Betting
It’s hard to tell the exact time when people started to gamble. Even the brightest Historian minds can’t agree on this one. But it’s clear as day that betting like any other form of gambling isn’t a new thing to the world.
It was around for thousands of years. If we are talking about sports betting then first traces of it could be found in the Ancient Greece because Greeks were the ones who invented Olympic Games where spectators could bet among themselves. Ancient Romans also weren’t hesitating of betting: they made their bets on the outcome of the gladiator games and chariot races.
While gladiators passed away and chariots were replaced by more advanced vehicles, betting continued to live becoming more and more popular. But if we are talking about sports betting as we know it now then its’ origins should be sought in the United Kingdom of 16th and 17th centuries.
During those times the first bookmakers were born allowing betting on horse races. The only problem was that horse races back in the times were only rich people amusement. Thus, horse races were private events where only horse owners could bet on the outcome of these matches. But as time went on, things started to change.
Horse races got bigger luring huge crowds of spectators. Innkeepers and pub-owners as the ones who were popularizing horse races the most, became the first bookmakers. During that time betting wasn’t yet regulated, so people used credit system.
But since all betting was done in pubs where one could get access to the alcohol in large quantities, British government decided to protect their citizens from the dramatic consequences of it by banning gambling in pubs. But this didn’t kill bookmakers since they started to open so-called betting shops. That’s how bookies became not only accountants who are keeping track of transactions, but also started to work as arbitrators. Bookmakers became middlemen who were receiving the bets but never betting against the player. As you remember, we wrote above that first bookmakers were using credit system instead of cash.
But over time they decided that cash will work too. In the beginning it looked like that: players put their hands in the hat and then remove them depending if they agree or not with the assessment. That’s how the famous handicap term was born. Horse bettors were using it to label participants that are in bad position at the start of a race. Later this term also migrated to the medicine.
Online betting
As time went on and everything started to shift to the Internet, bookmakers decided to hop on the train of World Wide Web. It was around 1995 when first online bookie websites saw the daylight. Since then online betting started to become more and more popular. There are several reasons why online bookmakers became so incredibly successful. Reason number one: the Internet became accessible. Not everyone back then had a personal computer and it was far away from first smartphone being released.
Nowadays everybody has at least a phone which basically is a mini-computer. As for Internet, it became much faster and available in terms of price and range. Therefore, there are no barriers that could stop one from online betting in some bookmaker websites. Reason number two: convenience. It’s much simpler and faster to place bets online rather attending some local betting shops. This way you don’t have to spend your time and energy going somewhere. Instead of that you simply have to make few clicks with mouse (or taps if we are talking about online betting done from the smartphone). Reason number three: online betting provides a wider range of possible outcomes that you can place your wagers on.
For example, there is micro-betting, in play betting and betting in-the-run. This way instead of simply placing a bet on the outcome of a horse race you can actually wager your money on a range of possible outcomes.
As a matter of fact, online betting literally was a game-changer. Bookmakers stopped to take customer bets themselves. Instead of that they were offering their clients so-called peer-to-peer betting where people could place bets between them. At the beginning of 2000s world saw the first live betting where bettors could wager their money on some sporting event while it was already happening.
Reason number four: great marketing. Being good is not enough for product to be sold. Most of the successful companies had great marketing campaigns. Bookies are aware of that, so they use every chance to promote their services.
Therefore, it’s not surprising that bookmaker companies are one of the largest advertisers: you can see their ads while watching some YouTube or scrolling your Instagram feed. Finally, online betting isn’t only about the sports: when COVID-19 pandemic shook the world and all kind of sport events were postponed, various bookmakers started to offer their customers to place their bets on the outcome of a political election or even a weather forecast.
Sport betting in Australia
Sport betting was always popular in the land of kangaroos and koalas. It took only forty years after James Cook has discovered Australia, for sports betting to become a favorite pastime for Aussies. Since Australia was a place of British and European colonies, sports betting there were heavily influenced by Brits. That’s the reason why horse races, for example, are so popular in Australia (they were still going on even after the COVID-19 shutdown rules were announced in Oz).
