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Best Football Betting Sites Bet on football games online in 2024

Online?Football Betting?Basics
Rules Diffuculty Easy – Medium
Betting Types 12
Payout 94% -?97%
How to Win Tips?& Strategies
Where to Bet 888 Sport

Online Football Betting Guide

Our football betting guide provides you with a detailed overview about the sport, a look into how to bet on football online, types of wagers, and more. Regardless of where you are located, we help you gather insider tips on how fans can get more out of this popular American sport.

Finding the best football betting sites in your country or state is one of the main steps to address prior to placing any bets. Betting on NFL games is one of the most popular types of gambling in the world, and there are many operators that offer it. Below we have listed the top football betting site where you can wager for real money:

Best Online Football Betting Site to Bet for Real Money:

Top Offer

888 sport
100% up to £200 Welcome Bonus
Full T&Cs apply. 18+. New customers only. The bonus will be applied once the full deposit amount has been wagered at least once with cumulative odds of 1.5 or greater. Wagering must be cleared within 90 days. This offer may not be combined with any other offer. Withdrawal restrictions and full Terms and Conditions apply.

Our recommendation of what we consider to be the best football and NFL betting site will help you feel more confident in selecting a legal sportsbook in your area.

Football Betting Terms and Rules

There are a lot of different rules that have to be followed when it comes to football or NFL betting. One of the most general ones is to be at least 18 years of age. There are many other rules that are considered mandatory for every avid gambler, such as not to gamble while intoxicated, bored, emotional or desperate. Additionally, placing wagers in order to return your losses or gamble with money that you don’t have are also considered very bad ideas.

We already mentioned some of the general? betting rules in the previous paragraph. In this one, we would like to concentrate on the ones that are more specific for the best online football betting sites. We have done this via the table below, where we list them along with a short explanation for each entry. Make sure to go over them, but bear in mind that this is far from the full list and you should make sure to read all the rules from an information provider that you trust.

Rule Explanation
Overtime If not otherwise stated, bets will be settled on the official result including overtime
Playing Time A game is considered official after 55 minutes of play time. If it is less than that, the game constitutes “No Action” or “Push/Cancel” and money is refunded unless results are called by the NFL before that.
Date A game must be played on the scheduled date, time and venue. Otherwise all bets are considered void.
Division Champions If the season is shortened for any reason, then bets will be settled based on the Division Champion declared by the NFL. If no winner is declared bets will be void.
Money Line Where a match ends in a tie after overtime, bets on Money Line will be void.

In the table above, we have listed what we consider to be the top five most important online football betting rules. While there are lots more, which apply towards the different types of bets, you can check them at your chosen gambling site. We would like to continue on in our football betting guide by talking about the different betting types available. Stick with us to learn more.

Types of Bets Available

In this section, we’ll go over the available football bet types that you can use. There are 12 total bets that you can use, but sometimes unique ones may pop up. Every sport has its own specific types of wagers which can vary a lot in terms of rules and how they are played.

In the following table, you will find each of the twelve betting types along with a short explanation next to them. Make sure to go over each one as the way you wager on a team or game can vary depending on each situation. In short, here are the types of wagers you can make at the best football betting websites:

Betting Type Explanation
Straight Bet The most common football bet involving point-spread. After you pick a team in a game, you either give away or get points.
Moneyline This bet disregards the point-spread. This is a favourite among sports bettors wishing to bet on their favourites without the need to win by a certain amount of points.
Over/Under With this bet, you wager on the total number of points. You can bet if it will be Over or Under. It doesn’t matter who wins.
Parlay With this bet, you can group a number of teams in a single ticket. To win the bet, all legs of the parlay must hit. If one doesn’t, the whole ticket is void.
Teaser Similar to Parlay, but this ticket consists of multiple games, which all need to be won. A nice feature is that you can move the point-spread to your advantage.
Pleaser This is a multiple team wager and instead of getting points, you give them away. Pleasers are the opposite of Teaser bets and are the most risky.
Halftime Betting With this ticket, you bet only on the outcome of the second half of the game. First half and the overall winner do not play a role here.
Prop Bet Prop bets are towards the results within a game and not the end of the game. This can be used as over/unders on the performance of individual players.
Future Bet This is a bet that is made months in advance before an event. You can bet on which team will win the division, conference or the championship.
“if” wager Here you bet on two teams and you have to select which one is first. The “if” comes when the first team plays. If they lose, the whole bet is lost.
Reverse Wager This is basically a bet consisting of two “if” bets. This means that both teams can be considered the first team depending on the result. This ticket is lost if a game finishes in a draw.
Round Robin Parlay This allows you to make multiple parlay bets with the same teams. Depending on the number of teams you select, you can make various combinations of parlays.

