What is a Betting Line?
If you hear some punters talking about lines, lines betting or line shopping, then you need to know that they are referring to the current odds or points spread on a particular sports event. In order to keep it as simple as possible for you, we’re going to explain you step by step how the line betting works.
Firstly, the lines are being set up by the online bookmakers and they are doing it in order to create a balance between the two sides involved in a sports event. For example, a team could cover the line, but not win the game, and vice-versa. Practically, a line bet is just a simple bet placed on a line set by a bookmaker.
Although there still are regulations surrounding online betting in the US, there are a couple of states that allow people to place bets online. Most of the American bettors love to bet on lines across several sports such as basketball, baseball, ice hockey, American football and even soccer.
The most popular bets on lines across the US bettors are on the regular line betting market, but also on Moneyline betting and total betting markets. This applies to all major leagues in the USA, such as NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL.
In this article, we will share with you all the necessary info about the line betting, line shopping and best bookmakers in terms of best lines provided. Our bookmakers’ reviews will give you details about the best betting lines, top bookmakers for line betting, and also bonuses and promotional offers that can boost your bankroll.
How to find the best UK bookmakers by lines?
Firstly, lines and odds are changing all the time and that’s because the bookmakers or linemakers are using advanced statistics in order to determine how high or low should the line be.
Nowadays, there are many bookmakers in the betting industry and each of them will offer different betting lines, so it might be a struggle to find the best bookmaker by lines. The reasons for those differences between the betting lines provided by the bookmakers can be the weather, teams news such as injuries or suspended players, etc.
In order to find the best betting sites by lines, you need to do a little bit of ‘line shopping’. This means that the bettors are searching through multiple bookmakers to find the best lines available in order to maximize their potential winnings.
This process helps punters to make a profit over the long haul. When it comes to lines betting markets, the websites can vary a bit more, with some betting sites concentrating regular line markets, while others can focus on Moneyline bets, point spread or total points markets.
Another important factor that needs to be taken into consideration before choosing a bookmaker, is the bonuses and promotional offers. Each online bookmaker offers bonuses in order to make you join them. Bonuses are a good opportunity to increase your bankroll, so it’s important to check out this factor when looking for the best bookmakers by lines. Usually, the bonuses offered by the bookies may be in the form of welcome bonuses, free bets, bonus credits, reload bonuses, etc.
How we review and rate the best bookmakers by lines?
If you have navigated through our website, there are loads of articles, guides and bookmaker reviews about everything related to sports betting. We like to share our knowledge with our customers and that’s why we have created a rating system based on different criteria. We are aware that it’s your choice whether to sign up to a new bookmaker or not, but we believe that our impression about one bookmaker or another can help you make your decision in a better manner.
Our analysis on what makes a top bookmaker by line includes a couple of criteria such as the competitiveness of the lines, the diversity of the betting lines markets, and the bonuses provided by these bookmakers that are providing lines when betting.
Firstly, our team of experts recommends having more than one bookmaker for your betting in order to take advantage of the best betting lines available. Secondly, our bookmaker reviews include a couple of important aspects that you need to take into consideration before making a decision, so you will have all the necessary info in one place.
It’s also important for you to make yourself a checklist of things that you expect from a bookmaker in terms of lines betting such as:
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Which bookmakers have the best lines in the markets that you love to bet on?
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Are the betting lines markets rich enough for your preferences?
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Are the bonuses good enough to make you join that bookmaker?
Luckily for you, we have already gone through all these questions, so our rating system will show you exactly which are the best bookmakers by lines, odds, bonuses, user rating, live betting, etc. Your expectations combined with our bookmaker reviews will definitely help you find the best bookmakers in the UK.
Top 5 betting sites with most markets and best lines
Betfair
Betfair are probably the market leader when it comes to the number of markets it puts up on each event covered and there is a logical reason for this, the exchange is not responsible for pricing the market. At the same time and for the same reason some of the best lines, by which we mean best odds really, can be found here as there is a fixed margin from Betfair as low as 2%, so the majority of markets are priced at just 98% under round. Betfair currently list 28 different sports for you to bet on and as an example of coverage on the day of writing England play Hungary in an International football match and they have 58 unique markets available to bet on.
Smarkets
Smarkets is another exchange who have all the same advantages of not needing to price up every event so therefore can list many more than traditional bookmakers a lot more easily. The markets also trend to 100% value odds due to the nature of the market mechanism and the ability to lay as well as back each eventuality, leaving just Smarkets 2% commission on winning bets as the margin. They have a total of 19 different sports listed for you to bet on at the time of writing, and in terms of depth on todays International Football match between England and Hungary there are 30 different betting categories to choose from.
PaddyPower
PaddyPower are a traditional bookmaker and they have a reputation for listing many special bets and interesting permutations resulting in lines that can not be found elsewhere. They offer unique markets and as such the odds are often interesting if speculative. They list 29 different sports at the time of writing and in terms of coverage the England International tonight vs Hungary because of the 'WhatOddsPaddy' feature they are well over 100 betting lines to choose from and if the one you want is not there then you can always request it.
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes are a leading UK bookmaker and therefore have a vast amount of resources and a huge team of odds compilers pricing up as many lines as possible each and every day. It is unusual to find a line somewhere that Ladbrokes have not also covered, especially on the main football matches. The odds are equally competitive as you would expect. Ladbrokes have a remarkable 45 different sports available for you to bet on and although levels of depth will vary between them all are competitive. For an indication of market depth and the number of lines if you view the England vs Hungary International game tonight they have a huge 195 betting lines already and the ability to 'Get a Price' if you do want something else.
Bet-At-Home
Bet-At-Home are an exceptional bookmaker when it comes to a few areas not focused on by the mainstream. They have all the main sports covered as you would expect but if you are looking for Esports lines then they have more choice then anyone else by over 100%. They list over 30 different sports and have a particular specialist area of Esports, where there are considerably more Esports covered with a huge number more lines on each match than anybody else can offer.
The top betting sites are…
Here at Legalbet we have also categorised the top betting sites and their features to make them easier for you to find. They are:
By Sport: Football | Tennis | Boxing | Cricket | F1 | Snooker | Golf | UFC | Darts | Greyhound | Rugby | Boxing
By Payment Systems: PayPal | Skrill | Klarna | Boku | Debit Cards | Apple Pay | Paysafecard
By Features: Cash Out | £5 Minimum Deposit | Minimum Bet Sizing | Live Streaming | Betting Exchanges | Safest | Fast Withdrawal
By Events: Politics
By Esports: CS:GO | Dota 2 | League of Legends | PUBG
Frequently Asked Questions
The line betting is usually known as a form of betting or a betting market whereby the bookmaker sets a handicap on a team or a player to balance the fixture. Practically, the bookmakers create a margin/line between those two teams or players, in an event where there are only two outcomes possible. Betting on lines can be done on different betting markets such as handicap betting, Asian handicap betting, Moneyline bets, point spread bets, point total bets, etc.
Just find the online bookmaker that fits your style and open an account with them. We recommend you to check out our rating system, as we have been testing over 100 hundred bookmakers in order to find the best ones in terms of odds, lines, bonuses, etc. After finding the right bookie and funding your account, then you want to open the lines betting markets and search the event you want to bet on.
Finding the best bookmaker by line can be a struggle, but luckily for you, we have done all the hard work and put together a list with the best bookmakers by lines in the UK. At the end of the day, it only depends on your preferences, but through our analysis and in-depth reviews that can be found on this page, we can recommend a couple of bookmakers that may fit your needs. On the Legalbet.uk website you will find which are the best bookmakers by line, rating, bonuses, odds, mobile platforms, etc.
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