Star Sports

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Star Sports is the best known of Britain’s traditional independent bookmakers. It is owned and run from Hove, on the Sussex coast, and it has built its name on one thing the big betting groups stopped doing years ago: putting an experienced trader on the end of a phone. The website is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission through Star Racing Ltd, account number 9177.

Written by: Matt K|Last Updated: 9 October 2026

For this review we went through the Star Sports website in October 2026: the sportsbook, the sign-up form, the help pages, the betting rules and the full terms. We also checked the company on the Gambling Commission register and at Companies House, and we compared its prices with other independent bookmakers on the same afternoon. This is what we found.

Who owns Star Sports

Companies House shows one person, Benjamin Keith, holding more than three quarters of Star Racing Limited. There is no parent group and no stock market listing. That is what independent means here: the person whose name is on the company record is the person who decides what bets the firm will lay.

Star tells its own history on its About page. It launched as Star Racing in 1999 as an on-course bookmaker. It then bought three independent bookmakers, Vickers, Waldron and Turner and Kendrick, and in its own words outgrew its on-course roots. The Star Sports name arrived in the summer of 2009, and the firm has held its online betting licence since July 2010. It added a casino licence in 2018.

The same licence covers more than one website, and the same owner controls a second bookmaker, Priced Up, from the same Hove office. Our independent bookmakers page sets out how those firms connect.

Telephone betting: the reason to choose Star

The first thing we noticed at the bottom of the site was two telephone numbers, one marked Enquiries and one marked Betting. Very few online bookmakers publish a betting line at all. Star's terms have a complete section on telephone betting, and its About page explains the service in plain language.

• Debit and credit telephone accounts. Star offers both. A credit account lets you bet and settle afterwards, a service that is now rare.
• Traders answer the phone. Star says every call is answered by an experienced trader. In its words, there is no spelling out your horse's name and no waiting on hold for a manager to approve the bet.
• Large bets are welcome. Star says it accommodates some of the largest bets struck in the industry, and it runs a hedging service for other bookmakers who need to lay off a liability.

Star calls itself the delicatessen of bookmakers. If you have had stakes cut elsewhere, or you simply prefer to speak to a person who can price a bet for you, this is the feature that matters.

The website and sportsbook

The online sportsbook is modern and quick to use. Five tabs run across the top: Sports, In Play, Virtuals, Casino and Live Casino, with a News tab next to them. The left-hand menu lists every sport from A to Z, and Star Boosts sits at the top of that list. A Next Races strip on the homepage shows the next few horse races with the first three in the betting, and one tap switches it to greyhounds. You can filter the strip to UK and Irish racing only.

When we visited, the homepage led with the evening's Nations League football, a live T20 international and the week's golf tournaments. The in-play section was busy, with football, tennis, cricket and ice hockey all running at once. Prices that are moving are marked on screen: one colour for a price going out and another for a price coming in.

The sports list covers the full range, including American football, Australian rules, cycling, darts, Formula One, handball, mixed martial arts, politics, both rugby codes and snooker. If you bet across several sports, our sports betting sites section compares the field sport by sport.

Horse racing at Star Sports

Racing is the heart of the business, and the published limits show it. The terms allow a single customer to win up to £200,000 in a day on UK and Irish racing multiples and £100,000 on singles, ante-post bets included. Forecasts and tricasts are covered to £50,000. Those are the highest racing limits we found among the owner-run independents.

We compared racing prices on the afternoon of 6 October 2026. On the 4:33 at Brighton, Star was a longer price than a rival independent on two of the first three in the betting, and shorter on the favourite for the 5:01 at Leicester. That is what a bookmaker with its own racing opinion looks like. It pays to check Star against one other firm before you bet. Our horse racing betting page lists the other racing specialists, and the racing calendar shows what is coming up.

Greyhound racing is covered every day, with payouts to £25,000 on the main daytime and televised meetings.

Football and other sports

On the two Nations League matches we checked, Star's match prices were in line with the other owner-run independents. The football payout limit is £100,000 on match odds in the top competitions: full internationals, the Premier League and EFL, the FA Cup and League Cup, the main European leagues and UEFA club competitions. Goalscorer, correct score and both teams to score markets are covered to £50,000. Golf majors and tennis Grand Slams carry a £100,000 limit on the outright and match markets.

Opening an account

The sign-up form opens with three fields under the heading "Let's get you started": your email address, a password and an optional promo code. Your personal details follow on the next screens.

Star verifies your age automatically when you make your first deposit. It may then ask for a document to confirm your identity, and its help page lists what it accepts: a passport, a driving licence, a utility bill, a payslip, a bank certificate or a letter from HM Revenue and Customs. You cannot withdraw until your identity is confirmed, so send what is asked for as soon as you are asked.

Deposits and withdrawals

Star accepts Visa debit, Mastercard and Maestro cards, bank transfer and cheque. Bank transfer and cheque are the methods a high-staking customer needs, and most online-only bookmakers do not offer them.

• You can hold your account in pounds or euros. You choose once, when you first deposit.
• If your balance is short when you place a bet, you can top up from the bet slip with the three-digit security code from your card.
• A withdrawal to a debit card takes two to five working days.
• If you have paid in with more than one method, Star pays out in proportion across them and confirms the withdrawal by email.

Customer support

You can reach Star by telephone, live chat or email. The complaints process is clear: speak to the team first, ask for a senior supervisor if you are not satisfied, and take an unresolved betting dispute to the Independent Betting Adjudication Service. Star states that it will always abide by an IBAS decision.

Safer gambling tools

Star's tools go further than the basics. Alongside deposit limits, reality checks and self-exclusion through GAMSTOP, it offers:

• Rolling net deposit limits over one, seven and thirty days, which count withdrawals as well as deposits.
• Play Break, which blocks betting and deposits for any period from 24 hours to six weeks.
• Product blocks, which let you switch off one product, such as the live casino, or even a single sport, and keep the rest of your account open.

A lower deposit limit applies at once. A higher one takes 24 hours.

Who Star Sports suits

Star Sports suits the racing punter who wants a bookmaker with an opinion and a person to talk to. The telephone service, the credit accounts, the bank transfer and cheque payments and the £200,000 racing limit all point the same way. It is also a sound everyday sportsbook for football and the major sports, with apps for iOS and Android.

If you mostly bet small stakes on a phone and never expect to call anyone, Priced Up from the same owner is built for that. To see what a Star price returns for your stake, use our betting odds calculator.

Written & Reviewed by Matt K
Sports Betting Analyst at Winners Media

I have been covering the UK betting industry since 2007, testing sportsbooks across mobile and desktop. At TabletBetting, I review betting sites, compare odds and payment methods, and track new bookmaker launches. My focus is on the mobile experience - how apps perform under real conditions, not just what the marketing says.

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