Some links on this page are affiliate links. CaughtOffside may earn a commission when you join a site through them, at no extra cost to you. Commission can affect where a brand appears on the page, but never our ratings. Find out more about how CaughtOffside Betting works.
CaughtOffside betting is the part of the site that reviews and rates bookmakers, publishes betting guides and carries safer gambling information. A rating is only worth something if you can see who wrote it, who checked it, how the number was reached and who pays for the work. Commission funds the section, a named author stands behind every review and a fixed formula produces every score. All of it is for adults aged 18 and over.
How Betting Sits Beside the News
CaughtOffside is a football news website, and the betting section sits alongside its newsroom rather than apart from it.
Both work to the same fact-checking and corrections standards. A claim about a bookmaker’s licence, its withdrawal terms or its payment methods has to stand up the way a team news story does before it runs. If it turns out to be wrong, it gets fixed under the same rules. For you, that means a review on CaughtOffside betting pages is held to the newsroom’s standard rather than to a lighter one, and an error found after publication is corrected rather than left in place.
What You Will Find Here
Three kinds of content come out of the section, and each has a different job.
- Reviews and ratings: each betting site is scored against the same eight criteria, and those ratings feed the guide to the best betting sites UK, so you can compare sites on one scale.
- Betting guides: these explain how markets, odds and bet types work, from an each-way bet on a race to a handicap on a tennis match.
- Responsible gambling information: this covers the tools that limit spending and time, and where to find support if betting stops being under control.
All three are written for UK readers.
How Betting Sites Are Rated
Every site gets a mark from 0 to 5, to one decimal place, on eight criteria. Licensing and security carries the most weight at 25%, with odds and margins next at 20%. A bookmaker with sharp prices and a shaky licence can’t score its way to the top.
The marks combine into a weighted average, where heavier criteria pull the total further, and 3.5 out of 5 is the line for a recommendation. A few failures, such as a licence that can’t be verified, sink a site regardless. The page on how we review sets out every weight and condition.
The People Behind the Section
Every review carries a named author, so there is always one person answerable for it.
The section is led and written by Mike Brown. If a score looks off, or a claim about a site doesn’t match what you see on the operator’s own pages, you know whose work it is and who to ask about it. That accountability matters more than any biography.
How CaughtOffside Betting Is Funded
The money behind CaughtOffside betting comes from affiliate commission.
An affiliate link is a tracked link to a betting site. When you join a site through one on CaughtOffside, that site may pay CaughtOffside a commission. The operator pays it, not you: joining through the link costs you nothing extra, and the terms you get are the operator’s own.
Commission has a limited reach, and the line is fixed:
- It can influence where a site is placed on a page.
- It never changes a site’s score.
- It never changes the pros and cons listed for a site.
- It never changes the verdict.
The reasoning is straightforward. Placement is a layout choice, while the score comes from the eight weighted criteria, and no payment alters what a site offers on licensing, odds or withdrawals. A bookmaker paying commission with a 3.2 rating still shows 3.2 and still isn’t recommended. Every page that carries affiliate links also carries an affiliate disclosure saying so.
Bonus Terms Before Publication
Offers and bonus terms are checked against the operator’s own terms before a page goes live. That covers the wagering requirement, the number of times a bonus has to be staked before any winnings can be withdrawn, along with expiry dates and qualifying bets. From 19 January 2026, UK rules cap wagering requirements at 10x.
Terms can change after publication. Check the operator’s full terms yourself before you put any money in.
Updates and Corrections
Ratings don’t stand still. When a site changes its licence, its owner, its payment options, its withdrawal rules or its safer gambling tools, the review goes back for another look and the score is worked out afresh.
Each review carries the date of its last update. Once an error is confirmed it gets fixed, and that date moves with it.
Safer Gambling on CaughtOffside
Responsible gambling tools count towards every site’s score: a deposit limit caps what you pay in, a time-out locks the account for a short break, and self-exclusion shuts it for longer.
UK-licensed sites must join GamStop, the national self-exclusion scheme. Betting sites not on GamStop sit outside UK rules and UK complaints routes.
If you’ve self-excluded, look for help, not a new bookmaker.
GamCare’s National Gambling Helpline, 0808 8020 133, is free, confidential and open round the clock.
How to Reach Us
Email the betting team at [email protected] to report an error, an outdated offer or a problem with a site the section has reviewed. A report is checked against the facts. If it holds up, the page is corrected and its update date changes; if the problem concerns one of the triggers above, such as a change to withdrawal terms, the review is revisited and the rating recalculated.
Betting Section FAQs
Can a bookmaker pay to get a higher rating?
No. Commission can affect where a site appears on a page, but the score, the pros and cons and the verdict come only from the eight weighted criteria. A site below 3.5 isn't recommended, however much commission it pays.
Does joining through a link on CaughtOffside cost me anything?
No. Any commission is paid by the betting site to CaughtOffside, not by you. The offer and its terms are set by the operator, so check them on the operator's own site before you deposit any money.
Who decides which sites get recommended?
The scoring method does. A site needs a weighted average of at least 3.5 and must clear every rule-out condition, including a verifiable licence. The named author writes the review and is answerable for the score.
About the writer
Sports Betting Editor
Mike Brown is the Sports Betting Editor at CaughtOffside. A former tipster and betting syndicate analyst, he writes on odds, bookmaker margins and expected value. He also reviews UK sportsbooks on withdrawals, KYC and promotional terms. He’s based in Manchester.
