up and losing the lead.

This is when some bookmakers give you a safety guard in the form of a cash-out. The odds will still be in favour of your backed team, and the betting site will offer you a profit. Of course, if your chosen club goes on to victory against your prediction, then you lose out on some winnings, but the feeling of spotting your potential downfall and then cashing out early is sweet when you call it right.

Which Sites Have the Best Live Betting Odds?

Every Live Betting site has a variety of odds available, and some offer better value than others. It can vary between sports, with some bookmakers focusing on one particular market, while others put their priorities elsewhere. In our experience, the following sites provide their players with the best Live Betting odds. You also need to know which betting sites have the best Live Betting offers.

William Hill

William Hill is one of the best-established bookmakers in the UK and has been around since long before the world of online betting. They offer a competitive welcome bonus to new players as well as incentives and event specials for existing customers. The William Hill site is one of the most user-friendly, and they are rated as one of the best in the business for  odds value. They offer an odds boost promotion on Football accumulators, either pre-match or when betting in-play.

Unibet

Unibet offers live streaming on Football across the top leagues globally, and they have a host of offers and events available for players. Live Football betting is a focus for Unibet, and they hold a variety of regular promotions. They often have a game of the week feature where you can bet in-play and receive a 25% bonus. All you need to do is login and opt-in to the promo when placing your live bet, and you could win with your odds boosted by a quarter.

Betfair

One of the innovators of in-play betting, Betfair, still boasts some of the most favourable odds on the market. When you sign up to Betfair, you are joining a betting exchange, which means the odds are directly related to how much money has been wagered. This can give savvy players an advantage and is the reason value odds are much easier to find on Betfair. You can be the bookie by betting and laying on a given result as the odds change throughout the game.

Bet365

Bet365 made a name for itself with its range of live-action that you can watch right on their website. Although they don’t offer an odds boost for Live Betting, the sheer range of matches on which they have markets makes them an attractive proposition for in-play gamblers. They have various events based offers and other bonuses throughout the year, so keep an eye out for value odds as they become available on Bet365.com

888sport

888sport is another Live Betting site that offers players the chance to place wagers once an event is in-play. They offer an odds boost to new customers only, which is not as generous as some of the other websites. The usability of their website and special event offers are the main attraction for signing up. We like the way they treat customers, and you can often find the best value odds if you look in the right places on their site.

Which Sites Offers the Best Variety of Sports for Live Betting?

Variety is the spice of life, and so it is with Live Betting sites. There’s not much point being able to bet in-play if the sports choices are limited. So how can you know which sites have the most comprehensive coverage of bet in-play sports? We have done the work for you, so read on to find out who covers the most.

Betfair

Betfair was the first company to offer betting in-play on live sporting events and have provided the service to players since 2001. They have one of the most extensive lists of available markets, and the opportunities for Live Betting vary between 15 and 30 open markets at any one time.

Ladbrokes

Ladbrokes has been around the high street for years and was one of the first bookmakers to make the move online. They have the best in-play market available for boxing and boast one of the biggest ranges of open markets. You can find more than 30 sports covered on their website, which is phenomenal.

William Hill

William Hill is not only one of the best for odds; it also competes when it comes to the variety of sports available to bet on. William Hill matches Ladbrokes with over 30 sports market available, so you can’t fail to find something to keep you entertained daily. They have so many sports for you to get involved with that it can be overwhelming making the right choice.

Bet Victor

Bet Victor has less than the others at around 15 sports available. This is by no means feels a lack of options, and they make up for it with the range of different markets you can bet on for each sport, such as next throw-in, next corner, and many others. They also have one of the best welcome offers on the market for new customers.

Coral

Coral is another significant player and no stranger to the UK betting scene, and they are still one of the most prominent bookmakers on the high street. Although their sports offering is smaller than some of the competition, they are still one of the best for Live Betting. In-play betting on Coral is a fantastic experience from start to finish, and you can watch almost anything live on their site.

Best Sites for Live Betting on Football

Football is one of the best sports for Live Betting due to the fact that so many things can affect the outcome of the game as it unfolds. The secret to successful Live Football Betting is watching the match and judging the momentum of a given side. That makes being able to view the game the most critical factor for sites striving to be number one. Let’s take a look at which bookmakers offer the broadest options for streaming.

William Hill is the stand out site for Live Betting on Football. They cover many of the top leagues included every La Liga and Bundesliga match, and you can find a whole host of options to place wagers and observe the action as it happens.

The next best choice for Live Football Betting is Ladbrokes. The range of games they have available on a given day is unprecedented. As we touched on, they have a more limited variety of sports, but for Football, you’d be hard-pushed to find a better site.

Our third pick for Live Betting on Football is Unibet, and that is down to the range of leagues and cups you can stream on their website. Unibet also has one of the most intuitive sites of all the online bookmakers, and it is a pleasure to gamble with them.

Can You Make Money from Live Betting?

