The best Horse Racing Betting sites for UK punters

Welcome to the sportingways.com list of best online horse racing betting sites and welcome offers for UK players in 2026.

About Horse Racing Betting in the UK

Horse Racing Betting

If you’re a fan of fast-paced action and sports betting at the same time, you surely love horse races. It’s one of the oldest sports you can bet on, and quite a thrilling ride if we can add. Horse racing is one of the very few legally regulated sports in most parts of the world. That makes it an almost automatic choice for bookmakers, especially in the UK.

The United Kingdom is closely related to horse racing. The sport originated in the UK and Ireland and remains popular centuries later.

Going to the races and betting while watching them holds a special place in the hearts of horse race punters. Of course, with everything moving online, horse racing did too in the past few decades.

That’s not a bad thing at all. The best horse race betting sites you can see on our list offer a slew of great bets in pre-match and live versions.

Horse race betting has flourished online thanks to new markets and great odds. The fact that bookies these days also offer deals like Best Odds Guaranteed makes the sports betting market lucrative.

If you’re just now realizing the potential of these bets, our guide to the best horse racing betting sites will tell you everything you need to know.

List of Top-Rated Horse Racing Bookies

  • Betfred – Since 1967, The Done Brothers have been providing horse racing betting services to punters.
  • BetGoodwin – Get up to £100 free bet refunds if you lose by a Nose and other factors.
  • StarSports – High limits and Arbitrage betting accommodated.
  • Gentleman Jim – High limits and best odds make this bookie a player.

Finding a horse racing bookie these days is not that simple. There are hundreds of options, but if you want a fair and secure betting experience, you need to choose the right sites.

Luckily for you, we’ve compiled a list of the absolute top sportsbooks for horse races. Check the list below and make your pick with ease.

How We Rate and Review the Best Horse Racing Sites

Rating and reviewing any betting site is hard. It takes a lot of effort and paying attention to the slightest details that can make or break your experience.

Instead of leaving you on your own, we’ve done the hard work ourselves. By following a set of key criteria, we determined the best horse racing betting sites in the UK.

The market is so competitive and crowded right now that just picking a site that offers horse racing isn’t going to cut it.

It needs to be a properly licensed betting site with other important features if you want to feel like you’re really at the races.

Below is an overview of the criteria we check at every horse racing betting site.

  • License: if you’re a horse racing fan from Ireland or the UK, it makes perfect sense to look for a UKGC-regulated bookie. All of the options on our list are fully licensed so you don’t have to worry about the legal side of things. We won’t even consider reviewing a horse racing bookmaker without a license. There are too many scam sites out there and joining them just to lose your money (or worse, your identity), isn’t something we recommend.
  • Safety and security: besides the license, it’s also important for a bookie to have the right safety and security measures. This means at least SSL encryption as well as a firewall that will keep third-party attacks at bay. The SSL certificate allows betting sites to transfer all the data you enter safely and securely over the web.
  • Sports markets: of course, a good and licensed bookie would be nothing if it has only a handful of markets. A good bookie will have a large selection of horse racing market if it’s serious about it. Sites such as Quinnbet and Mansionbet luckily do, and that’s why they’re ranked high up our list. Aside from race winner and the usual show and place bets, a good bookie will offer a bunch of exotic horse racing markets that can boost your payouts significantly. This goes for both pre-match and live betting markets – the latter are a must in 2021.
  • Odds: the number of markets would be irrelevant if a bookie offers non-profitable odds. The best bookies in the industry such as Betfred and Boylesport offer great odds on horse racing events that will get your blood pumping. Shopping for odds is nothing to be shy away from. With so many great bookmakers, the odds will vary, and it’s up to you to choose the best ones.
  • Customer support: while many disregard the customer service as a non-important factor, we believe it’s key. That goes double for new punters who have no idea how to bet online. A good bookmaker will offer a FAQ page together with 24/7 open channels (usually email and live chat) to answer your questions promptly and politely.
  • Bonuses and horse racing promotions: the bonuses and promotions are just as important as anything else. Horse racing promos are a great way to boots your bankroll when you deposit or even without it. Nearly all of the top bookies in the UK offer the Best Odds Guaranteed promo. If you find odds that are better than that bookie, the bookie will match them. This and other horse racing promotions can give you more money to bet with and lead to more possibilities to win.

Horse Race Bookies Free Bets & Bonus Offers

One of the best things about joining online horse racing betting sites are the bonuses and promotions.

Every bookie on our list, especially heavy-hitters such as Betfred, has some kind of free bet to start with. These are usually available after you register and make your first deposit. There might be a no deposit offer to claim, but those are rare.

