Paddy Power is a name in UK betting that should need no introduction. They are well known even to people who have never placed a bet in their lives thanks to some aggressive marketing. Although they’ve been forced to calm their marketing of late, they remain a prominent brand. But how much do you actually know about Paddy Power? Relax, as we are about to tell you everything you need to know about this sports betting site, and how you can claim a £10 risk-free bet.
Paddy Power was created in 1988 when three independent bookmakers – David Power, Stewart Kenny and John Corcoran – came together to form a single enterprise to take on the bigger gambling brands in the country. The name ‘Power’ was chosen as the strongest brand, with ‘Paddy’ selected to represent the new company’s Irish roots, although David did have a 13-year-old son named Paddy at the time.
Paddy Power swiftly put into place an aggressive expansion campaign, buying up rivals and taking places prominently on Irish and UK high streets. By 2011 Paddy Power was the largest bookie in Europe by total share value. It launched online early in 2015 as an internet-based bookie, adding bingo, poker and a casino later in the same year.
Also in 2015, Paddy Power agreed to merge with the UK’s biggest betting exchange, Betfair. The merger was completed in 2026 with the new company being called – imaginatively – ‘Paddy Power Betfair’. The company was renamed ‘Flutter Entertainment’ in 2019. This company now owns a large number of popular brands, including FanDuel, PokerStars and Sportsbet.
In a typical Paddy Power move, the betting company were announced as front-of-shirt sponsor of Huddersfield Town in 2019 and the teams’ new kit was unveiled – with a large, Paddy Power slash covering most of it. The Terriers wore it in a pre-season friendly against Rochdale but then Paddy Power announced the new kit to be a ruse – the Town’s kit for the 2019/20 season would not have any logo on it at all.
Paddy Power has also sponsored several horse races and in 2023 were announced as the sponsor of the PDC’s World Darts Championship. They also have ties to snooker, and in the past has sponsored top pros such as Mark Williams, Ken Doherty, Mark King, Maroc Fu and Fergal O’Brien.
Okay, so where to start on this one? During their history, who haven’t Paddy Power been in trouble with? Let’s compile a short list – the Advertising Standards Authority, the LGBT community, the Information Commissioner’s Office, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission … Paddy Power UK have never been afraid of controversy and indeed seem happy to court it, for example giving odds on Ugo Ehigou being named the next manager of Birmingham City in 2017, despite Ehiogu sadly having passed away five months earlier. Perhaps advisedly, Paddy Power have seldom courted controversy since around 2018, after they’d been fined a record £2.2 million by the UKGC for breaking rules around social responsibility and anti-money laundering. They did get one further slap on the wrist in May 2023, after the Paddy Power betting site accidentally sent promotional material to self-excluded gamblers.
We’re happy to report that Mr Power has finally recognised the importance of responsible gambling and does not sail so close to the wind when conducting its business. It uses all the necessary tools in order to keep your data safe, although it only stores your login details and address/phone number, not banking details. It also has an excellent safe gambling page where you can obtain genuinely useful advice.
The site also carries links to outside organisations that you can turn to should you find yourself struggling with your gambling, including Gordon Moody, the National Gambling Helpline, BeGambleAware and GAMSTOP.
Should you want to bypass these rules, there are also several alternative non GAMSTOP casinos that accept UK players.
You literally cannot lose with the exclusive Paddy Power welcome offer. All you need to do is make a £10 bet using your own money at the site and if it wins you get to keep all your winnings and you get your stake back. There’s no pain if it loses as you get your stake back … and you are expecting us to say ‘as free bet money’ here but guess what? We’re not going to! If your qualifying £10 bet is not a winning one then you get your money back as cash that you can use to bet elsewhere at the site, or withdraw.
There are a few caveats though, but nothing painful. First, you will need to open your account using the promo code ‘YSKAMX’. Next, just make a deposit of at least £10 using a debit card – no eWallets used at this point. Finally, place your first bet – it is only your first bet at PaddyPower that qualifies for this discount. You must make this initial bet within 90 days of signing up as a PaddyPower customer. There are no minimum odds or restricted markets for this deal.
