Best 7 Pools Betting Sites UK for 2025 (Ranked by Experts)

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How we rank the best pool betting sites

Pools betting offers a unique and challenging experience for bettors that is an alternative to the traditional betting they might be accustomed to. In a nutshell, it works by every player placing a wager, which is the same for all participants, and that then goes into a prize pool. That pool of money then goes to whoever predicts the correct outcome of whatever it is they’re wagering on – that could be one participant or multiple. It’s a great way to bet as punters can land some significant winnings. Pools betting sites in the UK looking to provide an excellent service to bettors, therefore, need to think about certain things to achieve that. Our robust and thorough review process is as follows.

The Best Pools Betting Sportsbooks

In this section, we’ll list some online sportsbooks with pools betting that we think are worth registering at.

All of the pools betting sites we’ve listed below are safe, secure and reliable. Each one is licensed by a regulatory authority and can be trusted. We wouldn’t recommend or promote any site that we think is dodgy in any way. Become a member of one of our recommended sportsbooks and you should have a great pool betting experience.

Betfred

Pros

• Offers Totepool betting
• Popular gambling brand that’s well liked by many
• Welcome bonuses for new customers are generous
• Many types of gambling are available on the site
• Plenty of promotions for existing customers running

Cons

• The time it takes to process withdrawals isn’t the fastest
• Can’t claim the welcome bonus if you’re using a prepaid card or e-wallet

BetFred was established in 1967 in Salford. For a few decades, the company focused on growing its footprint of betting shops and establishing itself as an honest brand that puts value first. Then when online gambling started taking off, it launched its own website, which offers sports betting and other types of gambling. One of these is, of course, Tote betting. As mentioned previously, BetFred actually owned Tote betting from 2011 to 2019. Though the company no longer owns the Tote, the BetFred site is still a great place to place Tote bets. There are over 1,400 BetFred betting shops throughout the UK.

William Hill

Pros

• Lots of betting markets, including Tote betting
• One of the UK’s leading sports betting companies
• A good number and variety of promotional bonuses to claim

Cons

• No loyalty scheme or VIP club

One of the UK’s longest-running gambling brands, William Hill can trace its roots back to 1934. There are well over 1,400 William Hill betting shops throughout the UK, plus there’s the company’s online sportsbook. While this is predominantly about sports betting, it also offers other gambling types such as virtual sports, poker, bingo and casino games. If you’re after a betting site that’s user-friendly and has a lot going on, be sure to consider William Hill.

Coral

Pros

• Plenty of promotions aimed at sports punters
• Mobile apps for iOS and Android are well rated
• Long-running gambling company with an excellent reputation
• Has a good line-up of other gambling opportunities
• Offers Totepool betting for horse racing

Cons

• Doesn’t have a VIP club of any kind
• The live chat feature can’t be accessed from the main screen

The company Coral is nearly a hundred years old, having been set up back in 1926. This makes it one of the UK’s longest-running and most-established gambling companies. For most of its history, its focus was on its betting shops and expanding its footprint throughout the UK. Nowadays, there are more than 1,000 of them located up and down the UK. The Coral website is primarily about sports betting, though it offers some other gambling opportunities such as poker, bingo and casino games. Tote betting is available here.

The Pools

Pros

• Lots of promotions with great bonuses to claim
• Offers a range of gambling opportunities
• Minimum pool sizes for betting pools

Cons

• The number of payment methods is limited

At this betting site, the focus is very much on pools betting. However, there are several other types of gambling available: casino games, virtual sports, live dealer games and lotteries. Overall, the range of gambling opportunities is extensive and should satisfy most people who register at the site. The pools betting options are pretty good and some of them have pretty large prize pools. The site itself is easy to navigate and is quite simplistic in its design.

Ladbrokes

Pros

• The Grid connects your online betting with your betting in Ladbrokes bookies
• Earn exclusive bonuses and loyalty points through The Grid
• The number of sports betting markets is impressive
• The brand has an extensive history and is reputable
• Offers Totepool betting on horse racing

Cons

• Some of the odds aren’t that competitive
• Live chat isn’t always available

Ladbrokes is another name on our list that goes back a long way, all the way to 1886, in fact. When the company was set up, it specialised in horse racing betting. Thanks to its early successes, it branched off into different areas of sports betting. The number of Ladbrokes betting shops steadily grew and continued to attract many keen punters. Today, there are thousands of them in operation. The company’s online sportsbook has a great range of betting markets, a sizable selection of casino games and plenty of bonuses waiting to be claimed. It has a simple red and white colour scheme and a straightforward layout.

