Founder & Editor · Last reviewed 2026-10-09
Irish Derby Festival Betting Offers
The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Festival runs Friday 26 to Sunday 28 June 2026, three days of Group 1 flat racing at the Curragh and the flagship of the track's four annual festivals, with prize money across the weekend exceeding 3.5 million euro. Friday opens the meeting with the Corinthian Challenge charity race in aid of the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund and an evening of live music; Saturday is Pretty Polly Stakes day, a Group 1 for fillies and mares supported by the Anglesey Stakes and the Airlie Stud Stakes; Sunday closes the weekend with the Irish Derby itself, off at 16:10 over a mile and a half, the oldest of Ireland's five Classics, first run in 1866 and won down the decades by Nijinsky, Shergar and Galileo.
One thing worth clearing up before you back anything: the Irish Oaks is not part of this weekend. It is a separate Curragh fixture three weeks later, on 18 and 19 July, and the two meetings get conflated often enough in third-party guides that it is worth stating plainly here.
The table below compares welcome offers we have checked against each operator's own terms as of 19 August 2026. One thing shapes the value on offer more than any single free bet: most UK-licensed bookmakers default their Best Odds Guaranteed to British racing only. At a Group 1 meeting like this, where a well-fancied favourite can shorten hard between an overnight price and the 16:10 off, a firm that extends BOG to Irish fixtures is protecting that price on every race across the weekend; a firm that does not is offering nothing once the market moves.
For the racing itself, our Irish Derby Festival hub collects the day-by-day cards, and the Irish Derby Festival guide covers all three days, the Irish Derby's history and the Pretty Polly Stakes in full. The Curragh racecourse guide has the track itself: layout, history and how to plan a visit.
18+. New customers only unless stated. Significant terms apply to every offer on this page. Bet responsibly: BeGambleAware.org.
Which Bookmakers Hold an Irish Licence
We read the public register of business-to-consumer licences kept by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) on 9 October (the register showed it was last updated on 6 October) and looked for the company behind each of our partners. A remote bookmaker needs that licence to take bets from customers in Ireland, so this page lists only the partners we found on it.
| Partner | Company on the GRAI register | Listed |
|---|---|---|
| Star Sports | Star Racing Limited | Yes |
| William Hill | WH Ireland Limited | Yes |
| QuinnBet | QuinnBet (Gibraltar) Limited | Yes |
| LiveScore Bet | LiveScore Betting and Gaming (Gibraltar) Limited | Yes |
| BetGoodwin | Goodwin Racing Limited | Yes |
| 10bet | Blue Star Planet Limited | Yes |
| Spreadex | Spreadex Ltd | Yes |
| Kwiff | Kwiff Limited | Listed, not yet matched to the brand |
| Betfred | Not found | No |
| HighBet | Not found (its UK licensee is SCGO Limited) | No |
| PricedUp | Not found (its UK licensee is Off Course Bookmakers Limited) | No |
| Fruity King | Not found (its UK licensee is ProgressPlay Limited) | No |
| BetTom | Not found (its UK licensee is Bet Tom Limited) | No |
The big firms this page names but does not partner with are on the register too: Bet365 (Hillside (Europe) ENC), Paddy Power (PPB Counterparty Services Limited), Coral (ElectraWorks Limited) and Ladbrokes (LC International Limited).
"Not found" means the company was not on the register's business-to-consumer list on that date. The GRAI says newer licences appear at the next update, so we re-check it before each meeting. Kwiff appears as Kwiff Limited, a different company from its UK business, so it stays off this page until we confirm the match.
One thing to know before you claim. The welcome offers on this page are each operator's UK offer. Customers in Ireland sign up with the operator's Irish business, the company named above, and its welcome offer and terms can differ from the UK ones. Check the offer on the operator's Irish site before you deposit. Spreadex is the exception that states it outright: its welcome offer is open to new customers in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
The Offers, Ranked
Irish Derby Festival offers, ranked
Our verified affiliate partners, ranked by our independent review score. Every offer checked against the operator's own terms.
QuinnBet3.9Top pickBest Odds GuaranteedClaim offerGet 50% Back as a Free Bet up to £25
#AD New UK 18+. £10+ first bet at Evens (2.0)+, then 2 more bets at Evens+ on different events. 50% of first-day net losses back as a free bet, max £25 (£5 guaranteed). SP bets do not qualify. 7-day expiry. Full T&Cs.
