Residents of the land Down Under have a passion for sports and love a good sports-bet. Although there are opponents to iGaming in Australia, it is currently easy for Australians to gamble online as there are no legal issues restricting the activity.
Culture of Betting
Sports-betting is a very popular and deeply entrenched part of the culture in Australia. Tens of millions are wagered by Aussies on the Melbourne Cup, the country’s most prestigious thoroughbred horse race, through TAB Sportsbet centers located throughout the country. These brick-and-mortar betting facilities give the activity of sports-betting a normal, everyday feel to Australians. As such, they aren’t timid about giving online wagering a try.
Punt on Some Footy
Australians love a good “punt” (that’s slang for placing a bet) on some sporting events unique to the rest of the world. The sixteen-team National Rugby League (NRL) runs from March into early October and lures in an immense amount of sports-betting volume.
Australian rules football, also referred to as “footy” or “aerial pingpong”, is as popular among Australians as the NFL is among Americans. The top league, the Australian Football League (AFL), is the most attended sporting league in Australia.
The A-League is the top professional Australian soccer league. Ten clubs compete from September through April and entice action from bettors both in Australia and around the world alike.
A whopping 52% of Australians claim an interest in cricket making it the fourth most popular sport in the country behind tennis, swimming and “footy”. Nearly every Australian watches at least some cricket on TV in any given year. Each of the six states in Australia have their own cricket team which compete throughout the summer.
Decimal Odds Explained
It’s important for U.S. based affiliates to realize that, like systems of measurement, bettors in Australia and other parts of the word use a different format for betting odds. American odds are based on the plus-and-minus system. So odds of +150 mean you would win $150 if a $100 wager were to be successful. Decimal odds differ in that they include the stake in the payout. An even-money bet on decimal odds is represented with a line of 2.0 (risk $100 to win $100). Use BetCalc’s odds converter to make sure you’re publishing betting odds with the format Australians are familiar with.
iGaming for Aussies
Aussies are passionate about sports and prefer to bet on contests they understand. This is why they are keen on sportsbooks that offer lines on Australian football, rugby, and cricket matches. Major UK bookmakers like bet365 are currently pursuing licensing in Australia and presently have frozen their services to Aussies.
The law on iGaming is a little upside down in the land down under. Australians are allowed to run their own iGaming enterprises but they are not allowed to gamble at an iGaming site based in Australia. This forces them to rely on foreign operators to spread lines for NRL, AFL, and A-League contests. Betfair is one such site currently popular among Australian bettors.
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