Claiming a bonus bet or a welcome bonus is easy. All you need to do is read the terms and requirements to see what you need to do.

If it’s a deposit free bet, get ready to cover the minimum deposit and claim the bonus offer.

Bonus bets are usually in the form of a Bet 10 Get 10 offer, but they might get you £20 or £30. Most of these can be used on horse races along with a number of other promotions that specifically target this sport.

Here’s how you can claim a common free bet for horse racing:

  • Register at the site – the offers are only available to new punters;
  • Read the terms and conditions – in most cases, you will need to fund your account with a minimum deposit and place that much in bets;
  • Make sure to see which types of bets qualify for the promotion;
  • Once your bets are settled, the free bet should be automatically issued to your account.

Now that you’ve got your hands on a bonus bet, you need to keep in mind that it doesn’t come for free.

It’s a bet that you must wager a certain number of times before you can get your winnings. Wager-free bets can be found, but they are much rarer than the usual.

Horse Racing Mobile Betting Apps

Betting from your PC or laptop is fun and all, but it doesn’t compare to the freedom of mobile horse racing betting. The industry has worked hard to make mobile betting a reality and it certainly is.

As the smartphone industry evolved, it opened up new possibilities for many industries including online horse racing betting. You can now place your bets on horse races with ease and without the need to sit in front of your PC screen all day long.

As long as you have a stable Internet connection, you’ll be good to go.

Mobile betting sites these days either have a dedicated app or a mobile-optimized site. While apps are generally better, there’s nothing wrong with mobile websites either.

Both are user-friendly and can be used on any Android and iOS smartphone or tablet from the past 5 years or so.

Payment Methods at the Best Horse Racing Betting Sites

In order to bet online, you can’t just hand your money to the cashier at a betting shop. Online betting sites require you to fund your account, but that can be done pretty easily with the digital payment methods available today.

Depositing means adding funds to your account, while withdrawals are used to collect your winnings. Here are some of the recommended safe and secure banking options with fast payout speed most reputable bookies use:

  • Bank transfer
  • Visa/Mastercard/Debit cards
  • PayPal
  • Neteller
  • Skrill
  • Trustly
  • MuchBetter
  • Paysafecard

There are plenty of other options depending on the bookmaker. These are the most common on offer. All of these payment methods are fully legit to use, and more importantly, free of charges and very easy to use.

Deposit times at the best online horse racing betting sites should be instant. Bank transfers are notoriously slower so you should stay away from them. Unless you’re depositing a larger sum – then it’s good to enjoy the safety levels of a bank.

On the other hand, e-wallets such as PayPal are pretty secure as well and much easier to use.

If you have any doubts over withdrawal times or any other questions regarding transactions, you can talk to a betting site’s customer support.

What’s the Best Horse Racing Bookmaker Online?

We’ve already ranked and reviewed the sites we believe are the best in the business when it comes to horse racing. Below you can read a short overview of all so you can decide where your money goes with ease.

Betfred

Betfred is one of the biggest bookies in the UK. That goes for both offline and online. The successful company has dominated the market for decades, and became even more dominant when it moved its business online.

If you’re a horse racing fan, one could make a case for Betfred being the best of them all.

Betfred covers all major and minor races from the UK and Ireland as well as internationally.

You can click on the separate tabs to bring up all the races on offer.

In terms of markets, you can bet on race winners, ante-post, virtuals, exotics, and many other markets as well. The odds are industry-leading too, so it’s clear why Betfred is among the best of the best.

Add the Bet 10 Get 30 offer when you join Betfred and the other horse racing promos, and you’ve got a winner. Of course, all the horse race betting takes place in a fully regulated environment thanks to the Gibraltar and UKGC licenses.

Quinnbet

Quinnbet has long been praised as one of the top bookies in the UK. It caters to the needs of Irish and UK punters and covers all of Ireland’s famous horse races.

You’ll find that horse racing takes up a nice central position on the site. Click on it and you’ll get loads of races to bet on with hundreds of markets in tow. The odds are pretty great too, just like the special promotions.

There are welcome offers for new UK and Irish punters and bonuses on horse racing accas. That comes in addition to best odds guaranteed available on all UK and Irish races.

If you’re from Ireland and you love horse racing, you should give Quinnbet a try.

BetGoodwin

BetGoodwin may be a newer addition to the booming UK sports betting market, but it doesn’t show. The popular land-based bookmaker made the jump online a few years ago and wasn’t shy to announce its ambitions.

It quickly became one of the very best online bookies on the market thanks to great odds and variety of markets.

Horse racing is one of the sports BetGoodwin pays special attention to. It is featured high up the list of sports and covers all UK and international events.

The bookies offers pre-match and live betting odds on horse races too with great odds in tow. That comes in addition to a user-friendly live betting platform and crisp-clear streams from the top races.

New customers can look forward to a Bet 10 Get 10 offer and other promotions too.

Best odds guaranteed is available on all UK and Irish races, but the bookie also offers special promos such as Beaten by a Nose that pays you back up to £100 on selected races.

Horse Racing Betting Guide

Whether it’s Royal Ascot, the Grand National or the Kentucky Derby you want to place your bet on there's lots of top UK horse racing betting sites to choose from online in 2026.

  • Many bookmakers cater for horse racing betting but which are the best for sites to place your trust in?
  • Which horse racing boomakers offer the best odds and which bookies will pay out your winnings the fastest?

Our recommended list of websites has been chosen by punters like ourselves who have been playing at these main sites for many years. The best place to start is to seek out a dedicated horse racing section on the bookmaker's website.

Make sure there are ample features for placing your horse racing bets like;

  • The Best Odds Guaranteed feature, on all racing selections.
  • The ability to watch all your horse races live, whether on your mobile device or desktop.

So a live streaming option for watching your races once you've placed your bet is essential for this. Even better if you can't catch the racing live watch the replay at your leisure. You can find this service in the archive section at the Bet365 bookmaker.

Maybe you'd like a live horse racing radio service providing racing tips from known racing pundits. The William Hill radio in their horse racing section is a good place to start.

Let's start with the best horse racing betting sites for watching the action live.

Best UK Horse Racing Betting Sites for Live Streaming

watch live streaming at these horse racing betting sites

Nothing beats watching the horse racing live. You've put your money down and half the excitement is now seeing your investment unfurl within your eyes.

Watching the horses come into the finishing straight and seeing your horse kick for home or come around the outside to swoop late and clinch it on the line with a nostril to spare. It makes the heart pump faster and the Adrenalin surge.

This is why we punters do it and why we back the horses not only for monetary gain but for the thrill of seeing the horse run.

Where To Watch your Horse Racing Action Online

Most of the biggest horse racing betting sites will provide live streaming of UK and Irish horse races so long as you have invested a minimum of £1 on a horse to win in that race.

It's 0.50 pence each way for each way backers. However, if you also place horse bets on USA races and further afield, say India or France, then Betfair and Betfred are the sites that offer the easiest way to watch these races live. They offer worldwide live streaming on horse races without subscription.

The best choice for UK punters, in our opinion, is Betfred.

  • The site offers unrivaled fast live streaming, providing you have a good connection.
  • The bookie also offers an excellent horse racing archive section where you can watch all the past horse racing action from the days races.

Best Horse Racing Betting Sites with Lucky 15 Bonuses

If you are a regular punter of combination bets aka Lucky 15, 31 or 64's then you have to be placing these bets with the coupon king that is Betfred bookmaker.

Why?

Simply because they offer an exclusive bonus deal for their customers whereby you can collect on only one winner on these Lucky bets with Treble odds, Four time and Five time odds respectively.

Betfred 3 x Odds on 1 winner of Lucky 15 bets

Betfred are synonymous with the horse racing betting game. Both owners, with Fred Done especially, fronting the bookmaker site at numerous race courses throughout the country.

Betfred are known online for their increased odds bonus payouts on combination bets.

This is compared to only double odds at most other bookie sites.

The Lucky 15 falls into one of their horse racing specials. One winner on a Lucky 15 combination bet is paid out with 3 x the odds.

Resources for Horse Racing Cards & Live Results

To access the daily racing cards for free, visit the racing post site. The site is free to register and you don't even need to access the daily horse racing cards. The betting site provides a basic level of access to the day's horse racing form and stats.

The site also offers free racing results although I prefer the fast results service from the sportinglife site as it refreshes more quickly.

Oddschecker offers a very detailed comparison study of current and future horse racing event odds. The racing post also offers a latest shows and comparison of odds service on the card and on each race that you view.

I find this more than adequate to see if the horse I want to back has had money down or is drifting in the betting.

  • at the races  for race cards, odds, streaming and results.
  • oddschecker  compare the horse racing odds.
  • racing post free resource for horse racing cards, results and horse racing tips. it's where the famous Price Wise tipster resides.

New horse racing betting sites

If you are on the lookout for new horse racing betting sites then the following bookmakers below will be very suitable to add to your list.

When you have exhausted your free bets from the main online racing bookies the new horse racing betting sites can come into play.

Here are a few new UK horse racing bookmakers that offer everything you'd expect, with a good choice of markets and, of course, free bets to claim for your racing picks.

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