As you can see, the possibilities are nearly endless when it comes to betting on either a certain outcome or aspect of football games. Of course, you are not limited to choosing only one. You can buy and play as many tickets as you want from any category you would like. If the information you have read by now seems interesting to you, we could recommend checking out our top sports betting sites.

Football Betting Glossary

Just like in the case of the types of bets, each sport has its own terminology. That is what we would like to cover in this section. We will do our best to explain the most common football betting terms used in the field and how they apply to your experience. Make sure to go through them all in order to avoid any future confusion.

  • Action – Used when you have a wager on a game.
  • Beard – Someone who places a wager instead of someone else (also called runner).
  • Circle Game – A game for which the betting limits are lowered.
  • Closing Line – The last line before the event or game begins.
  • Cover – The result of a point spread bet. A bet on a favorite to be won means it has to win by more than the spread, while bet on the underdog needs to win outright or lose by less than the spread.
  • Dime – Term used for a £1,000 wager.
  • Edge – Term for advantage.
  • Even Money – Used when the odds are considered to be 50-50 meaning whatever you bet, you win.
  • Exotic – Term used for a wager that is a straight bet or parlay. Also known as a prop or proposition wager.
  • Favorite – The expected winner in a game.
  • Handle or Juice – The sum of money taken by the book on the total wager.
  • Pick’em – A game that has no favorite or underdog. This means that the point spread is zero and the winner of the game is considered the spread winner.

Of course, the list we have provided above is not quite full as there are many other terms that are used while betting on football. There are some obvious ones that we have left out, such as calling the “point spread” just “spread”. Also, our list of football types of bets can be considered an addition to this section as they are part of the terminology too. Just as we mentioned earlier, different sports have their own types of bets and terms.

Top Football Betting Site Odds & Payouts

As you can already tell, each event is unique due to the many variables at play. This also plays a crucial part when we are talking about the football betting odds. They can vary widely depending on the teams that are playing, if there is a favourite, which league they are in, at which point of it they are playing and more. The odds and point spread are pretty much entangled together. In this section we will try to elaborate more on that and next we would like to talk about the payouts you can expect.

When talking about the payouts at the best online football betting sites, you can explain them in different ways, but for ease of reading, we have chosen percentages. Pretty much there is a thing called, Juice or Handle, which we explained in the previous sections. That is the money the bookie, in our case the betting site, keeps based on the total wager. While in brick and mortar sports books, the average is 10%, betting online is lower.

League/Tournament Nation Continent Payout %
NFL USA North America 96.20%
NCAA USA North America 96.11%
AFL USA North America 95.80%
XFL USA North America 95.69%
AAF USA North America 94.65%

In the table above we have given some examples of the standard football betting payouts at online sites. As you can see the Juice is much lower than the afore mentioned 10% at land sports books. These can vary a lot between leagues, operators and certain events. It is always a good idea to check everything before you start making your bets.

Football Leagues and Tournaments

Football is a sport that is loved by all. There are many leagues that teams play in from different countries. The most popular are the US leagues, as the sport is most popular there. There are also the NFL Europe League and the quite famous World Football League. Divisions within the league can vary between the different entries, but the US ones are usually divided into East, North, South and West leagues.

The German Football League (GFL) is another great example, as it is the top tournament in Europe. While it is large, compared to its US counterparts, it does not lie within out top list. In the coming sections we will be looking at the four best football leagues. The stakes are high and they are the most watched and bet on tournaments in the world.

NFL

The National Football League (NFL) is a professional tournament consisting of 32 teams, which are divided equally between the NFC and AFC. It is one of the four major football leagues and it boasts with the most professional level of football, the highest revenue of all, and the league with the most valuable teams. NFL betting sites draw a lot of attention during football season.

