Who is the Best Football Tipster?

One of the questions we are asked most often here at Honest Betting Reviews is “Who is the best football tipster?”

It’s a tough question to answer as there are literally hundreds of football tipsters out there and it’s an extremely competitive space. We have tested out countless footy tipsters ourselves and put them through live trials here on the site. 

When judging a tipster’s record, it’s important to consider factors such as:

• Strike rate – also referred to as the “win rate” this tells us in percentage terms how many of the tipster’s bets have been winners. In football betting, we often see strike rates of 40% or better.
• Return on investment (ROI) – a common way of comparing tipsters’ performance, this tells us how much return you would have received for every 100 pounds, dollars, Euros etc invested. In football betting, anything over 5% is good and over 10% is considered excellent. 
• Bank growth – one of the most important metrics, this refers to how much your starting bank would have grown over a given period. For example, if you had started with a £1,000 betting bank and it grew by 50% in a year, you would then have £1,500.  
• Longevity – the key test of any tipster is whether they stand the test of time. Any tipster can have a good week or month just through pure luck but only the best (and elite few) will be able to consistently beat the bookies year after year. That is why longevity is the ultimate test of a successful tipster and the factor we consider most important.  

In our rankings of the best football tipsters below, we have taken these factors – and others – into account to decide who should come out on top. 

First up we have our list of the top ten football tipsters, based on full trials we have run here on the site. These rankings are constantly updated to accurately reflect the recent performance of the tipsters as well as their long-term record.  

Following our top ten list we then take a look at some of the most famous and prominent footy betting experts and see how their claim to the crown of “best football tipster” stacks up. 

 

Our Top 10 Football Tipsters

Okay it’s time to get on with our list of the top 10 football tipsters. These are based on our extensive testing and research and hundreds of live trials we have run here at Honest Betting Reviews. The list is in descending order from ten to one, with the best saved for last.

This is our list then of the best football tipsters out there: 

 

10. Goal King

At number ten in our list is a service called the Goal King, which is run by a chap called Steve Hudson. He is a professional bettor and has also run another tipping service, AccaTipster, for quite a few years now. 

The total gains for the Goal King stand at a shade over 210 points, which equates to £2,100 at £10 per point stakes or £21,000 at £100 per point stakes.

Bets come in a variety of markets but as the name suggests are concentrated in the goals markets such as over/under 2.5 and 3.5 goals and the both teams to score (BTS) markets. It covers most of the top European leagues as well as international matches. 

The service has managed to maintain a good winning rate of bets at 58%, which equates to over half of the selections having been winners to date. 

We conducted our own trial of the Goal King for a full year and in that time it amassed a solid 43 points profit, worthy of a passed rating from us. 

It has continued to perform well since our trial ended and has established itself as a solid choice in the football tipster ranks.

Rating: 3.5/5

You can check out the Goal King here.

 

 

9. Footballer Tips

Next on our list is a high quality service from the Tipstrr platform called Footballer Tips. 

In a similar vein to the Goal King they concentrate on the goals markets such as over/under goals (including Asian handicap goals) and both teams to score. They venture into some lesser-known leagues for some of their tips, meaning liquidity can be low and prices can get taken quickly. 

Results have been remarkably consistent however, with just under 8,500 units profit made since starting up in the summer of 2020. That has been achieved with a decent strike rate of 44% and an impressive return on investment of 10%. Those are very good all-round stats over an extended period of time.  

The service has also been very consistent, with all but four months so far having been profitable in coming up to three years of tipping. 

That’s the kind of consistency other football tipsters would be envious of, so much respect to Footballer Tips for having achieved it. 

Rating: 4/5

You can check out Footballer Tips here.

 

 

8. Banker Bets

It is received wisdom in betting circles that you need to betting at long odds to find value. People often think that finding 33/1 or 50/1 shots going “under the radar” is the way to profit long term. 

However, studies actually indicate that the reverse is true and there is more value to be found at the head of the market. This is known as the “favourite-longshot bias.” It means you would do better over the long run to back short-priced favourites than long odds outsiders. 

A tipster that recognises this dynamic and uses it to their advantage is Banker Bets, which looks for short-odds favourites in football matches – or so-called “bankers.” 

