Betting tools don’t just refer to the supplementary software that punters use to find high value wagers or project simulated match outcomes. Bookies themselves provide various types of tools and features to elevate the betting experience, some of which you may have yet to come across. These can be anything from exclusive perks provided at just one platform, to mainstream tools that most have, but only a few bookmakers stand out for really embellishing their tools to your benefit.
Brand marketing and size/frequency of betting bonuses have a lot of sway over punters, but, with the right betting tools at your disposal, you can really take your punts to new heights. Here, we will analyse the various features and bookies own betting tools that you will come across, and how you can get the most out of them.
Top Bookies Own Betting Tools
At the beating heart of any bookie worth its weight in gold, we need proper licensing, multiple reliable payment methods, a grand scoop of betting markets, and betting bonuses for good measure. Betting tools are another category that, while few punters look out, give you a sort of flexibility and canvas on which you can dabble in new markets and optimise your betting strategy.
Fortunately, the UK is not short on worldclass bookmakers. Each has its own take on sports betting, which you can experience first hand in their betting markets, types of bonuses offered, and the tools they equip you with to make your bets. In terms of the tools, you are looking at a wide range of features and extras that can impact your betting in a big way. From very exclusive, rarely found Substitution Guarantees to the quite mainstream live streams or cash out functionalities. That being said, not all bookies have the same quality or coverage of live streams, and just having cash outs is not the same as having high value offers with little to no hiccups.
Bet Slip Tools for Closer Review and Edits
Having pop up bet slips and reviewing or editing options is a must, and virtually all bookies have covered the basics. You can collect your picks, combine them, and check the potential returns in an instant through the built-in odds calculators. Top books will go a little deeper, throwing in nifty extra little features that make it easier to work on your next wagers and put together your next big winner.
Instead of just providing a bet slip with bet, odds, and acca options, some bookies also throw in features such as 1-Click Buy or Accept Odds Change tools. The 1-click buy option speeds up the process of placing new bets, so you can enter a stake before picking your wager, and then lock in the current odds. It is ideal for catching high value live odds. Accept odds changes is a function that allows you to review any selections where the odds have changed, so you aren’t just accepting lower odds or new betting lines without reviewing the changes first.
These features are more commonly found at newer UK bookies, which have only launched in the past few years, and it is surprising just how many of the more established UK betting brands don’t have instant betting or tools to manage changing odds. Bookies like JeffBet, BetMaze and Mogobet have both, and 10Bet has accept odds changes on its bet slip.
Dynamic Betting Interfaces and Stats Analysis
The betting interface is also an area that can be optimised. The classic setup, with sports categories lined up on the left, upcoming matches down the middle, and the need to jump into each match to find the betting markets is a little time consuming. Especially if, say, you are only looking for one very specific betting market or prop across numerous events. When we are making our Over 0.5 Goals footie tips, we prefer sites like BetFred, 888Sport or BetMaze have options to filter out the betting market we want to check, and then make it easier to cross reference prices for that specific market across number events.
Or, interface optimisation can come in the form of providing punters with options to compare wagers and analyse the stats between different wagers. We have found many top horse race betting apps, specifically BoyleSports or Ladbrokes, give you a detailed insight into the chances of each bet hitting. They won’t make AI powered projections for you, as a horse race betting software will, but they give you a rough idea of what to expect.
Alternate Betting Markets and Request A Bet
Betting markets such as handicaps, alternate handicaps, total goals or correct score can have multiple possible lines or outcomes you can bet on. Instead of just providing you with a lengthy list, top bookies use adjustable lines or other visual devices to make it easier to gauge the odds and pick the wager you are after. We have tested platforms where the alternate lines or correct score are just listed, and you have to scroll through endless scores or lines to find the right line.
Another top tool bookies can offer is request a bet, giving you the option to ask for special wagers that cannot be found elsewhere. Let’s say you want football bets on a player to get booked, score a penalty, hit the crossbar, or any other niche bet that you wouldn’t otherwise find at a bookie. Bookies such as Coral, Ladbrokes, bet365, BetFred, and William Hill don’t just leave you wondering. You can make a special request to get odds for your bet, and you can do this in several ways.
Most top bookies have request a bet feature in the Bet Builder, where you can directly ask the bookie to provide odds on your custom selected bet. Another option is to ask them out in the open on X (Twitter), using the relevant hashtag. You simply make a tweet on your bookies’ official X account, and use the hashtag to inform them you want to request a bet. The third option is to send the operator a direct message without taking your pick to social media.
