To many people sports betting is first class excitement as well as great entertainment, but you should always keep in mind that the betting industry is not here to entertain you - UK Bookmakers want your money and punters want to Beat the Odds. That is the simple truth of betting; still you can have great fun betting if you control your stakes in a sensible manor and of course win more than you lose! Both tasks are easier said than done, but hopefully this guide will increase your chances of success.

Choose your Bookmaker
Novices to online betting will without a doubt face a number of confusing aspects in their effort to choose their Bookmaker. First of all, there is the media which you may not be familiar with. Surfing a Bookmakers website can actually be somewhat difficult even for experienced internet users; often due to a confusing interface, the mere complexity of information presented to you and perhaps the many possibilities of taking different actions on the website. Why not check out our Best Bookmakers page to see who we rate the highest.

Secondly, the number of Bookmakers in the online betting industry has exploded over the past few years, and they are not all reliable, which means that you could end up making a bad choice. To avoid this have a look at our Bookmaker Comparison page or if you have friends who bet online ask them for advice. You can also visit some of the many fora concerned with betting or read through the chapter What is a quality Bookmaker? presented in this guide to get an idea of what characteristics a reliable and fair Bookmaker usually possess.

Start your betting experience by choosing only one Bookmaker. This will make you familiar with the different types of odds, games and so forth without having to deal with two or more interfaces. By the time you feel comfortable with the website of that Bookmaker and might have become serious about winning money you should definitely sign up with more Bookmakers. There's defintely no rule against signing up with as many as you can just to take advantage of their generous Free Bet Offers. The reason for this is simply that you only want to place your money where it will do you most good; using the Bookmaker with the highest odds on an event gives you higher profit in case you win.

Open an account
Naturally there are different ways of doing this depending on the Bookmakers, but in general you need to fill in a standard registration form. At the same time you need to register payment method for example by credit card. Before you give away sensitive information of this kind make sure that the Bookmaker has a serious security politic. Approximately 24 hours later the Bookmaker will confirm that your credit card has been accepted. Your username and password will then be sent to you either by email or post delivery. You are ready to rumble…

What type of bet?
Keep it simple in the beginning. Pick the sports, leagues or players that you have extensive knowledge about. Most people are familiar with 1X2-odds so it is recommendable to stick to this type of odds until you feel more confident with the online betting environment. Check out or Football Bets or Horse Racing Bets for specific information on the different types of bet associated with each genre of Sports Betting.

Place your bets
Once you have found an interesting play that you want to back up, just put a little amount of your deposit at stake - if you have means like the king of Saudi Arabia, then just forget that last remark. Familiarize yourself to the experience of loosing and winning before you raise your stakes. When you have placed your bet there is no turning back - for better or for worse.

Loser or winner?
Should you lose on your first bet, then rest assure it has happened too many people before you. Better luck next time… Actually, winning the first bet sometimes make people careless, in terms of them thinking they have a special ability to foresee the outcome of a game without researching for facts on teams and players first. In the long run, there is only one way to beat the Bookmaker: Know as much or more about your subject than the Bookmaker does.

Support the support!
Every serious Bookmaker has a support line for you to contact either by phone, email, online help, letter or a combination of the mentioned means of communication. Use it! The support-staff most likely want to keep their job, so contact them whenever you are in need of assistance. Once again, it should be emphasized that you can receive good advice from the thousands of people writing in forums and news groups focused on betting.

What is a quality Bookmaker?
First of all, it is essential to any punter that the Bookmaker they conduct business with is worthy of trust: We call this the reliability of the Bookmaker. Search for information on the reliability of Bookmakers in fora and the like and check our recommendations. Also the general feeling of the Bookmaker site should leave you with an impression of professionalism. This professional touch can be obtained in many ways, by the Bookmaker. Some of the main quality features on a Bookmaker site are mentioned below:
• A payment system of considerable dimensions
• Security politic concerning payment and accounts
• Support services preferably by phone or online communication and other feedback options
• A clear and detailed legal politic concerning disputes between punter and Bookmaker
• Low or no fees when transferring money from or to bank account
• Quick and smooth money transfer especially from the Bookmaker account to bank account
• A high payback percentage
• Single game options
• Various sports and leagues to choose from including games with big favorites