Best UK Horse Racing Betting Sites (2023)

Pool betting is experiencing a renaissance in the UK, so there is no better time to join in on the fun. The idea came into prominence in the 90s and revolves around community. All the money wagered goes into a kitty, and the winner gets it all or shares it with other winners. There are no odds involved. Betting sites often get their cut in the form of a commission.

Pool betting is mostly associated with horse racing. It is referred to as tote betting on some platforms. Among the available bets for pool betting are:

• Win/place
• Exacta
• Trifecta
• Swinger

An emerging pool betting trend is syndicate betting, where two or more players put their stakes together for a chance to share the winnings within the syndicate. This type of wagering may also come under the names “Colossus” and “jackpot” syndicates. There can be several dozen syndicates on a given site simultaneously. Here is our selection of the top sites for pool betting and syndicates.

Quinnbet

Quinnbet is an Irish bookie that only started in 2017 but now has a dedicated page for pool betting and offers more pool betting markets than most betting sites. It also hosts many syndicates, with the number ranging between events. The syndicates and prizes for joining are straightforward to find, and there is a leaderboard that shows the best performing captains.

William Hill

A household name among punters, William Hill has built a reputation over many years. It provides plenty of daily tote betting options, including the famed Scoop 6 that gives punters a chance to win big from a small stake. Horse racing punters also love William Hill for their payment options, usability, and customer support.

Boylesports

Boylesports partners with Colossus to provide pool betting. Their consolation prizes make the site’s tote betting experience more interesting. Punters can still win substantial amounts for getting a near miss. They also have a cash-out feature. Additionally, the pools betting section is straightforward to use, and customer service is available 24/7.

ThePools

ThePools offers some of the best syndicates as far as horse racing pool betting goes. They are so confident about their approach that they put “pools” in their name. They have excellent welcome offers and a VIP programme that keeps users interested.

Colossus

This site puts major emphasis on pool betting, providing some of the world’s biggest jackpots in horse racing. It has syndicates for players to join and allows punters to play solo. Colossus is so dedicated to providing the best pool betting experience that they post educational material on their blog for new punters to learn strategies.

Bet365 Horse Racing Streaming

Bet365 is the best all-around site for live streaming sports, including horse racing. The site requires users to have a funded account or place a bet at least 24 hours before the event they want to stream.

The minimum wager on the race you want to stream is 50p. You can watch at least 10,000 UK and international races, including over 400 meetings from South Africa. They don’t feature Australiasian games, though.

Coral Horse Racing Streaming

Punters love coral’s live streaming because the site has the least requirements before you can watch. All you need is an account, and you are good to go. Most events are free as long as you have a funded account, while horse races demand a bet of £1 and above to stream.

Coral also provides a straightforward interface and a multi-view service, allowing users to watch several events simultaneously. The live streaming feature is integrated with in-play betting. Punters can watch meetings from the UK and Ireland alongside other international races such as those from South Africa.

William Hill Horse Racing Streaming

WHTV, William Hill’s live streaming service, runs horse racing events across 24 racecourses in the UK. You can watch meetings from the US, Australia, and Dubai. The site has a brief guide on live streaming for PC and mobile users. They provide commentary as well.

The only requirement for accessing William Hill TV is to have an account with the bookie. Although the speed may lag in some live events, the quality is good and comes with an option to watch full screen. There is also a Live stream scheduling feature that allows punters to plan their live streaming up to seven days in advance.

Betvictor Horse Racing Streaming

Betvictor provides live horse racing streaming for races from the UK and Ireland, some from South Africa and the UAE. The requirement is that you bet at least £1 on the race you want to be eligible to watch. The site also provides replays for all UK and Ireland meetings free of charge, allowing punters to increase their knowledge of meetings.

Ladbrokes Horse Racing Streaming

This bookie offers Live Streaming for the select UK and Irish races. It is a free service that you can enjoy as long as you are signed in to your Ladbrokes account and have a positive balance. The site boasts a fast interface that may prove a lifesaver if you use a slow internet connection. One of their outstanding features when streaming on mobile is the ability to do it on a pop-out window.

Best odds guaranteed refers to when you wager on a horse before the competition begins but are also given the starting price (SP) if it happens to offer the bigger odds.

For instance, if you backed your winning horse at 4/1 (5.00) but the SP adjusted to 5/1 (6.00), your bet would be set at 5/1, which is the bigger price.

Bet365

This bookie is often the first to release the BOG offer, usually up to two days before the race. It applies to markets that are not governed by ante-post betting. Bet 365 also provides punters with great price deals that match other industry-leading bookmakers. Their BOG offer goes beyond the UK and Ireland for big meetings.

Paddy Power

Paddy Power’s Best Odds guaranteed offer goes live at 8 am on race day. Punters can land a maximum benefit of up to £50,000, although the maximum win per day is £1,000. Their BOG promotion applies to Singles & Multiples, and you have to go with a win or each-way market. Like bet365, this promotion is ineligible for ante-post bets here.

