Casino Betting Sites – The Next Big Thing
The high street bookies have been running multi product sites for years, but now the market has exploded and we’re able to bring you upwards of 70 sites that have sports betting along with slots, casino and in some cases bingo. NRG bet for example is one of the new wave of casino betting sites; launched in 2024, it’s got a sportsbook, lots of slot games plus bingo by Pragmatic Play. And who would know from the name that Lottoland has bingo, a sportsbook and a casino?
There are quite a few reasons why a player might prefer a multi product site rather than a standalone casino or sportsbook, or traditional bingo site.
- The most obvious reason is the sheer convenience of it if you regularly use all of the products. You can use your winnings from a sports bet to play in the casino and vice versa, and only need to remember one set of login details
- A casino betting site is ideal for players who only want to place the occasional bet on sports or other events – the Grand National, Wimbledon or Strictly for instance – as you can just use cash from your casino account and if you win, choose whether to withdraw, bet on something else or play it on bingo or slots.
- A casino betting site is also suitable for the opposite case – a player who regularly bets on sport but also likes the occasional spin of the reels and/or flutter on bingo.
- Multi product betting sites usually have several different welcome offers for different products and you can choose the one that suits you best (or sometimes, claim all of them). You can then pick and choose your promotions from all areas of the site.
- Bingo specifically is often much more of a community experience at a multi product betting site as big operators can afford high quality hosted chat in the bingo rooms.
So apart from bingo and slots, what do multi product casino betting sites have to offer?
- Sports
- In-Play
- Exchange
- Virtual Sports
- Esports
- Totepool
- Football Jackpots
- Casino
- Live Casino
- Poker
- Lotto
- Politics, Showbiz and Novelty Bets
Sports
All UK sportsbooks offer markets on mainstream sports such as football and horse racing and many also have a selection of less well known sports such as Bowls, Futsal, Volleyball, Speedway and Australian Rules. If you have a particular interest in a niche sport you may have to check several of the sites to find out which has it.
The best UK sports betting sites offer all manner of exotic bet types as well as promotions such as price boosts, free bets and best odds guaranteed. Accas and bet builders are other popular features. Confused? Read our comprehensive Guide To Bet Types for a full explanation of all of these terms and more.
In-Play
In-Play betting allows a bet to be made on the outcome of a sporting event that has already started, and/or a previously made bet to be cashed out while the event is still going on. Football matches are obvious contenders for this type of arrangement, but it is also available (at sites that offer it at all) on tennis and other sports and on some longer horse races.
In-Play also encompasses bets on golf events or football tournaments that are in progress even though they can last days or months. Be aware that when you bet in-play there is a 5 to 10 second delay before your bet goes through; this is to counter someone at the event placing a bet when something important has happened and the bookie hasn’t had time to react (a practice known as courtsiding). Odds can change very rapidly while an event is in action and a more stable time to bet can be half time or during a break of some kind.
Exchange
Exchange is a form of sports betting where some players take one side of the bet and other players the other, with the house taking a cut, instead of the usual situation where players bet against the house. The original and by far the best known betting exchange is Betfair but newer entrants such as Matchbook and BETDAQ can be less expensive to use (2% on winning bets as opposed to 5%).
Exchange betting can be daunting for novices as odds are in decimal format rather than the fractional format that’s common in the UK and when you lay rather than back something at long odds you will need a sizeable reserve in case you end up paying out.
Esports
Esports involves teams competing against each other in video games, usually but not always either battle arena games such as League of Legends, first person shooter team games such as Counter-Strike 2 and Overwatch or sports based games such as FIFA and Rocket League. It has been popular in Asia for many years and internationally since the start of the 2020s. Esports are now considered to be actual sports due to the amount of training the athletes need to do. The first Olympic Esports Games will take place in 2027.
Betway have made a big deal of esports, giving them their own area on the site, but other betting sites including Sky Bet and Unibet include a full range of esports as part of their sportsbook section. Midnite is a newer brand that actually started out as an esports specialist in 2019 and added the other stuff later.
Virtual Sports
Not to be confused with esports, virtual sports began in betting shops when real life horse and greyhound racing events were called off due to bad weather. These simulated sporting events played out in real time complete with a form guide and (highly amusing) commentary. Now, virtual sports appear at many casino betting sites such as Kwiff and Netbet, with football, motor racing, golf and other sports included as well as horse and greyhound racing.
Even if this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea at all it’s worth checking out just to be entertained by the names of the imaginary competitors – how about a greyhound called Grim Kangaroo or a horse called Turn Telly Down? Virtual sports don’t have the same buzz as real sports, of course, but they can be fun if the sport you prefer is out of season – the real Grand National is only run once a year, but Boylesports have a virtual Grand National every five minutes for several hours every day.
Totepool
Totepool is a form of peer to peer betting on horse racing which can be found at many big bookies as well as at the official Tote site (which also has a sportsbook and casino). All the bets go into a pool and after deductions for tax and the house rake, the pool is divided amongst the winners. Totepool includes a number of popular accumulator type bets – for example the Tote Placepot where you win by correctly picking a horse to win or place in 6 out of 6 races – and you can learn more about all of these in our betting types guide.
Football Jackpots
Football pool betting works in a similar way to Totepool and is basically a way of placing an accumulator bet on a series of football matches. Before the National Lottery (and way before online betting) it was the most popular form of betting in the UK. Not many operators now offer anything like this as there are so many other accas available. Sky still offers a similar product, Super 6, that is free to enter and of course, there’s the official site called simply The Pools.
Casino
All the big betting sites have a casino section where you’ll find table games such as blackjack and roulette alongside slot games. Most of the betting sites with bingo have Virtue Fusion bingo and a Playtech casino. If you prefer something different try Unibet which has bingo by Relax Gaming or bet365 which has bingo by Pragmatic Play. And of course there’s Ladbrokes and Coral which both have bingo by Entain.
Live Casino
In live casino, you play over the Internet at a real gaming table with a real live dealer (or, in the case of “game show” titles like Evolution’s Dream Catcher game, a real person spins the wheel of fortune for you). Usually these are in a studio but some are at bricks and mortar casinos for added atmosphere (there’s one at London’s Hippodrome, for instance). Coral and Ladbrokes have especially good live casino content.
Poker
Poker resembles bingo in that it requires a large number of players for the play to be interesting and the prizes worthwhile; large betting sites are usually in a position to offer this.
Lotto
In lottery betting, players bet on which numbers will come up in a lottery instead of actually buying a ticket. If they win, they win whatever the actual winner of that lottery would win after tax. Lottery betting is not allowed on the UK Lotto or EuroMillions (in order not to interfere with direct ticket sales). However, there are many lotteries worldwide for which players in the UK would not normally be allowed to buy tickets and some of these – such as the US Powerball – have huge prizes. At sites like Betfred and Paddy Power, you can bet on the outcome of international lotteries and also on the UK 49s, a lottery which has no actual prizes and exists purely for the purpose of being bet on.
Politics, Showbiz & Novelty Bets
These types of bets are usually to be found in a special area within the sports section and include elections in the UK and worldwide, Eurovision, X Factor, I’m a Celebrity, BBC Sports Personality of the Year and the next James Bond. If you are into this kind of thing, Paddy Power have a great range of “special” bets.