If you consider that a 1.30 shot should actually be 1.20, then you have identified quite a bit of value. This is exactly what Banker Bets does and the approach proved remarkably effective in our trial, notching up 126 points profit in 18 months.

Over the years the service has evolved and now includes a variety of bets including over 1.5 goals, over 2.5 goals and draw bets, each with their own strategy and value behind them.

So if you’re looking for a tipster that wins a high proportion of their bets and has a strong long-term record, there can’t be many better out there than Banker Bets. 

Rating: 4/5 

You can check out Banker Bets here.

 

 

7. Bets for Today VIP Tips

Taking a slightly more unusual approach than the other tipsters on this list is Bets for Today VIP Tips. They offer horse racing and football tips, but you can select to just receive the football tips if you wish. 

The subscription costs are cheap and their track-record is impressive over the long term. 

There are a variety of bet types including doubles, trebles and accumulators (accas). Each of the bet types has performed admirably, with over £3,600 profit made to £20 stakes for the doubles, more than £4,000 profit made for the trebles and over £3,200 profit for the accumulators.

The service has performed well in our live trial too, which is always encouraging to see.  

There normally isn’t too much worry about prices as they provide selections for the main European leagues which have large liquidity.  And the nice thing is if they do get things right it can mean a substantial return, as often the same selections are included in the doubles, trebles and accas. 

So this is a service that may well appeal to those who enjoy multiple bets and the thrill of a potential big win, with tips at an affordable price. 

Rating: 4/5

You can check out Bets for Today VIP Tips here.

 

 

6. Anytime Goalscorer Bets

Coming in next in our top ten is a relative newcomer to the scene but a service that has been smashing it out the park in its tipping career so far. 

As the name suggests, Anytime Goalscorer Bets is a service that provides bets solely in the anytime goalscorer market – in other words for a player to score a goal at any time in a match. It’s quite an exciting market to bet in as you don’t need to worry about who wins the match, just that your player scores a goal! 

Tips are provided across the main European leagues where there is generally good liquidity in the anytime goalscorer markets. The bets are sent via the Telegram messenger app with details of odds and recommended bookies provided. 

The results so far have been excellent, with over £1,000 profit made for our trial to date to just £20 per point stakes. 

The return on investment has been impressive too at just over the 10% mark, a good benchmark to have achieved for a football service. That has been coupled with a strike rate of 32%, which is very respectable for the goalscorer markets which tend to have higher odds than most other markets.   

We often say that finding a niche is the key to successful betting and this service has found a specific niche to focus on – and is doing so with great aplomb.  

Rating: 4/5 

You can check out Anytime Goalscorer Bets here. 

 

 

5. Trade on Sports – Football

Sometimes it’s a good idea to take a completely different approach to others in your field and that is what the next service on our list has done. 

Trade on Sports is a platform built by a team of professional gamblers and traders and it centres around the use of a vast stats database covering leagues from all over the world. This database – known as the “Gamestate App” – looks at the impact of goals and when they were scored on how matches develop. 

Using this information, the Trade on Sports team then develop strategies to capitalise on the value the Gamestate App has identified. One of the key strategies they have developed is the HT Overs Bot, which looks at situations where there is likely to be at least one second half goal in a match, based on how the game has developed up to that point.   

During our live trial of the HT Overs Bot, it made a highly commendable £5120 profit to £100 stakes, an excellent total and achieved with a high winning rate of 67%. 

That is just one strategy however and there are a number of other ones available, covering various scenarios and markets including goals, the draw and the HT result.

All in all then as a service with an innovative approach that has produced excellent results under a live trial, Trade On Sports deserves high praise indeed. 

Rating: 4/5 

You can check out Trade on Sports here. 

 

 

4. Bookie Insiders Football

Arriving in the top three on our list is a personal favourite of ours, Bookie Insiders Football.

Developed by the same team behind another service on this list, Anytime Goalscorer Bets, this is a long-running service with one of the most consistent records out there.  

In football betting it is typically hard to make a long-term profit from betting on the top leagues like the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A and so on. This is because there is a huge volume of professional money wagered on these markets and a great deal of information that is publicly available, making it hard to eke out an edge over the bookies in the long run. 

