Frequently asked questions

Different players all have different criteria that they follow when choosing a bookmaker: for some players the most important thing is for a bookmaker is to have high odds, while some look for the bookmaker with the best selection of bets, and some only care the most about the welcome bonus. The website Legalbet has identified seven main criteria for choosing the correct bookie and has conducted an objective review of the existing UK bookmakers. You can find out more about this in the article “How to choose a bookmaker: an instruction for beginners.”

Each bookmaking company will have a ‘register’ button on its website. When registering make sure to carefully fill in all of the necessary fields: you will usually need to include your name, date of birth, drivers license number and contact details. All of this information must be correct, because there is advance identification required for making bets or withdrawing money. 

Learn more about registration and identification, “How to register with a bookmaker for beginners” - we recommend reading it so that you can avoid any unnecessary difficulties. Here you can also check any details related to registration, the bookies support service or Legalbet’s online chat.

You can register with as many bookmakers as you want. All bookmakers work separately from each other and are always happy to have new customers. The main thing is to remember (or even to write down somewhere) the login and password for each different game account, because the recovery of this data can take time. 

View the full list of legal online bookmakers in Great Britain

No way. Re-registration is prohibited and may even result in your account being blocked. You will simply need to go through the password recovery process- there is one available on each bookmaker’s site. If difficulties arise, we recommend that you contact the customer support available on the bookmaker’s website. The operator will quickly (hopefully) tell you how you can restore your account.

No. One player, one account. This is the main condition for any bookmaker. If you manage to set up more than one account you will be able to get away with it only until you try to withdraw your funds. The bookmaker will then immediately understand that you are a fraudster, as the use of several accounts is prohibited. This is because bookmakers will block several accounts at one IP address or with the same bank accounts, etc. Depending on the rules of the office you are playing at, you may not even be payed your winnings and return only the deposit amount.

Like we mentioned in the last question, serious bookmakers block accounts by IP address. If several accounts have the same IP address, then the bookmaking office can accuse you of fraud (multi-counting). Although, if your friends and family really are playing on the accounts, there are some offices that after checking the identities involved can unlock the accounts.

In this case, you are most likely a victim of ISP, which has a few subnets covered in its grid. This results in many customers using this provider to share the same IP address. It can happen, but it very rarely does. In these situations, you will need to contact the bookmaker’s available customer support. You will be required to pass an identity check, and after a certain amount of time (depending on the office) your account will be unlocked.

Great Britain bookmakers, who take bets online, offer different forms of payment methods to deposit into your account. The most popular methods offered are PayPal as well as Visa and Mastercard. The account can also be replenished with various other apps or bank accounts. Bookmakers will always list the deposit methods accepted on their website. 

Learn more: How to fill accounts on Great Britain bookmaking websites.

The rate at which funds are received and withdrawn depends on which method of payment the player uses. If to fill your account you use a credit card or an electronic payment system, then usually the money will instantly be added to your account. Bank transfers will normally take several days. Bookmakers will oftentimes indicate the amount of time each payment method will take on their websites.

The minimum amount that the player must deposit will be specified on the bookmaker’s website. More often then not it is only a couple of dollars, but it could be more or less depending on which payment system the player is using to deposit.

The rules of fund payments vary with different companies, but they will always be specified in the relevant section on the site. Not all bookmakers will allow you to immediately withdraw funds after making a deposit. In some cases you will have to wait a certain period of time before making a withdrawal. It is also worth noting that most bookmakers have a rule: funds can be withdrawn only after the entire amount has been placed on bets.

The rules for withdrawing funds are always described on the bookmaker’s site in the “withdrawals” or “conclude” sections. Most often, you can make withdrawals with the same forms of payment that you used to deposit money. You can read more about entering and withdrawing money in the article “How to fill an account on an UK betting site”.

Be sure to carefully check the bookmaker’s website for information about how long it could take to withdraw funds for your particular payment method. Usually the maximum time period is up to five business days, however the funds are usually withdrawn within two-three days. The bookmaker could have also made a claim about you and is withholding your funds for one reason or another. In this case, you will need to contact the support team and find out what is causing the delay. If the support team is not able to give you a solution, but you are sure that you played fairly and did not violate any of the site’s rules, then you are welcome to leave a complaint about the bookmaker on our website. To do this, select your bookmaker from the general list and click “Add a Complaint” on the page.

Do not be afraid of these things. Sending copies of documents is an international practice, and there have been no cases where these copies were used improperly. If you are still worried, then you should avoid using bookmakers with low rating, and instead trust offices that have been in the market of betting services for a long time. We recommend using Legalbet’s bookmaker ratings for review.

On Great Britain websites you can only play with pounds. It is convenient and allows you to save time and money on conversion and from possible commissions. Other currency can be used on foreign bookmaker’s websites. We do remind you that foreign companies have no obligation to take bets from a UK citizen.

