Sports betting websites rated F should be avoided at all costs. They have been placed on our blacklist for failing to pay customers the money they are entitled to. If you sign up for an account with these sites, you are taking a huge risk They have been placed on our blacklist for failing to pay customers the money they are entitled to. If you sign up for an account with these sites, you are taking a huge risk. You could find that payments are delayed or withheld for spurious reasons, or that your funds are inexplicably seized.

Choose a bookmaker licensed by the Gambling Commission. The Gambling Commission licenses online betting operators, ensures they meet licensing conditions and holds them to account if they don’t. Consequently, any licensed site should be a safe spot to enjoy online betting.

Don’t limit yourself to just one online betting site. Not all sports betting sites have the same ‘look and feel’ and you may find yourself more comfortable with one than another. Of course if you do sign up with more than one bookmaker, you may be eligible for more than one introductory offer!

Keep a proper written record of every bet you place. This may sound like a chore, but at some point you may want to review your performance to identify where you’re winning and losing. If you have no proper records, you’ll have no way of doing so.

Gamble responsibly. In other words, never gamble with money you cannot afford to lose. Set aside a sum of money exclusively for gambling, which you can lose without any emotional attachment.

Sensibly, the ‘right’ bookmaker for you is one that covers all the sports on which you want to bet. The best betting sites cover not only the most popular sports, such as football and horse racing, but also tennis, golf, greyhound racing, cricket, esports, boxing and even ‘niche’ sports such as darts or snooker. Nevertheless, it’s worth investigating to what extent, if at all, your favourite sport, or sports, are covered before signing up with any online sports betting operator.

Once you’ve found a betting site that offers the markets on which you want to bet, you’ll want to know that the odds you’re offered are competitive and represent value for money. The easiest way to do is to look at an odds comparison site, such as oddschecker.com, which lists the odds available from all the major online bookmakers side-by-side and highlights the longest odds available for each outcome. If your chosen bookmaker is consistently best, or joint best, all well and good, but if not, you might want to think about choosing another bookmaker or opening multiple accounts.