Football betting is among the most popular forms of gambling in Ireland and here you can find our bespoke guide to the best football betting sites.
With a huge breadth and depth of football betting markets available via a wide range of bookmakers, its popularity is demonstrable.
The best football betting sites provide a safe and reliable platform for users to place bets, with features such as competitive odds, live betting, and live streaming.
However, that does not mean that all football betting sites are created equally and that is why we have created this guide to help you find your ideal bookie.
Read on to find irishracing.com's top 10 football betting sites, along with a guide to existing customer offers, responsible gambling and football betting markets.
AT A GLANCE: Established industry heavyweight for a reason, great odds, user-friendly interface although often left lacking when it comes to free bets for existing customers.
bet365 sets the gold standard for sports betting sites in a lot of aspects, including football betting.
First up, the bet365 free bet offer is very good for football betting, giving punters €30 in free bets which can be used in any combination on any football market.
Beyond the free bet offer, bet365 is at the cutting-edge of the industry. It was the first firm to offer the early payout feature and has a huge range of outright markets throughout the season that you will not find elsewhere.
The user-experience is also the best of any betting site, with bet builders and cross-game bet builders easy to create while the stats view when betting in-play is very helpful.
bet365 is not perfect though. Free bets for existing customers are very limited while there are more generous welcome offers on the market.
BOYLE Sports offers a huge range of promotions to keep customers engaged so if you are looking for football offers, then it could be a great choice.
The website and app have also both undergone a refresh, as has the branding, bringing BOYLE Sports into 2026, offering a modern user-friendly betting experience.
Promotions include the generous free bet offer for new customers which gives you plenty to get started.
Beyond that BOYLE Sports has regular free bets for all customers as well as 2UP early payout feature and a huge range of price boosts.
You can find better regular priced odds elsewhere but if you are a keen punter looking for free bets and a seamless betting experience, BOYLE Sports is a great choice.
AK BETS is the newest online bookmaker on our list of best Irish football betting sites, launching online in 2023.
The name may be familiar to those who frequent betting rings at racecourses up and down the country with horse racing a huge focus of AK BETS'.
The same is true of football and you will find some incredible odds with 'AK's Big Prices' a huge focus across a wide range of sports.
During the 2024-25 Premier League season, industry data showed that AK BETS' overround was 102.7%, demonstrating their tight prices.
AK BETS also has a bet builder feature, which is essential for any modern football betting site and a promotion which gives you free spins if you spend €50 on any bet boosts and free bets if you wager €50 on in-play.
However, AK BETS could improve by offering live streaming of football games, as it does for horse racing, as well as offering promotions like cross-game bet builders and early payout which are offered by a number of competitors.
Midnite have over 10 years of experience in online sports betting but have really scratched up their marketing efforts over the last 12 months.
Their bite matches the bark too, with a modern sportsbook offering a huge range of football betting options, including multi-match bet builders.
It is not only the breadth of bet builder options which impresses, but you will also find a nice depth, including markets like total tackles in a game.
In-play betting is also a strong feature of Midnite as is their price boosts which are offered on multiple markets on games beyond just the biggest in the Premier League.
Again, if you are solely focused on the best odds, there are better options for football betting.
What first strikes you about Novibet is the welcome offer. Not many bookmakers will be able to match the bet €10, get €70 promotion and what is even better is that it includes a no deposit €20 free bet.
Novibet is a new bookmaker, launching in Ireland in 2010, and as such has a modern feel with a real emphasis on user-experience.
Finding the football market you want to bet on is easy and the bet-slip experience is hassle-free.
Where Novibet can improve is existing customer promotions, meaning more free bets, beyond the welcome offer and regular price boosts.
Paddy Power needs no real introduction and its football betting options are what you would expect from such a huge name.
The interface is easy to navigate making adding bets and de-selecting them simple. You will also find cutting-edge promotions like the super sub guarantee which has now been replicated by competitors.
Another real standout is the depth of outright markets beyond simply league winners or top-four finishes such as the number of own goals in a season, individual player goals and individual team points totals.
William Hill's reputation as a leading football betting site is well deserved.
Like with horse racing, you may not find the best odds on the site, but there is still plenty to keep you engaged with promotions like free bets every time the side you have backed for the Premier League title wins.
Another innovation not seen from any others on our list is the free-to-play game 'Final One Standing', a concept similar to 'Last One Standing', a popular game played in offices and among friend groups across Ireland.
