How We Rate Sportsbooks

Step 1: the licence check

A sportsbook can only appear in a country ranking if it holds a licence from that country's regulator. We check the regulator's official register and the licence details shown by the operator. If a brand is licensed in one country but offshore in another, it only appears where it is licensed, and we link to its local, licensed site.

We currently verify licences for:

United States: Sports betting is legalized state by state. More than 30 states and Washington, D.C. allow online sportsbooks, and you must be physically located in a legal state to place a bet.
United Kingdom: Online sports betting is legal for adults 18 and over with operators licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. Every licensed site must offer GamStop self-exclusion, credit cards are banned, and since 2026 bonus wagering is capped at 10x.
Ireland: Online sports betting is legal in Ireland for adults 18 and over. Since 1 July 2026 online bookmakers must hold a remote betting licence from the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI).
Canada: Single-event sports betting has been legal across Canada since 2021, but each province runs its own market. Private licensed sportsbooks operate in Ontario and Alberta; elsewhere the only legal online option is the government-run site.
Australia: Online sports betting is legal in every state and territory with an Australian-licensed bookmaker. Online casinos and online in-play betting are banned under the Interactive Gambling Act, and offshore sites are blocked by ACMA.
South Africa: Online sports betting is legal in South Africa for adults 18 and over with bookmakers licensed by a provincial gambling board, such as the Western Cape or Mpumalanga. Online casino games remain illegal.
Nigeria: Online sports betting is legal in Nigeria for adults 18 and over when the operator is licensed by a state regulator, most importantly the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority. Since a 2024 Supreme Court ruling there is no single national licence.
Kenya: Online sports betting is legal in Kenya for adults 18 and over with operators licensed by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Kenya (GRA) under the Gambling Control Act 2025. Players pay 5% excise duty on deposits, and the Finance Act 2026 reintroduced a 20% withholding tax on winnings.
Spain: Online sports betting is legal in Spain, but only with operators that hold a general betting licence and a singular sports-betting licence from the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) under the Gambling Act (Ley 13/2011) and operate from a .es domain.
Mexico: Online sports betting in Mexico is legal only through permit holders authorised by the Secretaría de Gobernación (SEGOB) under the Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos; each betting website must be separately authorised by SEGOB's Dirección General de Juegos y Sorteos (DGJS) and linked to a holder's permit.
Peru: Online sports betting in Peru is legal only on platforms authorised by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (MINCETUR) under Law 31557, whose regime came into force in February 2024. Licences are issued by MINCETUR's Dirección General de Juegos de Casino y Máquinas Tragamonedas (DGJCMT), and unlicensed sites are blocked.
France: Online sports betting in France is open to private operators holding an approval (agrément) from the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), under the 2010 online gambling law; online casino games remain banned.
Germany: Under the 2021 Interstate Treaty on Gambling (GlüStV 2021), online sports betting is legal in Germany only with a sports betting licence (Erlaubnis) from the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL); licensed operators appear on the GGL whitelist.
Italy: Online sports betting is legal in Italy only with operators holding a remote-gaming concession (GAD) from the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM). Under the reorganisation set by Legislative Decree 41/2024, new nine-year concessions took effect on 13 November 2025, each tied to a single website.

Step 2: seven rating categories

Each category is scored out of 10 and carries a fixed weight in the overall score:

Category	Weight	What we look at
Odds & pricing	20%	How competitive prices are across major sports and markets compared with other licensed sportsbooks.
Betting markets	20%	The range of sports, leagues and bet types, including live betting and bet builders where allowed.
Mobile app	15%	Speed, stability and ease of use of the mobile app and mobile site, from sign-up to placing a bet.
Payout speed	15%	How quickly and reliably withdrawals arrive, and the payment methods available to local players.
Bonuses & promos	10%	The value and fairness of welcome offers and ongoing promotions, including wagering requirements and expiry.
Customer support	10%	How easy it is to reach help, response times, and the quality of answers.
Responsible gambling	10%	Which player protection tools the licensed site offers: deposit, loss and time limits, reality checks, time-outs, self-exclusion and the national self-exclusion scheme. Calculated from the tools we can confirm.

Step 3: the overall score

The overall score out of 10 is the weighted average of the seven categories, rounded to one decimal place. We score every sportsbook once, the same way, wherever it operates. Each country ranking then lists the sportsbooks licensed there in order of that score, so a sportsbook's position is never set by hand.

Keeping ratings current

Every review shows the date we last verified it.
We re-check licences when regulators publish new registers or announce enforcement action.
Where local rules restrict advertising bonuses, we do not show offers. This currently applies to Canada, Australia, Kenya and Italy.

What never affects a score

Commissions and commercial relationships do not change a sportsbook's score or its position in our rankings. See our advertiser disclosure.