Thankfully Bookie Insiders Football have managed to do just that however, consistently profiting from these top leagues year after year for over a decade. 

Their overall returns stand at a shade over 420 points profit since 2013, which would be over £42,000 profit to £100/point stakes.

That has been achieved with a solid ROI of 6% and a strike rate of a little over 50%, very respectable metrics over such a sustained period. 

We ran our own live trial of Bookie Insiders Football and it made over £2000 profit at a strike rate of 54%, one of the best footy trials we have run here on the site. 

Best of all with this service though is the combination of consistency and longevity, which very few other football tipsters can match. To have produced regular yearly profits for over a decade is an exceptional achievement, particularly in the top European leagues, so there is no doubt they deserve a place right towards the top of this list. 

Rating: 4.5/5 

You can check out Bookie Insiders Football here.

 

 

3. Predictology

There has been great progress in the tools and information available to football bettors over the last few years, with a wealth of stats and analytics now available online. However, making sense of this wealth of information and boiling it down into usable strategies can be a little more tricky. 

That is where the next service on our list, Predictology, comes in. It is a platform that brings together a massive database of over 350,000 football matches from around the globe and crunches the numbers to identify potential value. 

You can then either use the findings to develop your own strategies, or alternatively follow the tips of the pre-selected strategies the Predictology team have developed themselves.   

We ran a live trial of Predictology in which we followed the daily tips and they produced an excellent 38 points profit with a strike rate of 52%. 

Predictology has coverage from over 50 leagues around the world and there are limitless systems you can try out, including old classics like “lay the draw,” which has made close to 500 points profit at a return on investment of 18%, the “Goals, Goals, Goals” system that has made 67 points profit at an ROI of 12.5% and the “Value Home Wins” system that has made 148 points profit at an ROI of 19%. 

They are always working on developing new systems and tools for users to benefit from, which is why the platform is one of the most popular ones out there. So whatever your favoured betting approach, Predictology probably has something for you. 

Rating: 4.5/5

You can get a 7 day trial of Predictology for just $1 here.

 

2. Euro Football Punter

Making a profit in the football markets is not easy. As mentioned above, it can often pay to find a particular niche and focus on that rather than trying to cover a wide variety of bases and not quite master any of them.

A service that has found a particular niche in lesser-known European football leagues is the Euro Football Punter which focuses on Scandinavian divisions, as well as lower league English football.  

The tips are provided by a guy called Ole who has many years experience as a professional football bettor. He analyses stats as well as researching the lesser-known players and teams to seek out an edge over the bookies. 

The results so far are very promising, with over 115 points profit made to date. That has been achieved with a strong win rate of 65% meaning a high proportion of winning tips. The return on investment has also been impressive at 12%. 

Ole utilises a variety of different markets including over/under 2.5 goals, match odds, BTTS (both teams to score), draw no bet and more. 

So if you’re looking for a service that capitalizes on specialist knowledge of lesser-known leagues to produce regular profits, this one fits the bill. 

Rating: 4.5/5

You can check out The Euro Football Punter here.

 

 

1. JK Diego’s Draw Betting System

So the moment you have all been waiting for…the number one position in our Best Football Tipster rankings…is the one and only JK Diego’s Draw Betting System!

This is a tipster that focuses solely on backing the draw in football matches. It is a strategy that was developed over many years of studying the characteristics that lead to draws in matches and identifying where the value lies. 

The draw is often neglected in football betting because people like to bet on one team or the other to win a game – backing the draw can feel like you aren’t sure who’s going to win. For that reason it is often under-bet, meaning the bookies sometimes offer good value on it.

The skill comes in identifying exactly when this is the case though and that is where JK Diego comes in. There are certain low-scoring leagues and teams that have an uncanny knack of drawing a lot of matches and knowing who these are can really pay dividends.

The system has certainly done that, notching up over $11,000 profit to $100 flat stakes since JK  Diego began providing the tips, or over $60,000 profit if using his progressive staking system. 

We conducted a live trial of the system and it did not disappoint, producing over 100 points profit during our extensive 15-month review period. 

There is also an option to trade out of games at 85 minutes if they are drawing, which can slightly improve results whilst also reducing the losing runs and thereby smoothing out the experience.

The only downside is that the subscription costs are high with this service. That is partly to ensure that membership numbers are restricted so the odds do not get affected too severely. If you can get access to this exclusive club though, it could be well worth it.  

Rating: 5/5  

You can check out JK Diego’s Draw Betting System here.

 

 

What to Avoid in a Football Tipster 

We have talked above about the best football tipsters, but it is important to also think about what you should avoid when searching for footy tips. 

The main things we would advise being wary of are:

• Tipsters promising huge returns – there is an old saying “if it seems too good to be true, it usually is” and that really does ring true of tipsters. If a tipster is promising to win every bet or produce a 50% ROI for example, you should be very sceptical. Always look for independently verified results on a site like this.
• Tipsters without published results – a tipster should always be willing to publish their full results to be scrutinised. If they are not, there must be a reason. Do they have something to hide? The first thing we look for is a set of results. 
• Singe sales pages – related to this, beware of single sales pages. These are often spammy and include audacious claims of success or alluring “rags to riches” stories, but again don’t have full results or anything verified to back that up. 
• Tipsters with short records –  as mentioned above, the key to finding a good tipster is their longevity. Some tipsters will break on to the scene with amazing results, but only over a short period. You should only take them seriously if the results are over a period of years, not just weeks or months. 
• “Fixed matches” – there are lots of sites these days promising to give you inside info on supposedly “fixed matches.” Ignore them, they are all scams. If someone really did know if a match was going to be fixed, do you think they’d sell it on the internet for 100 quid? No, they would keep it to themselves and make a killing.

So please keep these things in mind whenever you look at a tipster. There are so many scams and dodgy sites out there, it’s easy to get caught out. 

 

Best Football Tipster – The Contenders

Now we assess the credentials of some of the more famous figures in football tipping and evaluate whether they have a claim to sit on the Iron Throne of football betting as tipster-in-chief.

 

Kevin Pullein – Racing Post

Perhaps one of the most famous football tipsters around is Kevin Pullein from the Racing Post. According to his employers, he is “quite simply the best football analyst and forecaster ever to have appeared in print in the UK.”

Now perhaps they are biased, we couldn’t really say. But Kevin has established a formidable reputation as a predictor of all things football-related and used to have a regular column on the Guardian where he published some fascinating articles on general trends in football betting.

These articles were based on extensive research and years worth of statistics and often revealed that long-held beliefs about “universal truths” in football betting are, in fact, bunkum.

Some of our personal favourites were his article showing that it is not always a goal-fest when top teams play those lower down their division, analysis about the significance of playing at home (it’s actually more of a factor in South America than Europe) and stats showing you shouldn’t always to expect lots of cards in derby matches.

Some of these ideas were expanded on in his 2009 book “The Definitive Guide to Betting on Football,” which we thoroughly recommend as an insightful guide to developing winning football betting strategies.

Now frustratingly the Racing Post don’t publish full results of their tipsters so we can’t really say how good Mr Pullein’s tips are (cue a trial perhaps?). But given his long-standing reputation and contribution to exploding some of the myths around football betting, we think Kevin is certainly worthy of consideration for the accolade of “Best football tipster.”

 

Angus Loughran – aka “Statto”

Another famous tipster and professional gambler familiar to many is Angus Loughran.

Loughran rose to prominence on 1990s television show Fantasy Football League alongside Frank Skinner and David Baddiel. Clad in pyjamas and a dressing gown, Loughran was nicknamed “Statto” on the show and provided stats on the guests’ fantasy football teams.

Loughran built up quite a reputation for himself, appearing on the BBC’s horse racing coverage, writing a betting column for the Daily Telegraph and commentating on football for Eurosport and ESPN.

He was famed for his almost encyclopedic knowledge of football, reportedly watching hundreds of football matches per year (before the days of Sky and BT Sports when that sort of thing became normal) and there were even whispers that Loughran was making hundreds of thousands per year betting on football.

Sadly his carefully cultivated image appeared to have come crashing down in 2008 when he was declared bankrupt, reportedly for owing debts to spread betting firm Sporting Index.

Events surrounding the bankruptcy were shrouded in mystery however, with reports suggesting the debt amounted to little more than £5,000 and that Loughran had done promotional work for Sporting Index and had not expected the firm to press ahead with the bankruptcy proceedings.