Beyond the bells and whistles, William Hill has a familiar old-school feel but remains easy-to-navigate, however, we would like to see the bet builder function integrated into odds with a greater range of markets, rather than as a pop-up.
Even if you have never bet on football with BetVictor the website may not seem familiar and that is because the same platform can be found on a host of sister bookies, such as talkSPORT BET.
BetVictor will be celebrating their 80th anniversary next year so you can expect an easy-to-use football betting site with a huge range of football betting markets and games to wager on.
The welcome offer is also strong as are some promotions that offer free bets but what lets BetVictor down is that cutting edge.
The only thing that differentiates BetVictor from the rest of the competition is its 'lucky dip' markets where you are given fixed odds and are randomly generated a bet on a market, such as correct score, which are too much of a gimmick to offer real value to Irish punters.
Betfair is owned by Flutter, the same group behind Sky Bet and Paddy Power so you can expect an easy football betting experience.
What really makes Betfair stand out from its stablemates and other competitors, is the Betfair exchange which gives you the chance to bet against fellow real punters and industry data shows you will find much more competitive odds here.
Another massive positive for Betfair is its insurance offer. A feature of many football betting sites, Betfair's goes above and beyond as your bet builder or accumulator of five selections will be refunded (up to €10) as cash if one selection lets you down. The industry standard is to offer a similar promotion for three-leg wagers and only refund you as a free bet.
On the regular sportsbook, odds are not the most competitive but there are plenty of more offers to keep you engaged, such as regular free bets.
After launching in 2023, VivatBet have already proven a hit with irishracing.com readers after joining the site earlier this year.
It is not difficult to see why this is the case with an enticing welcome offer and a huge range of football matches to bet on.
VivatBet is not the finished product and cannot really challenge with the likes of bet365, and nor should it given its infancy.
What can be improved are the user-experience with markets sometimes proving tricky to find, while the introduction of ante-post markets would be an easy win, especially at this stage of the season.
We have the latest odds from the leading football betting sites for the Premier League outright market below.
After winning the title last season, Liverpool are the favourites to retain their crown and win the top-flight in back-to-back seasons since 1984.
Runners-up in the past three seasons, Arsenal are the second favourites to win the title for the first time since 2024. With Viktor Gyokeres now leading the line, will the Gunners have the firepower to go one better this term?
Manchester City can never be discounted after winning four of five Premier League titles before Liverpool's dominant campaign last season. Pep Guardiola's side are just behind the Reds and Mikel Arteta's nearly-men to snatch the title this year.
There is then a significant drop-off in price with Chelsea out in fourth after winning the Club World Cup over the summer.
Manchester United are next in the betting, closely followed by Newcastle United and Europa League winners Tottenham. The full Premier League title odds can be found below.
Odds courtesy of AK BETS and correct at the time of publishing
Signing up to a betting site will vary from website to website but there are a few steps which are very similar across the industry. Below is our general step-by-step guide to help you at every juncture of your sign-up process and claim a welcome bonus:
Step 1: Navigate to the sign-up offer you want
Step 2: Click ‘join’ or ‘claim offer’ on betting site
Step 3: Fill in your personal details and create an account
Step 4: Verify your identify
Step 5: Deposit with valid deposit method
Step 6: Place qualifying bet (stake and minimum odds will vary)
Step 7: Once qualifying bet has settled, free bets will be added to your account (time will vary)
Step 8: Use your free bets on your new football betting site
It is almost impossible to put a limit on the number of football betting markets, with Irish betting sites constantly coming up with new prop markets for punters to bet on.
Below, we have gone through the most popular betting markets for football with an explanation of what you would be betting on.
The most popular form of football wagering is betting on the result of a game.
Most commonly, this is betting on either side to win or the game to end in a draw but there are a number of variations.
These include double chance markets, where the odds are lower as you are backing two of the three possible results while draw no bet, means you will receive your stake back as cash.
Scoreline markets are also a variation of result markets. Typically, the odds will be bigger as you need the exact score to be right for your bet to land.
You can also bet on a specific result or score at half-time in the game. Half-time/full-time markets also allow you to back a result at the midway point and the end of the game in the same bet.
If you are less confident on an exact result but still expect plenty of goals in a game, you can back the over/under market for goals.
The classic bet here is over/under 2.5 goals but almost all bookmakers will have the option to bet over/under 0.5 goals all the way up to 4.5.
