More people are betting on rugby than ever.
The latest research from YouGov tells us that rugby is officially the 5th-most popular sport to bet on in the UK. Specifically, 10% of sports bettors now place wagers on rugby, which is a huge amount. On top of this, 14% of rugby bettors report spending over £200 a month, placing bets on the Betfred Super League, Six Nations Championship and more.
In the post-pandemic world, sports betting in general has exploded, with rugby being one of the driving forces behind it. Simply put, people are placing bets on rugby in giant numbers. There are many reasons for this, too, so let’s take a closer look at what BettingTools.com believes is going on.
Have you noticed that rugby is available on TV and streaming a lot more than it used to be? Yep — that’s not a coincidence. It’s incredibly easy to watch the Super League (Sky Sports, BBC) and the Six Nations is totally free-to-watch across both the BBC and ITV each year, too. As you might expect, this has led to a serious uptick in the number of bets being placed, especially when there’s a big game on.
Betting apps: they’re everywhere. It seems like only yesterday when people were placing most of their bets down at the local bookies, but now it’s all changed. If you speak to a typical rugby fan today, they’ll be able to show you at least a couple of betting apps they have installed on their smartphone, with some of the most popular apps being bet365, Sky Bet, and William Hill. Essentially, what happens is that fans will place bets through these apps when each weekend arrives, usually just before the games start. Some fans even place live bets during the games, which we’ll talk a little bit more about in a moment. The point is that engagement levels with these betting apps are insanely high — and the trend of mobile rugby betting looks set to continue moving forward.
One of the main reasons why so many people are signing up with sports betting sites in the UK — with the current number of active bettors sitting at over 6 million according to Statista — is because of the bonuses and perks that come with it. For example, William Hill currently has an offer of ‘Bet £5 on Rugby Union, get a £5 free bet on Rugby Union’ and people are snapping it up. Because these sportsbooks know how popular rugby is, they tailor a lot of their special offers around the sport, allowing them to attract bigger numbers of people. At the same time, these sportsbooks are known for holding special promotions, giving out odds boosts, and countless other perks, too, which also keeps the numbers rolling in.
Did you know that you can watch every game of the 2025 Super League season via bet365? Yep, it’s nuts. And this trend of sportsbooks offering live streams of rugby isn’t new, either, with Unibet, William Hill, and a couple of others also allowing you to watch rugby games on their sites. The catch is that you usually have to place a bet to gain access to the stream, but it’s more than worth it when you consider the fact you don’t need a Sky Sports membership to watch games anymore. For instance, if you want to watch the upcoming Super League game between the Red Devils and Rhinos on Bet365, all you’d need to do is place a qualifying bet within 24 hours of the game taking place to gain live stream access.
Parlay bets are huge when it comes to rugby. If you don’t know how they work, it’s simple: you combine multiple wagers into one single bet. This then increases the odds and potential payout you’d receive if all the legs of your parlay are successful, hence why rugby fans are hooked on them. An example of this would be if you built a 3-leg parlay for the Castleford Tigers (23/10) vs. Leigh Leopards, Hull Kingston Rovers (8/11) vs. Wigan Warriors, and St Helens (1/4) vs. Wakefield Trinity. If all of these bets were successful from a £10 bet, you’d then get £41.82 in return, which gives you a little insight into why parlays are so popular among rugby fans.
With the Super League booming and more people than ever watching rugby, it’s no surprise that rugby betting has gone through the roof. As things stand, rugby is currently the 5th-most popular UK sport to bet on, but that could soon change in the future if current trends continue. It may even reach a point where rugby is competing with the likes of football and horse betting, so let’s wait and see what happens. One thing for sure is that rugby betting is a major trend right now — and it’s easy to see why.
