Experienced sports journalist and editor covering multiple aspects within the sports and betting industry. A football, NFL and rugby specialist, he is a judge at the Football Content Awards.
Across betting sites, there a few bookies that offer Free To Play (FTP) games in addition to their betting service. We measure the pros and cons, plus track thousands points of data, across over 100 different bookies in the UK. This allows us to gauge which bookies are good at what, and which areas need improving. This includes which betting sites offer particular free bets, promotions, and that includes FTP games. Below are the best bookies in the UK who offer it as a promotion to their customers.
- The no.1 ranked UK bookmaker for darts
- Rank in our top 10 bookmakers for nine different categories
- Rank in our top 10s for ten different categories
- Live stream horse racing, basketball (NBA), football, cricket and tennis matches through William Hill TV
- Plenty of daily promotions and odds boosts
- Enormous range in sports covered, including fishing, surfing and beach volleyball
- Plenty of bet boosts across most sports
- One of the best bookies for Best Odds Guaranteed
What are FTP games?
Betting sites are constantly expanding the services that they offer as part of their betting product. A lot of promotions that bookmakers come with some sort of stake – bet this, to get that and so on. But there are bookies that offer free to play games, also.
These games remove any risk for the punter, and the bookmaker themself doesn't make any money out of them (in the short term). It's more an extra bonus that some betting sites provide to help improve player retention in the long term – the thinking being that if people stay to play the free game then they'll be there long enough to make another bet at some point.
This article lists the ten best bookies at offering free to play games, as well as looking in detail at what some of those games are because they differ, from prediction type games, casino-based games and to those based on recognisable TV shows and the like.
1 - Paddy Power
Paddy Power have a couple of FTP games that they offer their players, but two main ones stick out: Wonder Wheel and Beat The Drop. Both are loosely based off famous or recognisd TV show game formats, but one – in my opinion – is definitely more interesting than the other.
Wonder Wheel is a ver simple game, and one that player can play once per day. You simply spin the wheel to see if you win, and then you see which prize you can get if you do win. These include free spins, free bets and cash back. It's interesting enough but is over pretty quickly. Beat The Drop, however, has a bit more about it. If you've ever watched Million Pound Drop – the popular TV gameshow fronted by Ant and Dec on a Saturday night – it follows similar rules.
Players start off with a pot – usually £5,000 – and have to answer questions based on upcoming markets: Will there be more than three goals in the AC Milan vs Atalanta game at 3pm? Will Viyanni finish in the top three places in the 2:40 at Wincanton? Will Australia hit 300 runs against Pakistan in the next T20 World Cup game? For each question (and you only answer one at a time) you decide what percentage of the pot you want to put on your answer. You take the remainder of the pot (after calculating your win or loss) through to the next question, and continue to do so until you get to the end, where you can win whatever is left in the pot.
2 - William Hill
Stat Attack is a game from William Hill that isn't a million miles away from placing a bet builder as part of your usual betting. There is a select few fixtures, with players choosing which one they want to answer questions on. Once this selection has been done players are asked five questions about the game. Things like: How many goals will be scored in the 2nd half? Who will win the match? Who will take the most corners? These selections are now locked in.
Get all five selections correct and you'll win £20 in football free bets (paid out as four £5 bets). If you get four right then you'll get a free £2 football bet builder bet. It's great because it's not a game based on pure luck and requires a bit of footballing nous. The great thing about it is that you can edit and re-submit your answers as many times as you like up until the game in question starts. You'll also be told the amount that you can win if you make the bet, with the function to add directly to your betslip.
3 - bet365
The 6 Scores Challenge is a free to play game from bet365. It's a football predictor game – usually run twice a week – in which users must try to predict the correct scores of six different fixtures across Europe. There are cash prizes on offer for correctly guessing four, five and six scores, while players can get free spins for one, two and three correct scores. You can see the full breakdown below:
One correct score – 5 Free Spins
Two correct scores – 10 Free Spins
Three correct scores - 25 Free Spins
Four correct scores - a share of £10,000
Five correct scores - a share of £20,000
Six correct scores - a share of £250,000
4 - Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes' free to play game is called 1-2-FREE.
Players need to predict the score of three matches to win £100. The amount is obviously less than the bet365 game, but bear in mind you only have to correctly guess half the amount of games, bet365 only offer free spins (not cash) for the same achievement, and the prize is a guaranteed one, not a share of one whole prize pot.
If players get two right, but not the third, then they will receive a £5 bet builder free bet, and one correct score gets a £1 free bet.
5 - NetBet
The £5k Correct Score jackpot from NetBet is similar to bet365 and Ladbrokes in that it is a free predictor game. Free bets and prizes are on offer although the prizes aren't quite as good overall, hence the place on this list (they're still great). Players can win the following:
One out of four correct scores: No prize.
Two out of four correct scores: £5 free bet.
Three out of four correct scores: £20 free bet
Four out of four correct scores:£5,000 cash.