You just need more or less goals than the line you have chosen for your bet to land, and again, there is the option to do this solely for the first half or second half.
Similarly, both teams to score is a very popular betting market, with the option of yes or no.
Goalscorer betting is probably the second most popular form of football betting after the result.
Here, you are backing a player to score at any time in a game but there is also the option to back the first or last goalscorer where the odds will be bigger. You can also bet on a player to score more than once.
Most bookies, if not all, also have the option to back players to register an assist in a game with some having a market for a player to score or assist.
Prop markets, or proposition markets, are those not centred on the outcome of the game but simply the occurrence (or non-occurence) of an event in a game.
Goalscorers and assisters are the most common prop markets but bookmakers now offer a huge range of prop markets thanks to the rise of bet builders.
Common examples include cards and corners with the option to back specific players to be shown a card in the game.
Further examples: offsides, fouls, tackles and passes but do not expect to see that option at every bookmaker.
Outright betting plays a huge role at the start of the season and less so as the campaign goes on.
Here, you are backing outcomes for the end of the season, most commonly the winner of a league or cup competition.
There are more options with the likes of bet365 and Paddy Power offering a wide range of outright markets, such as teams to finish in the bottom or top half, one club to finish above another and the top club from a specific region.
There are also player outright markets, such as the player of the year and top goalscorer, with some bookies offering you the chance to bet on a specific team's top goalscorer..
Free bet offers are a popular promotion among online betting sites, with many bookies offering free bets and surprise bets for existing customers.
It will often mean that you have to wager a certain amount on specific markets, although it is usually just a specific sport, to be rewarded with free bets paid.
The best bookmakers will have regular promotions that give you free bets but they are often ad-hoc. The likes of Betfair and William Hill are among the best for offering free bets with often no wagering requirements.
The most popular form of early payout markets are 2UP early payouts. This means that whenever a side goes two goals clear you will be paid out as a winner.
So, for example, if you back a side to win and they go 2-0 up, you will be paid out. However, if their opponents make a comeback and are leading 4-2 at any point and you have backed them, you will also be paid out. This remains the case whatever the outcome meaning if it ends 4-4, the bookies have paid out on every result.
These early payout promotions are sometimes placed in special markets so ensure you are placing your bet correctly if you want to take advantage. It also sometimes applies to accumulators, so again check the terms and conditions of your bookmaker of choice.
Betfair also has an early payout market for 90 minutes. The same logic applies, with stoppage time at the end of the second-half not counting. So, if the side you have backed are winning at 90 minutes, you will be paid out, no matter what happens afterwards.
The original and still the best, bet365 was the first bookmaker to introduce early payouts and others followed.
What stands out about bet365's early payout offer is that it is the standard market and you do not have to hunt it down as you do with other betting sites.
Accumulators have long been a popular form of betting across all sports, and football is no different.
Bet builders are a newer innovation, allowing Irish punters to combine selections from a number of games to access better odds.
To get even better odds and keep customers loyal, bookmakers have introduced accumulator and bet builder boosts.
Some may give you a certain number of boosts within a certain time frame, such as William Hill, while others simply boost your winnings by a certain percentage .
As with a lot of features, bet365's accumulator bonus is the best in the industry.
It works on a sliding scale. If your accumulator of two selections wins, your profit will be boosted by 2.5%, for three it is 5%, four is 10%, five is 12% and six is 15%. It then increases by 5% for every selection until 40% for 11-folds. Then, it increases by 10% to 14-folds and above, which are boosted by a massive 70%.
Insurance payouts are a key feature of horse racing betting and they have also been introduced in football.
In racing, it means you will recieve your money back as cash or a free bet if one selection lets you down.
It is the same in football, so if your accumulator or bet builder is let down by one selection, then you will recieve your stake back as cash or a free bet if it is let down by one leg.
Insurance payouts vary. Some give you money back as cash, some as a free bet and the amount of legs needed for your bet to qualify also vary.
Betfair's accumulator insurance is the best on the market as it applies to bets with just three legs and will also refund as cash, not just free bets.
The standard in the industry is to refund only bets with five legs and to issue the refund as a free bet, not cash.
This means Betfair's offer stands out on two counts.
Money back specials are a type of insurance offer but they differ by not applying specifically to accumulators and bet builders.
