Online Winter Sports Betting Sites Reviewed

Winter sports is the collective name for a wide range of sporting activities that take place on the ice or snow. In our guide to winter sports betting, we will cover everything you need to know about placing a wager on these sports. We’ll explain how to bet on winter sports, help you choose the best bookmaker that suits your needs and much more.

In our comprehensive guide to winter sports betting, we will explain the criteria that we use to pick our five top bookmakers and enable you at a glance to compare them. We’ll look at emerging features in online winter sports betting such as live betting as well as revealing what special offers you can claim from the bookies. We will give you an overview of the popular bets that are placed and give you an overview of some of the biggest sporting events you can wager on. Read on to find out more!


The Best Winter Sports Betting Sites for the UK Market

The answer to the question, “which is the best?” is a subjective one as we all have different ideas and needs when sports betting online. There is, however, plenty of common ground that we can all agree on when it comes to choosing a bookmaker for online winter sports betting. In the next sections, we will discuss these in more detail.

BookmakerSports Welcome BonusHighlightsRatingSecure LinkT&C
£50Markets: 12 Bet Types: 21 Odds Levels: 96.87%5.0 out of 5Full T&Cs Apply! 18+ begambleaware.org; New bettors get 50% of deposit up to £50; Once per household; Min deposit £15 (no Skrill/Neteller); Wager a total of 8 times deposit + bonus, with max qualifying bet stake equal to your initial bonus amount; Bonus expires after 60 days; Min odds of 4/5 on singles, or 2/5 per leg for acca; Some bet types excluded.
£30Markets: 11 Bet Types: 22 Odds Levels: 96.71%5.0 out of 5Full T&Cs Apply! New customers only – Minimum deposit of £10 using deposit code 30F - A qualifying bet is a ‘real money’ stake of at least £10 placed on any sports market - Minimum odds of 1/2 (1.5) - Free bets credited upon qualifying bet settlement and expire after 7 days - Free bet stakes not included in returns - Deposit method and withdrawal restrictions apply & Full T&C’s apply
Get £50Markets: 12 Bet Types: 20 Odds Levels: 97.32%4.8 out of 5Full T&Cs Apply! For new customers at bet365. Min deposit requirement. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits and are available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Min odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. Time limits and T&Cs apply. Registration required. 18+ Begambleaware.org
x2 OddsMarkets: 11 Bet Types: 19 Odds Levels: 97.57%4.7 out of 5Full T&Cs Apply! Offer applies to Sport bets only. Maximum total stake is £10. Each way bets are a maximum of £5 each way (£10 total stake). Exclusive to new members. 18+
£20Markets: 12 Bet Types: 19 Odds Levels: 97.52%4.6 out of 5Full T&Cs Apply! 18+ New UK+IRE customers only. PayPal and certain deposit types excluded. Min £5 bet within 14 days of account registration at min odds 1/2 = 4 x £5 free bets. Free bets valid for 4 days on sports, stake not returned, restrictions apply.

Our five recommended winter sports betting sites offer a wide range of promotions when you open up a new account with them. We will look at the welcome bonuses available to you in more detail later in this guide. As you can see from the table above, some bookmakers accept deposits as low as £5, and for the high-rollers, two of the operators are a perfect fit with maximum deposits of £99,999. Additionally, we broke down the best winter sports betting sites per category:

The top winter sports betting sites

Top 5 Winter Sports Betting Sites

  • 🥇 10bet ✪ Top Overall Winter Sports Bookie
  • 🥈 888sport ✪ Best Winter Sports Bookmaker for Beginners
  • 🥉 bet365 ✪ Most Popular Winter Sports Livestreams
  • Grosvenor ✪ Best New Winter Sports Betting Site
  • Ladbrokes ✪ Most Secure Winter Sports Sportsbook

Winter Sports Betting Odds Levels

One of the surest ways to determine if a bookmaker offers good value is by looking at the odds that they offer to customers. The higher the odds, the more winnings you make and the less profit for the bookmaker. As sometimes bookmakers offer “headline” odds on certain events and lower on others, we have sampled the average prices available on five random events over four different sports.

Average Payout Level For Top Events
Event
Ski Jumping97.55%97.32%96.85%97.13%97.55%
Bobsleigh97.32%96.22%95.42%96.01%97.32%
Figure Skating95.99%94.35%96.48%95.89%95.99%
Biathlon96.32%95.13%96.96%95.92%96.32%

As the data above shows, there is very little variance between the odds the top five winter sports betting sites offer. The majority of events see a return to the player figure of over 95%, which represents good value for money. A difference of 1% in returns is unlikely to make much difference to the average punter. The figures do show that it is good practice to have more than one bookmaker you can use, as this makes it possible to compare what odds on offer before you place a bet.

Winter Sports Markets on Offer

It can be frustrating if you are a fan of a sport but find that a bookmaker you use, doesn’t offer any markets on the sport. To compare our recommended operators, we checked how many markets they offer on four of the sport’s biggest Olympic tournaments. You can see from the table above that there is plenty to choose from when online winter sports betting.

