If there’s something that the UK loves more than betting, it’s sports. Overseas, the perception of the UK may just be that we have a football team that frequently doesn’t win tournaments and perhaps have very good boxing caliber given the modest population size. In reality, the UK is invested in a huge variety of sports and many betting opportunities within them, as seen on the best betting sites.
Football
Football is the biggest sport in the world, and the English Premier League is the most significant domestic league within that. Clearly, Brits are in good company every Saturday at 3 PM with a long list of great games to bet on – including the unpredictable Championship.
For this reason, football is the most common sport to bet on in the UK. Thre are a ton of betting types (i.e., under/over markets, first yellow card), yet if there are no games on because it’s the international week (or just a quiet Tuesday night) – there are games being played around the world.
Boxing
Big boxing events don’t happen very regularly, so we can’t suggest it’s one of the most common bets all year round. However, as single events go, betting on Anthony Joshua (or against), Tyson Fury, Josh Taylor, or Callum Smith is destined to energize the punters up. A Fury PPV is massive worldwide, so you can imagine how many bets they receive from the Brits, who are very proud of one of their own.
Rugby
Rugby often goes under the radar, but it happens to be a sport, like football, that was invented by a Brit and continues to be played by the commonwealth. There are two versions of rugby: League and Union, with different rules sets. League is more prevalent in the north of England, where it receives many bets, whilst Union is the more popular game worldwide.
Horses
Horse racing is one of the stranger sports in the UK because it’s not common to watch for its own entertainment, but it garners many viewers for the big events because of the betting culture. In fact, even the smaller events are often just being watched because punters have money on it.
Picking a horse is difficult for anyone, and because it has an air of unpredictability, it’s a popular roll of the dice for punters who will admit they have no clue about it. The Grand National will garner bets from the most casual of casuals – it will be an event that spurs on-account sign-ups. Virtual horse racing will often become a popular go-to bet for more regular punters when struggling to find live events to bet on.
Cricket
Some other sports we may perceive as being bigger in the UK. Tennis and Formula 1, to name two. But cricket actually gains more viewers from Brits, as well as having its roots in Britain the same way rugby does. The ICC Cricket World Cup, which takes place every four years, is the most important cricket competition – and England is the current champion. T20 is also popular, and the betting for Australia, India, England, and New Zealand have all very similar odds as outright winners, proving it’s open and fiercely competitive.
