Fitzdares Horse Racing Review: The Upmarket Bookmaker Rated

Fitzdares promo code

There is no Fitzdares promo code, because there is no standard welcome bonus to attach one to. New customers open an account and bet at the advertised prices from the first day. In place of a sign-up offer, the bookmaker runs promotions for its existing customers, among them daily odds boosts and acca boosts.

For racing bettors the value lies in the account itself rather than in a one-off joining offer: Best Odds Guaranteed, free racing streams and a broker on the end of the line.

Fitzdares sign-up offer: why there isn't one

Fitzdares is one of the few UK bookmakers that does without a standard welcome offer. That fits a brand built on service rather than giveaways, but it does mean there is nothing to claim on day one. If a sign-up bonus matters to you, our guide to the best horse racing betting sites compares the offers available.

Opening an account is still worth doing for the racing features alone, and the process is short.

What Fitzdares offers instead is a membership feel. Account holders are invited into The Fitzdares Club, and existing customers have access to daily odds boosts and acca boosts on top of the racing features covered below.

1. Register through our link. No promo code is needed.
2. Deposit £10 or more by Visa or Mastercard debit, Maestro, Visa Electron or Apple Pay.
3. Log in to watch free live streams of British and Irish racing.
4. Bet online or through a broker by phone, text, email or live chat.

Fitzdares horse racing: brokers, BOG and free streams

Racing sits at the heart of the Fitzdares book. British and Irish horse racing and greyhounds are covered daily, along with selected international racing, and the broker desk lets you bet by conversation rather than by tapping a screen. Its app opens with the claim of being “the world's finest bookmakers”, a bold line, but the service does set it apart from the usual corporate offering.

The racing markets run right through the calendar, from Cheltenham, Aintree and the Grand National to the Epsom Derby, Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood, and abroad to the Breeders' Cup and the Kentucky Derby. Fitzdares was built on its heritage in the sport, and it shows: racing is the first thing you see on the site and in the app, and the content around it is written for people who follow the game closely rather than dip in once a year.

Best Odds Guaranteed: the small print

Best Odds Guaranteed covers British and Irish horse racing from 9am on race day, but only on qualifying accounts and for stakes up to £1,000. Extra places are offered as tailored promotions rather than a standing concession, so check the place terms race by race; the each-way calculator will tell you what they are worth.

Bet types and multiples

Win and each-way singles are supported by full-cover multiples up to the Lucky 63, along with accumulators. For working out returns on a Lucky 15 or Lucky 31, our bet calculator handles the arithmetic. Cash out and in-play betting are available across the sportsbook.

Free streams for members

Logged-in members can stream British and Irish racing free, plus selected meetings from Australia, France and the United States. Greyhound pictures are also available.

The broker service

This is the Fitzdares signature. Rather than use the app, you can contact a broker to place a bet by phone, text, email or live chat, which is handy for complicated multiples or when you are at the course without a signal worth the name.

Fitzdares promotions and free bets for existing customers

Fitzdares describes its promotions as tailored, and that is accurate: rather than a fixed menu of weekly deals open to every account, it sends free bets, enhanced odds boosts and extra-place markets to customers individually. Two accounts can therefore see quite different offers in the same week, and a regular racing customer who bets through a broker is more likely to be offered something than an occasional visitor.

There is no loyalty scheme at present. Fitzdares says its programme is under review while the app and website are redesigned, so for now the reward for betting regularly comes through those one-to-one offers rather than points or tiers.

The rules that run through Fitzdares free bets

The bookmaker's racing offers share a consistent set of conditions. Free bets are credited within 24 hours of the qualifying bet settling, can never be withdrawn as cash, and pay winnings only, so a £10 free bet on a 4/1 winner returns £40. Where an offer has a qualifying bet, it is normally a pre-race win single or the win part of an each-way bet, with multiples, in-play, cashed-out and void bets, and bets struck with a free bet, excluded. Offers are limited to one per person, household and IP address, cannot be combined with other Fitzdares promotions, and some accounts are told by email of larger amounts than the advertised maximum.

Money back if beaten narrowly

Fitzdares has run racing refunds at the big meetings, such as money back as a free bet if your horse was beaten a length or less on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, run with Racing TV and capped at £10 for most accounts. Only pre-race win singles and the win part of each-way bets counted, and the limit was one refund per horse, per person and household, per race.

Fitzdares sign-up bonuses through racing partners

The absence of a standard welcome bonus does not mean every new customer joins empty-handed. Fitzdares tends to reserve joining offers for visitors from racing partners, such as the Racing Post, Great British Racing International and racing syndicates including Noel Fehily Racing and Hot to Trot, each with its own landing page. Only accounts registered through that page qualify, so the offer is not something you can claim by visiting the site directly.

The format has usually been doubled winnings on a first racing bet rather than a free bet: a pre-race single at evens or bigger, with only the first slice of stake counted, the win part of an each-way bet doubled and the place part not, and the extra paid into the account in cash by the following day. The stake that counts and the cap on extra winnings vary by partner, from £10 of stake and £500 of extra winnings on a Cheltenham version to £50 of stake and £1,000 on another. A selected-affiliate version has instead matched a first bet with a free bet of up to £30, open to new UK and Irish customers aged 21 or over, with the free bet usable at 1/2 or bigger within seven days.