Winter Sports Markets Available at Each Operator
Event
Olympic Ski Jumping55545
Olympic Bobsleigh74635
Olympic Figure Skating56645
Olympic Biathlon66646

For punters who like choice, 888sport have an incredible amount of the more obscure events that are difficult to find elsewhere. They also offer more variety on the type of bet you can place. For example, for the 4×6 km Relay Women Ruhpolding at the IBU World Cup 2020, the bookmaker not only offered win betting but also head-to-head, partial betting and winning margin betting. We discuss the types of bets you can place later in this guide.

Bonuses and Promotions

Despite the Winter Olympics enjoying global appeal, you are unlikely to find as many promotions as you do in other sports such as football or rugby, you are unlikely ever to see special promotions aimed directly at winter sports betting. Despite this, you can still take advantage of welcome bonuses that the bookies offer and use these offers for whatever sport you wish.

Our recommended winter sports betting sites have some great incentives for you to join them if you are not already a customer. bet365, for example, offers up to £100 in bet credits for new joiners. Sign up, deposit £5 or more to your account and bet365 will 100% match your qualifying deposit. Another great deal to consider is Ladbrokes. Just £5 deposit gets you £20 in free bets, that’s equivalent to 400% of your stake. As with all promotions, T&Cs apply so please read the fine print before accepting.

Live Winter Sports Betting Arena

In-play, which is also known as live betting, is one of the best features of online sports betting. Instead of placing bets before the start of the event, with live winter sports betting, you can place bets during the event. This enables you to watch the action and make a judgement call on what you see.

Winter Sports betting in-play is easy to do, and although the process may be different between the bookmakers, it is similar. Log in to your account and on the main screen you will see a section entitled “live” or “In-play,” once selected, you will see a list of events taking place. Select the fixture and information on the event will be displayed, including the latest odds, which constantly change to reflect the action in the event.

The changing odds allow you to formulate a winter sports betting strategy. If you follow a team or an individual and you know they are slow starters, a common tactic is to wait until the opponents have a lead and then back them. The odds will be greater than if you had placed the bet pre-event. You can do all this on winter sports betting apps, too!

Utilising Cash Out when Winter Sports Betting

We discussed in the previous section how you could use the movement of odds during an event to get a better return. Another useful feature you can employ in your winter sports betting strategy is the ability to cash out your bet. As the action unfolds, the bookmaker will offer you a price to settle your bet early; this could be higher or lower than your original stake. Careful use of this facility can make a losing bet a winner or give you funds to try again if your bet looks like it is going to fail.


Bet Types Available

In this next section, we cover how to bet on winter sports, and we will take a look at some of the most popular bets that you can place over the different sports. Despite the worldwide appeal of winter sports, you will not find as much choice as some sports such as tennis and cricket.

Team or Player to Win

Winter sports team to win bet A bet type that you will find at all the bookmakers that we recommend is the team or player to win market. Simply put, you are betting on a team or individual to win the event.

The draw in a sporting event can very often kill a bet; therefore, a popular option is the ‘double chance’ bet. Choosing this will include the draw in your bet, so as long as the other player or team are not successful, you’ll see a return. As this bet is more likely to succeed than a simple ‘team to win’ bet, the odds will be significantly lower.

Over/Under Betting

Over/under winter sports betting The over and under market is a very popular bet in team sports, especially football and basketball, as well as individual sports such as tennis. It’s the simplicity of this bet that makes it so appealing, the bookmaker will set a score for the event, and you decide if the actual score will be higher or lower than that figure.

Let’s take the 2018 winter Olympics ice hockey final for example. Germany played Olympic Athletes from Russia in the final. The bookmakers set the over/under tally as 5.5. As this score can never be achieved, the final score will always be above or below that tally. Athletes from Russia won that game 4-3, so Over bets would win, Under bets would lose.

Handicap Betting

Winter sports handicap betting Often in sport, barring a miracle, there is no doubt that one person or team will beat the other. Therefore, the odds offered at winter sports betting sites are not worth taking as the amount of stake you would need to place would make it unfeasible, and there is always the danger of an upset with a loss of all your stake.

A way around this problem is to use handicap betting. For this bet type, one team starts the game with minus points or goals. For example, if the handicap is set at -3, the opponent needs to score at least four more to win the tie with the bookmaker.


Exciting Features For Winter Sports Betting

Due to the relatively small numbers of customers who use winter sports betting sites, it’s hardly a surprise to discover that there are not any special features that are targeted at winter sports betting punters. Despite this, you are still able to take advantage of features that are available to all sports such as in-play betting and cashing out.

One advantage of winter sports betting online is the ability to live stream events. Certain bookmakers will broadcast the action, so you can watch and bet. As winter sports are rarely shown on mainstream tv (except significant tournaments like the Olympics), live streaming allows you to keep up with the action that you wouldn’t normally see. Bet365 have an incredibly large number of events that they stream, over 140,000 a year.