Introduction

Pool betting is a particular type of betting that’s becoming very popular throughout the UK. Many people practise it because it can give some pretty big returns. On this page, we’ll explain exactly how this type of betting works and we’ll show you some of the best pool betting sites that the UK has to offer.

Have a read and see if pools betting is suitable for you. If you find it appealing, register at one of the online sports we recommend and start placing some bets. Let’s get started and look at pools betting in detail.

Pools Betting vs Fixed-Odds Betting

In this section, we’ll run through what it is and how it works. First though, we’ll look at fixed-odds betting so we can compare the two.

Fixed-odds betting is where you place a bet, agreeing to the odds displayed. These odds, along with your wager, determine your payout. Let’s say you wager £1 on a bet with odds of 3/1. If this bet wins, you get your bet returned and receive winnings. The number on the left, 3, is what your bet is multiplied by to get your winnings; the number on the right, 1, is your initial bet. So, if you win a 3/1 bet with a wager of £1, you’ll end up with £4. This is made up of your initial bet (£1) and your winnings (£3).

With fixed-odds betting, other people’s bets don’t affect your winnings. With pools betting, however, they do. Here’s a rundown of how pools betting works:

• You bet on a particular outcome; other people are free to bet on the same outcome and others
• All wagered money is gathered in a prize pool
• Once the event’s finished, all people who have bet on the winning outcome get paid
• The money in the prize pool is shared evenly among all those with winning bets

Let’s say there’s an event with four possible outcomes: A, B, C and D. Ten people each wager £1 and each person picks one outcome:

• A – Two people
• B – Three people
• C – One person
• D – Four people

A total of £10 is in the prize pool. If outcome A wins, the two people who have wagered on it will split the prize money; each one will therefore get paid £5. Only one person has backed outcome C. If this bet wins, that one person will receive the entire £10 prize money.

With pools betting, the less popular a bet, the more of the prize fund those who have backed it will share if it wins. If you happen to back the winner and not many other people have done the same, you could end up with quite a substantial cash reward. That being said, if lots of others have blacked the winner, you won’t be paid as much.

When it’s fixed-odds betting, you know how much money you stand to win. You enter your stake in your bet slip and the betting site shows you what the winnings for your bet are, based on the current odds. You don’t get this with pools betting since there’s no way to tell in advance how many people will back each outcome and how the prize fund will be split.

Here’s a summary of fixed-odds betting vs pools betting:

If you think pools betting is for you, great. You’re sure to enjoy this type of betting. In the next section, we’ll run through some of the pros and cons associated with it, then we’ll show you some of the best online sportsbooks that offer it.

Pools Betting: Pros and Cons

All types of betting have advantages and disadvantages; pools betting is no different. Have a look below to see what these are:

• Pros
  • Potential to win big if you predict the right outcome and not many other people do the same
  • Everyone’s treated the same and pays the same amount; with fixed-odds betting, two people could end up getting vastly different odds for the same bet
  • You don’t have to wager a large sum of money to potentially win big
  • Available for major football tournaments and matches, and significant horse racing events

• Cons
  • You’re not sure how much you could win because of a lack of odds
  • The prize money depends on how many people are betting and how much they’re wagering

Most punters aren’t put off by the cons. They’re prepared to practise this type of betting since they know that they could potentially land a big win if they’re lucky.

What Sports Can You Place Pool Bets On?

At a typical UK online sportsbook, there are a few dozen sporting events and races you can bet on. For all of these, the standard form of betting is used, where you’re going up against the bookmaker and if you win, the payout depends on your wager and the odds.

Pools betting, unlike regular betting, is only available for two markets: horse racing and football. You’ll find that the majority of pools betting options are for horse racing and a smaller number are for football.

Even though the number of options is rather limited, this isn’t a problem for most punters. They enjoy being able to place pools bets on horse racing and/or football, and they don’t mind that this type of betting isn’t more widely available. If there was demand for it for other sports, it would exist, but there isn’t such demand so it’s not currently offered.