NCAA

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a non-profit organisation that regulates student athletes in North America. It is the one behind the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the country. There are more than 400,000 young athletes that compete in the NCAA league, which helps them gain popularity and potentially being seen by a major team.

AFL

The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional football league that operated between 1960 and 1970 before merging into the NFL. While not an active league is it highly regarded as one of the contributors towards the NFL’s popularity and revenue. After the merger, it was renamed the football Conference.

XFL

The newest among everyone else, the XFL is a professional football league that started at the beginning of 2020. It is the successor to the original XFL, which was owned by Vince McMahon, which ran only for one season back in 2001. The tournament was intended to compete in a ten-game season and a postseason of two weeks. Unfortunately, after five weeks of play, the season was closed on the 12th of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Best Football Betting Websites

After going over the terminology, specifics and leagues of football betting, we would like to continue on with our guide. In the table below, we have made a list of the best football betting sites along with some side information about them.

Here Are the Top Football Betting Sites for 2024:

Welcome Bonus Pros and Cons Test Score Trusted Link
$200 Trusted Operator Best Betting App Fewer Betting Markets 100% www.888sport.com
$250 High Payouts Varying Payment Options Slower Payments During Weekend 98% www.22bet.com
$20 Reputable Operator Betting Variety Lower Limits for Professionals 96% www.williamhill.com
$250 Thousands of Live Events Action Betting Not As Many Promotions 94% www.unibet.com

And with this we would like to conclude our list of the best online betting sites for football. After extensive research and testing, our team created this top list where every entry has been fully proofed. Don’t worry, they are completely legit sites and are holders of international licenses from major government authorities.

Football Betting Offers, Promotions, and Bonuses

Just like with any online casino, starting your journey with online sportsbooks can be boosted by a bonus or promo code. Most reputable sites offer a welcome bonus, which offers you either bonus funds that match your initial deposit or just money that you can use on the platform. Stick with us to learn about the best football betting offers.

In the table below, we have showcased some of the top football betting promotions on the market offered by trusted operators. Please bear in mind that each offer as its own wagering requirements, which need to be completed in order for your bonus funds to be unlocked for withdrawal. Also, there are minimum odds and deposits that have to be met.

Football Betting Site Bonus* Wagering Requirement Min Odds Min Deposit Top Payment Method T&C
888sport Up to $200 1x n/a $10 MasterCard
Bethard Cash Out n/a 1.8 $20 Neteller
William Hill Up to $20 1x Bonus + Deposit n/a $10 Discover
bet365 Up to $200 1x 1.20 £10 Skrill

In order to take advantage of online football betting bonuses, you will have to? complete all requirements to receive your bonus cash. In the coming sections, we will be giving you an overview of live betting markets, mobile apps, and more that you can use. We will also go over some tips and strategies that you can use for placing your wagers on any of the top gambling sites.

Live Football Betting – Increase Your Earnings While Watching

In the earlier days of betting on sporting events, all of your wagers were locked once the event began and you were stuck with them until the end. Onlnie sportsbooks realized that it would give bettors a better experience if they could make additional wagers after the event has started. Live football betting, also called in-game betting, allows you to do just that. Below is our to pick for live football and NFL betting.

Top Online Sportsbook for Live Betting

bet365
Up to $200 in Free Bets

Live betting provides a unique experience to every gambler, bringing flexibility, excitement, and better opportunities for making money. This is a win-win situation for both the operator and the player. It is mainly done online due to the technical nature of the system and you can find this feature at the best football betting sites.

Best Online Football Betting Apps

Nowadays it is very important for any player to be able to bring their favorite gambling platform everywhere they go. That’s why most operators make sure that the site is mobile-friendly and even create their own dedicated mobile app, that is compatible with iOS and Android. Below, we show one of the top football betting apps on the market.

Best Football App

888sport
Up to $200 Risk-free First Bet

The best online sports betting apps give the same experience as using a desktop computer or a laptop. You can expect the same functionality but with a better user interface to suit the touch screen and different aspect ratios. All you need to do is go to Google Play for Android or App Store for iOS devices and download your choice of betting app.

