Bookies in Ireland — List of the Best Irish Bookmakers
Published on 24 Jul 2020
Ireland has a population of only 4.9 million inhabitants, but being a small country, it is relatively wealthy. As a result, its people have enough money to bet on sports or play in a casino. Let’s look at statistics: 44% of the Irish population plays the lottery and almost the same percentage enjoys sports betting or gambling in online casinos.
Thus betting in Ireland is extremely popular with at least 490,000 people engaging in sports betting or casino gambling on a weekly basis.
It is perfectly legal to bet on sports or play casino games in Ireland and there are many online gambling sites available to Irish customers: from local Bookies in Ireland to large British and European platforms. No wonder a rookie gambler can get confused in this ocean of betting opportunities! Our experts made large research to help our Irish readers find the right way to fair gambling entities. We will teach you how to tell a scam bookie from the trusted one, share the best Irish sports betting sites, and give you details about the top-notch services you can get when you gamble at reliable platforms.
Are casinos legal in Ireland?
You already know that the Republic of Ireland allows gambling, provided that it is done on legal and licensed online betting sites. To be precise, the law is favorable towards online gambling exclusively: in other words, Irish people are only allowed to visit online casinos and bookmakers. Still, some loopholes in the law left space for so-called private clubs where Irishmen gather to play roulette or poker, but such places are relatively small and do not accept every passer-by. Thus, there is nothing left for the majority of casino players but registering at one of the digital casino websites.
Is sports betting legal in Ireland?
Irish people have been into sports betting for a very long time. The Betting Act of 1931 was the first major Irish law to regulate sports betting in the country. Being relatively liberal, it allowed betting on a big range of various sports, including the most traditional Horse Racing. To accommodate for the changes in the digital age, and the growing popularity of online betting sites, the law was updated with an amendment “Betting Act of 2015”.
This new betting act updates the existing regulation on gambling in the Republic of Ireland, to allow more new online betting sites to be safely available for the best online betting experience for Irish citizens. In accordance with the law, online bookmakers, providing a betting site to the Irish market, have to acquire a remote bookmaker or betting intermediary license.
Thus, the law permits offshore online bookmakers to register their sites in Ireland and provide services to Irish bettors.
Such lax terms set by the Irish government for the Internet betting portals resulted in a rapidly growing number of betting services that almost suddenly became available to the citizens of Ireland.
Sounding like a paradise for avid gamblers, it soon became a problem: many illegal and scam sites popped up like mushrooms after a spring rain in the hunt for instant profits riding on the wave of online gambling popularity.
Let’s not beat around the bush: we will just show the list of reliable sportsbooks that do not scam.
Irish betting sites/ local online bookmakers that can be trusted:
- Bet365;
- Coral;
- Paddy Power;
- Boyle Sports;
- Ladbrokes;
- 10Bet;
- Betway;
- Betfair;
- BetVictor.
All these betting sites are licensed in Ireland and guarantee you decent service, with pre-match and live sports betting markets, online casinos with piles of engaging games, lucrative bonuses, and top-notch customer service.
Latest Bonuses
Now, let’s take a closer view of some of the mentioned betting platforms. We hope it helps you to opt for the one that suits you best: our brief reviews contain the most essential information of every bookie we added to our top rating.
Paddy Power at a glance
Paddy Power is a genuinely Irish platform: it was founded in the capital of Ireland, Dublin, in 1988, and has a chain of betting shops located on the British Isles. Not only does the site offer competitive odds and high-quality live betting service, but also offers a range of additional services. For instance, Paddy Power can accept your bets on the phone if your Internet connection does not allow you to do it from a PC or a mobile device.
As an exclusive provider of betting services for Ireland and Great Britain, Paddy Power is superior in terms of national entertainment. You will find great offers for Horse Racing and Soccer, coming with live broadcasts, exotic markets, and tons of daily events.
New customers are welcomed by a €20 bonus and can find more special offers for various sports and casino games.
William Hill at a glance
William Hill is a British bookmaker based in London, England. However, Ireland provides the second-biggest source of revenue for William Hill, and it is one of the most favored gambling sites for sports betting in Ireland.
Wiliam Hill’s name is familiar to most Irishmen, even if they are not into gambling at all. Actually, it is probably the first company you think of when you hear the words ‘Ireland’ and ‘sports betting’ in a single phrase.
Why is it so popular? First of all, it is a very old and established platform, so people simply trust it. Besides, you can find very lucrative odds on sports, and the offer is not limited by a couple of local teams or leagues: William Hill has betting markets for thousands of events in various disciplines.
Its technical performance is also flawless: you can place bets via a mobile app, a mobile or desktop website without even minor issues.
Bet365 at a glance
According to research done for this review, it looks like one best website for you to wager your money on in Ireland is bet 365.
Bet 365 is a British online gambling company, with its head office located in Stoke-on-Trent.
The company has a license to operate in Ireland from the Irish government and thus can be considered a safe website to place your bets on. It has a very nice interface, superior to many other online bookmakers, and gives you the opportunity to place a live bet in an instant. Besides a great deal of sports betting markets, Bet 365 can offer you plenty of statistics for the various Soccer matches and live streams of the biggest sporting events.
Bet 365 offers its customers a good variety of payment methods, from credit and debit cards to bank transfers and electronic wallet payments and has a decent selection of bonuses with pretty fair wagering requirements.
Which sports betting site in Ireland is the best?
We gave you a couple of examples, but we do not of course insist that you stick to the two most popular providers. Still, we can not tell you what is the ultimate best sportsbook, either — pretty obvious, it is mainly a matter of taste.
We will follow folk wisdom and teach you how to fish instead of giving you a fish: below is our advice on how to choose a good sportsbook and make sure it is not a scam.
So, the first thing to note: the odds. Obviously, you want to have the tastiest offer: the lowest odds, or a plethora of free bets offered by a platform. Don’t rush to register and top up your account when you see such an offer: take your time and compare the odds and bonuses with the other sites from our list.
High betting odds and too-good-to-be-true bonuses can turn out a simple scam.
Thanks to Internet technologies, you can easily check if a website is legit and is not going to take your money and run. One of the ways to find the best betting website is to look at its license. Just spend up to five extra minutes to search the site’s name at the United Kingdom Gambling Commission’s or other commissioners’ public register.
As soon as you know that a bookie you chose is legal and reliable, make sure it can give you everything you need. You are looking for regular live betting offers? Check out its live markets and bonuses offered for in-play bets. You are keener on casino games? Visit the Games section to see if the library is big enough for you. You are worried to have payment issues? Find the list of accepted currencies, deposit methods, and withdrawal terms.
A brief overview of the Irish sports betting market
Due to the proximity of Ireland to England, many sports liked by English people are also liked by the Irish.
Below is a list of the most popular sports used for betting in Ireland:
Soccer
Rugby
Gaelic Sports
Horse Racing
Cricket
UFC/MMA
Boxing
Tennis
Golf
Should you want to bet £10, or £10 000, on a sports event, the Irish gambling market will offer you some great opportunities: all Irish betting sites are regulated thoroughly so you are sure to have a nice experience provided you gamble responsibly.
Responsible gambling is not just an annoying disclaimer you may see at every legal Irish betting site: it is a very important thing. If you feel having an addiction to online gambling, don’t hesitate to visit www.begambleaware.org or other organizations that are aimed to help you overcome your gambling issues.
Last updated on 06 Feb 2023- 14:35
Get bets with a yield of 100-700% delivered straight to your inbox!
