How to choose a betting site in Australia

There are plenty of things to consider when trying to choose a betting site in Australia. Some things may not immediately spring to mind, such as customer service and security. There is an easy process to get started and registered with an operator.

But there are some choices to consider before just jumping straight in. Among the key things to consider are the value of odds and market variety. Here is a guide to what some of the things to look for in choosing a betting site in Australia are.

Licensing

There are regulations in place that betting operators need to abide by and therefore, picking out an operator that is fully licensed in Australia is the first place to start. Because of the growth of online betting in the early 2000’s the Interactive Gambling Act was passed to protect users. What licencing are you looking for? References to being governed by the Northern Territory Government and the South Australia Code of Practice.

Competitive and varied sportsbook

For a punter to fulfil their betting needs online, a sportsbook is going to need to deliver the betting options that the punter wants. Among the major bookmakers, both domestic and international, a lot of the major sports are likely going to be covered equally as well between them.

There will, of course, be variances in market value between the different bookmakers. While things do end up being pretty generalised across the board, small variances, such as one bookmaker offering 1.22 on Richmond in the head-to-head with Adelaide, and another 1.25 odds on the same outcome do occur.

It is in looking around at other sports that a punter may want to fulfil their betting needs with, such as tennis, golf, handball and boxing, that more differences may arise. How well are those markets covered by a particular bookmaker? Another thing to consider in terms of variety in sportsbooks is the degree of options beyond the outright outcome.

Top-level soccer matches can have well over a 100 different pre-event match options on them, but this variety of sub-market betting is an area where all bookmakers may not match up equally. Some bookmakers may offer more handicap options than others for example, while others may be more heavily geared up to provide extensive in-play betting options. In-play betting cannot be done online in Australia because of regulations, they have to be phoned in.

Website User Friendliness and Reliability

An easy thing to test in trying to choose a bookmaker in Australia is how well a website works and how user-friendly it is. Just by jumping on a site and test-driving it, you will quickly get a feel of things such as how easy it is to navigate the sportsbook, how clearly presented are the odds and the operation of the betting slip. You may also want to check if there is a dedicated mobile app that is available for a bookmaker as well, because they generally run a lot quicker with less data usage than mobile versions of websites.

Features

Beyond the sportsbook and the value and variety within, the features that are offered at a bookmaker can help determine which site a punter signs up with. Features are offered by bookmakers to give a richer experience for their customers and to attract new customers as well.

Promotions are a good way that bookmakers do this and they come in many shapes and forms. There are straightforward things like enhanced odds price boosts, free bet offers and accumulator insurances or boosts to enjoy. The number and type of promotions on offer will vary greatly between bookmakers.

Bet Builders are now a very common thing at an online betting site, and this is a feature where you can build a same-game multi from select markets on one event. It may in a soccer match, for example, be the number of yellow cards show + total goals + both teams to score.

Live Streams

Also included in the potential features that a bookmaker offers are live streams. Online bookmakers are increasingly providing more and more sports streams for their customers to watch. All that is usually needed (it may vary from bookmaker to bookmaker) is a funded account or a bet placed on the event that you want to watch, such as a horse race.

One advantage, alongside just the pure enjoyment of watching sports, is that watching the stream of an event can help a punter judge what kind of in-play bet that they may want to make. Being able to see the sport in action, as opposed to trying to follow things like text updates, may leave punters with better options.

Customer Support

Customer support is something that should sit in the background and hopefully for punters it is never needed. But what happens should a question about an account or situation does arise? Things to check out is what hours customer support operates within.

The other thing to consider is how to get a hold of them in the first place. Can you place a telephone call to support, raise an online chat or send an email if need be? Another aspect of this is how good of a Help section can be found on a site. FAQs can often be a great source of information.

Payments and Withdrawals

At the end of the day, you are putting your money into your betting account. You want it to be as safe as it can be and you want to face as few fees as possible too. You should be able to find what deposit methods that a bookmaker accepts, either on their front page or within their help section. It shouldn’t be hidden information and that applies to any withdrawals as well. There should also be listed any associated fees, limits and processing times.

Summary

Sometimes it is easy to get pulled into signing up with a bookmaker just because of a big promotion that they have going on. But the services that are offered over a long-term basis are far more important than that.

Look for the signs of security, of licensing and good customer support. Those are major factors in picking out an Australian bookmaker. Then comes the factors like the user-friendliness of the website and quality of sportsbook.