Sportsbet Review [December 2023]

BettingTop10.com.au is an affiliate website. We may earn commission if you register to a bookmaker via links on our site. Currently, we don’t work with Sportsbet, however, we still wanted to give you all the information that you need to make an informed choice about which betting site is the best for you. To ensure that we do this, we are offering the following review with our honest opinion. For our top recommended betting sites in Australia check our Best Betting Sites or Best betting Apps, and please remember to gamble responsibly.

Sportsbet is one of the most recognised sports betting sites in Australia, offering a wide range of markets, decent odds and a marketing campaign which, at times, sees them make more appearances on your television screen than seemingly every other bookmaker combined. In this review, we’ll talk you through all that you need to know about this bookmaking giant, including their strengths, weaknesses and most notable features. If you’re looking to learn more about Sportsbet, then look no further than this comprehensive view

Like every bookmaker, Sportsbet has its strengths and weaknesses. As one of the biggest betting sites in the country, it will come as little surprise to know that it does a whole lot of things right, but by the same token there are numerous areas in which the company could improve. These are some of the Sportsbet’s most significant strengths and weaknesses.

✔️Sportsbet Strengths

• Great range of markets – Sportsbet market range is among the best in the industry. They cover a massive range of sports and, within individual matches, you’ll be able to bet on more outcomes than with most bookmakers in the country.
• High quality app and website – The yellow and blue of Sportsbet are probably the most recognisable colours in the Australian betting industry, and are the background of one of the most user-friendly betting websites. The app follows suit – it’s one of the best going around, and is as easy, if not easier, to use than the website itself.
• Great odds on player props – If you’re attracted to the wide range of different markets that Sportsbet has, then it’s likely you’ll also be pleased to know that their odds on things such as player props are as good as any. Where many other bookmakers significantly increase their margins on more obscure markets, Sportsbet doesn’t to the same extent, meaning that is more value to be found

❌Sportsbet Weaknesses

• punters – This is something which is an issue with many bookmakers, and Sportsbet has been known to fall into this category. There are a handful of bookies renowned as the best for professional punters as they don’t tend to restrict consistent winners, but Sportsbet isn’t one of them.
• Customer support hours – The hours during which Sportsbet’s customer service team is available are reasonable enough – 6am until midnight AEST – though particularly for those on the west coast, this means they aren’t available during some waking hours. It will probably never be a realistic issue for most and generally you can wait until the next day, but there are many other bookies which offer 24/7 customer support, so this is somewhere Sportsbet could improve.
• Only decent odds on major markets – As one of the biggest bookmakers in Australia, Sportsbet does a great job with most things, though their odds aren’t exactly industry-leading for the major markets. You’ll find that they have reasonable odds on things like moneyline as well as racing odds, but there are other bookmakers who perform better in this area.

📋Conclusion

Sportsbet is like any bookmaker in that they have certain strengths, as well as a number of things which they could improve upon. The strengths listed above are likely more significant than the weaknesses for most punters, but if you’re a big time punter or particularly like having ever-available customer support, then you may find yourself looking for a different bookie.

Sportsbet is one of the biggest bookmakers in Australia for many reasons. Among these is that they spend more dollars on marketing than any of their Australian competitors; in fact, as of 2021 they were among the top five businesses in the country for money spent on advertising, alongside Coles, Woolworths, the federal government and Harvey Norman. That’s some serious dollars and has contributed to the long-existing calls to limit bookmakers’ advertising potential, but that’s a conversation for another day. Regardless, it seems to have worked, because they are among the most popular sites for punters in the country.

Another reason for their popularity is the wide range of markets for which they are renowned. There are a huge number of different sports available, and within these different sports, the trend continues, with a huge range of leagues available in particular for the most popular sports. For soccer, for example, there are markets on a massive variety of leagues from all around the globe, and likewise for basketball.

Perhaps the most notable of these is player props. Sportsbet does a great job of providing a wide range of markets on different statistical categories, and generally offers relatively good odds for them compared to other sites which offer comparable betting categories. These superior odds don’t necessary extend across the board – Sportsbet has decent odds for most things, but their odds on basics like head to head aren’t industry leading – but for the more obscure betting categories for which other bookmakers often take a much heftier margin, this bookie performs very well.

Overall, Sportsbet’s range of markets is one of the things that makes them such a popular Australian bookmaker. They have a great range of different sports that they cover, offer an enormous number of individual leagues within those sports, and also have a great selection of different markets on matches once you get to within a specific league.

They also perform pretty well across most other major categories by which we generally judge bookmakers. They have a reasonably well-structured customer support platform, though as we discuss in greater detail further along in the review there are a couple of things they could do to improve it further, and also offer a decent albeit not outstanding selection of payment methods.