As we said if your bet wins you get your returns as normal, but if it loses you will get your stake back as cash. Note that if the stake of your first bet at the Paddy Power UK site is for more than £10, then only £10 will be returned to you. If it is for less than £10, you will only get your stake back, not £10.
Paddy Power sign up offer | Offer description | Wagering requirement | Minimum Odds | Offer expiry | Min deposit |
Paddy Power new customer offer | Bet £10, Get it back if it loses as cash | No wagering | Not applicable | 90 days | £10 |
This no-risk bet serves as an excellent introduction to Paddy Power, but this betting site is not one that forgets its regular clients. Below are a few examples of the kinds of promotions for ongoing customers that can be regularly enjoyed at Paddy Power.
One annoying aspect of football betting is substitutions. If you’ve backed a player to score and they get subbed off, then your bet is lost … or is it? Not at Paddy Power UK as your bet moves on to their replacement! This offer is valid for bets involving fouls, cards, goalscoring, assists and shots, and covers most top-class football matches.
This is another Paddy Power football offer. If you place a football acca at the Paddy Power online betting site and your bet fails because of a single leg, then you get your money back as a free bet. The maximum you can recover this way is £50, and your bet must have lost out on winnings of at least £1. Free bets last seven days.
We’ll cover the Paddy Power bet builder in more detail later, but if you opt into ‘Bet Builder All Stars’ every bet builder bet you place (minimum five legs) earns you a place on the All Stars leaderboard. The more successful you are, the higher up the leaderboard you climb! At the end of each month, the top players are rewarded with prizes such as iPhones, Amazon vouchers, Decathlon vouchers and more!
If you’ve gone to the dogs but not quite yet gone to the dogs in terms of betting, then here’s a great deal for you. If you back any greyhound in a race that is not the SP favourite and it finishes second or third to the favourite, then you will get your stake back as a free bet. Please note the maximum free bet you can get back is £10, and free bets last for seven days.
If you usually bet each way on Paddy Power horse racing (or even if you don’t, this promo may persuade you to) then you can enjoy extra places at Paddy Power. In selected races (you can peruse the list every day) your place bets will be paid for four places instead of three, or five places instead of four. Check the daily list to see what’s available.
NB: Please make sure you check the T&Cs for all these offers at the site before you take up any of these deals.
You should be now be getting a good flavour of the nature of the Paddy Power online betting site. Now it’s time to pick up our knife and fork (or chopsticks) and nosh down on everything that really makes this sports betting site so tasty.
You’re probably guessing that most sports are well covered at Paddy Power and you would not be wrong. Just for the sake of completeness, below you will find the complete A-Z list.
It’s a decent list, but we have seen more extensive lists at other sites however, for the benefit of most sports bettors in the UK we think the majority of popular markets are covered.
Paddy Power (like sister site Betfair) began restricting their ‘Best Odds Guaranteed’ deal in August 2022 because of ‘increasing costs’. This deal is now only open to selected accounts and you will be offered the chance to opt-in to best odds guaranteed if your account qualifies. If you are lucky enough to be selected, then BOG at PP applies from 8am on the morning of the race. Contact support if you are not given the chance to opt-in to BOG.
The Paddy Power betting site is famed for its competitive odds and it regularly offers price boosts to make those odds even more competitive. As a brief illustration, we have taken the odds for the 2024 Euros at Paddy Power and compared them to the best odds found overall.
Nation | Paddy Power Odds | Best Odds |
England | 3/1 | 100/30 |
France | 15/4 | 4/1 |
Germany | 5/1 | 6/1 |
Spain | 8/1 | 9/1 |
Paddy Power could not match the best odds for all four favoured teams, but at least they were all very, very close.
