Supernice is dedicated to helping players find a safe and fun gaming experience. Our team of reviewers have spent countless hours testing the games at almost all UK licensed gambling sites, and we’ve come up with our list of the best. So whether you’re a roulette fan or a slots hero, a poker guru or a bingo queen, or even if you prefer a good old fashioned bet, we can tell you the best places to spin those reels.
Note: Unlike some other websites, we only recommend gambling sites that are fully licensed in the UK by the UK Gambling Commission.
10Bet is operated by Ocean Star Limited and was first launched in 2003. It is a Swedish company, although its headquarters are in Malta. Thanks to a Remote Bookmaker’s Licence in Ireland, 10Bet can operate on the Emerald Isle as well as across Britain and Europe. Licensed by the Gambling Commission, you know you’re getting a good experience if you choose to place your bets here. In 2020, the company’s revenue hit £6 million, which isn’t even close to some of the bigger boys but is a very respectable amount for a relatively small and young company.
In 2019, Fresh Awards gave 10Bet an award for their Design and Branding, which tells you something about what you’ll get from the website. Later in the same year, the site was shortlisted for a Graphics design award. It would be untrue to suggest that 10Bet is the most exciting website that you’re going to use for your betting, but it is very clean and minimalist and that will very much appeal to some. You are unlikely to be overwhelmed by the wealth of graphics being thrown at you, which is something that a lot of people will be very appreciative of.
888 Holdings, the company behind 888, was founded in 1997 by Israeli brothers Avi and Aaron Shaked alongside fellow brothers Shay and Ron Ben-Yitzhak. Back then it was called Virtual Holdings Limited, but it was created in order to take advantage of the emerging online market. The company’s first website, Casino-on-Net, was launched straight away, with others following over the next few years. Nowadays, there is not much that isn’t offered by 888, with each of the various things that you’re most likely to want to play located on its own site.
They are all linked together, of course, which can be confusing if you haven’t used the sites before. The good news is that 888 have opted for really clear, simplistic navigation of the markets that are on offer, so you’ll be able to get around nice and easily and find what it is that you’re looking to bet on without any issue. The sites are big and bold, with different colours schemes for each of them so you’ll know what it is that you’re looking at each time you load up your chosen option and try to place a bet. The options are numerous regardless of what you’re wanting to bet on.
Founded by Fred and Peter Done in 1967, the brothers got the money that they needed to open their first betting shop thanks to a winning bet on England’s victory in the World Cup the year before. What began life as a single shop located in Salford, Greater Manchester, grew to become one of the biggest betting shops in the country. By the July of 2017, Betfred operated more than 1,650 shops around the United Kingdom, which is pretty impressive growth considering the amount owed to a Russian linesman who called it a goal 50 years earlier.
Fred Done is a well-known Manchester United supporter, which has cost him a lot of money over the years. The company became the first to payout early on a league title win, for example, when they paid out on the Red Devils wining in 1998, only for Arsenal to pip them to the title. He did it again in 2012, with Manchester City then winning on goal difference. As well as football, Betfred are also a good site for horse racing, sponsoring a large number of races over the years and briefly owning the Tote when the government decided to sell it off in a deal worth £265 million.
Using Betfred’s site is nice and easy on account of the fact that there is a bar on the lefthand side outlining all of the things that you can bet on. It means that whatever is the most popular event at the time is just a click or two away, all laid out nicely. There is not much you won’t be able to bet on with Betfred, thanks to most subjects being covered in depth. If you want to, you can even get in touch with the company directly and ask for odds of you can’t see the subject that you want to bet on in their list and the traders will take a look and make you an offer.
The company that BetVictor grew from was founded in 1946 by William Chandler, the owner of Walthamstow Stadium at the time. Despite numerous changes since then, including rebrands to the likes of VC Bet and Victor Chandler, there is still a tie to that original company. You will almost certainly have heard of BetVictor, if not because of the amusing adverts that have been made over the years then thanks to the fact that they have sponsored some major sporting events over the years. They’ve also had deals with the likes of Liverpool and Fulham Football Clubs, for example.
In September 2021, BetVictor confirmed that it had partnered with a company called Quantum Metric, with the aim being that they could look to develop more consumer-centric products. It is fair to say, therefore, that BetVictor know how to offer their customers a good experience and aim a lot of products at them. The business has long been at the forefront of change and improvement for the gambling industry, with some believing that their move to Gibraltar in 1998, which kick-started a move their for the industry in general, was largely the cause of Gordon Brown abolishing gambling tax.
