Football Betting Apps

One of the first things you’ll see when you scroll through our list of the best football betting apps is details of the sign up bonus.

The best time to bag yourself free bets or other bonuses is when you first sign up to an online bookmaker, and an attractive sign up offer can make all the difference if two betting apps are otherwise well-matched.

We encourage you to take the following factors into account when comparing betting app sign up offers:

• Total offer value (how much dosh can you actually get to play with?)
• Flexibility (are you free to use free bets or bonus funds in the way that you want?)
• Minimum deposit (how much do you need to shell out to qualify for the offer?)
• Deposit methods (which payment methods are included/excluded from the offer)
• Qualifying bet odds (how easy is it to unlock the bonus?)
• Wagering limit (how much money can you make if you successfully play through the bonus?)
• Turnover requirement (do you have to roll over your initial deposit before withdrawing bonus funds? If so, how many times?)
• Bonus expiry time (how long do you have to fulfill the bonus requirements?)

Most football betting apps (I mean, surely all of them) will offer odds on Premier League matches. However, the price that you can take on one betting app for say, Brighton to beat Manchester United, will be different to the price offered on another app.

The odds on offer are one of the most important factors whether you are a casual punter looking to place an acca or two a week, or if you are a seasoned pro with an identified edge in the market.

If you’re in the former group, by taking lower odds you’re essentially paying more to the bookmaker for the privilege of being able to place the bet. If you’re in the latter group, you’re never going to make a consistent, long-term profit if you’re taking negative-value prices.

In-play betting is a must-have for any football betting app that expects to be considered in and around the top of our rankings. There are several different factors that we look at when judging the in-play football betting credentials of each betting app we test and review.

The obvious one to start with is the availability of matches and markets. Some betting apps that do a bang up job on pre-match markets fall disappointingly short when it comes to in-play betting. Others offer a wider variety of betting markets than you could ever hope to wager on in a single match.

An increasingly important feature to supplement in-play betting is live streaming. Football live streaming on UK betting apps is limited somewhat by various TV deals, but pretty much everything other than English and Scottish league football is generally available for logged-in customers to stream on one betting app or another.

Other in-play football betting features that we check out during our app reviews include quality and ease of use of cash out functions, the speed at which odds refresh/update and the availability and quality of live match stats.

Nothing turns us off a football betting app quicker than shoddy design and a clunky or overelaborate user interface.

A betting app could offer all the markets under the sun with prices that knock competitors out of the park, but all of that is immaterial if you can’t navigate around the app, place bets and deposit/withdraw with ease.

What we like to see when we test these apps is fast loading times (both on initial startup and then between different areas of the app itself), responsive buttons, bet slips that are easy to use and to check, menus that make sense and a user-friendly account section (for the important stuff like deposits and withdrawals).

We’ll also include push notifications in this section. We like to be able to customise these so that we’re not bombarded with irrelevant content, nor do we miss out on key betting opportunities.

One of the most important factors in selecting the right football betting app is payment methods. Pretty much all UK bookies offer VISA/Mastercard debit card deposits and withdrawals but it’s the ones that go the extra mile to offer a wider range of methods that really shine.

E-wallets are super popular among British punters. They are quick and convenient and they also mean you don’t need to provide bank details directly to any bookie. PayPal is the biggie, but others like Neteller, Skrill and Apple Pay are welcome sights on any betting app’s payment methods page.

When you’re looking for a new betting app to sign up to, it’s worth taking the time to check which payment methods are excluded from any welcome offers. You’ll often find that certain e-wallet deposits do not qualify for bonuses, but debit card deposits do.

Let’s not forget that when you’re using a football betting app, you’re putting your hard earned cash at stake and providing personal details to that bookie so that they can offer you services.

With all that in mind, it’s pretty clear that any app you use should be safe and secure. Rest assured that any online bookie whose app we feature on bettingapps.com is licensed to operate in Great Britain by the Gambling Commission.

Note to Android users in particular: It’s also worth us pointing out the importance of only downloading apps from official sources. In most cases, this means heading to the Google Play Store to find and install football betting apps.

It’s annoying when things don’t work quite how you expected, or when things just plain go wrong. It’s even more frustrating when this happens and there’s nobody available for you to speak to about it.

For football betting apps, the absolute minimum level of customer service that we expect to see is an extensive FAQ section on the app and an email address or contact form.

The betting apps that are in the ‘Champions League’ for customer service are the ones that offer the above, in addition to telephone support and live chat (ideally both available 24/7).

You can find information about the customer service options available on our in-depth reviews of each app.