Fitzdares

Who Are Fitzdares?

Launched in 2005, the British bookmaker has built up a reputation as a go-to for horse racing betting. It started out as a telephone betting company, adding text message betting, before going online in 2016. They fly a little under the radar, doing no advertising on radio or TV, simply relying on their high-end service to deliver.

• Established in 2005
• Fitzdares Ltd.
• UKGC licence number – 400

First Impression of Fitzdares

This Fitzdares review was conducted across the desktop and mobile versions of the site, as well as on their app, so will reflect all three platforms.

Fitzdares prides itself on two things – it’s horse racing and customer service. They’re big on providing an old school, classy feel to their betting and won the SBC Racing Sportsbook of the Year not too long ago. 

The website and app do feel a little dated, there’s no denying that. Everything works as it should, but it does leave you hoping that the substance outweighs the style.

Fitzdares Live Betting

Live in-play betting is available on Fitzdares, just look for the in-play section of the site. The offering is fine. There’s some football, tennis, table tennis, plus cricket, handball and esports. That said, it does feel a little limited and a quick scan across some other bookmakers confirms that. There’s basketball, darts, volleyball and bowls, plus a few more. These are definitely some of the more niche betting options, of course, but definitely shows that Fitzdares isn’t catering for everyone.

Fitzdares Live Streaming

With live betting comes live streaming and it is pleasing to find that at least from a horse racing perspective, you can tune in to bet on the next race and watch the outcome on the live streaming service so long as you have a funded account and are logged into the app. Given the emphasis that Fitzdares puts on their racing coverage, not offering live streaming here would be a shock. In truth, it’s exceptional – a really good live racing option.

Fitzdares Betting Odds

We monitor the odds offered by major UK bookmakers on a regular basis, getting constant updates on how they compare for different markets. Based on our data, Fitzdares’s odds are very competitive. They’re not the absolute best, but they are right up there, supported by lots of boosts and offers.

Fitzdares Betting App or Mobile Site 

As with many bookie apps, the Fitzdares betting app has received better reviews on the App Store compared to Google Play. Both sets of users seem pretty happy with the app. The iOS version of the mobile app receiving reliable reviews and Android users also rating the app as very good. Fitzdares allow their ongoing promotions to be taken advantage of by their app users. So existing customer offers such as acca insurance are all available on the app. A full live streaming service is available on the app. The mobile app has been optimised to give you a great viewing experience when streaming any of the events you have bet on. 

The Fitzdares Club

The Fitzdares club is an exclusive club for enjoying live sport with exceptional entertainment and dining away from the hustle and bustle of other high street bookmakers.

Located in Mayfair in London application is required to join where you can take advantage of Nine state-of-the-art televisions adorning the chic club walls, showing sport throughout the day. Any sport can be screened at your request, although the Racing Room is dedicated exclusively to the Sport of Kings.

Fitzdares Football Betting

At Fitzdares, the football odds are good, but on top of that there are regular promotions (the welcome offer is a football one), enhanced accas, odds boosts, and more, which definitely elevate it. There are bet boosts, identified by the yellow lightning icons dotted about, and as expected, there is a huge variety in global leagues covered on top of the Premier LEague and major European leagues.

Bet Builder 

The Fitzdares bet builder is okay. You’ll find it under the “Create A Bet” tab and can combine different bets to create a tailor-made bet. Unfortunately, the options within this feature are limited, with no player-specific bets included.

Bonuses

You can obviously use the welcome offer to place football bets, but on top of that there were a couple of football-specific offers that I could find in addition to the bet boosts.

Two revolve around money back. You’ll get your money back on match result bets if the games ends 0-0, or, if the team that you backed gets a red card in the first half and loses. They clearly do regular promotions because there was also an offer for tonight’s Fulham game in which if you back them, and they win by two or more, you get a free bet on top of your winnings.

Cash Out

Unsurprisingly, Cash Out is available at Fitzdares. It’s a feature that is now par for the course for bookmakers, so it’s reassuring to see it here. The cash out offered on a bet that I placed was neither incredible, nor awful, but pretty much bang on what I’ve come to expect from the feature generally.

Fitzdares Horse Racing

This is what Fitzdares is known for. Based on our data, Fitzdares ranks as the no.2 bookie for racing in the country in our Best Horse Racing Betting Sites.

Previously a private bookmaker firm taking bets on the phone and by text and email, you can now use Fitzdares sports betting service on your computer or app. During the time of this review there were a couple of horse racing offers, with a 25% bonus on Lucky 15s, 31s and 63s. There is also money back as a free bet if your horse finishes second to a winner with odds of 20/1 or more.

Fitzdares offers Best Odds Guaranteed just to select customers. For those qualifying accounts you can get BOG after 9am on race day and with a maximum stake of £1,000.