This is a bet on several things at once. On this bet, the winnings will be equal to the total odds of all the events the player chose. If at least one of the events in the express bet loses, then the entire bet will be lost. However, if the users predicted all of the events correctly, then the winnings will be much greater than if you had made each bet separately. You can find out more about the types of bets in our article Single, Express, System.

You must first check the rules of your bookmaker. Usually up to 20 events can be placed on a single express. The “ceiling” of the final coefficient is also important. Even if you cannot find the maximum odds in the rules, the office will automatically tell you if you have exceeded the maximum odds allowed.

This is a type of bet that combines several express trains from a selected number of events. This bet differs from an express in that one or even several of the selected events can lose without the whole bet losing. But the profits on the system is less than the winnings would be on the express. The maximum number of options and events allowed for the system can be found in the bookmaker’s rules section. Read more about the types of bets in the article Single, express, System.

This is a bet you make on the total number of goals, points, corners, cards, fouls, etc. You can make bets on both the game total (combined number of both team) and on the team total (the total of just one team). The bookmaker determines the total number and offers you the choice of whether the actual number will be more or less than this value. For example, for soccer a value of 2.5 goals is usually offered. More information is available in our article Betting on Total.

Each bookmaker has analysts who study the sports and track the results. Goals are not always 2.5 for soccer. In certain championships or divisions (for example, the 1st division of the Norwegian Football Championship) a total of 3.5 goals is used, as teams in these leagues traditionally score a lot of goals. Bookmakers, who make the line, study how much of one statistic on average each team will end with. So not only is the total average taken but also the teams averages as well. Everything is taken into account, even the statistics of personal meetings and weather conditions.

Handicap is a an advantage that is given to one of the teams, which is taken into account when you are counting the result. The handicap allows you to either increase or decrease the probability of an outcome, raising or lowering the factor on one statistic or another, usually on the final score.

The Asian handicap is a familiar handicap with two outcomes. In western offices fictional odds such as 0-0.5 or -1-1.5 are added to the original odds (0, -1, -1.5). Therefore if you bet on a handicap of -1-1.5 with a factor of 1.8, your bet is split into two single half bets. One goes for a handicap -1, the second on the handicap 1.5. For example, if you bet 2000 dollars, then 1000 dollars goes to the handicap -1, and the other 1000 dollars goes on the head (1.5), both with a factor of 1.8. Let’s imagine that your team won by one goal. In this scenario, the the return on the rate will be 1000 dollars: the bet on the handicap -1 returned, and the part that stood at -1.5, lost. For the European handicap, the bet is made taking into account a draw (“three-off”). So be careful when betting on a European handicap. The handicap bet -1 in the European Handicap is equal to the -1.5 handicap bet in the Asian handicap, as it adds the option to draw as well.

Foreign bookmaker offices operate mainly in two formats - the decimal or fractional. If the fractional odds are difficult for you to understand, you can switch to the site’s menu and change the odds to decimal. If this option is not available, then you need to understand the fractional format as follows: 10/3 - at the rate of three dollars you will return a profit of ten dollars. To translate this fractional coefficient into the decimal format, you need to divide the first digit into the second and add one: 10 : 3 to 1 q 4.33. Learn more about the types of betting odds and their ways in our School of Betting.

All bookmakers accept bets for the main time. Betting on extra time and penalties will be offered to you in a different line. Be aware of this when you bet on events that have a possibility of extra time.

Carefully study your bookmaker’s rules regarding this. All bookmakers calculate bets in different ways. Thus, one bookmaker might take into account overtime for the NHL and KHL, but only the main time for WHL league games. In each review of the of our bookmaker rating there is a clause “specials of admission and calculation of bets” - we recommend reading this item in the review of the office that you bet at.

Here exists no such statistic. Most people bet on soccer, as it is the world’s no. 1 sport. Then there is tennis, basketball, hockey, etc. Advising one particular sport does not make sense, as some players are better at reading the game of soccer, and some tennis etc. However, the lower the popularity of a sport, the easier it is to win a bet on it (provided that you actually understand it and are aware of the current state of athletes). The fact is that the number of bets on unpopular sports is relatively small, and bookmakers usually do not bother with correctly placed odds. In addition, it is difficult to find all of the necessary information on these sports. Therefore, bookmakers can be mistaken and offer an unreasonably high ratio, which can be used by the player. However, it is not easy to win in these markets all of the time. First, bookmakers will initially give low limits on these events, and if they see that you are better than them in this sport, they will offer you a maximum bet on these events around one dollar.

These are bets made on events that have already started. You can make these bets during the match. You can find more information about the features and nuances of live bets in our article ‘Betting on the Course of the Match (LIVE).