The minimum stake allowed at Paddy Power depends upon what you are betting on, but it can be anything from £0.05 to £1. Most of the time it is at the smaller end of this range, which of course is good news if you prefer to bet just to hone your predicting skills.
You can bet as much as you like but Paddy Power will only pay out up to their maximum limits. The biggest limits are set at £1 million for ‘to win’ bets on top-level horse racing and all bets on ‘elite’ football, but they can dwindle down to £10,000 for some markets. Happily, all this information is neatly presented for you at the site. Just go to ‘Rules and Regulations’ and then ‘Maximum Payout’.
Paddy Power is strong on live betting. Just click the ‘In-Play’ tab at the top of the screen to see what is currently live in the world of sports, and what you can bet on. The leading markets for in-play betting at Paddy Power include football, tennis, cricket, eSports, both rugby codes and US sports.
The ‘1X2’ odds for all major live events can easily be viewed on the main in-play screen, and the odds are updated at a satisfactory pace. If you want to see more options, just click on the event itself. Also, one tip here, if you see a green ‘play button’ icon next to the event then that means the event is currently available for live streaming, speaking of which …
Paddy Power has a good amount of live streaming, although to be honest we have seen more live streaming at other sites. As you might expect, Paddy Power offers live streaming of all UK and Irish horse races, but none overseas. Greyhound racing is available for live streaming, including most meetings from Australia. Other sports include (non-UK) football matches, tennis and eSports.
Note that you have to have a Paddy Power account and be signed in to enjoy the live streaming that’s available at this sports betting site.
Now it is time to take a little peek at some of the bonus features available at Paddy Power that do not readily fit into any of the categories above.
Power Prices
Paddy Power will offer daily enhanced odds, which at the site are known as ‘Power Prices’. These can be for singles, but usually they are enhanced prices for doubles, trebles and accas. Each day you can enter the site using your Paddy Power login and see what’s on offer.
Multi-Match Bet Builder
This site offers you a single-match bet builder as is the norm, but it also offers a multi-match bet builder too. With the single-match bet builder you can choose from most available markets for a single game, but for the multi-match bet builder you have to select from a number of pre-defined markets from pre-selected matches. They are popular, not obscure markets though, including to win, player to score, player to assist and player card. Oh, we ought to mention that the single-match bet builder is available for a number of sports such as football, American football and basketball, but the multi-match bet builder is only available for Paddy Power football.
Paddy Power Beat the Drop
This is a free-to-enter competition that you can enter once per day. Choose from one of the two questions offered, such as ‘will Everton be leading at halftime against Wolves’? If you answer correctly you progress to the next round, but if you get it wrong you’re out! The last person standing takes home a £5,000 prize although if after 15 questions there is more than one person remaining, the prize pot is shared.
Virtuals
If the real markets don’t come thick and fast enough for you at PaddyPower, then you can switch over to betting on virtual sports markets instead. The virtual sports covered are Paddy Power virtual horse racing (flat, jumps and sprint), football (world cup and super league), greyhound and motor sports. There’s a new event to place your wagers upon every two minutes.
The help section at Paddy Power is nicely comprehensive, so for the most common issues if you get stuck the solution should be found within them. If you are still in the dark, then there are a few alternatives where you can get help on a one-to-one basis.
You don’t have to be signed in to contact support at Paddy Power, but it helps if you are. Sadly, the bots have taken over live chat but if you persist, you can speak to a human. We did, and we found them to be quick to respond and their responses were both helpful and accurate.
Even with a minimal amount of experience, you can still get up and running at Paddy Power here – with a free Paddy Power no-risk bet in hand – within a short space of time.
To help you on your way, here’s a handy guide on exactly how to use a risk-free bet on Paddy Power.
Like everything else on Paddy Power, creating an account is both quick and easy. To get the ball rolling, click the button below and click ‘Join Now’ in the top-right. You should now be presented with this screen:
As you can see, Paddy Power does a great job of compacting all the necessary fields onto one clear screen. Go through each field one-by-one, and provide the necessary information at each stage – your name, date of birth, home address, and so on. You’ll also need to set the most important account details – namely your username and password – and decide on any deposit limits.