One other area in which they particularly excel is the presentation of their offerings. The website is extremely functional and easy to use, while the mobile app might be even better. In fact, though the website is very high-quality, the app is good enough that you could quite comfortably use it in place of the website, and never need to open up your computer in order to use Sportsbet.

There are a number of things that make Sportsbet so popular, with their wide range of markets and mobile app among the most significant. As with all bookies, however, there are a couple of things they could improve upon, but for the most part these are relatively comfortably outweighed by the aforementioned strengths of the company

Betting Variety: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sportsbet’s range of betting markets is as comprehensive as any betting agency in Australia.

Banking Options: ⭐⭐⭐

There are a solid range of banking options available with Sportsbet.

Mobile Experience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The mobile app available with Sportsbet is among the best in the industry.

Payout Speed: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

No problems with the Sportsbet payout speed, with most winnings arriving reasonably promptly in your account.

Security: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Likewise, there are no problems with the security of Sportsbet – they are licensed by the Northern Territory Racing Commission.

Betting Experience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A great website to go with the high-quality app makes the Sportsbet betting experience a five-star one.

Customer Support: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pretty good here – live chat and phone help are available for a good chunk of the day, and agents are helpful.

Unlike lots of other bookmakers, many of whom tend to focus predominantly on one of either racing or sports, Sportsbet does a good job of balancing their attention and providing a good experience in both areas. They have a good selection of racing markets, both international and within Australia, all of which are easily accessible via the home page of their website or app.

To access upcoming races you can simply click the racing tab towards the top of the website or app home page. If you want to take a look at a more complete list of races, click on the racing tab on the left-hand side of the website home page, or the bottom of the app. This will then take you to a page with every race around the world from today, beginning with Australian races at the top. You can then easily toggle to races taking place in the next couple of days, as well as markets on major future races.

Once you click into a specific race, you’ll be greeted with the win/place odds for each runner, which you’ll find are competitive with most other major bookmakers. Placing a bet is as easily as clicking on the relevant odds and entering your stake, while if you want to be on exotics like quinella, trifecta, first four or quadrella, these options are all available above the list of runners.

Overall, the racing experience with Sportsbet is a good one. They have odds on all races that you would expect from both Australia and around the world, offer solid odds, and have all the markets that you need.

Most bookmakers share a lot of things in common; after all, they all essentially provide the same service. One area in which there can often be significant differences, however, and which can be one of the best ways to distinguish different bookmakers and decide which one is best suited to you, is the sports coverage. How many different sports does the betting site in question offer? How many leagues? And for those games that are offered, how many markets are there?

For Sportsbet, the answer to all of those questions is: a lot. They have one of the most comprehensive range of markets among all bookmakers in Australia, covering sports from the most popular – such as Australian rules football, basketball and rugby league – to the far more obscure – such as chess and bowls – and everything in between. They even have markets on Current Affairs, Novelties and Entertainment, and Movies. At the time of writing, there are 32 different sports available on the site. These are among the most popular of them.

🏉Sportsbet Australian Rules Football

Australian rules football, often referred to simply by the name of its most popular league in the AFL, is the winter sport of choice for much of the country, and Sportsbet has a suitable range of betting markets on it as a result. Every AFL game has a huge variety of markets, from the staples through to a wide selection of things like player props, while you’ll also find odds on plenty of other footy leagues too, including the SANFL, WAFL and VFL to name just a few.

🏉Sportsbet Rugby league

Those who aren’t watching the AFL during the winter in Australia are likely in New South Wales or Queensland, and instead devoting their attention to rugby league. The NRL and State of Origin are the top leagues here, and like for the AFL, there is no shortage of markets on offer for these competitions. If you want to bet on something simple like a team to win then you’ll of course be able to do that, but if you’re after anything else then you should have no trouble finding a market for it if it exists anywhere else, with hundreds of different markets available for each major rugby league match.

🏀Sportsbet Basketball

For basketball, there are a huge 29 leagues available at the time of writing, including everything from the NBA through to competitions you’ve likely never heard of such as the Icelandic Cup and the North Macedonia Prva League. For leagues like those last two, there is a pretty limited number of markets on offer; you’ll pretty much be dealing with odds on the head to head match up, handicap, total and sometimes a first half market. For the more popular leagues, however, it’s a whole different story. NBA games, for example, regularly have in excess of 300 different markets available. These include the aforementioned basics and many others which are staples of most bookmakers, but there is more variety than most competitors in certain areas.

🏏Sportsbet Cricket

With the collective attention of the Australian sporting public turning to cricket in the summer, there’s unsurprisingly plenty of markets on this sport as well. These pertain to all matches involving Australia, of course, as well as major domestic leagues like the BBL and Sheffield Shield, while there are also plenty of markets on international games and a surprisingly significant number of domestic leagues from around the globe, too.