Fitzdares US Sports Betting

A full range of American Sports is available. At the time of writing, all the major leagues are in full swing. 

American Football Betting

When you land on an American football section, you want to see game lines, with spread, total and moneyline markets right there. Thankfully, you get that at Fitzdares. Some UK bookmakers try to Anglicise US sports, but removing the spread is completely the wrong thing to do as it’s the main thing punters look for from the off, so it’s great to see Fitzdares avoiding this common mistake.

I also really like their first touchdown scorer offer. If you back someone to score the first TD in a game, they do, and then go on to score a second, you’ll get double the payout.

Basketball Betting

There are plenty of NBA betting options on Fitzdares, as well as odds from the biggest matches in Europe, including Greece, Spain, Italy, and global leagues like Australia, Mexico and South Korea. In terms of markets, you’ll find moneyline, total points and handicaps, plus plenty more. You can also bet in-play, with odds available quarter by quarter. 

Baseball Betting

For MLB, you can choose from markets such as the outright winner of the series, the two teams that make it to the World Series, as well as all the usuals – Run Line, Winning Margin and Team To Score First Run and so on. There are also markets for the Korean and Taiwanese leagues.

Ice Hockey Betting

You’ll obviously get a big NHL focus on Fitzdares given the league’s status, but you’ll also find competitions in Finland, Germany, Sweden, Kazakhstan and more, as well as US college competitions. Their betting markets include Puck Line, Money Line, Total Goals, Highest Scoring Period, Double Chance, Winning Margin, Win/Draw/Win Betting and a selection of 3-Way Handicaps. 

Fitzdares Darts Betting

In terms of darts betting sites in the UK, Fitzdares is fine. They offer different markets for the PDC World Championships, with some trending bets on top of that, but that’s about it. Unfortunately there aren’t any odds for the Masters, UK Open, World Cup of Darts, World Series of Darts, World Grand Prix and the European Championship. 

Fitzdares Snooker Betting

Regardless of the time of year, you will find outright markets on the game’s three biggest events – the World Championships, the UK Championships and The Masters –  at all times on Fitzdares. Other events feature throughout the snooker season, and it’s good to see Northern Ireland Open markets up. The odds are good, but nothing special. 

Fitzdares Rugby Betting (Union & League)

There’s a nice little rugby bonus running at the time of review. You get your money back on a first try scorer bet if they don’t get the first, but do get the last in the match.

Rugby betting markets (across League and Union) offered for individual matches include 3-Way Handicap, Total Points, Winning Margin and a range of Try Scorer options. All the major leagues and competitions are covered across both codes which is great to see.

Fitzdares Cricket Betting

Within their cricket betting, Fitzdares do an additional cricket bonus. You get your money back from a match result bet if you team fails to win, but one of your players scores a century. The event coverage is good at Fitzdares, with domestic competitions in India, Australia and the UAE all there, as well as outrights for future World Cups and the Ashes, also. 

Betway currently tops our Best Cricket Betting Sites right now, with huge market depth, great odds and lots of promotions. Fitzdares actually matches them odds-wise, so hopefully they can up their market depth, because then they’ll be in with a shout of being one of the best around when it comes to cricket betting.

Fitzdares Tennis Betting

The tennis betting at Fitzdares is pretty decent. There’s a nice little bonus of 10% cashback on tennis losses every week. It’s definitely good seeing an offer like this that you don’t get, certainly on tennis, at most bookmakers.

There are all the majors listed for next year, with outrights offered on all, and for upcoming matches there is a decent selection of ATP matches, as well as Challenger Series matches across the world. There’s also some enhanced accas offered at the time of review which is always nice to see. 

Fitzdares Golf Betting

It’s hard to fault the golf output here. There are ante post markets on all the majors, as well as the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup. There are also LIV Golf Events, the Andalucia Masters, BMW Ladies Championship, plus a few more. You will find golf odds on the likes of Top 5 and Top 10 Finish, Round Leaders and Dual Forecast right here, and even Hole In One markets. 

There is also a great gold offer. If you place five pre-tournament bets, you’ll get an additional in-play bet for the same tournament absolutely free. 

Fitzdares Motorsports Betting

This has pretty much everything that you’d like. Formula 1, supported by Nascar, MotoGP and Supercars. I’d like to see some Speedway and Formula E covered, or smaller events, but this is pretty solid even if there isn’t the biggest event coverage or market depth within said events. 

Fitzdares Boxing Betting

The Fitzdares boxing selections are pretty basic. THere’s plenty of bouts listed, but only with Winner markets. I’d like to see Round Betting, Total Rounds (Under/Over), Round Group Betting and Will The Fight Go The Distance, but there’s actually very little of that.

Fitzdares Other Sports Betting

Whilst these sports aren’t as popular, there is a massive market for fans, and millions of them in the UK, so good coverage of niche sports and events is key to be reviewed on OLBG; let’s see how Fitzdares fares.