Once all that’s done, agree to the full T&Cs for the website, then click the big ‘Sign Up’ button. Your Paddy Power account will now be created.
Before you can trigger any Paddy Power offers, you naturally need some money in your account. You can get started with this by going straight on to the second step of the sign-up process – ‘Add funds and play’ – or clicking the ‘Deposit’ button in the top-right.
As you can see, you will now be presented with a range of different payment options. Be aware, however, that most of these are ineligible for the welcome offer. In order to claim your free Paddy Power bet, you must use a debit card.
Once you’ve decided on your payment method of choice, enter your payment information and a value of £10 or more, then make the deposit.
Now that you’ve got some money in your account, in order to claim your risk-free bet from Paddy Power, you must first place a qualifying wager.
To do so, go to the main homepage of the website, then select the sport you want to bet on – e.g. ‘Football’ – from the available list on the left-hand side. Find a selection for your first bet and click those odds to add the selection to your bet slip, then enter a stake of at least £10 and hit ‘Place Bet’.
Remember, if your bet is a loser you will get your £10 stake back as a free bet.
Verifying your ID on Paddy Power is very easy. To get started, go to the homepage and look for ‘My Account’ along the top menu. Click this to open a dropdown menu, and select the ‘My Account’ option. You’ll now see another menu – click ‘My Details’ here, then ‘Document Uploader’.
You will need to upload at least two pieces of evidence here. The first must prove your identity (e.g. a driver’s license or passport), and the second must prove your address (e.g. a bank statement or utility bill). Select the type of evidence you’re uploading from the dropdown menu, upload the file from your computer, and click ‘Send’.
Your identity should be confirmed shortly after submitting both pieces of evidence, and you’ll be able to cash out from your account thereafter.
If you have used the Paddy Power sportsbook online, then the mobile betting experience will not be too different for you. It uses the same colour scheme, ensuring that the greens and white shine through. It is almost quite the carbon copy, except in a much more compact way via the app. Again, this remains the same if you are using the Paddy Power app for iPad, iPhone or Android. The navigation menu is always at the bottom of the screen, providing you with the option of easily navigating through the different sections of the sportsbook.
While the most popular sports can be seen on the Paddy Power betting app homepage, you can press on the very first button ‘Find’ to locate the rest. This allows you to see options like American football, baseball, darts, golf, horse racing, ice hockey, snooker and so on. You can also opt to play casino games as an alternative, including options like blackjack, roulette and more. You can also search for a specific sport or event through the Paddy Power betting app, making things even easier for you.
Registration through the Paddy Power app is simple, with a button for this in the top-right corner. You can also sign in there if you have already created an account with Paddy Power. It takes two steps to complete the registration process and you can then move on to making a deposit. After that, it is not difficult to place bets, with the bet slip also being easily found on the bottom menu.
You don’t really have to worry about a Paddy Power promo code when you create an account here and claim your £10 no-risk bet bonus. The Paddy Power bonus code you need to be aware of is ‘YSKAMX’, but that code will be pre-filled in for you when you sign up and obtain your Paddy Power login. Be aware that Paddy Power does issue new promo codes from time to time, so make sure you keep your eye out.
As an extra treat, below you will find details of the leading betting site promo codes currently offered by betting sites in the UK.
If you remember from our introduction, Paddy Power were quick to add a casino (and bingo and poker) when they opened up as a sports betting site. The online casino is still available, but it now has been renamed ‘Paddy Power Games’. The site has plenty of top Paddy Power slots, and from top providers such as Relax Gaming, Blueprint Gaming, Playteach, ELK Studios and Pragmatic Play. There are plenty of casino games too covering blackjack, roulette, baccarat and more. Oh, and let’s give a shout out to the live casino which also has titles from Playtech, plus Evolution and Pragmatic Play (again).