Not only can you completely manage your account and even funds through your mobile device, but there is also the possibility of taking advantage of a unique bonus offer. There are many operators that have special mobile promotions, which differ from their standard football betting welcome bonuses.

New Online Football Betting Sites

There is a lot to gain by joining a new football betting site. Usually operators that are fresh on the gambling market have much better bonus offers and payout percentages when compared to others. You just have to make sure that the site is completely legal as there can be many scams on the internet. That’s why we have listed the best new football betting site below.

Top New Online Betting Site

Unibet
Up to $250 Free Bet

Usually we refrain from showing new betting sites to our readers as sometimes it can be very tricky to pick the correct one. If the operator you have chosen is by any chance not listed on our site yet, we recommend checking if it is licensed by authorities, such as the UKGC and MGA. Other certificates and licenses from governments are also a plus.

Where is it Legal to Bet on Football?

Gambling as a whole is ever-evolving and it is the same when it comes to the legislation surrounding it. With the rapid increase of online betting sites, governments are doing what they can to regulated them and protect people from losing their money. Also, these regulations protect minors from the hazards of gambling and prevent malicious actions.

Country Legal Age Online Betting
USA 21 Yes
Canada 19 Yes
Australia 18 Yes
New Zealand 20 Yes
UK 18 Yes
Turkey 18 Yes

There are many countries that deem sports betting legal and it has been part of their history for many years. Of course, with different governments, come various laws, such as the age at which a person is considered legal to gamble. In the UK (or EU in general), Turkey and Australia, you can gamble at 18 years of age. While in other countries, like in the US, you need to be 21 years old. Refer to the table above for some examples.

Regulating any type of gambling can prove difficult. There are many examples where betting on sports is still a grey area or even completely unregulated. The US, for example, has gradulallt started legalizing online betting in some jurisdictions. Legistlation around betting sites is rapidly changing, with more states opening up betting markets.

Football Betting Strategy

In order to take advantage of any promotions that you may claim on a sports betting site, there are some tips we would like to share with you. The following is what we consider to be the moat important betting tips to keep in mind when NFL season approaches.

  • Bet on sports that you have knowledge about
  • Do your research for a game or league
  • Stick to bet types that you understand
  • Start small
  • Don’t make multiple bets on the same event
  • Avoid placing wagers on your favorite team
  • Bet within your bankroll
  • Bet only what you can afford to lose
  • Decide on your limits and stick to them
  • Pick a strategy and follow it

After reading all of our tips for betting on football, we would like to continue with some more ways that can increase your chances of winning big. Listed below you can find the top five football betting strategies along with some explanations.

Strategy Explanation
Kelly Criterion This is a mathematical formula for bet sizing. This tends to lead to higher wealth when compared to other strategies. It was developed in 1956 and it is separated into Full Kelly and Fractional Kelly systems. This strategy will require a very accurate assessment of the sports event.
The Martingale System A system used even in stock trading. It is a risky undertaking that is proven to increase your chances to win short term. With this system, the bettor increases the stake of every subsequent bet after a loss until a win is achieved.
Poisson Distribution Developed back in the 19th century, this strategy is a probability theory that uses historical sports data in order to determine the most likely outcome of a sports event. This is a statistical approach that requires the user to have good knowledge of mathematics and statistics.
D’Alembert Betting System This is a simple and considered by some, flawed, system working on the principle of a coin toss. If your initial bet was lost, then according to this strategy, you should stick to your initial choice and place a higher wager (usually by one point like £10 to £20) until a win is achieved. After the win is made, you lower the wager by one point of the currently accumulated sum and continue on.
Oscar’s Grind Betting System This strategy resembles D’Alembert’s Betting System, but it switches it up by waiting out the losing streaks. This means that if you achieve a win, you increase your bet until the winning streak ends. You wait out the losses without increasing the wager, until a win hits again, prompting you to wager higher next time.

As well as these five strategies, there are many simpler or more sophisticated systems that you can use while playing at football betting websites. As we mentioned before, we recommend picking the most convenient strategy for you and sticking to it as frequently changing them will melt your bankroll before you know it.