The Totepool Explained

In 1928, the Tote was established by the UK government. This company was set up to offer pools betting for horse racing and football. In July 2011, it was sold to the well-established gambling company BetFred in a deal reportedly worth £265 million. Then in 2019, it was sold to UK Tote Group.

The company operates the Totepool – also known as the Tote – which is the UK’s largest pools betting system. The company had an exclusive licence that allowed only them and no one else to offer pools betting on horse racing. This licence expired on 12 July 2018. Since then, other companies have been able to set up their own horse racing pools betting services. The Tote remains the biggest and most popular pools betting system in the UK by far.

Totepool Bets for Horse Racing

Below are summaries of the Tote betting options for horse racing:

Single Leg Bets

• Win/Place. For this bet, you’re backing a certain horse to come first or to place. For a horse to place, it has to finish in one of several positions pre-determined by the site. A site might say that a horse places if it finishes first or second, for example
• Exacta. This bet requires you to pick two horses: one to finish first and one to finish second. If your guesses match the final outcome, you’ll win
• Trifecta. The same as the Exact, except you’re picking horses to finish first, second and third. Again, all corrections have to be right for you to win the bet
• Swinger. You pick two horses and for the bet to win, these horses have to finish in the top three, in any order
• Quinella. This is similar to the Exacta in that you’re backing two horses to finish first and second. However, the horses can finish in either order and you’ll win

Multi-Leg Bets

• Placepot. A popular bet with horse racing punters, this requires you to pick one horse for each of the first six races in a single racing event. You’re able to select additional horses, but this increases the stake. For the Placepot to win, the horses have to win or place in the six races. The table below shows what positions the horses have to finish in depending on the number of racers:

This bet has an average payout of £407 per £1 wager. It can therefore be very profitable. What makes it appealing is that for a lot of races, the chosen horse only has to place; it doesn’t have to win

• Quadpot. This is similar to the Placepot, except you’re backing horses to place in races 3-6 of a meeting, instead of races 1-6
• Jackpot. For this bet, you pick six winners for the first six races of a meeting. The bet only pays if all six nominated horses win their respective races
• Scoop6. Similar to the Jackpot, except the races are from multiple meetings and are selected by the Tote; this is only available on Saturdays

Totepool Bets for Football

And here are the options for football. All of these are multi-leg bets.

Multi-Leg Bets

• 1×2. Predict which teams will win, lose or draw in a number of pre-selected matches
• Correct Score. For this, you have to predict the correct score in matches predetermined by the Tote
• Asian Handicap. This bet requires you to guess the outcome of matches where the favourites are handicapped; this means they have to win by a certain number of goals to be considered the winner
• Over/Under. For this, you’re predicting whether the final result of matches will be over or under a certain number
• Both Teams to Score. Pays out if each team scores at least one goal in specific matches

Before you start placing Tote bets, familiarise yourself with the options and how they work.

How to Choose a Pools Betting Site

Having lots of options is great, but how do you pick the right pool betting site for you? Thankfully, there’s an easy way to whittle down the options and settle on one site. What you should do is think about what you want most from a betting site. Some of the criteria you may wish to consider include:

• Betting markets
  • What sports can you bet on? What betting options are there? Does the site offer bets on smaller, local events or does it just focus on the bigger ones?
• Other gambling opportunities
  • Does the site focus on sports betting or does it offer other types of gambling? Are there casino games? Lotteries? Bingo, poker and virtual games?
• Payment methods
  • What payment methods can you use for deposits and withdrawals? Are there any fees? What are the withdrawal wait times? What are the transaction limits?
• Customer support
  • What options for contacting customer support are there? Is customer support available all day or just during select hours?
• Safety and security
  • Is the site licensed? Does it use advanced security software? Is there help available for those affected by gambling problems?
• Reputation
  • Does the site have a good reputation? Are the reviews and comments mostly positive?

Don’t just register at the very first betting site on our list. Instead, take time to look through the full list of recommendations and read our summaries. See which of these online sportsbooks appeals to you the most.

How to Take Part in Pools Betting

If you’d like to do some pools betting, there are three simple steps to take:

• Sign up at one of our recommended online sportsbooks
• Deposit money into your account
• Place a pools bet on a market of your choosing

We’ll go through these three steps in more detail below, using Coral as an example.