Bet365, for example, uses this approach, which means you don’t need to share your picks with the world. No one can copy your picks, and there won’t be any market inflation on your pick if there aren’t hundreds of punters requesting the same bet.
Acca Building Tools, Transparency, and Multiples System Bets
All online bookies have acca building tools, but the devil is truly in the details here. Just starting with picking your bets to combine into accas. If you are picking moneylines from different matches, you won’t run into any interference issues where two or more picks cannot be combined.
But when bet building on one match, it is something punters run into quite a lot. That is because the bookie has not clearly defined which bets can be made and matched on one slip, something which the top brands handle by putting little Bet Builder icons next to each bet. Or, they have a special Bet Builder tool where you can pick and mix your selections without having to delete and select new selections all the time.
Transparency is key here, and top bookies will also display which picks have boosts, any attached acca insurance offers, cash out functionalities, and more. You shouldn’t stop at accumulators and bet builders either. Ideally, your bookie should also provide round robins and other system bets. These are combinations of multiple accas, so you will need to place numerous stakes on your wagers, and it uses cross betting acca combinations. This can cover you in case one or more of your picks don’t come through, and is a hugely popular strategy for horse race betting.
Top Best Odds Guaranteed Bookmakers
Best odds guaranteed is a type of betting feature that gives punters better value for their horse racing bets. Should the starting price exceed the price you placed your bet at, you will get the longer odds for your selections. It only applies to race winner and each way bets, and is a priceless tool in the hands of +EV punters who want to get the most out of their horse racing bets. Anyone who hasn’t bet on the horses before may be surprised at just how aggressively the odds can sway or jump in the moments preceding a race.
Countless tiny details can factor into how the prices change so dramatically. For instance, minuscule changes in the weather conditions or how confidently the horse strides up to the gate can give oddsmakers pointers into how the race will pan out. And instead of leaving you holding the prices you set before, if the odds swing more in your favour, you will get those prices.
Best Live Betting Streams and Bet Trackers
Most bookies claim to have live streams, but this is an area in which it is easy to distinguish the diamonds in the rough. Betting apps like BetFred, Ladbrokes, and Coral have featured live streams, but these are not very substantial when it comes to coverage. They are very good for watching horse races, tennis competitions, any eSports, and footie games from the lesser followed international leagues. But you aren’t going to find much coverage of the top footie events, basketball matches, and the bigger events in the world of sports. They don’t match the sheer volume of bet365, where you can watch practically anything, except for expensive sponsored leagues such as the English Premier League.
Another area within live betting to observe is the match trackers and bet slips. The majority of bookies provide a rudimentary match tracker where you can check stats and follow the action without live streams. But the better ones have field layouts where you can more or less gauge what is happening in real time. Such as who is serving in a tennis match, or who has possession right now in a footie match.
Bookies with High Value Cashouts
There is quite a difference between cash out offers in online betting. This mainly boils down to how quickly the odds regenerate, and a top bookie will be able to source their odds quicker and more accurately. Thus, you won’t have to wait as long between breaks in play or when the markets are temporarily suspended. Or, running into those glitches where you lock in a cash out offer, and then the bookie doesn’t allow you to go through with it.
This is a temporary pain for straight bets, but a much more harrowing experience for acca bettors who have bet on multiple matches. Quality bookies won’t just give you one straight cash out option either. They offer partial cashout tools, so you can choose to lock in a portion of your bet, and keep the other part running. This extra flexibility can make all the difference to those lengthy acca cashouts, or to bettors who hedge live bets to cover all possible outcomes.
Early Payouts, Insurances, and Extra Places
These could easily count as bonuses, but they aren’t that simple. They are conditions for wagers, that add huge value to specific wagers, but not in the same way as, say, a betting boost.
Early payouts are conditions in which your be will pay out so long as a certain requirement is met. At bet365, BetFred, and Ladbrokes, there are football offers where your match winner bets automatically win if your chosen team goes 2 goals ahead. BoyleSports takes that up a notch with 2 Up and 1 Up offers. But early payout can be offered for basketball, hockey, american football, and various other sports.
Insurance, in this context, does not mean bonus bets if your acca doesn’t come through. There are acca insurance bonuses, but within the realm of betting tools and conditions, we are specifically talking about retirement, substitution, or non runner guarantee. These cover your bet in the event that your chosen tennis player gets injured and has to retire. Or a substitution guarantee that you won’t lost your bet if your footie player is called off at half time. Should your horse be pulled out of the race, your won’t lose either.