In the event the bankrupty was annulled in April 2008 via a voluntary agreement. Whatever the exact circumstances surrounding the bankruptcy, the incident did little for the pundit’s reputation as one of the country’s most foremost professional gamblers.

Perhaps Angus had the last laugh though, as he was reported to be one of the main investors in stats firm Opta, which was sold for £47m in 2013.

He currently provide tips on the easyodds website, although these are on horse racing rather than football.

It is difficult to give a firm verdict on Loughran’s abilities as a football tipster – or even as a gambler. For reputation alone though he must be considered as one of the most famous of the modern era.

 

Pete Nordsted – Premier Betting

Pete Nordsted rose to prominence with the publication of his 2009 book “Mastering Betfair” which contained strategies for making money trading on the betting exchanges.

That was quickly followed up in 2010 with “The Essential World Cup Betting Guide”, which received widespread acclaim, as did his Premier Betting Handbooks series. 

Pete now runs two football betting websites, the aptly-named petenordsted.com and also the premierbetting.com website with fellow full-time punter Danny Jacques.

He is a full-time sports trader and football betting expert and spends countless hours analysing football markets looking for value betting opportunities.

Contributing weekly articles at goal.com, Matchbook and Pete Nordsted.com – where you can view his drawmaster tips – Mr Nordsted is very widely respected in the industry and has built up a formidable knowledge of football betting.

With such a broad portfolio and a considerable depth of knowledge, Pete is rightly considered one of the foremost names in football tipping.

 

Ben Linfoot – Sporting Life

Sadly we couldn’t find a photo of Ben – merely a mysterious silhouetted man with binoculars who may or may not be the legendary tipster himself.

What isn’t such a mystery however is the excellent record of Mr Linfoot, who has amassed quite a following at the Sporting Life’s Betting Zone tipping section. 

Ben is probably best known for his Value Bet column, which offers value bets for the top weekend race meetings. However, he has also produced a commendable return on his football bets, including tipping Athletico Madrid for the 2014 Champions League each-way at 40/1 (if you remember they were just a minute away from victory in the final before Sergio Ramos headed an equaliser for Real Madrid). 

Mr Linfoot concentrates mainly on the big leagues and Champions League and opts for the selective approach of a few well-thought out tips rather than tipping large numbers of selections.

With a large following and a profitable record, Bin Linfoot deserves to be recognised as one of the best football tipsters.

 

Matt Love – Football Elite

Matt has run the respected Football Elite website since 2009 and has built up a deserved reputation as one of the top football tipsters around.

His selections are based on evaluations of home and away form and the over-valuation of big name teams when they are out of form. Together with other stats, Matt puts together weekly “recommended bets” that are usually around 5-10 of the top bets from around the top leagues in Europe.

The good thing about betting in the top European leagues is that prices stand up well and there is no rush to get the bets on in the fear that prices will crash. On the contrary, prices often drift out before kick-off with people tending to back the big-name clubs whilst Matt opposes them.

In the past couple of seasons, Matt has also introduced tips for the English leagues below the Premiership and a “vulnerable home favourites” system.

The results speak for themselves, with his recommended bets having amassed 458% bank growth since going live, the football league bets producing 44% profit and his ante-post bets making 73%.

There are few football tipsters out there who can boast such an impressive long-term record, so although he may not be as well known as some of the names above, we believe Mr Love deserves to be considered for the crown of best football tipster.

 

Verdict

Well it seems there is no obvious winner of the title of “best football tipster.” Certainly we have a few contenders, but frustratingly many of the big names don’t actually publish their results, which is both unhelpful and usually a bad sign.

In terms of knowledge and publishing record, Kevin Pullein and Pete Nordsted would appear to have the edge. Perhaps on notoriety and fame, few can top Angus Loughran. On their actual tipping record however, it appears Matt Love has it with his Football Elite tips. We heartily recommend his football tips if you are looking for someone who can find value bets in high liquid markets and produce profit season-in and season-out.

As ever though, we will continue our quest to find the ultimate football tipster and we have a number of trials going on at the moment. Perhaps one will emerge to take the crown once and for all…