Best bookmakers for sports coverage
While football pulls in the largest number of punters, there are plenty of other sports that attract bettors. Leading tipster site bettingexpert.com evaluates which bookmakers offer the widest range of sports.
There are many elements that contribute to punters selecting the best bookmaker for their betting. While odds, markets and complementary features such as live streaming are part of the equation, the sports on offer are just as important.
The common belief that most bookmakers offer essentially the same product with incidental differences can often turn out to be the case. But for those looking to bet on more obscure sports, the breadth of sports on offer from bookmaker to bookmaker comes into play.
In this month’s analysis we decided to take a look at the range of sports available to bet on at the industry’s top bookmakers. In this analysis we considered the sports on offer at the following bookmakers:
- 10bet
- 188bet
- 888sport
- BetAtHome
- Bet365
- Betfair Sportsbook
- Betfred
- BetBright
- Betsafe
- BetVictor
- Betway
- Boylesports
- ComeOn
- Coral
- Energybet
- Genting
- Ladbrokes
- LeoVegas
- Marathonbet
- Matchbook
- NetBet
- PaddyPower
- Skybet
- Sportingbet
- Titanbet
- Unibet
- William Hill
- Winner Sport
We surveyed each bookmaker in our study daily from Monday 5 November to Thursday 8 November, collating the number of sports with odds on offer. (We also included non-sports categories such as entertainment, politics and entertainment sports, for example, professional wrestling).
- American football
- Athletics
- Australian football
- Badminton
- Bandy
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Beach soccer
- Beach volleyball
- Biathlon
- Bowls
- Boxing
- Chess
- Cricket
- Curling
- Cycling
- Cyclo-cross
- Darts
- Entertainment
- Esports
- Financials
- Floorball
- Football
- Futsal
- Gaelic hurling
- Gaelic football
- Golf
- Greyhounds
- Handball
- Hockey
- Horse racing
- Ice hockey
- MMA
- Motor sports
- Netball
- Rowing
- Rugby league
- Rugby union
- Olympics
- Politics
- Skiing
- Ski jumps
- Snooker/pool
- Squash
- Surfing
- Swimming
- Table tennis
- Tennis
- Trotting
- Volleyball
- Water polo
- Weightlifting
- Winter sports
- WWE
Popular sports
So which sports are covered by each bookmaker in our analysis? As you might expect the following sports are currently available at each bookmaker:
- Boxing
- Golf
- Snooker/pool
- American football
- Basketball
- Cricket
- Football
- Ice hockey
- Tennis
While we would expect each of these sports to be available across the industry, it’s perhaps something of a surprise that there are only nine sports offered across the board. However, it’s safe to say that the majority share of any bookmaker’s revenue would come from these nine sports.
We should also note that while some bookmakers do not currently offer odds for sports such as rugby league, rugby union, Australian football or Olympic sports, for example, it is likely that they offer odds for these sports when major tournaments approach or are running.
The best bookmakers for sports coverage
Before we begin detailing our top ranked bookmakers for sports coverage, we would like to note that there was a fine line, only a matter of a few sports, between the top ranked bookmaker all the way down to bookmakers finishing mid-table.
With that being said, at the completion of our data collection and analysis, the best bookmaker for sports coverage was Coral. Through our research Coral offered 38 of the 54 sports offered across all bookmakers. In second place, just one sport short, were both bet365 and Energybet.
There are 24 sports that each of our top three bookmakers offer. These are badminton, boxing, cycling, darts, golf, MMA, motor racing, snooker/pool, table tennis, tennis, American football, Australian football, baseball, basketball, cricket, esports, Gaelic football, hurling, handball, ice hockey, netball, rugby league, volleyball and, of course, football.
Which sports do our top bookmakers offer exclusive of each other? While Coral currently offers athletics, squash, beach volleyball, curling, field hockey and rowing, by comparison bet365 is offering surfing, bandy, floorball, futsal and water polo, and Energybet is offering biathlon, chess, skiing and ski jumps.
Best bookmakers for team sports
Tied for first place in team sports coverage were bet365 and Coral. Of the 25 team sports in our list, bet365 and Coral currently offer odds for 20. There are 16 team sports that both bet365 and Coral offer. Where do they differ? Bet365 currently offers odds for bandy, floorball, futsal and water polo, while Coral for beach volleyball, curling, field hockey and rowing.
Tied for second place were Energybet, Marathonbet and Betway, each covering 19 of the 25 team sports in our list, while just off the pace with 18 was Betfair Sportsbook.
Best bookmakers for individual sports
When it comes to sports that are traditionally pursued and played by individuals, the top bookmakers were 888sport, Unibet and Sportingbet, each covering 18 of the 26 individual sports in our list. In second place was LeoVegas and in joint third place, Coral, Energybet, ComeOn and NetBet.
Next month – bookmaker of the year
In December we will collate our monthly reports and declare our bookmaker of the year. We’ve compared the industry’s leading bookmakers over the previous 11 months, taking a look at everything from banking options to social media, from customer service to live streaming, terms and conditions to responsible gambling and much more. Who will be our bookmaker of the year?
About bettingexpert.com
Providing expert tips and in depth betting theory, bettingexpert.com is the world’s biggest social network of sports betting tipsters. Its global community of experts compete for prizes by sharing their strongest tips on upcoming matches across 25 different sports to help millions of sports bettors place knowledge-supported bets, with the best odds available from a variety of bookmakers. Betting Expert is owned by Better Collective, the leading developer of educational platforms within the igaming industry.