The legality of sports betting in Australia
All you need to do in order to be on top of your legal game in Australian sports betting is to learn about the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA). Although it simply glances over sports betting it’s still a very nice guiding piece of legislation that can speak volumes about the state of the industry in the country.
Sports betting isn’t necessarily banned through the IGA, but it does prohibit something called live betting. This is the type of bet you place when the game is already underway. It’s not clear why the lawmakers didn’t want people to place bets during the game, but it’s the law and we have to deal with it.
Let’s talk about sports betting in general though. What kinds of laws do AU new betting sites have to adhere to?
Well, the first thing is to register with a local regulator. Every state has its own government authority that takes the actions of the company into consideration and gives out a license. The license is usually the most expensive part about operating the platform, so don’t expect any small fry to get it.
Next, it’s time to get a country-wide license from the Northern Territory Racing Commission as well as all other states.
The good news is that the betting platform does not have to be based in Australia, any offshore company can also apply for a license in the country and operate there. This is one of the reasons that Australian betting sites are increasing in numbers, as they’re all referred to as such.
Can you bet on eSports?
The idea of betting on eSports is rather new and the Australian regulators are still in the process of developing a relevant framework for this particular branch of the industry.
However, for now, the eSports industry is classified under the fantasy betting category, thus adhering to any and all regulations that this segment operates under.
This means that an Australian new online betting site will have to remove any and all live-betting options on the games and implement every KYC and AML rule possible.
KYC stands for Know Your Customer and AML stands for Anti Money Laundering. These two are a staple of every legitimate operator in Australia as they have to report any suspicious activity from their users.
Why? Because betting websites have been used for money laundering and tax evasion in the past, and the government wants to keep it to as much of a minimum as possible.
This is usually done through demanding personal information from customers but at the later stage of their registration. During the registration, only a mobile number and email address should suffice.
However, after the new cash cap law that was passed in 2019, any withdrawal of AU$10,000+ will require full disclosure of the customer’s identity through a clear picture of their ID card or driver’s license.
It may be a bit disheartening, having to disclose such personal info to a new Australian sports betting site that you may not trust, but it’s impossible any other way.
How new betting sites are created in Australia
Now let’s take a look at how new websites are created, as we believe it will help you identify legitimate and trustworthy operators much easier.
First things first, of course, is to somehow acquire a local license from at least one of the states, but it’s better to go for all of them.
If every state acknowledges the legitimacy of a new operator then they’re bound to be the next big thing.
Next comes the inclusion of only the relevant sports that Australians like to bet on. Things such as Football, Basketball, and Tennis are a necessity as they’re very popular with locals.
Once all of the technical aspects have been completed, it will be time to somehow disclose all of the legal information to the users. The way most new Aussie online sports betting sites handles it is the link to PDF versions of the papers on the footer of their website.
It usually contains documents such as KYC policy, AML rules, Terms & Conditions as well as a link to their licenses.
Once all of this has been completed, the operator will have to find some way to advertise to their new clientele. This is usually done through sponsoring local sports teams, a few digital advertisements on various blogs or websites, and an affiliate system where the platform relies on third party websites to bring it some customers.
Overall though, the best of the best ones tend to get their hands on billboards and offline advertising campaigns such as conferences, funded events as well as participation in social events.
The more you see a specific website’s brand, the more likely that they’re a good choice.
The reason why marketing is so important for new online betting sites Australia keeps on getting is because of the image they create of their company. For example, knowing that an operator has spent millions of AUD on campaigning, would indicate that they’re more than capable to pay out your winnings within a moment’s notice.
Once the brand has more or less been established, operators tend to work on retaining their newly acquired clientele. This means that they will start implementing things such as bonus offerings, free betting options, additional funds for their customers or simply increased odds and payouts.
This is usually done the moment a website launches and after it reaches a specific threshold in its registered users.
If you’re not seeing such benefits appear on your website of choice, then maybe its time to switch to something that has them.
