Best Cheltenham Festival Betting Sites
Picking the best bookmaker for the Cheltenham Festival is not a task you can tick off straight away. There are more options than ever which is why it is so important to assess which product offers the best service and option to the punter.
While major firms such as Coral and Paddy Power are associated with the Cheltenham Festival due to their sponsorship of races on jump racing’s biggest four days, namely the Coral Cup, Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle and Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase, other betting companies have become more visible to fans of the festival.
BetMGM sponsored last year’s County Hurdle but the £110,000 first handicap on Gold Cup day on Friday, March 14 is backed by the more traditional name in William Hill. The latter is no stranger to being involved in the meeting, having sponsored the race now known as the Ultima Handicap Chase between 1998 and 2010, as well as previously backing the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.
BetMGM instead have shifted their sponsorship from a Premier handicap to one of the Grade 1 highlights of the meeting, the Queen Mother Champion Chase – the feature race on Wednesday, March 12. It is not just BetMGM, which was founded in New Jersey in 2018 and became more prominent in 2024 due to adverts featuring comedian and actor Chris Rock, that have needed to be assessed by punters in comparison to the more longstanding, household names.
Bresbet, the Sheffield-based firm which was launched in September 2021 can be seen on the jackets and other clothing of the staff of Fergal O’Brien – the Gloucestershire-based trainer seeking a breakthrough winner at the meeting.
While O’Brien is preparing to end his wait for that elusive success, the RP Recommends team are here to help you find the winning formula to make the most out of the best possible offers for Cheltenham Festival week.
It is easy to stick with what you know on the biggest punting weeks in the jump racing calendar, but we assess how to take the most efficient approach into the festival by looking at the best bookmakers who we think offer the best experience.
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The Betfair Sportsbook offering is not the most user-friendly in the world but free bets are offered on multiples during Cheltenham Festival week, so it is worth keeping on your side.
The Betfair Exchange on the other hand, is a necessity during the festival. There is more flexibility than most of the alternative betting websites here as you are competing against fellow punters to get matched at prices that are far greater than on your traditional sportsbooks.
There is understandably a sacrifice to be made with Betfair’s commission, but this is worth it for the service that they offer.
Coral
Coral may not have the place terms to match the likes of Paddy Power, William Hill and Sky Bet, but the £50,000 Coral Racing Super Series is a no-brainer for punters during festival week.
It is free to enter and you do not even have to pick any winners. As long as your seven selections place on a day on the Cheltenham Festival then you are in with a chance of winning the prize. As it is risk-free, this should be part of every punter’s morning routine on all four days of the festival before the action gets underway.
Main pros:
- A solid horseracing-focused bookie
- Free-to-play Coral Racing Super Series
Paddy Power
Paddy Power have a superb marketing team and they have not missed a trick in the lead-up to this year’s Cheltenham Festival.
The bookmaker have snapped up the services of champion jockey Harry Cobden as a racing ambassador.
Cobden rode a double at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival for boss Paul Nicholls on Stage Star in the Turners Novices’ Chase and 18-1 shot Stay Away Fay in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
That same race provided Cobden with his festival winner on the Colin Tizzard-trained Kilbricken Storm in 2018. That Grade 1 winner returned at an SP of 33-1 so a big price should not put you off backing one of Cobden’s mounts, as he demonstrated again last year when steering Monmiral to victory in the Pertemps Final at 25-1.
Given the nature of their new partnership, Paddy Power are likely to offer price boosts on Cobden’s mounts, so keep an eye out for any speciality bets and enhanced offers relating to the Ditcheat number one.
Paddy Power’s each-way terms are solid and they offer a more traditional and user-friendly sportsbook compared to the fellow Flutter-owner Betfair Sportsbook.
Sky Bet
Sky Bet have an association with punters for the first race on each Cheltenham Festival day that extends beyond the bookmaker’s sponsorship of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle since Vautour’s victory in the meeting’s opener in 2014.
Sky Bet used to offer money back up to £20 if your horse lost in the first race on each day of the Cheltenham Festival and while this gradually evolved to if your horse finished second, third or fourth, this offer is still worth taking advantage of.
The limit on money back is usually £10 now but this offer usually attracts the more casual punter who wants to have a flutter while they stick ITV Racing on for their one and only viewing of horse racing of the year.
However, this should not deter more seasoned punters from using this offer. If you back your judgement that your selection will at least come in the first three or four, then you are essentially getting the chance to put your bet on to win with the safety net of getting your stake back if your selection makes the frame.
Sky Bet are also firm to use if you want the most possible places and best each-way terms in any of the festival handicaps. Sky Bet routinely offers the best possible place terms which is welcome when trying to solve punting puzzles such as the Ultima, Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, Coral Cup and Pertemps Final.
Knowing that you have the chance of making some form of profit by using Sky Bet if your selection comes sixth or seventh makes it an essential part of your bookmaking portfolio for the festival, albeit you will have to sacrifice a point or so on price compared to other firms due to these enhanced placed terms. Best odds guaranteed will also not be available on these races with extra place terms, but that is a given with pretty much every betting firm nowadays.
Tote
Similar to Coral’s Racing Super Series, the Tote Placepot is a no-brainer to enter on each day of the Cheltenham Festival.
Albeit not free to enter like the Coral equivalent, the Placepot offers far greater potential awards as there is a £1 million guaranteed prize pot on each day of the festival. There is also one less race compared to the Coral version, so as long as you find yourself placed horses in the first six rows of races, you give yourself a chance of securing a healthy profit from a small stake.
William Hill
If you are attending the Cheltenham Festival then be sure to make use of the on-course William Hill facilities located near the parade ring. When placing a bet in one of these William Hill shops, you are usually offered a £5 free bet to use on the following day which will be useful for accumulators during festival week.
William Hill are usually fairly generous with their place terms, more so than bet365 but less than Sky Bet, so you would not go far wrong by backing a few in handicaps on the website.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- Click on the ‘Claim now’ links above for each bookmaker you would like to bet with.
- Click on the ‘Join here’ or ‘Sign up’ button once you are on their website.
- Enter your details such as an email and password, deposit some money and then start betting.
The Cheltenham Festival is the biggest jumps meeting of the year in Britain. During the four days in March, the best horses in jump racing will take each other on in some of the most famous races in the sport, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
- Login to your betting account with whichever bookmaker(s) you have signed up with for the Cheltenham Festival.
- On the site’s main screen, or in a sidebar, there will be an option to click ‘Deposit funds’, and you click on that.
- It will then allow you to choose a custom amount, usually with a minimum deposit.
- Add your funds and complete your transaction details.
- The money should be added to your account instantly so you can then begin betting.