In the good offices, the time you wait will only take a few seconds or 2-3 minutes. If your bookmaker takes a long time calculating your bet, then continuing to play there is not going to be worth it.

Every bookmaker and market (sport, live, championship) will have its own limits for the maximum amount to be accepted on an event. As a rule, bookmakers do not drastically limit the bets on European football championships or other major sports tournaments. However, if you are betting on unpopular events, and you are cautious of the bookmaker’s security, then these limits can sometimes be “cut”. In some cases, these can be reduced to minuscule amounts.

1. If you are a “forkman”, meaning that you place bets in different offices on a single event. By betting on opposite outcomes and and guaranteeing yourself a profit no matter what. Bookmakers of course do not like such players and use all possible means to fight against them. The penalty for playing “forks” could be not only cutting the maximum possible bet, but also blocking the account and confiscating all winnings from the bets.

2. If you are a successful punter and are constantly winning (especially if you are betting on unpopular events). In this situation, the bookmaker may consider you a professional player, and in turn will quickly cut your score. You will be paid all of your winnings (since you did not break any rules), but the bookmakers will do everything they can to turn you away from betting on their site.

Many players that ignore the rules that every bookmaker has posted. Seeing the huge text listing the rules and conditions players can understand that it clearly says that it is the bookmaker’s decision to change maximums for any reason. And when you sign up for their services, you sign/ agree with these rules by clicking on a button along the lines of “I’m familiar with the rules”.

In general, bookmakers are loyal to players who bet as a hobby. It is easy for them to see which events the player bets on, how often and in which markets and sports they play. Even if you win often, the bookmaker will not take any action against you, but if a professional player is suspected, then the limit will be automatically cut. Professional players are caught by betting on “boulders” (mistakingly inflated odds by bookmakers).

No, bookmakers love big players. Even the ones that win. They only do not like those that bet professionally on events where the bookmaker made a mistake in regards to setting the odds. These players can win consistently for a very long time, so bookmakers try to get rid of them. If you are making bets for fun, and you understand sports well and win more often than not, bookmakers will not set up any obstacles for you.

Most bookmakers will allow this. However, any bet has a risk attached. With an extensive line, you can bet many times on a single event, and it isn’t guaranteed that you will be in the positive. The number of bets allowed on one event can be specified in the support service or “poking method”, (the bookmaker will state that this bet, for example, is impossible).

First, you must read the rules of the bookmaker. If your problem is described there and you have indeed violated one or more rules, then your complaints will surely lead to nothing. However, if you can prove that you played fairly and violated no rules, then our site can try and solve the problem. In order to file a complaint, you need to select the bookmaker from the general list, go to his page (click on the logo) and click “Add a complaint.” Please note that the Legalbet website will only accept complaints about legitimate bookmakers. Official representatives of companies that work with our website are also involved in analysing player’s complaints. Also in order to help our users, we attract other established representatives who are in contact with employees of the bookmakers. We talk about previous player complaints and their results on our page “We helped”.

Legalbet recommends that players choose bookmakers with a high reliability rating. This rating is based on two main criteria: the evaluation is influenced by the honesty of the company by how they pay winnings, as well as its willingness to engage with players to listen to complaints and solve them. You can also read about them in the People’s Ranking of bookmakers, showing the popularity of each company among real betting fans.

There are enough websites on the Internet that rate bookmakers themselves. Unfortunately, completely objective rankings compiled by betting sites do not exist, as bookmakers are partners of these sites, and therefore in one way or another will affect the ratings. ALL SITES offer a subjective rating based on their relationships with the bookmakers: some are more influenced than others, but they are all subjective. This includes our site as well. However, the Legalbet People’s Rating is the only rating based on the players themselves. This should help to influence your trust when players like you are making the rankings.

The answer is yes, it can happen. Usually bookmakers will be oriented to the official websites of sports federations, sports clubs, etc. if your rate is calculated differently for different bookmakers, then that means that the companies use different sources of information. You need to make a support request and specify which source shows the correct outcome of the event. Your bookmaker should always tell you where their information comes from. Unfortunately, the bookmaker usually wins this dispute.

By agreeing to the bookmaker’s rules when you register for the site, you automatically agree that the office recognise the match as contractual by its own ruling. In this case, the office can block the account and even confiscate the winnings, returning only the deposit. Some bookmakers will deliberately delay checking the match to keep the players who bet on the contractual match on edge. The reason they do this is to try and force the player to stop playing at their office.

The rules of the bookmaker state that the office is not responsible for the loyalty shown by the current account in the match and recommends that you focus on official sources. Therefore, the bookmaker has the right to keep the result by force.

Usually, before taking a bet, a question will be asked like “Are you sure you want to bet on an event with this factor”? where you have to confirm the bet. Some bookmakers accept bets without a question. Once the bet has been accepted it becomes impossible to cancel it. Make sure to be careful.