⛳Sportsbet Golf

Another hugely popular sport in Australia, Sportsbet offers a decent range of markets for golf as well. Predominantly these are on the PGA Tour, the biggest golf tour in the world, with markets for each upcoming tournament as well as a few other majors like the US Masters available. The selection of markets is a little more limited here than for some other sports, but that’s more to do with the nature of golf and the same can be said for most bookies. You’ll be able to be on the outright winner, as well as some other things like Top 5 and Top 10 finish, for all available events.

🏆Sportsbet’s Sponsorship Deals

Sportsbet is the official wagering partner of many major leagues, but doesn’t have any sponsorship deals to mention at the time of writing.

Many of the components which make up a bookmaker are things that exist with virtually all their competitors, making it hard to separate one from another at times. However, there are certain things which can help to separate a bookie from the pack, and these are some examples of those things that you’ll find with Sportsbet.

Live Streaming

More and more bookmakers are offering live streaming of some form, though exactly what is available for viewing varies significantly. For Sportsbet, Sky Racing is available, meaning that each and every Australian race is available to be watched on either their website or the app. This is a great point of difference that only a handful of their competitors can lay claim to, and is something which is likely to attract plenty of customers to this bookmaker.

In-play betting

Like live streaming, in-play betting is becoming increasingly common, but there are still plenty of betting sites who haven’t yet joined the party. Sportsbet is not one of them. They have a well-developed live betting platform which can easily be accessed from the top of your home page on the website, or at the bottom of the home page on the app. There is a pretty hefty range of selections on offer, though in line with Australian regulations you can’t place these bets online and will need to call up in order to do so.

Range of sports markets

Every bookmaker has a range of sports markets in one way or another, though just how comprehensive this range is varies enormously. Sportsbet is among the best in the industry, if not the best, in this regard. As we’ll discuss in more detail in the next section, they offer odds on an enormous number of different sports and leagues, and have a great selection of different markets within these individual areas, meaning that there is no shortage of things to bet on with this bookmaker.

Now that we’ve taken a look at the different sports available and briefly touched on the markets available, let’s take a closer look at what you can bet on with Sportsbet.

Sportsbet Betting Markets

• Head to head
• Line
• Totals
• Player Props
• Quarter/half markets
• Futures
• Exotics

Sportsbet Types of Bets Available

• Singles
• Multis
• System bets (doubles, trebles etc.)

Mobile apps are a rapidly developing part of the betting industry. Just a few short years ago they didn’t even exist – in fact even betting websites didn’t – but they’ve quickly become a simple way for punters to access their betting accounts and, for many betting sites, are easier to use than the actual website. Sportsbet has a really good website so this isn’t necessarily the case for them, but their app is also among the best in the industry so there are likely plenty of customers who prefer to use the mobile offering than its online counterpart.

The app, which is available for both iOS and Android devices, welcomes users with a home page which closely resembles the online version. You can toggle between racing and sports to see upcoming major events in each category, or alternatively you can take a more detailed look at the available markets by clicking on the relevant tab at the bottom of your screen. Clicking on the racing tab, for example, takes you to a list of all Australian race meets today, while you can easily toggle to other race types, future races in Australia or international races at the top. Clicking on sports takes you to a page with a list of featured sports at the top, and then every sport which has available markets listed in alphabetical order underneath.

Placing a bet on the app is as easy as selecting the relevant market and entering your stake, in much the same vein as you would on the website itself. You can also deposit, withdraw, sign-up, set a bet limit and plenty more on the app; in fact there’s nothing really that you can’t do, meaning that if you want to exclusively use the app for everything you need to do with Sportsbet, you can.

It’s also a very functional platform, making it easy to scroll between different pages and markets and importantly, very rarely malfunctioning, something which can be an issue with many other bookmaker apps. Overall, the Sportsbet app is among the best in the industry, and is certainly a contributing factor to the bookmaker’s success.

Punting, of course, requires money to be transferred from and (hopefully) back between your bank account and your betting account. There are a number of ways through which that process is completed, though exactly which banking options are available is something that varies among each and every bookmaker. Where some offer virtually every conceivable payment method, others have just one or two, which can make it difficult to justify using them – particularly if you tend to deposit and withdraw using a method other than the most standard debit/credit card option.

Sportsbet falls somewhere in the middle. They don’t offer an enormous array of payment methods and their offerings are probably a little lacking compared to similarly popular betting sites, but nonetheless they will probably have enough to cater to most people. The most common and easiest method is debit/credit card, which can be used for both deposits and withdrawals, and once you’ve added your card you can easily deposit and withdraw at will.

Aside from this, you have a few other options as well. You can choose to deposit money using either PayPal or POLi, a bank transfer is another fairly popular option, or alternatively you can use the BPAY platform to fund your account. Sportsbet also have a Cash Card which can be used for both deposits and withdrawals. Regardless, you’ll need to remember that with Sportsbet, the minimum deposit is $5, while for withdrawals you’ll need to be taking out at least $10.

