Choosing your first bookie

We get plenty of requests on the forum for recommendations on the "best bookie".

Now we do a lot of work in testing and ranking our favourite bookmakers and also in finding the best free bet offers but it's still a bit of work to match them up to each punter.

This depends a lot on what the person is looking for - and some of the criteria could be things like :

What is your Favourite Sports
European Football, American Football (NFL / NCAA), Tennis, Other sports.

What is your Preferred Competitions
Main Leagues Only = English Premier, Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga (etc)
Minor Leagues as well = Turkish leagues, Australian league, Jpanese leagues, Lower divisions.

Which markets do you prefer ?
1x2 Betting, Handicaps and AH betting, Over/under or special bets.

Are other features important?
Ease of use, Money transfer options, Joining bonuses.

All these factors will go into finding the best bookmaker for your betting sport, style and league type and it does take a while to find the best bookie that matches to your type.

For most UK punters who are just start out betting online - we recommend four places that are safe, reliable, cover a lot of local games and styles and off a nice free joining bonus.

1) Bet365 = 92% (see Bet365 Review)
2) BetFred = 85% (see BetFred Review)
3) SportingOdds = 80% (see SportingOdds Review)
4) PaddyPower = 75% (see PaddyPower Review)

Depositing GBP 30-50 in each of these four bookies and playing it through will see you earn a series of bonuses (which is always nice) - and you'll get a feel of which of these bookies suits you best.

American and European punters will have slightly different tastes and requirements and will almost certainly prefer different books.

US punters seem to be happiest at :
1) PinnacleSports = 91% (see PinnacleSports Review)
2) CanBet = 77% (see CanBet Review)

And all US players are welcome at both these books - no state restrictions.

While European punters seem to prefer :
1) Bet365 = 92% (see Bet365 Review)
2) EuroBet = 78% (see Eurobet review)
3) Interwetten = 60% (see our Interwetten review)

So get in there and choose your first couple of bookies (it's always recomemnded to try at least 2-3 in order to compare what's best) and see how you find them with a small deposit.

Then you can continue on with your favourites - or come back and check the reviews in more detail - as you'll probably have a much better idea of what you're looking for in a bookie.

Good luck with your punting.