Who we bet with and why: TopPunter’s guide to the bookies

We like to make the most of what the online bookmakers have to offer. Margins are really important in the long run so we make sure we use the best tool for the job – whether that’s taking the best odds, the best bonuses or the best promotions available.  We cover it all.

We’ll cover the major bookies here and the way TopPunter uses them:

Betfair is the place to go for the best odds in general (they reckon at least 20% better)!  Betfair doesn’t work as a bookmaker; instead they offer a market where money is matched by punters – similar to how stocks are traded where prices are set by those who wish to buy or sell.

This means you can both back a winner, or “lay” what you think will be a loser.  For example, if you think Rafael Nadal won’t win Wimbledon – but you don’t know who will – you can lay Nadal.  If he gets knocked out, you win.  Think it’s easier to pick a loser rather than a winner? Use the lay on Betfair. Reckon that a soccer game won’t be a draw? Lay it.

This additionally means that you can back and lay the same competitor and make money.  This is known as trading and has emerged as one of the best ways to make money.  See How Betfair Works for a detailed page of information about how to use our expert tips to make the most out of Betfair.

Advantages:

• Great odds, large range of events, can pick your own odds and crucially you can back and lay to massive advantage. Huge market that seems to be growing. Hopefully Australian regulations will take a sensible turn soon and allow live in-play betting over the internet.
• Betfair pays out almost immediately after a race or event meaning you can use your winnings straight away
• Most events including metro horse races you can back in-play – you need to ring up Betfair to do that but usually you can get a bet on within 1 minute or so

Disadvantages:

• Not great for betting early on smaller races where not much money has been matched – you won’t get great odds. If you can wait until shortly before the race you’ll get the odds though
• Not Multibets on any sport – must be Betfair nominated only
• Betfair takes 5% commission for every win – factor that into the odds you are getting.

Join Betfair to follow TopPunter’s tips and get better odds. If you’re a win and place punter or like to play with a variety of horse and sports bets then SportsBet is the place for you. Their betting facility is easy to use and they offer the best TAB price for both the win and place! They have a reputation as being the most customer friendly betting agency and have some of the best promotions in Australia! You simply must have an account!  One of the biggest punting promotions is the Super Saturday bonuses they have.  These can include anything from money back in the form of a free bet if your horse doesn’t win, bonus offer odds on a race and bonuses for joining up.

Take advantage of all the FREE bets and promotions Sportsbet has on offer.  Open your account now and get $50 free without even having to deposit any money. 

IASbet offer a great service with some of the best odds in Australia. Their site is easy to use and their odds display the market moves making it easy for the punters to see which horses have been backed. They offer the best promotions for first time deposits and constantly mail out great promotions for you to get involved in.

I will often use IASBet for my multi betting, and IAS are fantastic to use to get ‘TopFluc’ which is a big margin helper which gets very close to Betfair odds without you needing to watch the market

Advantages:

• Excellent racing service, probably the best in Australia for getting all your info in place place. Will match large bets, fixed odds and offers TopFluc which is one of the best for taking advantage of TopPunter’s Early Mail.
• Very good Multibet service with bonuses and promotions to get an extra 10%
• Credit facilities – (use your head though – it can be dangerous to have free money)

Disadvantages:

• Can be slow to pay out
• Site navigation can be a bit of a pain – needs an update
• Not always the best odds, but one of the first sites we use when exploring our betting options

Sportingbet are Australia’s largest bookmaker and offer odds for all themajor Sports, Racing and Entertainment markets.  Sportingbet come from the UK SportingBet.com operation (no.au) and have a nice localised operation.  We use their MaxiDiv bet which is one of their popular bet types. MaxiDiv gives you the best of the 3 totes or the bookmakers Starting Price which ensures you’ll always get the best odds available on any metropolitan race. This can sometimes be better than Betfair and is always worth a look.

Advantages:

• MaxiDiv gives good odds over the TAB prices. This is useful for when you want to get a bet on early (such as TopPunter’s early mail tips!) and you can know you’ll get decent odds. Similar products are offered at most corporates.
• Some good promotions on offer, biggest Australian bookie means plenty of markets and ability to get bets on.

Disadvantages:

• No ability to lay (win markets only)
• Better odds at Betfair – (but not always – so it’s handy to have an account here)

The NSW TAB (and SportsTAB) are the most common betting agency used by the majority of punters. The reason for this is not the great odds but the availability and the diversity of their markets. Without a doubt SportsTAB offers the most number of markets for a single event allowing you to bet on almost anything. In fact if they heard there was going to be a race between two wellknown flies I have no doubt they’d frame a market and take their percentage.  Of course, most Pubs and Clubs in Australia have TAB facilities meaning you can walk in with cash and walk out with more cash at the end of a good day.  A lot of punters prefer the cold hard cash option down at the local and who’d blame them.

The TAB doesn’t often offer the highest margin but it’s their additional services which make them an essential place to have an account.  TAB odds are slowly getting better and you would probably find that most of the really big punters would still use them as there markets don’t fluctuate so dramatically.

They also offer the best racing service in regards to the exotics. I often use them for Quaddies as the flexi betting makes life easy for punters and Big 6 which offers the opportunity to make a lot from a little.  The Big 6 is another exotic offering which allows those looking for huge payouts to have a crack.

Its well worth having a TAB account in your hands just in case – plus you can watch races and sports streamed live on the website!

20 July 2009