Handball Betting

Handball is increasingly popular and Fitzdares looks to be offering plenty for punters to bet on various handball events and tournaments worldwide, including Iceland, France, Hungary and Portugal, on top of the World Championships and Champions League. Markets include Win/Draw/Win, Handicap, Total Goals, Win Match and Draw No Bet markets, all with in-play and cash out available. 

Cycling Betting

Fitzdares offers betting on cycling for sports bettors who love their cycling, and comparing it with other UK bookies it’s pretty good to be honest. There are markets for the classics like Paris-Roubaix, Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders, and that’s obviously on top of the three major tours. 

Esports Betting 

Despite Fitzdares having a big presence when it comes to mainstream betting, they also have betting available for esports markets. Betting is available on games such as DOTA 2, Counter-Strike, League of Legends and FIFA as well as many others.

Esports betting is of course not as traditional as normal betting markets but it’s popularity is increasing as gaming grows in size year-by-year. All of the major matches and tournaments that are played in the games mentioned above are available to bet on on Fitzdares as one of the best esports betting sites.

Political Betting

The political betting section is laid out nicely and easy to navigate. Split into US Politics and UK Politics, there are also odds for the Canadian Federal Election. Unfortunately there isn’t anything beyond this, and I’d like to see some more interesting markets, such as moat seats, or by-election stuff, so overall Fitzdares delivers a decent job, if a little unimaginative. You can compare them to other political betting options and see if you agree.

Entertainment and Specials

This is a very basic offering. There is a market on Strictly Come Dancing, but that’s it. No Dancing on Ice, Big Brother or the upcoming BBC Sports Personality of the Year. On top of that there are no markets for next year’s Oscars and Emmys. 

Virtual Sports

Virtual betting is growing in popularity seemingly year-by-year these days and it’s no surprise to see Fitzdares offer a wide range of virtual sports on their platform.

There are three types of horse racing, one football, one greyhound racing, one cycling and one motor racing.

Fitzdares Account Opening Process

You can register from this OLBG page or the OLBG App; either way, you will receive the latest offers. To create your new account, you will need to click the banner on this OLBG page. To register, you will need to:

1. Supply your full name.
2. Submit DOB and place of residence, including postcode.
3. Submit email address and phone number/s.
4. Create a memorable password for your new Fitzdares account; please make it different to other passwords you have. 
5. Deposit Funds and opt-in for your Fitzdares free bet.

Navigation and user experience [desktop v mobile]

Overall the navigation is very good. It’s somewhat surprising because as I mentioned earlier, the site design is pretty basic and the graphics feel a bit stale, but in how you actually navigate and use the site, it really works. 

Placing a bet

This section should only really highlight if there are issues, as the process is almost identical on every site. 

Placing a bet on Fitzdares is straightforward with the betslip instantly popping up on the side of your screen on the desktop site. This adds your selection straight into your slip with the speed of placing the bet after clicking it less than a second.

The app is fairly similar to the desktop site with the betslip going at the bottom of your screen as soon as you pick your selection on there. In-play betting will always be slower to place a bet but from the example bets that we did we found that the prices stayed the same for the few seconds it took for the bet to process in-play.

Managing your account

An integral part of any betting site is the account management side of things with the ease of access to various account details always important. Plenty of options are available in the My Account section of Fitzdares including Bet History, Banking History and overall transactions.

Safer Gambling portals can be found in the account section too with Fitzdares’s safer gambling portal a brilliant tool to use on the site and app. Deposit limits, current time alerts, specific product restrictions and more can be found in the safer gambling section.

Fitzdares Responsible Gambling Features

This is an excellent part of the Fitzdares product. By going to their Responsible Gambling menu in the navigation, you can turn deposit limits on or off, and then obviously set what these limits are. You can also deactivate your account through their Self-Exclusion tool, add a timer to monitor how much time you’re spending betting or take a self-assessment test to monitor your behaviour more closely. Overall, it’s a really good showing.

Fitzdares Review Summary 

Fitzdares is solid. It’s nothing special, and there are some issues with what they offer. For example, certain sports are very limited, if listed at all. The in-play event coverage isn’t as big as other bookies, the bet builder is pretty basic and the whole style and feel of the site and app could do with a polish.

That said, they pride themselves on their horse racing, and it’s this that is very good, supported by an excellent customer service department. You get the feeling that Fitzdares doesn’t care too much about what people think about them (the lack of advertising, the site design etc.) but that doesn’t matter because they only care about what their customers think, and that really matters.

There is a great loyalty club, rewarding regular bettors, the Fitzdares Club adds an extra sense of exclusivity, and there are great bonuses across a lot of sports that you don’t see elsewhere. Overally, if you sign up and start using Fitzdares, particularly for racing and football, but some other sports too, I think you’ll end up loving it, you just have to commit first.