Australia is a country that is well known for its athletic prowess and its love of sports. Australian national and regional leagues are full of talented athletes and have exciting matches. On the international scene, they’ve long been a cricket and rugby powerhouse. With the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris fast approaching, we can’t wait to see how Australia performs.
Alongside this national love of sport is a love of sports betting. Betting on sports has been a part of life in Australia for ages, even though it’s only been a legal activity for about 40 years. The first legal, government-run sportsbooks were introduced in 1983 and commercial sportsbooks followed a decade later in 1993. Online sportsbooks quickly followed in 1996.
Online sportsbooks now make up a major share of the sports betting traffic. You can easily find trustworthy Australian betting agencies by visiting AussieBet. Once you’ve found a sportsbook, there are still many things that new bettors should know about the market before they place their first bets.
In this article, we’ll explore the most important aspects of the Australian betting market. At the end, we’ll provide some of our top tips for getting started with sports betting.
Regional regulations
Australia has gambling laws set at the federal level, but each state also has the power to set their own gambling laws as well. The entire country has fairly standard sports betting laws that make plenty of provisions for both retail and online sportsbooks. Many of these regulations are the result of watching the industry grow over the years. One important regulation to be aware of is that in-game or live betting cannot be done online. Instead, live bets can be placed over the phone or in person at a retail sportsbook.
New South Wales is an outlier when it comes to betting regulations. They have much stricter regulations than the rest of the country. One of the most tightly controlled aspects of the betting industry in NSW is that sportsbooks cannot offer players inducements to bet. This includes any new account bonuses, refer a friend promotions or free bet offers. NSW also has firm standards for what betting advertisements are allowed to say and what they must include.
Being aware of the regional variations in betting laws is an important part of learning about the Australian betting market.
Popular betting sports
Horse racing is the oldest betting sport in the country. In fact, people have been legally betting on horse races in Australia since the early 1800s. The other leading betting sports are the same as the country’s favorite sports to watch and play — rugby, AFL, football and cricket. Basketball, tennis and MMA are also popular betting sports. Many more niche sports and international tournaments are also available to bet on.
Novelty bets are also hugely popular across Australia. These alternative bets aren’t placed on sports, they’re placed on anything else where the outcome is uncertain. Betting on the outcomes of political elections has a long history but people even vote on things like what color tie each politician will wear. People also vote on financial outcomes such as whether a stock will rise or fall, reality TV results including who will win an episode or series, and demographic factors such as whether the birthrate will rise or fall. These bets can be silly but are also very creative.
Bet types
Most people are familiar with single event bets. These are bets placed on the outcome of a match, such as which team will win or lose. Australian betting markets offer many more bet types. Single event bets can be combined into multi bets, which involves placing several single bets that must all win before the multi bet will payout. Depending on where you’re betting, these bets may also be called accumulators or parlays.
Other popular bets include over/unders and prop bets. With over/under bets, the bookmaker sets what they expect the total number of points scored, or another stat, to be and bettors bet on whether the number will actually be over or under that amount. Prop bets are bets that are placed on anything that happens on the field that isn’t the outcome of the match. These bets provide lots of room for creativity. Prop bets can be as diverse as how many meters a player will run or what color shoes the captain will be wearing.
Top tips for new bettors
- Set a budget and stick to it — Setting a reasonable budget and staying within your limits keeps betting fun.
- Only bet with trusted sportsbooks — Betting with trusted sportsbooks protects your deposits and identity information.
- Start with one sport — Sports betting requires knowing a lot about a sport, the teams and the players. For new bettors, it’s best to only bet on one sport to limit information overload.
- Live bets are for experts — In-game betting makes it easy to lose track of what you’re doing and how much you’re spending. Leave in-game betting to the experienced bettors who already have a handle on the basics.
- Have fun — Sports betting should add to the fun of watching sports. If you’re not enjoying yourself and it’s creating stress, then it’s time to take a break.