Alongside best odds guaranteed and non runner guarantees, another tool that can come in handy for horse race betting is extra places conditions. Instead of getting the standard 1-3 or 1-5, these bets add more outcomes to your Place bets, extending the requirements of Place wagers for highlighted races.
Mobile Betting Apps/Web Based Apps
There are three ways you can take your betting on the go. Nowadays, all bookies have mobile friendly sites, so you can open your mobile browser, be that Chrome, Safari, or anything else, and then go to your bookie and log in. Or, they can speed up this process by providing web based apps. These are not custom made apps, but simply extensions of the browser with apps that you can click on to head straight to the website without having to search for it.
The best bookies have native mobile betting apps for iOS and Android users, which you can download on the App Store or Google Play Store. They take a few minutes to set up, but then you will have instant access to your betting account and wagers. Though not all mobile apps are built equally.
Bookies that cut corners or save money on their apps may have less sophisticated location trackers or streamlined service. If your betting app needs constant updates, has regular timeouts, or crashes often during withdrawals, you are better off skipping it entirely. Our reviews don’t just analyse the features of betting apps, but we also run tests to check if the apps are up to scratch or not. Some apps run fine, but they take up too much space or consume too much energy when active, and so it’s not uncommon for punters to avoid them and use the mobile betting sites instead.
Sped Up Deposits and 1-Click Transfers
Bookies’ own tools don’t have to solely relate to placing bets or reviewing potential accas. They can extend to every facet of betting, including making payments or withdrawing your funds from your betting account.
The deposit process is practically instant at all bookies, as the operators only need a confirmation that the wager has been initiated, and then they can top up your account. They don’t need the money to reach their bank, as the accepted transfer receipt is enough to know they will get your money. And they will go ahead and top up your account. But they can make your life even easier.
Instead of offering simple bank transfer deposits, bookies like William Hill, Boylesports and Coral offer Instant Bank Transfers, where depositing doesn’t require banking details and copy pasting information. No, you just approve the deposit on your phone, or scan a QR code on desktop, and send your money in the blink of an eye. Bookies that don’t have Instant Bank Transfers may offer Skrill, which has the same function through the 1-Tap deposits.
For added measure, these payment services can facilitate the minimum deposit rates of just £5 to £10 too. If you ever need to send a quick tenner to place a live bet, these are really the best payment options to catch the odds in time before they change.
Responsible Gambling Tools
All online bookies licensed by the UK Gambling Commission have to give you responsible gambling tools and controls. These help you keep control over your spending habits, especially in the long run. The main tool that most punters are encouraged to use are deposit limits. Using these, you are given complete control over your betting bankroll.
By setting deposit limits, you are basically setting a threshold that you can top up your account with, and you cannot exceed it. Deposit limits can be set on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, and these are your decisions alone. The bookie will not tell you to set a specific limit, this is the amount you are comfortable with spending. We would suggest only top up with an amount you can afford to lose. You won’t necessarily lose, but if you keep your expectations to a minimum, you won’t end up making any costly errors later down the line.
The other tools include reality checks, win/loss markers, time outs, and ultimately self-exclusion. Reality checks are pop up messages that you get after spending a certain amount of time browsing the bookie. Time may fly and you can zone out, but don’t end up spending too much time crunching those numbers. Fatigue can play a big hand in reckless or impulsive decision making. So take regular breaks.
Win and loss markers will give you similar messages after you have won or lost a certain amount. Gross wins and losses, that is, not Net. Then, time outs are self made breaks from the bookie, where you can lock yourself out of your account for a predetermined amount of time.
If you have a more serious issue with time and money spent gambling, you can always make a self exclusion request. This locks you out of your account for a longer period of time. Anything from days to weeks and even months. Though this is a tool reserved for those who are in serious danger of addiction and compulsive betting. If you use the self exclusion tool more than once, your account may be deactivated permanently.
Rounding Off Bookies’ Own Betting Tools
Bookies are continuously coming up with new tools or developing the tools they have to create a more rounded and “player centric” betting experience. Alongside bonuses and sports betting coverage, these tools are priceless in the hands of an expert bettor, and can be applied to numerous betting systems and strategies.
There are benefits in these tools that cater to very specific niches, such as the 2Up football early payouts, or the smart card horse racing interface. But then some tools don’t cater to any taste or niche in particular. All bettors can benefit from instant bank transfers, or having real-time odds for their in-play bets.
If you want to find out about any of the tools in further depth, be sure to check out our betting tools guides, or explore our bookie reviews to learn how their tools could work into your strategy.