If you want to use BetVictor’s services then you’re likely to enjoy an experience that is aimed at pleasing the customer. As a result, the website is simple to use and clean in its setup. It declares itself to be a ‘betting site done right,’ which is something that you’ll have to decide for yourself. That being said, the millions of customers that BetVictor boasts suggest they might not be too far off. You can use the likes of the ‘Sports Betting Calculator’ that the website offers, for example, allowing you to work out potential winnings before you even sit down and place a bet.
Given the fact that Betway was founded in 2006, it is fair to say that the company is one of the younger ones on our list. The fact that it doesn’t have the same pedigree as some others doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth looking at, though. With offices in London, Guernsey, Malta and Cape Town, this is a company that boasts global appeal. It has a relationship with the Professional Players’ Federation, which is aimed at promoting the interests of sports people in the United Kingdom, so there is a suggestion there that it knows what sports people are good at.
If you’ve watched any Premier League football in recent years then you’ll likely have spotted BetWay’s name thanks to its sponsorship of West Ham United. That isn’t the only thing that it has been involved with sponsorship-wise, though, as fans of the National Hockey League will known only too well. You might also have spotted the company’s branding if you’ve ever tuned into the Twenty20League of South Africa. One of the claims to fame of Betway is that it paid out on the biggest jackpot in the world at the time, with more than £13 million going in October of 2015.
Betway’s site is really clean and simple to use, meaning that you should be able to find whatever it is you’re wanting to bet on without too much hassle. There is a list of sports on the lefthand side of the sports homepage, for example, whilst tabs at the top can take you to other sections of the site easily and quickly. The depth of the markets offered means that you’ll almost certainly be able to find whatever it is that you’re hoping to place a wager on, though it is worth pointing out that some sports naturally have better coverage than others, as you’d expect.
An Irish company that was founded in 1982, Boylesports was started by John Boyle thanks to a shop that he opened in County Armagh in Northern Ireland. It grew slowly initially, with just 77 shops open by 2004, with the 100th shop opening two years later. A number of different takeovers followed, unclosing a strategic takeover of William Hill shops in 2011 that saved 65 jobs. In the July of 2017, John Boyle moved to the role of Executive Chairman, with Conor Gray taking over as the Chief Executive Officer. Just over a year later and the firm’s 250th shop was opened.
The company didn’t enter the UK market until the June 2019, which was the point at which Boylesports bought Wilf Gilbert’s 13 shops. That didn’t mean that the company was forgetting about Northern Ireland, with 33 shops bought from William Hill in the January of 2020 to ensure that it became the island Ireland’s biggest retail bookmaker. In November of the following year, that position was solidified thanks to the takeover of Tully, taking the total number of shops throughout the island to 268. The company has continued to grow over the years, making it an impressive betting site.
Perhaps because of the other well-known Irish bookmaker using green as its primary colour, Boylesports offers a website that looks fresh thanks to its use of blue and white more than anything else. The various sports and other things offered sit down the lefthand side in a simple system that gives quick access to the most popular things that customers tend to want. The rest of the page is dominated by In-Play events, whilst you can also opt to go straight to the next races due to go off or a selection of virtual horse or dog races that you can then bet on.
When Joe Coral founded his bookmaking business in 1926, he couldn’t possibly have predicted what would become of the world of gambling, nor just how massive Coral would grow to be. As well as running a pitch at racecourses, Coral, who was born Joseph Kagarlitski, worked with Tom Bradbury-Pratt to run speedway meetings and even opened a West End credit office. Before he branched out into betting offices, Coral had pitches at a wealth of different greyhound racing venues. All of which should tell you the sort of thing to expect if using Coral’s services.
Obviously the business has grown beyond all recognition since those early days, thanks in no small part to the fact that there have been numerous takeovers and mergers involving Coral. One of the most obvious ones involves working with Ladbrokes, which acquired Gala Coral in 2016 before GVC Holdings, later Entain, bought them both in 2018. The company has been involved in some clever advertising campaigns over the years, such as when brand ambassadors were dressed as robbers and ‘stole’ customers from their rival bookmakers, seeing a 7% conversion rate for new customers.