How to find the best new mobile betting sites in Australia
Finding new betting sites is not hard at all. The hard part is finding the best ones. But thankfully, there are quite a lot of techniques and variables you can pay attention to.
The new Aussie betting sites tend to over promote their license, but this doesn’t mean you should take their word for it the moment you see them mentioning it. Always check the license number with your relevant gambling regulator and make sure that the operator is indeed listed. Once you see that they’re listed, give a call to the regulator and ask them to double check, it could be a clone.
Once all of the legal parts have been confirmed and they come off as legit, it will be time to look at their history.
You may wonder what kind of history a new betting site could have. Well, in most cases these new betting sites in Australia are just extensions of a foreign or local brands. They’re usually referred to as new because they’ve simply only just launched.
Go to the footer of their website and see if they’re owned by a holding group or some other corporation. Once figured out it will be time to investigate them a little bit.
The holdings are usually in the real estate, hospitality or gaming business. As long as everything checks out, you should be good to go on the registration, but there are other steps to pay attention to later.
Once the ownership has been confirmed, make sure who is in charge of the website. Who supplies them with the software? Who is the CEO? The CTO? Do they have clean records or relevant experience in the industry? All of this has the potential of determining your future experience with this operator.
The list of new betting sites in Australia may be growing every month, but not all of them have what it takes to survive for long. The longevity of the company is usually determined through their software providers and staff working on the product, pretty much like anywhere else these days.
If the information is not disclosed on the website, then check them out on the corporate platform.
Compare the odds
Almost every new website will have better odds than the ones available on established platforms. That’s pretty obvious, right? They need to stand out from the crowd and convince Aussies to register with them.
But it also helps to identify how long they’re able to retain these odds. If the company is very small and independent, it’s likely that they will lower them within at least a couple of months. You don’t want to get stuck with an operator that doesn’t pay well.
Usually, the best way to compare is to take all of the new Australian betting sites and calculate the average rate of odds they offered on a specific match. Football is the best choice in most cases.
Once you’ve calculated that use it as your example and only choose those that have something slightly above it. It will be more likely for them to retain that same rate in the long run.
Pay attention to deposits and withdrawals
Finally, you’ll need to pay attention to the options you have on withdrawals and deposits. Why? Because it directly correlates with your experience of the company.
If they have only a few options available, such as Wire Transfer and Credit/Debit card, you’re going to have to either wait for days for the funds to reach your account or pay the price of having your credit score lowered.
That’s right if your banks see you transferring funds to new AU mobile sports betting sites it’s very likely that they will assume you to be a problem gambler. And what do problem gamblers do? Waste all the money they have on their addiction.
For a bank, it’s absolutely essential that your transaction history is very clear. If it’s not, then they can’t risk approving your loan.
Therefore, if you have too many transactions to gambling websites from your account, getting that mortgage may be much harder than necessary.
What new sports betting sites AU focus on
No matter how well designed, structured or promoted a betting website may be, if it doesn’t feature the sports that its customer base watches and enjoys, it’s definitely going to fall through.
So, what games can you expect from Aussie new online betting sites? Are they relevant to the local clientele?
Football is pretty much a universal sport. It can be found everywhere, on every TV, in every stadium, and fortunately for us, on every betting website.
The reason why operators enjoy featuring this sport is because of the popularity it has in Australia as well as all over the world.
And the reason why people like to bet on it is because of all the variables.
For example, bets on football are rarely just about who’s going to win, but rather bets on how a team is going to win, how many corners they will have, whether or not it will lead to penalties and etc.
Almost anything can happen during a football match can be counted as a bet, which makes the experience a lot more enjoyable.
Esports
Almost all new sports betting sites in Australia love featuring eSports on their platform. Why? Because it helps them stand out from the competition and have access to the relatively younger part of the Australian gambling community.
Although we’ve mentioned that eSports falls under a completely different category, it’s just a single sports committee hearing away from being recognized as a real sport.
Younger players aging from 19-30 tend to enjoy this option much better as they’re directly involved with the games.
Currently, most betting websites allow bets on games like League of Legends, Dota 2, