Betting Agencies

If you’re in a hurry…

If you don’t wish to spend too much time choosing an agency, below are our picks for the best in the following categories:

• Best odds – Betfair (especially for futures betting)
• Won’t limit or ban you for winning – Betfair
• Quick to post odds for upcoming fixtures – Sportsbet, Crownbet, bet365
• Best for live (phone) betting – bet365
• Best betting selection on international sports – bet365, Unibet
• Best betting selection on Australian sports – Sportsbet, William Hill
• Best for beginners – Sportsbet, Ladbrokes
• Best for promotions and competitions – Ladbrokes, CrownBet, Sportsbet
• Best betting exchange – Betfair (great for tournament winner betting)
• Best bookmaker membership combinations – see article
• Best for spread betting – PointsBet
• Best for high stakes wagering – Betfair – for popular sports only
• Best for tournament betting – TopBetta, SportChamps

Frequently asked questions

• Q: I’m a beginner, should I go with a bookmaker or an exchange?
  A: Go with a bookmaker
• Q: What benefits are there to using an international bookmaker?
  A: The Interactive Gambling Act makes it an offence to offer live online wagering to Australian residents. Operators are only permitted to offer phone betting during live events. International services either ignore or aren’t aware of this law, and continue to permit Australians to bet live ‘in-play’. Adherence to the Act is the responsibility of gambling operators and not individual Australians. It is not an offence for Australian residents to bet live ‘in-play’ online. Another upside is offshore bookmakers typically offer a greater betting selection on international sports.
• Q: What benefits are there to using an Australian bookmaker?
  A: Australian agencies offer superior betting selections on Australian sports. They also offer a better range of deposit and withdrawal methods for Australians.
• Q: How many memberships do I need?
  A: Just one if you’re a casual punter. If you’re looking for additional memberships, view our recommended bookmaker combinations.

UPDATE: Marathonbet, Pinnacle and SBOBET no longer accepts Australian members.

The margin is a measure of the bookmaker’s profit for an event and can be regarded as a hidden transaction fee for punters. From a betting perspective, the lower the margin, the better.

The table on the right displays the fixture results from our latest bookmaker margins and markets survey.

Pinnacle came out on top of the general survey with the lowest margins of 2.9%, with Marathonbet close behind at 3.0%. Betfair, Unibet and bet365 had the lowest margins of the Australian-licensed services at 5.0%. The average margin when combining the best available odds was 0.7%, which highlights the value of shopping around for the best odds.

Unibet came out on top for the number of markets per fixture, with Pinnacle and Matchbook having the fewest markets.

Marathonbet had the best combination of low margins and quantity of markets per fixture. Keep in mind,
however, that they have lower limits than Pinnacle. The caveats of the survey are discussed in detail in the survey results article.

Sportsbet, Crownbet and bet365 topped the day of the week survey for launching markets early in the week.

Marathonbet topped the results for offering the best odds for particular selections. bet365 also performed well, finishing second, well ahead of the rest of the pack. Sportsbet performed well too, despite finishing far further down in the margins survey. This highlights the fact that operating with higher margins doesn’t preclude a bookmaker from offering the best odds for particular selections.

View the complete bookmaker margin survey results.