If you are more of a casino player than sports bettor then if you deposit £10 at the Paddy Power casino you will receive 100 free spins, plus even if you only sign up here you get a 50 free spin bonus with each spin worth £0.10. Free spins expire after seven days but they do come with no wagering – whatever you win is yours to keep! There are other T&Cs to take into account though (nothing too stressful) so make sure you check them out!
Casino users at Paddy Power also get one spin on ‘Paddy’s Wonder Wheel’ each day. This wheel comes with a whole heap of potential prizes, such as free scratchcards, free spins, game bonuses, sportsbook free bets and even cash! You are not guaranteed a win every day, but there’s always a chance!
Paddy Power is happy to accept a number of deposit methods. Don’t forget though, for your £10 risk-free bet you will need to make your qualifying deposit via a debit card. The payment methods available are debit cards, ApplePay, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, PaysafeCard, Rapid Transfer, MuchBetter and Bank Transfer. The minimum available deposit size for most payments is £5, and deposits are processed instantly (except bank transfers which may take longer). Note, you can only assign a maximum of three debit cards to your Paddy Power account.
All methods aside from PaysafeCard can be used for withdrawals, and the minimum withdrawal is only a penny (Instant Bank Transfer, ApplePay, Rapid Transfer and MuchBetter only, for cards and eWallets it is a pound). IBTs are processed instantly but other methods have a timeframe, as shown below.
You can also add cash or remove cash at any time from your online PaddyPower account at a Paddy Power shop.
Banking Method | Fees | Min Deposit | Min Withdraw | Paddy Power Withdrawal Time |
Visa debit | None | £5 | £1 | 1 hour – 4 days |
MasterCard debit | None | £5 | £1 | 1 hour – 4 days |
PaysafeCard | None | £5 | Not available | Not available |
PayPal | None | £5 | £1 | 12 – 24 hours |
Skrill | None | £5 | £1 | 12 – 24 hours |
Neteller | None | £5 | £1 | 12 – 24 hours |
Instant Bank Transfer | None | £5 | £0.01 | Immediately |
ApplePay | None | £5 | £0.01 | 2 – 3 days |
Bank Transfer | None | £5 | £10 | 1 – 5 days |
MuchBetter | None | £5 | £0.01 | Up to 24 hours |
Rapid Transfer | None | £5 | £0.01 | 2 – 3 days |
We are fast approaching the end of this Paddy Power review, so now it’s time to reflect upon everything that we have found out about this well-known UK sports betting site. What had us celebrating like an Irish person on St Patrick’s Day, and what left us with an unpleasant taste in the mouth, like kissing the blarney stone but with tongues?
There’s nothing really new that can be said about Paddy Power. This is a top-class site that has many thousands of happy users. The site has been long-established, and even non-bettors have heard of it. There’s plenty that we like about the Paddy Power sports betting site, and we hope we given that impression throughout our exclusive Paddy Power review. To see if you can get a rub of the green, why not sign up for a Paddy Power account today and get betting?
Simply create an account using the latest Paddy Power promo code, then deposit and bet at least £10, and you will receive a £10 risk-free bet. There are also several ongoing promotions which give you further tokens.
Yes - there is also a £20 Paddy Power free bet available, which is a refund of £20 on your first bet if it's lost. This is another sign up offer though, and therefore cannot be used if you plan to trigger the ‘Bet 10, Get Risk-Free Bet’ promotion. We’d argue the latter offers far better value.
The free bets you get must be used within 30 days of receiving them. They can be used on any sports market, but free bet stakes are not returned with any winnings. A full guide on how to use a free bet on the Paddy Power app can be found earlier in the article.
There is only one - a debit card. Other options - including eWallets like Neteller and Skrill - are generally available for deposits, but these are ineligible for triggering the welcome offer.
Paddy Power have a Rewards Club, Acca Insurance deal, and Money Back Special offer, all of which deliver further free bets. There are also several other promotions which give you cash, such as 2 Up - You Win and the Friends With Benefits referral scheme.