William Hill

The BOG offered on William Hill gets updated at 10 am on the day of the race, which is later than the others on the list. The offer only applies to Win and Each Way bets for singles and multiples without ante-post bets, flash odds, tote wagers, or other specials applying, which is a little disappointing. However, punters may have a great advantage if they use William Hills BOG alongside the daily William Hill Bet Boosts or Extra Place races.

Betfred

Betfred has been labelled the bonus king. Their Best Odds Guaranteed promotions go live at 8 am on the meeting day. The offer is not available in the shops, so you have to open an online account. Moreover, it is only available for horse racing. Punters on Betfred, however, can’t use this offer alongside particular Extra Place races and Lucky bets such as Lucky 15s, Lucky 63s, and Lucky 31s.

888Sport

It is unclear what time the 888Sport BOG starts reflecting on the site. Punters have to be on the lookout for the BOG logo on select races. The offer carries the usual exceptions such as ante-post wagers, tote and pool bets, and enhanced accumulators, among other specials. However, punters can still leverage some thoughtful promotions compatible with the BOG on 888sport, such as extra place races.

The staging of computerised racing of horses virtually has caught up among the betting community. It allows punters to place bets on events on horse racing even when there are no real-life meetings in action. What’s more, it allows for frequent betting, even when actual, real-life horse racing is not going on. Betting on virtual horse racing now accounts for 25% of all bets on horse racing in the UK. Here are the top sites.

Bet365

Once again, Bet365 tops our list. They deserve to take the trophy for best virtual horse racing bookie. They have been offering the product longer than other sites and boast a richer depth of meetings and betting experience.

They start races every minute, and the stream quality and commentary outshine the others. The site’s straightforward design also makes it easy to place bets. However, bet365 would not be your number one pick if you are looking for a ton of flashy features.

William Hill

Often recognised for sports betting, William Hill recently made room for virtual sports, especially horse racing and greyhounds. They provide up-to-the-minute virtual statistics on races. Their odds are competitive, too.

The horse races on William Hill kick off at a three-minute interval. The video is high definition, and there are great promotions such as odds boosts. The virtual races to expect are flat, jump, and sprint.

Paddy Power

Paddy Power’s virtual horse racing service lives up to the high reputation the site had already developed in the real sportsbook. They launch a new virtual horse race every three minutes, all day and night. The action is presented through an animated virtual stream that has life-like commentary.

Punters on Paddy Power can place the usual bets, including forecast, tricast, and race winner. Bettors also enjoy fairly competitive odds.

BetVictor

Betvictor has an impressive virtual sports section, ensuring that punters looking for virtual horse racing are catered for. The action starts every three minutes, all day and night. The races come complete with virtual animated streams and informative commentary that feel like a real track.

Betfred

The virtual horse races on Betfred begin every three minutes, perhaps because there is only one track. Nevertheless, the site features excellent graphics in 1080p. They just recently added dash horses to their virtual horse racing. You can now bet Rush go or On Demand.

Their welcome offer of £5 is not much, but they have other exciting promotions such as virtual weekly rewards. For instance, you can be rewarded 5% of your total stake, up to £100, when you wager £250 on any single week.

There are at least 80 online bookmakers licensed in the UK. Some, such as BoyleSports, started as shops almost a century ago, while others are just a few years or months old. The more experienced bookies are expected to have the best services.

However, such successful names that have been around for many years often don’t have the same drive to provide new services. After all, their style works just fine. On the flip side, novel betting sites do not have that luxury. They are much more likely to be innovative, starting with a more modern looking website. Here are the top 5 new betting sites worth their salt.

BetUK

BetUk was launched in 2012. It covers UK & Ireland races and those from America, including the big meetings such as the Grand National, Royal Ascot, and Cheltenham. There is also virtual horse racing, which you can bet on every few minutes. Their most attractive promotion is the new customers' promotion that awards £30 for staking £10. Among the popular bets on the site are each-way betting and forecast betting. 

SBK

SBK is an ambitious betting platform launched by the exchange betting operator Smarkets in 2019. It strives to offer significantly better odds than other sportsbooks. The company has a mobile app for both Android and iOS devices.

It covers all the significant Uk & Ireland horse racing meetings plus several others from Australia, France, South Africa, and the United States. Most markets are pre-race, but the site also provides ante-post and live betting options.

Thepools

Launched in 2018, thepools is another of the youngest betting sites in the UK, although its parent company had years of experience in the betting industry before taking things online. It focuses primarily on pool betting, which is not to say you won’t find other types of wagers.

Horse racing punters on thepools enjoy free bets, Acca boost, extra place races, best odds guaranteed, and a loyalty club that awards free bets. There is no support for live streaming, but in-play betting is catered for.

Tote

As the name suggests, the tote site specialises in tote-style betting, which is not so different from pool betting. It only started in 2020 – it looks to provide greater value and more exciting tote betting. This platform covers races from the UK & Ireland alongside a few other international ones such as France, Sweden, and South Africa.

They have an app for iOS devices but lack one for Android. Their payment methods, too, are limited. Other than that, they have excellent customer service and various betting options, including singles, exactas & trifectas, quadpot, placepot, and jackpot multi-leg bets.

QuinnBet

QuinnBet is a family-owned bookie that was announced in 2017 and started operating in 2018. It focuses on horse racing, providing a host of markets for the UK and Irish horse racing meetings. The odds are competitive, with horse racing offering a return of about 90.6%.

The bookie has a mobile app for Android and iOS devices and supports Live streaming for horse racing and greyhounds. Punters interested in streaming other sports may not be so lucky yet.

Horse racing is a popular sport worldwide, boasting fun-filled meetings and a massive gambling community. These are the top 10 popular horse racing events in the UK and worldwide.

The Royal Ascot

This famous event goes down in June every year. It is a British social sporting occasion that receives various top-class guests, including Royal families. The dress code for this festivity is specific, featuring suits, hats, and the finest dresses and corsets. The tickets are not easy to come by, but you are free to stream the races live and place bets.

The Grand National

Featuring 30 fences, the Grand National attracts over 600 million viewers in-person and on tv. It is an iconic steeplechase competition that has been taking place since 1839. The racecourse is welcoming, including several hospitality tents, restaurants, and nightly festivities.

Unlike the Royal Ascot, anyone can get tickets to the Grand National for as little as £57. However, you have to book your entry well in advance because the thrill of this jump race attracts many people.

Cheltenham Festival

Dating back to the 1860s, The Cheltenham Festival is among the UK's oldest and most prestigious horse racing events. This annual competition runs for 4 days, usually in March, at Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire.

There are usually about 30 races in the event, providing a huge betting opportunity. The Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle are especially considered the most prestigious hurdle and chase horses worldwide.

We collect and list exclusive Cheltenham Festival free bets & betting offers for new and existing customers with bookies pushing some of the highest value bonuses available.

Epsom Derby

The famed Derby at Epsom debuted way back in 1780 and continues to be one of horse racing’s most significant spectacles. It attracts a diverse attendance of over 100,000, among them celebrities and royalties.

It also has a few unique and exciting prizes, such as a £5,000 reward for the best-dressed lady. However, the Investec Derby, boasting an incredible prize pot of £1,5 million, is the highlight of the competition.

Kentucky Derby

One of the most popular sporting events in the United States, the Kentucky Derby, has made its mark in the world of sports. It has a prize purse of $3 million (£2.2 million). The competition dates back to 1875. It takes place on the first Saturday of May at the Churchill Downs Racetrack, Louisville. Among the most competitive races on this track is the US Triple Crown of Thoroughbred. It has been crowned the “greatest 2 minutes” of sports action.

Dubai World Cup Carnival

Some have argued this is the biggest horse racing meeting in the world. It began in 1996 and quickly made the UAE one of the top destinations for horse racing fans. The top perk of the event is its jaw-dropping $35 million prize purse. It is known to be the richest meeting in the world.

Racers stream to the city every year from January to March, during which race events run throughout. That is three months of intense horse racing action for participants, bettors, and other enthusiasts.

Pegasus World Cup

The first running of the Pegasus World cup was only as recent as 2017. The US-based event broke the record of the richest prize fund ever during its second running. Recent adjustments lowered the prize purse to $9 million and later $3million (2022), making it one of the most extravagant globally.

Qatar Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe

Also known as the Arc, this is among the most significant horse racing meetings in Europe. It takes place every first Sunday of October on the Longchamp racecourse in Paris, France. The race covers a distance of about 2.4 km, and the race track is made of turf instead of dirt, as is the standard for Europe. It has a money prize purse of €5 million (£4.2 million), making it the most extravagant flat race in Europe.

Japan Cup

This is the most prestigious horse racing event in Japan. It kicks off every year on the last Sunday of November, providing a great end-of-the-year racing thrill. The first Japan Cup was held in 1981 at the Tokyo Racecourse, Fuchu. It has a prize purse of just under $6 million. However, it does not welcome more than 10 horses that have been trained outside of Japan.

Breeders Cup

The Breeders Cup is another one for the end-of-year festivities that goes down every November in a different location within the US – although the 1996 edition was held in Canada. A series of qualifying races are carried out worldwide to make it into the Breeders Cup. 

Among the highlights of the races are mares, fillies, and juveniles. Each race takes a maximum of 14 runners. It has a prize purse of $6 million. Punters can enjoy up to 14 races that take place during this time.