This is the million-dollar question and is not straightforward to answer as your success is directly related to your experience, knowledge, research, and understanding of how the action unfolding in front of you could affect the result. There are a few things you can do to improve the chances of being profitable, and we will take a look at those factors now.

Realistic Budget

When gambling, you should only ever wager what you can afford to lose. When working out how much you want to bet, you should treat it as an expense. Never place wagers that are out of your range of available funds. Being unrealistic can lead to severe problems further down the line, and you should never approach gambling as a way to fix your financial shortcomings.

Never Chase Losses

The quickest way to lose a lot of money is by trying to win back your losses. There are smart ways to approach this, and if you follow a strict budget, you should not end up in the position of loss chasing. You may think you can gain back your balance by placing ever-increasing wagers, but this is a route to a place where all the fun is lost. Keeping on top of your emotions and having personal discipline is essential for making money from Live Betting.

Use your Experience

The more wagers you place within your budget, the more you will learn about reading a sporting event as it occurs. It’s like any other skill in life, and practice will allow you to spot patterns and gradually improve your return over time. If you have been following a team or player and have experienced how they react to certain situations, you can use that knowledge to spot value in the odds. This is the most crucial skill needed to keep yourself in profit over a more extended period.

Use Tipsters

Of course, some of the Live Betting tips are better than others, but you can find value in the information offered by successful tipsters. There are thousands of options for free tips that can be found through a quick google search, and some are worth signing up for. The best approach is to try as many of the free ones as you can. Often the premium sites will offer a free tip option to entice new subscribers.

Do your homework and make sure their stated returns match up to reality. If it seems too good to be true then it probably is, but there is great value in finding a good position and gleaning an insight or two.

Top 5 Live Betting Tips for Beginners

Let’s take a closer look at crucial tips for in-play betting beginners. If you follow these Live Betting tips, you will be armed with the knowledge you need to start winning more often. We have tried and tested these steps, and although there’s a lot more to learn, this will get you started.

1.  Early Upsets

This is a fantastic way to play the odds in your favour and give yourself a chance of winning. Before your chosen event starts, take a look at who the favourite is and keep note. In team sports, this will often give you a large group of wagering options.

When you see one of those favourites go behind unexpectedly, navigate to that event, and watch to see who has the momentum with them. If it looks like the pre-event favourite will come back into it, you can place a bet on them at much better value odds than before the game started.

2.  Analyse the Stats

We have touched on this, but you must do your homework to be successful at Live Betting. Look at the league tables, recent results, past meetings, when goals/points are usually scored by a team, and even the amount of recent events that team or player has played in.

All these are the perfect indicators to guide you pre-wager, and you can then watch the event live to see if you made the right call. This is a skill that takes time to master but pays off in a big way over the long-term.

3.  Find Boosted Odds

This can mean placing various wagers across multiple sports bookmakers, but it can make all the difference to your final return. It’s worth taking the time to understand how often you can activate the various offers and what that means to your payback on a successful bet.

It’s worth having more than one option open while you observe the game or event, and it allows you to see the differences in opinion across the various providers. You can sometimes get an insight from one bookmaker that will enable you to take advantage of another’s better odds.

4.  Cover Your Bases

We have all been there. You are watching the match, you have a wager on, and you are  winning, but it looks like your chosen team is starting to slow down or make mistakes that could cost you. This is the time to see what your profit will be if you win, and then take a percentage of that to back another outcome that you feel the momentum suggests is likely.

We have saved many a late bet on the win by backing the draw at better odds, and it adds another level to the experience as a whole. This is something you need to get to grips with to win more frequently when Live Betting.

5.  Be Prepared to Cash Out

The ability to cash out can both be a blessing and a curse, and can add emotions and indecision that you don’t need when Live Betting. We have hovered over that button a million times before, only to then lose out to a last-minute goal or point scored. The bookmakers know this, and it is the reason they offer you this opportunity. It gives them a chance to recuperate some of their losses on a mistake in their calculations.

More often than not, cashing out is an intelligent thing to do. It takes some practice, but you can find value when the outcome you have predicted starts to look in doubt, late in the event. From experience, we have regretted not cashing out on numerous occasions, and if the offer looks good then take it without a second thought.

The Verdict

In-play betting adds an extra dimension to gambling on your favourite sport, and you can gain an edge on the bookmaker by doing it more effectively. Finding the best Live Betting sites can be a challenge, so be sure to shop around and try out more than one. It often makes sense to have multiple accounts and to keep abreast of the latest Live Betting offers to add some extra value to your wagers.

The best sites must have value odds, a user-friendly platform, a wide variety of sports markets and the ability to live stream, to curate a fantastic experience. Don’t settle for a provider that can’t show you the games you want to follow live. Remember to do your research and follow our top five tips to success, and you will never look back. Live Betting is both challenging and rewarding if you take the time to get in the know.

With a bit of practice, dedication, and discipline, you can turn Live Betting into a profitable and entertaining activity. Always gamble responsibly and remember to learn from your mistakes and work on your strategy. With the right experience and correct reading of an event as it evolves, you can turn a decent profit through Live Betting.