New Winter Sports Betting Sites

The online betting landscape is always changing with new companies joining the market every year. As sports betting is already a highly competitive arena, if a newcomer is to succeed, they need to be at least as good as other bookmakers. We love reviewing these new entrants, and if you are in the mood to try something new, we have a section dedicated to new UK legal bookmakers.

Winter sports image with the Karamba logo
Best New Winter Sports Betting Site
  • £15 Welcome Bonus
  • Winter Sports market
  • Daily Karamba
  • Value odds
iOS Android Blackberry Windows Mobile VISIT SITE!
Full T&Cs Apply! 18+. Only available for New Customers. Deposit minimum £10. Skrill and Neteller not accepted for bonus. Up to £15 available as Free Bet token. To receive the Free Bet token, deposit £10 and make a qualifying bet of £10 at odds equal, or greater, 1/1 (2.0)

Our pick of the crop for winter sports betting was a simple one; we have chosen Karamba as our recommended site. Winter sports betting sites can be hard to find with not all bookies offering a market for the sports. Even when you do find a company that does allow winter sports betting, there is often a lack of choice of events. There are no such issues with Karamba; whether you want alpine slalom racing betting in Schladming or to wager on the men’s biathlon at Antholz-Anterselva, no problem, they have these markets and many more..


Winter Sports Top Events

Now we have covered how to bet on winter sports, in this section, we will take a quick look at some of the most popular events that you can wager on. The term winter sports can be a bit misleading as four winter sports that feature at the Winter Olympic Games (speed skating, figure skating, curling, and ice hockey) are played indoors, so these are often played all year.

Winter Olympic Games – Ice Sports

Winter Olympic Games ice sports The winter Olympic Games is a huge spectacle spanning 15 sport disciplines. These sports are categorised under three headings, ice sports, alpine, skiing and snowboarding events, and Nordic events.

Ice sports are extremely popular. Bobsled, luge, skeleton, ice hockey, curling and figure skating all see massive sums wagered on their Olympic events.

One sport in the ice sports category that saw a huge surge in popularity after the 2018 Olympic Winter Games held in Pyeongchang, South Korea was curling. The sport was a hit for both spectators and bettors as the country got behind the British teams.

Alpine

Winter Olympic Games alpine sports The second catorgory for winter sport events is Alpine, Skiing and Snowboarding Events. Events like the downhill, giant slalom, aerials and slopestyle are all popular with bettors and spectators alike. Great Britain will always remember 17th February 2018 as the most successful day for Great Britain at any Winter Olympics, with three medals won. However, it was four days later that Billy Morgan took the country’s first-ever men’s medal at snowboarding, winning the bronze medal in the Big Air event.

Nordic Events

Winter Olympic Games Nordic sports The third and final catorgory for winter sport events is Nordic Events. Biathlon (combining shooting with cross country skiing), ski jumping and the nordic combined are all favourites at the sportsbooks.

Us Brits love to remember when we excelled in a sport but it is the story of one of the biggest failures that caused many of us to fall in love with ski jumping. We are of course referring to the 1988 Winter Games when Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards, a plasterer from Gloucester, failed miserably but instantly became a cult hero. While we are not a nation that produces ski jumpers, keep an eye out for 16-year-old Mani Cooper. Britain’s first female ski jumper in an Olympic competition has already beaten the best jump that Eddie Edwards did in his career and is Britain’s great hope for the future.


FAQ

We have now concluded our winter sports betting guide, and we hope you have found it informative. To ensure we have answered all your questions, in this last section, we will recap the common queries that get asked by punters about winter sports betting sites.

🏆 Do All Bookmakers Accept Winter Sports Betting?

Not all bookmakers accept winter sports bets. For those that do, there can be a big difference between the number of events that the bookmakers feature. For the biggest tournaments, you’ll have little difficulty finding events to bet on; this changes for more obscure ,, especially regional ones. We have compiled a list of our top winter sports betting sites, You can find the list here.

▶️ Is there live winter sports betting?

Yes, in-play or live betting, is available at all our recommended winter sports betting sites and adds an extra dimension to your experience. Log-in to your bookmaker and events that are taking place will be shown on the main page. Select an event, and you’ll see detailed information on the event along with the latest odds. You can find out more by checking out our live winter sports betting section.

🎁 Are There Any Winter Sports Betting Promotions?

In a normal year, you are unlikely to see many or indeed any promotions that are aimed specifically for these sports. That changes during a Winter Olympics year, during which Olympic fever hits the bookies as well as the public, and you can expect to see some Olympic themed new customer deals. However, it is always possible to find welcome deals, no matter what the year. We have collated our current favourite promotions here.

⛷️ What are the top winter sports events to bet on?

Without a doubt, the Winter Olympic Games are some of the most highly bet on competitions in the world. We provided a breakdown of the popular winter sports events if you're interested in learning more.