BetGoodwin3.6Best Odds GuaranteedClaim offerBet £10 Get £15 in Free Bets
Code WELCOME15
#AD New UK 18+. Code WELCOME15. £10 qualifying bet at Evens (2.0)+ within 7 days. £15 as 3 × £5 set-use free bets (acca / any sport / Sub Cover), stake not returned, 7-day expiry. Full T&Cs.
LiveScore Bet3.5Best Odds GuaranteedClaim offerBet £10 Get £30 in Free Bets
#AD New UK 18+. £10 qualifying bet at 1/2 (1.50)+, settled within 14 days. £30 in free bets, stake not returned, 7-day expiry. No promo code needed. Full T&Cs.
William Hill3.3Claim offerBet £10 Get £30 in Free Bets
Code R30
#AD New UK 18+. Code R30: deposit £10+, then £10 single bet at 1/2 (1.5)+ on any sport (excl. Virtuals). £30 as 3 × £10 free bets after settlement — free bets excl. Virtuals, 7-day expiry, use in full. E-wallet deposits (PayPal, Apple Pay, Skrill, NETELLER) excluded. Cashing out the qualifying bet voids the offer. Full T&Cs.
The table above is the quick answer. What follows is what each partner brings specifically to a weekend built around one championship race, because on a smaller, higher-class field the welcome offer only ever gets you through the door.
QuinnBet: 50% Back as a Free Bet up to £25
Welcome offer: 50% of your first-day net losses refunded as a free bet, capped at £25. New UK customers, 18+. Deposit and place a first bet of £10 or more at minimum odds of Evens (2.00), then two further bets at Evens or bigger, each at least half your largest stake. Verified 2 August 2026.
The Irish Derby angle: Best Odds Guaranteed on UK and Irish racing, applied from 10am on the day, with the concession capped at £150 of extra winnings per bet for UK customers (€180 for Irish accounts) and no cover on ante-post prices. Worth knowing if you fancy taking an early price on the Derby favourite in the week before declarations rather than waiting for raceday. See our QuinnBet sign-up offer guide and QuinnBet review.
BetGoodwin: Bet £10 Get £15 in Free Bets (code WELCOME15)
Welcome offer: a first qualifying bet of £10 or more at Evens (2.0) or bigger within 7 days returns £15 in free bets, credited as 3 x £5 tokens with set uses that expire after 7 days. Verified 2 August 2026.
The Irish Derby angle: Best Odds Guaranteed on UK and Irish horse and greyhound racing up to a £1,000 maximum benefit per bet, the highest ceiling among our partners, plus a Double Result payout on UK and Irish win markets, paid on both the first past the post and the official result, up to £5,000 a day. Ante-post bets and special markets are excluded from BOG. See our BetGoodwin review.
LiveScore Bet: Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Bets
Welcome offer: a £10 qualifying single at 1/2 (1.50) or bigger returns £30 in free bets, no promo code needed, split £20 for the sportsbook and £10 for Bet Builder only, which does not cover horse racing. Free bets must be accepted within 7 days and expire 7 days after acceptance. Verified 2 August 2026.
The Irish Derby angle: Best Odds Guaranteed on UK and Irish racing, win and each-way, from 10am on the day, but it is not automatic: you need to have staked over £25 in the previous seven days on a rolling basis before it applies. A brand-new account opened for Derby weekend will not clear that bar in time for Saturday's Pretty Polly card, let alone the Derby itself. See our LiveScore Bet review.
Star Sports: Bet £40 Get £20 in Free Bets (code BET40GET20)
Welcome offer: a £40 qualifying bet at Evens (2.0) or bigger returns 2 x £10 free bets, the first on settlement and the second 24 hours later, usable at minimum odds of 4/1 (5.0). Verified 15 August 2026.
The Irish Derby angle: Star Sports retired Best Odds Guaranteed in December 2024 and replaced it with Star Boosts, selected enhanced prices on specific runners across major UK and Irish meetings rather than blanket SP protection, plus a phone-trader desk that will size up an ante-post position on the Derby weeks out. Our Star Sports Star Boosts and BOG explainer covers how that trade-off works.
What about Bet365, William Hill, Paddy Power, Ladbrokes and Coral? We are not affiliates of any of them and do not publish offer terms we have not verified against the operator's own pages, so check their promotions pages directly for any Irish Derby-specific price boosts or extra places in festival week. Our best free bet offers comparison ranks the wider market.
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