The History of Betting on Football

In order to get you up to speed on how sports betting came to be, we would like to showcase to you some of the main events in the history surrounding it. Below, we have listed certain points of history from the UK and USA, where football betting is most popular. Make sure to check them out if you are interested in knowing the roots of your favorite gambling pastime.

Football Betting History Timeline
1845 Unregulated and underground betting establishments were a common sight in the 1800s in England. With the 1845 Gambling Act, the government sought not to make betting illegal, but to discourage malicious activities by bookmakers to scam their players. This act brought the framework of future legislation.
1960 The Betting and Gambling Act of 1960 legalized off-course bookmakers in the UK. This allowed thousands of sportsbooks to make legal businesses for horse racing, greyhound racing, and football betting.
1961 The Interstate Wire Act of 1961 was issued in the US, building the foundation on which future legislation for sports betting was built. This act started outlawing sports wagering in all states, pushing betting underground.
1992 Over the years more and more states considered legalizing sports betting again. As a result, the government created the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. With this act, betting on sports was made completely illegal in all states except four that have already legalized it. This includes the state of Nevada.
2005 The Gambling Act of 2005 set new and improved regulations on all types of gambling in the UK, including sports betting. With this act, the UK Gambling Commission was created to regulate and issue licenses to gambling operators that meet the legal requirements to operate in the country.
2018 On the 14th of May, 2018, the US Supreme Court ruled for legalizing sports betting in the country. Thus deeming outlawing wagers as non-constitutional. After the decision, the first five states that legalized betting on sports were Connecticut, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

You can notice that the roots of betting on football are deep into the history of a lot of countries. But the histories differ; while some countries completely ban betting on sports or are just coming to terms with it, other governments have embraced the market and have placed the proper regulations.

Online Football Betting in a Nutshell

As our football betting guide is coming to an end, we would like to give you a short overview of what we have said so far. This sport is one of the most loved and bet on in the world, making the market worth hundreds of billions each year. There are many places where you can bet on sports, but one of the top football betting sites is 22bet, which we have showcased below.

Top Offer

22BET
Up to $250 Welcome Bonus

There are various football betting options and strategies that we have shared with you that can increase your chances of winning. Make sure that whatever you do, don’t bet more than you can afford to lose, and do your research. Information and knowledge are your best tools. Now armed with what you need to start betting, you can check out our listing of the best gambling sites.

FAQ

Below you can explore the most popular questions that players have about football betting sites.

1. What are the best football betting sites?

While there are many websites that offer wagering on sports and in particular football, we have researched and tested the most promising ones. As a result, we created our best football betting sites list. There we showcase not only the operators but their unique features and offers as well.

2. What are football betting odds and terms?

In order for you to fully understand the sport and ease your betting experience, you need to be aware of the terminology first. While being relatively straight forward, the second most important thing to know are the football betting odds, which we gave a thorough look in our guide.

3. Are there any football betting site offers?

We would like to give your sports betting journey a great start. One of the ways we can assure that is that we show you what different operators have in terms of promotions. You can refer to our football betting bonuses section for more details on how to claim them and inform yourself on their finer details.

4. Which are the best online football betting apps?

Being able to bring your favorite online sportsbook everywhere with you is considered essential in modern times. That’s why most operators make sure that their gambling platform is optimized for mobile use and even develop their own apps. If you would like to know more about it, check out the top football betting apps section of the guide.

5. Are their specific strategies to bet on football games online?

The key to placing wagers on events and ensure your long-term enjoyment without destroying your bankroll is having a good betting strategy. What we recommend is thoroughly exploring your options and once you choose a system, to make sure you follow it properly. For more details, read the football betting strategies and tips guide part of our article.

6. Is there any live football betting?

Being able to place extra wagers while a game or event has already begun is an amazing feature that is adored by all bettors. live football betting brings forward much more options for additional bets and unique opportunities to snag a larger win. This, of course, will require quick thinking and good overall knowledge of the game and betting subjects.

John Isaac, Editor at online-gambling.com
John Isaac

John Isaac is one of the editors at online-gambling.com. He is an expert at card games, such as blackjack and poker. In addition, he writes about the US gambling laws and the Indian and Dutch gambling markets.

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