Instead, bookmakers will offer money back if certain outcomes happen. Most notably, some bookmakers will give you money back if you back a team to win, or someone to score, if the game ends goalless.
Another new money back special is LiveScore Bet's VAR payout. This season, LiveScore Bet are paying out on goals that are ruled out by football's pantomime villain - VAR.
bet365 refunds cash bets on half-time/full-time, correct score and scorecast (goalscorer and result) bets as cash if the game finishes as a 0-0 draw.
If you place your bet with bet credits, your refund will be as bet credits.
Loyalty rewards from bookmakers are nothing new. They are as simple as they sound, bookmakers will reward your loyal wagering by offering various rewards.
The best type of reward are free bets but others offered for regular football bettors include free spins and boost chips.
Loyalty rewards keep you engaged with a certain bookmaker as you know you will get extra value if you are a consistent customer.
The quality of rewards vary so it is important to weigh up whether they are worth you potentially sacrificing offers from elsewhere.
Unlike other bookmakers, QuinnBet's free bet club is not run on a weekly basis, but resets daily giving you more opportunities for free bets.
Each day, if you place an acca (minimum three selections or a bet builder (minimum two selections) worth €25 with minimum odds of 6/4, you will receive €2.50 free bet while you will get double that if you bet €50+.
Betting site reviews are an essential tool for users to evaluate the best betting sites.
While we at irishracing.com boast decades of experience in the industry across our team, you should not simply rely on our verdict.
As well as our expert opinion, we have also compiled the user reviews from our top ten football betting sites in a table below to aid you in your quest for a perfect football betting site.
We have taken the reviews from Trustpilot. It is, however, important to note that Trustpilot reviews for bookmakers are often low as users are more likely to complain about issues than laud bookies with praise. In this context, we see anything over 2.5/5 as a positive Trustpilot review for a bookmaker.
Customer support is a crucial aspect of online betting sites, with many bookies offering 24/7 support, live chat, and email support.
Users can evaluate the best betting sites based on factors such as response times, support quality, and availability, with many bookies offering comprehensive FAQs and help sections.
The best betting sites offer a range of customer support options, including phone support, email support, and live chat.
One of the five core pillars of AK BETS innovative offering is customer support.
While many bookmakers will offer 24/7 live text support, often this will be with a chatbot and while that may help with finding information it is rare that it will be able to solve a genuine issue.
AK BETS has a 24/7 trader live chat meaning you should be able to directly contact a member of their trading desk at any time.
In our experience, they are much more likely to be able to solve any issue a customer has and offer much more information than those of competitors.
Live betting and streaming are popular features among online betting sites, with many bookies offering live betting, also known as in-play betting and live streaming.
Due to media rights deals around the world, you may not find live streams of the top football games around the world on Irish betting sites.
However, in the past bet365 offered live streams for FA Cup games although this stopped in 2024. Now, you are likely to find niche games from the far flung corners of the globe and eSports variations of fotoball live streamed via bookmakers.
There are no limits to live betting options with bookmakers though with many offering the same comprehensive range of markets for live betting.
This offers live betting odds, a stastical live streaming, and easy in play betting.
AK BETS offer a number of betting clubs, including one for in-play betting, making it the ideal bookmaker for football live betting.
If you stake €50 on in-play markets within a day then you will be rewarded with a free bet worth a mystery amount which is credited to your account the following day.
Responsible gambling is a crucial aspect of online betting sites, with many bookies offering responsible gambling tools, including deposit limits, betting limits, and self-exclusion.
Users can evaluate the best betting sites based on factors such as responsible gambling tools, including deposit limits, betting limits, and self-exclusion, with many bookies offering information on responsible gambling.
The best betting sites offer a range of responsible gambling tools, including deposit limits, betting limits, and self-exclusion.
I joined irishracing.com in April 2025 after spending over two years with a UK newspaper, producing a wide range of betting content, including football tips.
With a background in football journalism and a lifetime of betting expertise, I am in a great position to bring irishracing.com readers all they need to know about football betting sites.
Yes, there are a wide range of online betting options in Ireland, including all of the bookmakers you will find mentioned here in our guide to the best football betting sites.
irishracing.com's recomended football bookmaker is bet365 who often ahve the best odds and are at the very forefront of innovation while maintaining a hassle-free user experience.
Yes, BOYLE Sports is Ireland's most successful independent bookmaker. John Boyle founded the firm in 1989.
