Of course, our list of the best football betting sites is subjective, and just because we rate the bookie high, does not mean it will work for you. But, we hope this guide will help you choose from the best football betting sites available while avoiding the worst.
Number of Tournaments and Events Available
Before joining a betting site, you want to make sure the bookie offers a wide range of football events and markets including the leagues/competitions you want to bet on. We recommend sticking to a league you know well, as soccer is a notoriously difficult sport to predict.
The majority of betting sites will offer the top football leagues from Europe, and the big competitions, but, it is also important to make sure they offer the smaller leagues as there is less data on these leagues, and often have great potential for high-value bets.
High Football Betting Odds
One of the most important factors is the football betting margins/betting odds available on each bookie. Betting margins are essentially the amount a betting site "charges" you to place a bet, and the margins can be as low as 0% up to 12+.
We independently test a small sample of betting markets to get an idea of the betting margins on each bookie. In our tests, the European based bookmakers consistently offer the lowest margins available on football markets for both domestic and international events.
- Mr Play football margins - 3.35%
- Unibet football margins - 4.61%
- bet365 soccer margins - 4.85%
- LeoVegas football margins - 4.92%
- 888Sport football margins - 6.18%
- QuinnBet football margins - 7.14%
- Paddy Power football margins - 8.60%
- BoyleSports football margins - 8.69%
Depth of Betting Markets
After calculating the betting margins, we check to see how many betting markets are available throughout the football competitions and leagues around the world.
The best betting sites offer 300+ betting markets, player prop bets, bet builders (a feature to let you create custom bets) Asian markets, and much more. Most punters do not need this many betting markets, but, it is often a lot easier to find value in the niche markets, rather than the regular markets available on all bookies.
However, some niche markets have horrendously high betting margins compared to the popular markets, and we encourage you to stick to a market you know if you are looking for long-term sustainable profitability.
Live Football Betting Experience
The best betting sites offer fantastic in-play/live betting experiences with free live streams, cashout options and a wide variety of live betting markets throughout the match.
bet365 and Unibet are two of the best bookies for free live streaming, with both offering 1000's of live sports streams each month if you have a funded account or a bet on the match.
Also, it is handy to join a betting site that offers live notifications for events in the match, and you can turn on notifications for a wide variety of in-game events such as goals, corners, cards, halftime/fulltime result and much more.
Football Betting Special Offers and Promotions
This ultimate guide has touched on some of the special bets that are widely available at sports betting sites in Ireland above, but in reality that barely scratches the surface.
There are so many football betting special offers and promotions out there nowadays that it is impossible to list them all in one place. New deals are also being launched regularly, including exclusive no deposit free bet bonuses for new Irish customers.
Part of the reason for this is that there is so much competition in the world of online sports betting that companies always have to be offering something different to stand out.
Some promotions are more attractive than others, though, with a lot of special offers for football betting turning out to be less worthwhile than they seem at first glance.
Sifting through the various football betting special offers and promotions that can be claimed is a challenge, which is where we come in to help out.
Here are some of the most common - and the best - football promotions to look out for.
Acca Insurance: A popular promotion now is acca insurance, which sees football fans refunded on their accumulator stakes in the event of just one of their selections letting the bet down. The stake is usually returned as cash, but sometimes bookmakers pay these out as free bets.
Free bets: Most bookmakers these days offer free bets to tempt new users to sign up. But free bets can be earned by existing customers at many of Ireland's best betting sites as well. These free bets are used by betting sites as a way to reward loyalty and encourage repeat visits. One thing to keep in mind with free bets, especially those that are routinely given out to new users, is there is often a time limit on when they can be used. The winnings from free bets might also be subject to wagering requirements, which means the money has to be bet a certain number of times before it becomes available to be withdrawn from a sports betting account.
Enhanced odds/price boosts: One of the main ways that bookmakers tempt people into placing bets is through the use of enhanced odds, which might also be known as price boosts. These see prices increased for a particular bet, though there is usually a limit on the stake.
Money-back specials: A common promotion is a money-back special, which various bookmakers offer now. The stake might be returned if the game ends goalless, for example.
Early payouts: Some bookmakers that are available in Ireland, such as Betway and Paddy Power, offer early payouts on certain football bets. As an example, bets might be paid out if a team goes two goals ahead in a game, regardless of what happens in the rest of the match.
Best Odds Guaranteed: Commonly found on horse racing betting sites but increasingly offered for football too, Best Odds Guaranteed does just what the name of the promotion suggests. If a bookmaker offers a bet at a lower price than a rival, they pay out the winnings at the higher odds. Best Odds Guaranteed reduces the need for football fans to hunt around the internet to find the best price for a bet that they intend to place on the big game.