The site itself is relatively clean, concentrating on the numerous different sports that are offered to punters. You will find all of the ones that you expect to see alongside the likes of hockey, netball and bowls. In other words, there is plenty for you to get your teeth into if you’re keen on betting on something slightly off the beaten track in terms of the more mainstream sports. One thing worth mentioning is that Coral still has real-life betting shops, so you can even link your offline account to your online one when you’re placing bets in real life.
If you were to launch a bookmakers in the modern world there is a good chance that someone working in branding would tell you not to include to the words ‘lad’ and ‘broke’ in the title. Ladbrokes, though, was founded in 1886 and was named after Ladbroke Hall, where the founders, Messers Schwind and Pennington, worked as commission agents. In 1902 the operation moved to London and for a period the company’s clients were exclusively drawn from the aristocracy. It is fair to say that things have moved on since then, so you can place a bet with them now too.
Over the years, Ladbrokes’ interests have changed and moved, such as in 1986 when it bought Texas Homecare, which was a chain of DIY stores. They also owned Hilton Hotels for a while, so it is fair to say that they have enjoyed a diverse past. The betting side of things has never been forgotten, though, with mergers with the likes of Vernons Football Pools and Coral having taken place. With that in mind, the experience that you’ll get with Ladbrokes isn’t exactly a world away from what you might have enjoyed if you’ve used Coral’s site at any point.
That being said, the two brands are run as separate entities and there is something about the Ladbrokes site that is a little bit more bright and cheerful than Coral’s. The layout is similar, though, including the list of all of the sports offered down the righthand side of the homepage. As with Coral, the presence of real-life bookmakers shops means that Ladbrokes offer you the chance to link your real-life play with your online betting, collecting rewards and getting the benefit of being an online bookmaker with actual shops, exactly as you’d expect them to do.
When Anders Ström founded Unibet in 1997, he did so out of his home in the London area of Earl’s Court. Initially, the company took bets over the phone, with the first website not launched until 1999. It soon became Unibet Group PLC, getting its first overseas gambling licence from Malta. It expanded quickly in the years that followed, appointing Puntus Lesse as the Chief Executive Officer and achieving more than 300,000 registered users across over 100 countries by 2004. That was also the year in which Unibet became listed on the Swedish Stock Exchange for the first time.
The company made a number of acquisitions over the next couple of years, including buying the Australian brand Betchoice and the online platform of the British bookmaker Stan James. The company rebranded as the Kindred Group in 2016, allowing for a new multi-brand strategy to follow. Expansion continued, with more than a million registered users being achieved and a decision to launch Unibet in Pennsylvania. At the same time, sponsorship of the likes of the Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and others ensured the company’s name became well-known.
In 2006, 2008 and 2009, Unibet was labelled as the Best Sports Betting Operator, giving you a sense of what you should expect if you decide to use the company’s website. It is a clean, easy to navigate website, with green and white being the predominant colours to ensure that you can see exactly what it is that you’re looking for. There are decent-sized icons to help you find the most popular sports with a single click, to say nothing of the likes of upcoming events and streaming, for example. They offer betting guides and a bet calculator, in order to ensure you place the wagers that work for you.
The UK is a nation of gamblers, but contrary to popular belief, just because you’re a gambler doesn’t mean that you spend all of your money on your favourite pastime. In fact, the average British gambler spends just 11% of their monthly leisure budget on gambling which is roughly the same that they spend on getting take aways delivered.
Category | % of total | Average Spend Per Person Per Month |
---|---|---|
Media / TV | 12.29% | £47.53 |
Eating Out | 11.81% | £45.67 |
Holidays | 11.67% | £45.14 |
Food Delivery | 11.37% | £43.97 |
Gambling | 10.69% | £41.34 |
Lunch / Snacks | 7.56% | £29.24 |
Drinking | 7.27% | £28.11 |
Flights | 4.02% | £15.55 |
Hotels | 4.00% | £15.46 |
Hobbies | 2.40% | £9.27 |
Other | 16.91% | £65.40 |
When you consider that this data only includes those that made at least one real money bet during the year, it shows that, for the majority of us, at least, gambling is just another form of entertainment.
Part of the reason why gambling sites, particularly UK ones, are sometimes vilified is because of horror stories in the news of gamblers who have taken this too far. Just like many other forms of entertainment, gambling can be addictive and lead to serious negative consequences if it gets out of hand.
At Supernice, we’re all about just having a good time. We’re players ourselves who like to place the odd £10 bet on the football, sit down at a low stakes poker table or have a few cheeky spins on the slots. We also want you to have a good time. So in order to keep things fun, stick to our golden rules: