Best Sports to Bet on in the UK 2024

Dan Fitch

Dan Fitch

Pro punter

A writer and editor for some of the top names in the gambling industry for nearly 20 years, Dan also works as a freelance sports journalist for publications and websites such as ESPN, FourFourTwo and LiveScore.

All posts by Dan Fitch

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We independently review betting sites. Sign-ups through our links may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you, this never influences our listings’ order.

We are going to analyse the best sports to bet on. Our aim is to highlight the sports that hit that sweet spot, between being popular with fans, well-covered by bookmakers and providing opportunities to make profit. Read on to learn more.

What are the Best Sports to Bet on?

In this opening section, we’re going to go through what we believe to be the best sports to bet on today. As we said in our introduction, the list is made up of the most popular sports to bet on, which are covered in depth by betting sites and present a good chance to make profits.

1. Football

Go to any UK-focused bookmaker and football betting is likely to be their main priority. Here are some of the most popular markets that you’ll find when betting on the beautiful game.

Football is the most popular form of sports betting. It is a sport where many fans consider themselves to be an expert. For that reason, it can be difficult to find value betting markets for football matches that take place in the biggest competitions. Whether it’s the Premier League or international competition, there’s huge interest.

Yet there are more obscure leagues, with teams every bit as dominant as Manchester City, available at bigger prices. Find your niche and betting on football can be very profitable, with a huge range of pre-match and live markets, giving you the chance to find an edge. Here are the pros and cons of football betting.

2. Horse Racing

Traditionally, bookmaking businesses were built upon the sport of kings and it still remains as one of the popular betting sports at bookies. Here are some of the main types of wagering available at horse racing betting sites.

More than any other sport, horse racing and the UK betting industry go hand-in-hand, with neither able to exist without the other. With so many meetings taking place every day, not just in the UK, but also in Ireland and around the world, bettors never need to wait long before the next big race.

It’s a sport that has popular events such as the Grand National for casual punters to have a fun bet, yet also provides the platform for serious players to make a living from gambling. Understand the form and the impact conditions can have, to see your profitability soar. Here are the pros and cons of betting on the horses.

3. Cricket

Cricket is one of the UK’s favourite sports and provides a year-round schedule of action based around the various forms of the game. Here are the biggest cricket betting markets.

These days, cricket provides more variety for punters than most sports are capable of. For those into the long-haul there’s international Test and County Championship matches. While for those wanting some faster action, there’s Twenty20 and One Day games. They’re unique enough to almost qualify as different sports.

We’d recommend specialising in one certain type of cricket when betting on it, depending on whether you prefer the slow strategy of the longer format, or the rapid-fire price swings of the shorter version. Here are the pros and cons of cricket betting.

4. Tennis

This sport is another staple of bookmakers, with multiple tennis matches to bet on taking place every day, throughout the year. Here are some of the top betting options for tennis.

When it comes to individual sports, tennis is a smart pick for punters. For one, it provides a near constant supply of matches to bet on. With multiple tournaments starting on every Monday and ending on the Sunday, every single week, across the world, this is one sporting calendar that’s packed with action.

Having only two outcomes in the match result market is helpful for punters, as can be the quick swings in the odds. Here are the pros and cons of betting on tennis as our experts see them.

5. American Football

Over in the US, this is about as big as it gets for betting, with both the NFL and college football being hugely popular. It’s much enjoyed in the UK too and these are the main markets that you can expect to find when betting on this sport.

Unlike some of the other sports betting options on this list, American football has a relatively slim schedule. For one, it’s not commonly played outside of the US, so you are tied to the American calendar. Though with college football to enjoy alongside the NFL, you will be busy once the season is in swing.

Then it’s up to you to make the most of the opportunities that this sport provides, which are plentiful. Here are the pros and cons of gambling on American football.

6. Basketball

Basketball is hugely popular around the globe and with US franchises playing 82-game NBA seasons it features a packed schedule. Here are some of the most popular basketball betting markets.

Unlike the NFL, basketball is a sport that is played all over the world, with many European leagues providing games at convenient times for UK audiences. Of course, it is the US that provides us with the highest quality basketball with the NBA, while college basketball games shows off the stars of tomorrow.

The fast-paced action of basketball ensures that you have to pay attention during live betting, but there are great rewards to be had. Basketball is a sport where it is not necessary to bet on the teams at all, such is the depth of the player props on offer. Here are the pros and cons of betting on basketball, according to our experts.

7. Combat Sports – Boxing & UFC / MMA

Whether it’s betting on boxing or MMA, there are regular fight cards taking place throughout the year. They are great sports to bet on and feature these sort of markets.

A fight night is exciting at the best of times, but things get even hotter when you have a bet at stake. Following on from boxing, how to bet on UFC is pretty unique. Combat sports can come to a thrilling conclusion, at just about any time.

For that reason, live betting requires quickness of thought and action. Pretty much every weekend there are huge fights to enjoy and if you do your research, there is always value to be found. Here are the pros and cons of betting on combat sports.

8. Rugby

With two different codes regularly providing major events, rugby is one of the top sports to bet on. Here are some of our favourite rugby betting markets.

There are two codes of rugby, with rugby league being popular in northern England, Australia and New Zealand. Rugby union can boast of the bigger worldwide appeal, with international events such as the Six Nations and Rugby World Cup, attracting huge audiences.

Bookmakers promote these large events accordingly and there can be some useful bonuses to be had. At lower levels, there is value to be found for dedicated fans, who know more about the teams involved than casual punters and even the oddsmakers. Here are the pros and cons of betting on rugby.

9. Baseball

Baseball is one of the US sports that has a strong following in the UK, especially amongst bettors. These are some of the most popular markets that you’ll find when gambling on the sport.

If you want a single sporting competition that constantly churns out matches to bet on, then Major League Baseball could be the best sport to bet on. With a huge amount of games every season, you can adopt a low-risk strategy that sees small margin wins, knowing that there are enough baseball betting opportunities, for those wins to add up to a tidy amount.

With so many innings, fortunes can change throughout the match. Baseball is a sport where statistical research is rewarded, with lots of numbers to get lost in, which can reveal value wagers amongst the many available prop bets. Here are the pros and cons of gambling on baseball.

10. esports

This is a relative new sport which has grown at a huge rate. Betting on competitive video games is big business and these are bet types that you can enjoy with esports.

The appetite of younger audiences for watching esports alerted bookmakers to the potential of providing bets on video games contests. It’s an area of betting that remains in its infancy and for that reason, there is value to be had, if you know your stuff.

It’s far more difficult for a bookie that knows the world of esports inside out and can accurately price up markets, than it is for sports such as football or tennis. If esports is your passion, it can be a great sport to bet on. If not, it probably ranks amongst the hardest sports and should perhaps be avoided. Here are the pros and cons of betting on esports.

Obscure Sports to Bet on

There are many wonderful and weird sports to bet on. What might seem strange to you, might seem entirely logical to a dedicated fan.

Take snooker for instance, a staple of UK betting sites, but is essentially a pub sport, that feature players who rarely look like athletes.

Or F1, which is a sport where any driver can win a race, as long as they are driving one of the handful of cars that are actually capable of winning a race.

Athletics is basically school sports day writ large. Ice hockey is literally hockey – on ice, with a sprinkling of MMA thrown in. The growth in popularity of darts, meanwhile, mirrors a growth in betting on it.

So the next time you’re scrolling the A-Z of sports at your chosen bookmaker and wondering who on earth is betting on curling, harness racing, or sumo wrestling, just remember that someone, somewhere, considers one of your favourite sports to be one of the worst sports to bet on.

And also remember, that someone, somewhere, knows everything that there is to know about that weird, obscure sport and is making an absolute killing from their online bookie.

Easiest Sports Bets to Win

For most UK sports fans, it’s core sports such as football, horse racing, cricket, rugby or tennis that will prove to have the easiest route to profit. These are the sports which they are likely to know, will enjoy researching and will be able to identify value bets in.

For fans of US sports, then American football, baseball or basketball might fit the bill. We’d say that the easiest sports to win money on, are the ones that you know well and are also popular enough for there to be plenty of opportunities to win. 

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed our guide to the best sports to bet on. As you will have learned, there are a wide range of sports that fit into this category. We’d always recommend that you’re passionate and knowledgeable about any sport that you bet on, so we hope that one of your favourites made our shortlist.

FAQs

Dan Fitch

Pro punter

Dan Fitch

Pro punter

A writer and editor for some of the top names in the gambling industry for nearly 20 years, Dan also works as a freelance sports journalist for publications and websites such as ESPN, FourFourTwo and LiveScore.

All posts by Dan Fitch