As is the case with every bookmaker, you’ll find that with Sportsbet, deposits arrive in your betting account a whole lot quicker than withdrawals arrive in your bank account. Deposits, in fact, are immediate, and when you withdraw the money will also immediately disappear from your betting balance. It will, however, likely take a couple of days to get to the other side, with the withdrawal method and other factors like the bank you use and the day you withdraw also contributing to the time it takes to arrive.

In all, the payment methods offered by Sportsbet should be enough to satisfy most customers. They certainly aren’t leading the industry and don’t have an enormous array of options, but they do have the majority of the major options.

Yes, Sportsbet is a legal betting agency in Australia. They are licensed and regulated by the Northern Territory Racing Commission, as are a significant number of Australian bookies, while their gambling operations are governed by the South Australian Gambling Code of Practice. This means that you can be confident they are a legitimate business who you can confidently entrust a little bit of your hard-earned with.

If you use a bookmaker for long enough, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll eventually need to get in touch with them. Whether it’s simply to ask a question or whether you have a pressing issue that needs resolved, it’s pivotal that these bookmakers provide a means by which their customers can quickly and easily get in touch with them.

Sportsbet generally does a pretty good job of this. Perhaps the easiest way to get in touch with most bookmakers has, in recent years, become the live chat function which is a feature of many customer support platforms, and Sportsbet has one of these which is available between the hours of 6.00am and midnight AEST. This is a valuable function, though there are some other bookmakers who offer 24/7 live chat service, while Sportsbet could also improve by making it more easily accessible; where many other companies have a live chat bubble in the bottom corner of whichever page you’re on, Sportsbet does not and you need to head to the ‘Contact Us’ page in order to access it.

On that page you’ll also find a customer service number, with customers able to call 1800 990 907 if they need to get in touch with a customer support agent. Like the live chat, this phone number is in operation between 6.00am and midnight AEST, seven days a week. Rounding out Sportsbet’s customer support platform is a fairly comprehensive list of FAQs, while you can also fill out a feedback form if you have something you particularly want to tell the business.

All in all, the customer support which Sportsbet offers is reasonably comprehensive. Agents are typically helpful and the existence of live chat and a phone number should be sufficient for most, though they could improve it by making the live chat function more accessible and extending their availability hours, particularly given that they close by 9pm on the western coast of Australia.

How to open an account with Sportsbet

Looking to sign up to Sportsbet? It’s a pretty easy process, and you can do it within a couple of minutes by following these steps.

• Head to sportsbet.com.au.
• Click on the ‘Join’ button in the top right-hand corner of your page.
• Fill in the appropriate information, including personal details such as name and date of birth, as well as your desired username and password.
• Set a deposit limit if you feel you will need it.
• Click the sign up button and away you go!

How to place an in-play bet with Sportsbet

Looking to place a bet on a sporting event which has already started with Sportsbet? Follow these steps to do so.

• Click the ‘Bet Live’ tab on the website or the ‘In Play’ tab on the app.
• Find the market on which you wish to bet and click on the relevant odds.
• A phone number will appear, as will a reference code. Call the number.
• Quote the reference code to the customer service agent on the other line and they will then receive information about the market you wish to bet on.
• Tell the customer support agent the stake amount you’d like to bet.
• Confirm all of the above and you’re away!

How do I place a multi with Sportsbet?

Placing a multi with Sportsbet is easy, and this is how you do it.

• Find the markets which you’d wish to include in your multi – each of them will appear in your betslip.
• Scroll to the bottom of your betslip and you’ll find an option to multi all of the outcomes.
• Enter your stake and hit Place Bet.
• If you’d like to place a Same Game Multi you can follow these same steps, or alternatively click the Same Game Multi tab in an individual event page.
• If you’d like to place a system bet (for e.g. a ‘trebles’ bet, which means that you need at least three outcomes in a multi of four or more outcomes to occur and will be paid out according to which legs win), then you’ll also find this at the bottom of your betslip just below the option to multi all the legs.

Got a question that you need answered about Sportsbet? Take a look at our answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about this bookmaker below.

Does Sportsbet offer live streaming?

Yes, Sportsbet does offer live streaming for limited sports as well as Australian races.

Can I use Sportsbet outside of Australia?

No – Sportsbet is only available for use within Australia.

How old do I have to be to sign up with Sportsbet?

If you want to create and use an account with Sportsbet, you need to be at least 18 years of age.

How can I get in touch with Sportsbet?

There are a number of contact options which are listed on their ‘Contact Us’ page, the easiest of which are live chat and phone.

How do I place a live bet with Sportsbet?

Sportsbet offers a number of in-play betting option easily accessible on the website and app, though to place a bet you will need to call up and follow the prompts as per Australian regulations.