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Here we have broken down a battle of the heavyweights in the UK betting market, with Betfred and Ladbrokes going head to head. There are some interesting facts along with some really unique offerings, so take a moment to read through this complete comparison between the two.
Betfred vs Ladbrokes: Welcome Offers & Exclusive Promo Codes
| Betfred vs Ladbrokes | Welcome Offers | Terms & Conditions | Exclusive Promo Codes |
|---|---|---|---|
Betfred 
| Get £40 in bonuses when you stake £10* | *New 18+ UK customers only. Register using the promo code WELCOME40, deposit and place first bet of £10+ on Sports (cumulative Evens+) within 7 days of registration. First bet must be on Sports. £30 in Free Bets and £10 in Free Spins (50x20p) credited within 10 hours of bet settlement. Free Bet stakes are not included in any returns. Bonuses have a 7-day expiry. Payment restrictions apply. SMS verification and/or Proof of I.D and address may be required. Full T&Cs apply. | |
Ladbrokes 
| £20 free bets | 18+ New UK+IRE Customers only. Certain deposit methods & bet types excl. Min first £5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 to get 4x £5 free bets. Free bets available to use on selected sportsbook markets only. Free bets valid for 7 days, stake not returned. Restrictions + T&Cs apply. |
Contents
Welcome bonus: Betfred wins
It's one of the most popular ways for bookmakers to attract players to their platform – the sports bettors welcome bonus. And no surprise, both bookmakers have a welcome bonus for their potential members. We have provided details of the Betfred sign up offer and the Ladbrokes sports welcome offer here. We’ve also graded this category, as well as the others out of 5.
Betfred – 5/5
Place a £10 wager across any available Betfred sports to be rewarded with £30 in free sports bets. These are distributed as 3 sets of £10 bonuses, and you actually get them immediately after making the qualifying bet. Furthermore, you do not need to wager the bonuses at all before cashing out the winnings.
Ladbrokes – 4/5
Ladbrokes is offering new members a £20 bonus from just a £5 qualifying bet. Clearly the total Ladbrokes UK amount is the same as Betfred and you have the flexibility of place the £5 bet on any sport in the Ladbrokes sportsbook. Betfred has a slight upper hand as Ladbrokes requires players to use the free bet within 7 days.
Sportsbook & odds: Betfred wins
Betfred and Ladbrokes are both sports betting providers, and they both carry a great reputation for this product. However, there is a specific reason that Betfred has taken the victory for this category. Read on for full details.
Betfred – 5/5
Betfred UK has a decent sportsbook with more than 20 different listings. Here you can bet on football, tennis, horse racing, rugby and plenty more. But besides the actual range of sports, we found that the odds provided are regularly highly appealing. This is especially true for football betting!
Ladbrokes 4/5
Ladbrokes also has a sportsbook that boasts more than 20 sports, but there is one major reason that we are giving them a 4/5 instead of 5/5. This is a common complaint with Ladbrokes, and the reputation doesn't seem to be improving. They offer quite poor value in terms of odds, and the only way to get to the market average of above is through the odds boosts.
There is another factor at play for the Ladbrokes sports offering that we have yet to mention. The Ladbrokes exchange is absolutely fantastic, and the quality is extremely similar to that of the Betfair exchange. However, since this category focuses exclusively on the sportsbook we couldn’t justify factoring this offering in.
Bonus for existing players: Ladbrokes wins
Bookmakers have historically been great at enticing members in the past, but it's an entirely different ball game to keep the members. And after careful consideration, we have awarded the victory to Ladbrokes for this category. Even with the Betfred promo code, Ladbrokes is still taking the victory.
Betfred – 4/5
Betfred has a great range of promotions, with the best listed here: double delight + hatrick hero, weekly free spins, acca insurance, £10m blackjack tables and extra places for horse betting. While this range really is admirable, we've awarded the win to Ladbrokes for their sports focussed bonuses. The best promotions for this platform are typically found in the Betfred casino, which is more in line with the general branding of this site.
Ladbrokes – 5/5
With price boosts, supercharged price boosts, acca insurance, free cash for score predictions as well as ‘games' bonuses, we just had to give Ladbrokes the victory. Probably the main reason we have given them the win is for the supercharged price boosts, which apply to both single bets as well as accumulator bets. We've seen accumulator boosts exceed 20% on the original payout with this promotion! Even though we’ve given the victory to Ladbrokes for the sports bonuses, the Ladbrokes casino bonuses aren’t exactly small!
Betfred vs Ladbrokes: Additional features
Live Stream
Both of these platforms provide live streaming services for their sports, and both of them cover a wide variety. They also have very similar requirements to access the live stream services, including a funded account or a bet in-play. So just how have we reached the conclusion for Ladbrokes taking the win?
Betfred – 4/5
Betfred live streams thousands of events throughout the year, and they cover popular sports like football, greyhound and horse racing, tennis and basketball. And in our experience we found that the stream was great quality, but there was a deal breaker. Live streaming is not accessible from a mobile device, only from a desktop platform!
Ladbrokes – 5/5
After accessing your account through the Ladbrokes login, you will find many events available for live streaming. The site also supports streaming for thousands of events on an annual basis. They too cover football, golf, rugby, tennis, cricket and golf. The live stream itself is very good, and it rarely loses connection or freezes. And the reason that they got the extra point over Betfred – live streaming can be accessed on mobile devices!
Mobile Special offer
Neither provider has an offer that is only accessible from a mobile device, but both do include all of the desktop promotions into their apps and mobile sites. So for this reason, we would have to base our decision on the betting provider that offered the best welcome bonus – Betfred.
Betfred – 5/5
Although the requirement needed to get the bonus is higher (£10), the overall reward is higher than Ladbrokes (£20). This bonus is always available, but it has been reported that extra bonuses have been found (rarely) through the Betfred Twitter account!
Ladbrokes – 4/5
Ladbrokes may well have a smaller wager requirement for the welcome bonus (£5), but the reward is lower (£20). This can be found through the Ladbrokes app as well as the Ladbrokes mobile site.
Cash out
Both platforms permits permit cash out options, and this feature has been implemented for the vast amount of sports on both websites. But there was an interesting find here, which keeps in line with what we had previously experienced with the Ladbrokes odds.
In order to be offered a cash out option for a sports bet, it has to be going heavily in your favour with Ladbrokes. Options for Betfred cashout tend to be available even without such a high chance of victory, but this isn’t the case with Ladbrokes. Both sites allow cash outs to be done quickly and easily through the ‘my bets' section.
Final Thoughts: Who Wins Overall?
It's clear to see why both of these heavy hitters have reached the top of the UK market. They are equally fantastic platforms for sports betting, and both have branched out into casino gaming – especially Betfred. Even when looking at other Betfred reviews, Betfred tends to come up trumps!
In terms of the site development and user interface, we prefer Ladbrokes. The site offers a bit more of a professional feel, and we like how the games as well as the odds are displayed. But this doesn't mean that the Betfred site isn't up to par, because it is also a user-friendly platform.
All in all, we would recommend both sites for sports betting.
