Best bookmaker for football

Leading tipster site Betting Expert compares bookmakers’ offerings for the recently reopened football leagues, exploring their markets and odds to determine the best in the UK.

Football is one of the most popular sports in the online betting world. Due to its popularity, every bookmaker in the UK offers football odds, with most  covering a huge range of tournaments and competitions across the globe.

In recent months, however, there’s been very little to offer odds on due to the sports shutdown caused by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. However, with leagues having now restarted, we decided to undertake a fresh analysis of the market.

For this review, we’ve researched and analysed the commission rates and odds – two of the most important factors for punters – at the UK’s top bookmakers.

We tested the operators displayed in the table below:

We researched the odds available on the English Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga and the Portuguese Primeira Liga. To ensure an objective and unbiased review, we looked at specific matches in each league. These were as follows:

• Premier League – Tottenham v Man United/Everton v Liverpool
• Serie A – Inter Milan v Sampdoria/Bologna v Juventus
• Bundesliga – RB Leipzig v Borussia Dortmund/Bayern Munich v Freiburg
• La Liga – Real Madrid v Valencia/Sevilla v Barcelona
• Primeira Liga – Rio Ave v Benfica/Sporting CP v Tondela

We considered the odds on specific markets, which were match result, Asian handicap, European handicap, total goals over/under and both teams to score.

We conducted our research between 15 and 19 June 2020.

Overall best bookmaker for football betting
The following results cover all of the leagues we analysed; we’ll look more closely at the individual leagues later on.

The following were our top overall bookmakers for football betting.

• Marathonbet
• Vbet
• BetVictor

Marathonbet performed extremely well in most categories. It outperformed its competitors in the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga and La Liga. It also came in second overall in our testing for Portugal’s top flight.

Vbet took second place. One of the lesser-known bookmakers on the online betting scene in the UK, many might be surprised to see it on the list. However, Vbet performed very well in many categories, particularly for Serie A, Bundesliga and La Liga betting.

In overall third place was BetVictor. Well known for its range of football odds and betting promotions, we were impressed with what this operator offered. It performed especially well in our Bundesliga, La Liga and Primeira Liga tests.

Best for English Premier League
The Premier League is one of the most popular competitions with bettors. From the data we collected for this comparison, we concluded that the following bookmakers offered the best odds and lowest commission for the Premier League:

• Marathonbet
• Betsafe
• 888sport

Marathonbet offered the lowest commission rates for the 1×2, with only 0.26% on average, and offered 2.51% on the over/under markets. For the 1×2 market, the commission rates of Marathonbet were much lower than its nearest competitors BetVictor and Vbet, who had an average commission of 3.5% in this category. Marathonbet also came in second place in the European handicap category, with 6.44% commission, and the both teams to score category, with 5.32%.

In second place for Premier League betting was Betsafe. This bookie consistently offered low commission rates, coming out on top in the both teams to score category, with an average of 5.08% commission, and in third place for Asian handicap, with 3.07%.

888sport took the final spot of our top three. Another bookmaker that is well known for its range of football markets, it offered low commission rates in most markets. This was particularly true in the European handicap market, where the average commission was 8%.

Best for Bundesliga
Most bookmakers in the UK offered a good range of odds for Bundesliga games. Our top three bookmakers for Bundesliga betting were as follows:

• Marathonbet
• Vbet
• BetVictor

As you can see, our top three for Bundesliga betting were the same as our top three overall.

Marathonbet came out on top in four of the five categories, with only Asian handicap odds missing from its repertoire.

Vbet was in second place for betting on the Bundesliga. Offering excellent odds in general, Vbet came in second place in the 1×2 market, with 2.96% average commission, European handicap with 7.92% and the over/under markets with an average of 4.25%.

Following in third place was BetVictor. We were particularly impressed by its odds and the commission rate of 2.18% in the Asian handicap market.

Best for La Liga
Our top three for La Liga betting were:

• Marathonbet
• Vbet
• BetVictor

Marathonbet once again offered the best odds and the lowest commission in most of the categories. For La Liga, it took the top spot in 1×2, with 0.29% average commission, European Handicap, with 5.10%, and the over/under markets, with 2.48%, coming second in the both teams to score category with 5.27%.

Vbet took second place with an impressive 3.03% commission in the 1×2 category, 3.46% in the over/under markets and 9.05% in the European handicap market. BetVictor once again performed well in the Asian handicap market, coming out on top with 2.36% commission. It also came in third in our results for both teams to score, with commission of 6.05%.

Best for Serie A
Betting on Italian football, Serie A specifically, is common among UK bettors. Our research found that the following bookmakers offered the best odds for Italy’s top flight.

• Marathonbet
• Vbet
• Betsafe

Marathonbet was once again number one, offering excellent commission rates of 0.22% on the 1×2 market. It also came out on top in the European handicap market, with commission of 5.10%, and second in the both teams to score category, with 5.29% commission.

Vbet came out on top in two categories for Serie A betting: both teams to score, with 4.99% commission, and over/under, with 3.80%.

Betsafe made our top three this time. It performed well across the board, with consistently good odds and low commission in all categories. Betsafe also finished fourth in our overall list.

Best for Primeira Liga
Finally, we come to the Portuguese Primeira Liga. This division might not be as popular, in terms of betting, as the others we researched, but its popularity is increasing.

Our top three bookmakers for Primeira Liga betting were:

• BetVictor
• Marathonbet
• Mr Green

Here it was BetVictor’s turn to take the top spot. The operator offered the best commission in the 1×2 category at 2.43%, and in the Asian handicap category at 2.69%. It also fared well in most other categories.

Once again, Marathonbet performed well in all categories, putting it in second place for Primeira Liga betting.

Mr Green also made its first appearance in our top three lists. It did reasonably well in all categories, with a particular nod to the over/under market, where it was in first place with commission of 5.88%.

Conclusion
With the sport of football returning, we felt it was important to take a fresh look at the best bookmakers for football betting. Our top three of Marathonbet, Vbet and BetVictor offered consistently better odds and lower commission than their competitors.

Betsafe and 888sport performed well in particular leagues and categories and finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Regular readers of our bookmaker comparisons won’t be too surprised to see Marathonbet take the top spot. This bookie also performed well in last year’s comparison of Premier League bookmakers. In 2019 Marathonbet took the top spot in that list by offering the lowest commission of 2.32% on 1×2 odds and 1.40% on the Asian handicap market.

A possible surprise inclusion this time was Vbet. It outperformed its bigger and more established rivals, offering fantastic odds on all leagues.

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