Fitzdares sports betting: football, cricket, golf and more

Racing may take the spotlight, but Fitzdares runs a full sportsbook behind it. Football, tennis, basketball, cricket and golf are all covered, and football, golf and cricket each have their own dedicated home page, with the remaining sports reached through the navigation bar.

The layout is uncluttered and neatly presented, which makes finding a market quick. In-play betting is available across the main sports and is displayed in the same straightforward manner as the pre-match markets, with cash out and Bet Builder on hand for football. The site and app also carry a casino section, though the sportsbook and racing are the reason to sign up.

Fitzdares aims at a discerning clientele, and the presentation reflects it. The fonts and photography feel closer to a members' magazine than a high-street betting shop, and the tone is calm rather than loud.

The Fitzdares Club and the bookmaker's racing content

Few bookmakers try to build a social life around their customers, but Fitzdares does. The Fitzdares Club gives members a physical space to watch sport and attend events together, with a club on Davies Street in Mayfair, opened in 2020 on the street where the firm began, and a second in the Cotswolds on the Naunton Downs estate, run in collaboration with the trainer Ben Pauling. Members can use both.

The other side of the brand is The Fitzdares Times, its own run of newsletters, articles, previews and reviews. Its lead racing voice is Cornelius Lysaght, the former BBC racing correspondent, who joined as racing ambassador in 2020 and also recorded audio previews for WhatSport, the bookmaker’s WhatsApp service for members. That gives the racing content more weight than the usual tips page.

The pedigree is part of the pitch. Balthazar Fabricius, who learned the trade at Ladbrokes, founded the firm with backing from Zac and Ben Goldsmith, and in 2016 Fitzdares bought the telephone bookmaker Sunderlands, whose lineage through T Guntrip runs back to 1882. It has been happy to be called the Annabel’s of bookmaking, and the comparison with the Mayfair nightclub is apt.

None of this changes the price you get on a horse, but it explains the brand's appeal. Fitzdares is selling a sense of belonging as much as a betting account, and for a certain kind of racing fan that is the point.

Fitzdares app and payments

The Fitzdares app is rated 3.6 from 86 ratings on the UK App Store, a middling score on a small sample. It covers racing, football and live streams, and our betting apps guide shows how it compares.

Navigation in the app mirrors the website: racing first, with football, golf and cricket a tap away, and bets can be placed quickly with minimal effort. The live streams sit inside the same app, so you can watch and bet from one screen.

Payments are narrow: Visa and Mastercard debit, Maestro and Visa Electron, plus Apple Pay for deposits. Withdrawals go back to your debit card, with requests processed within 24 hours and a £10 minimum; Visa payments often arrive within hours, Mastercard within 48. Apple Pay deposits are withdrawn to a debit card. Support runs from 8am to midnight by live chat, email and phone on 020 7851 5704.

Alongside live chat, email and phone, there is a detailed FAQ section covering account, payment and betting questions, and the customer service team has a reputation for being responsive and helpful.

Who should bet with Fitzdares?

Fitzdares makes most sense for the racing regular who values being known by name: someone who bets most days, likes to talk a price through with a broker and is happy to fund the account by debit card. The free streams and Best Odds Guaranteed cover the daily routine, and Lucky 15s and bigger full-cover bets are well catered for.

It is a poorer fit for two groups. Bargain hunters who open accounts for the sign-up offer will find nothing here, and bettors staking more than £1,000 on a single race should note that Best Odds Guaranteed stops at that figure, so the bigger part of a large bet is settled at the price taken. Anyone who relies on PayPal or another e-wallet will also need a different bookmaker, and BetVictor is a natural comparison.

Is Fitzdares safe and legit?

Fitzdares Limited holds UK Gambling Commission account 400, covering remote betting, pool betting and casino, and the Commission's register records no regulatory action against it. The company was licensed in December 2005 and began trading in March 2006 under founder Balthazar Fabricius; it opened a members' club in Mayfair in 2020 and also holds an Irish licence.

Screenshots from the Fitzdares app listing on the UK App Store.

Where Fitzdares beats Spreadex and BetVictor, and where it doesn't

Terms checked on each operator’s own site. Read the full terms before you bet. More detail in our Spreadex review, BetVictor review.

Fitzdares pros and cons

Fitzdares for racing: the verdict

Fitzdares has always pitched itself above the high-street crowd, and for racing that positioning brings something useful: you can place a bet with a person. Its broker desk takes bets by phone, text, email or live chat, which suits anyone who wants a big-race bet struck without wrestling an app. Best Odds Guaranteed applies to British and Irish racing from 9am, and logged-in members can watch UK and Irish racing free, with selected meetings from Australia, France and the United States.

The limits are the other side of the exclusivity. Best Odds Guaranteed only applies on qualifying accounts and to stakes of up to £1,000, there is no standard welcome offer, and payments are confined to debit cards plus Apple Pay for deposits, with no PayPal or other e-wallets. The iOS app sits at 3.6 from 86 ratings. A seven recognises a racing product with real character; casual punters chasing sign-up value will want to look elsewhere.

Fitzdares horse racing FAQs