In 19th century every major town in Australia had their own horse racing tracks. As for the people who weren’t excited about horse races, they could choose an alternative of placing bets on greyhound and harness racing events. While they never were as popular as horse racing, many Aussies still enjoyed this form of sport betting in Australia.
One more interesting fact about sport betting in Australia: Oz is the homeland for a first tote board. A mechanical engineer from Sydney wanted to develop a special voting calculating device that would reduce the voter fraud and political cheating. But Australian government rejected his project.
Several years later his invention found its’ place in horse racings: the totalizator became a real game-changer. The device was showing how many bets were placed on a particular race and their overall value. This helped in understanding how much each winner eventually could get out of it. Sport betting in Australia was transforming as new technologies were released. For example, the development of the telephone and radio broadcasting were a trampoline for many illegal bookies.
With the help of these technologies bookmakers could get the results of horse races much more quickly. Sixty years later Internet came into our lives and everything changed even more drastically. Bettors now can place their wagers online without even leaving their living room.
All they have to do for that is to use their computer, phone or tablet depending on their preferences. Also invention of the Internet made possible to place live bets meaning that person can wager while event is actually taking place. While sport betting in Australia was always a popular form of pastime even when it was officially forbidden by the government, with World Wide Web coming on the scene it became as big as it never was before. Today all you have to do in order to place some bet is simply head over to some bookie’s website, create your profile there and you are ready to go!
Sport betting tips
While there is no magic pill that would make you a professional bettor there still are some (simple!) sport betting tips that could actually raise your chances of placing a successful bet. First of all, you should compare odds and lines. Truth is that different bookies offer different odds and lines. It’s very wise to compare them before actually placing a bet. While differences aren’t high you still can manage to get up to 10% of extra profit by choosing the best odds that are out there. In a long-distance it can actually make a difference (apologies for tautology).
Second advice would be to avoid any kind of illegal bookies: placing bets there is like participating in Russian Roulette since you never know if bookie is going to pay you or no. In order to find some trustworthy bookmaker in Australia you may check our reviews, since we are recommending only the websites that we use by ourselves.
Third tip: forget about the loyalty. I mean, it’s good to be loyal to your spouse, don’t get me wrong. But when it comes to sport betting tips, you shouldn’t think by such categories. Most likely you are here because you want to make some money online by sport betting in Australia.
If that’s true then you should be objective and as impersonal as you can be. This means that you should NOT place your bets on some certain teams or players only because they are your favorite ones. If it’s a problem for you, then you should switch to other sports where you have no favorites. Finally, don’t hesitate to track your bets. This is a great approach if you want to improve your performance. It can be done either with special apps or using simple Excel spreadsheets if you aren’t willing to spend money on the apps.
Before you bet
There are several things that need to be done before you actually place your bet. First of all, read T&C of the chosen bookie. It can save your time and prevent any misunderstandings in the future. In case if some terms and conditions are unclear for you, you can always approach a customer support. Most of the bookies from our list work round the clock, so you will get the answer to your question in no time. Second: check for any kind of bonuses.
Most of the bookies today, like the online casinos, try to attract new players by offering different bonuses. These bonuses can be a great trampoline for those who just starting out in the world of online betting. Thirdly, you should make sure that you provide only authentic information about yourself.
This is important due to two reasons: first – most of the bookmakers will send you some verification link that you will have to click before they will allow you to place some bets on their website, therefore you should provide only the real e-mail address; second – bookmakers will check your identity to make sure that you can actually participate in gambling activities.
Inaccuracy in providing personal information can lead to a denial of withdrawals of your winnings. And this is not what we want, right? Therefore, make sure that you filled all of the required fields only with real info about yourself. Fourth: remember that everything has its’ own price.
Take bonuses, for example. While many bookies offer their customers generous welcome bonuses, they also have some requirements that should be met before one could withdraw money that was won with the help of those bonuses (never forget that there is no such thing in the world as free money). Therefore, it’s much better to know all the requirements right off the bat rather than dealing with disappointment when you will try to withdraw your winnings just to find out that there are some uncompleted things to be done.
Australian online betting now and then
Australian online betting has changed drastically over the last decades. At the beginning it was all about doggies and horses, but as time went on bookies started to accept bets on different team sports. Now every football and basketball lover could place their wagers and win some money. But what’s more important, the nature of betting itself changed drastically. Instead of betting simply on the end result of a game, Australian online bettors now could place their bets on a whole range of possible outcomes.
The next milestone was when Australian online bookmakers started to allow their customers to place their bets during the event. It was called a live betting and until now it remains to be one of the most popular ways to make bets. One of the main reasons for that is because people now don’t have to stress that they can be late to place a bet.
Just five years after the first live betting website was launched, the world saw first smartphone ever as we know it today. Steve Jobs released the first iPhone and mobile madness spread all over the globe. Seeing how many people started to use smartphones Australian bookies couldn’t ignore it and started to optimize their websites for mobile devices.
More than that, many of the popular bookmakers released their own apps for phones and tablets. The mobile phone era changed the nature of betting the same way as Internet did: now people didn’t had necessity to go to the pub if they wanted to know the results of the game. Bettors could get that information just in a few taps on their mobile device. Finally, some new sports came to the scene: today people who are far from traditional sports can still get some extra money by placing the right bets on their favorite CS:GO and WoW players.
Betting bonus
Many Australian bookies in order to attract more people to their platforms are using different kind of promotions. One of them is so-called free bet. As the name suggests, it’s basically a bet that you can place for free. In order to get it you have to create an account on the bookmaker’s website. Then you get some money from a bookie on your deposit. While it’s not possible to withdraw it, you can use it to place a bet. In this case if you lose you still stay with your money. The next great betting bonus to use is risk-free bet. This bet is offered to new registrants, so they could get an idea of betting in Australia. It is money that you will receive if your initial bet will fail. The amount of money that you will get depends on the size of your first wager. Example: you created an account at bookmaker X, put fifty bucks on the wrong horse and lost it.
As soon as it will happen you will receive your second chance with bookie issuing you your fifty dollars back. In simple words, risk-free bet is like an airbag in the car. Finally, there is a matched deposit bonus.
In most of the bookmakers it works following way: you make yourself an account and bookie brings you extra cash depending on the amount of your deposit. So, if your deposit is $250 and bookie offers 100% match bonus then you will eventually get $500 on your account (your $250 + bookmaker’s $250) that you can use for your betting purposes. But before you start using your bonuses make sure you read all terms and conditions carefully. Most of the times bonuses will come with some rollover requirements meaning that you will have to place bets for a certain amount of times before bookie will allow you to withdraw it.
Match betting
And since we started to talk about all those bonuses, let me tell you something about match betting. Match betting is a technique that allows bettors to get profits from those free bet bonus promotions that many bookmakers nowadays offer their clientele. It’s a very simple yet powerful thing that can help you make more money while betting on your favorite sports.
There are three steps that you need to follow in order to make things work. First: find some bookies that offer free bet promotions. You can use some companies from our list. Once it’s done, make there account and receive your free bet. Now there are two bets that need to be placed. One is called a Back Bet. It’s a type of bet when one is betting for a certain result to become true. For example: “I bet that Australia will win”. If it will come true you will get the winnings.
Another bet is called a Lay Bet. It’s an opposite of a Back Bet when you are betting against an outcome. In this case we will be betting: “I bet that Australia will lose” (sorry, Aussies). Since you are betting against yourself you won’t lose any money. Instead you will get a free bet bonus in your pocket.
Now isn’t that wonderful? Great thing about the match betting is that it’s completely legal meaning that you won’t go to the jail for practicing it. But keep in mind the fact that your account may be suspended by a bookie if they notice what you are doing. Therefore, before you go into the match betting you have to decide if it’s worth your time and money.
Most of the times match betting won’t give you any significant incomes considering that free bet bonuses are usually very limited in terms of their amounts.
Horse betting
Horse betting is a symbol of any bookmaker today because the first bookies as we know them now appeared in the United Kingdom and they were the ones who started organizing horse steeple-chases. The major reason why horse betting is so popular in Australia and United Kingdom is because it’s affordable and fun way to spend time where one can actually score some money if he gets some luck on his side. When we are talking about horse betting there are two types of bets a person can make. First one is called Straight Wager.
It’s when you are placing a bet on single horse. Second option would be go for Exotic Wagers. These allow you to place multiple bets on various horses in one time. This way they are more expensive and complicated, but if you will master them you can get more rewarding payouts. If we are talking about the first type of horse betting, Straight Wager, then it has several options to choose from.
One of them is a Win option when you are simply betting that your horsie will be the ultimate winner. Second option called Place is when you place your bet on horse coming first OR second. Show, the third option of Straight Wager, implies that your horse might come first, second OR third.
Since Place and Show give you more chances to win, the payouts there are smaller than if you would go with a Win option. Across the Board, fourth way to place Straight Bet, includes three bets at the same time: Win, Place AND Show. That’s why they also call it a Combo Straight Wager. Since it includes three bets it will cost you three times more. If your horse will come first, all of your bets will win. If it will come second, then your Place and Show bets will win. If it will come third then you will get only Show money.
Football betting
Football without any doubt is one of the most popular team sports in the world. Therefore, it would be a real crime to ignore it and leave yourself without all that profit you can make by football betting.
Especially with so many options that modern Australian bookmakers have to offer their clients. One of the most popular ones are Full Time Result, Double Chance, Draw No Bet and Handicap. But first things first. Full Time Result has several ways how you can place your bets. One of them would be using a win-draw-win market.
There you are able to choose who will win the match or will it be tied match. It’s probably the most straightforward bet option out there. Next one is Double Chance where you can choose from two of three possible outcomes. The only downside of this bet is that it has much lower odds considering that it’s much easier to win here. Draw No Bet is yet another safe road to go where you simply have to choose the team that will win the match, and if draw happens you will get your money back, hence the name.
Next option is called Handicap and it’s a very popular form of football betting in Australia. Handicap betting was invented by bookmakers to make things even. It’s widely used not only in football, but in many other points-based sports including basketball, tennis, ice hockey, etc.
That’s why some people call it a points betting. It works following way: bookies add virtual points to the weaker teams in order to create balance. Funny thing about handicap bets is that you can win the money even if in the reality your team actually would lose the game.
Simple example for better understanding of what we are trying to say: there is a match between Sydney FC vs Melbourne City FC and the bookmaker had set the handicap at 4–1. In this case your bet on Sydney FC would still pay out even if Melbourne City FC won the game 2-0 since bookie will see it as if Sydney FC would be 4-3 winners.
Best website for sports betting
Choosing the right bookie can be quite a challenge considering how many sports betting websites are there. But luckily for you we have some tips that can help make this process easier. First of all, you should look for a website with license. Bookies that don’t have it are illegal therefore they have no responsibility for their actions. If they don’t care about the law why should they care about your money? While many of them get blocked and closed by authorities, it may be too late for you if you decide to make a bet using one of these platforms.
But if it’s too boring for you to check the license of every bookmaker out there, you can head to our list of best bookmakers of 2021. We did the dirty job for you checking every popular bookie and choosing the best ones, so you will save plenty of time. Every website is optimized for mobile so you will be able to place bet whenever and wherever you are. They also offer some nice welcome bonuses and free bets to greet new players. Finally, some of the websites from our list have their own casino which is a nice extra if you love playing slot games.
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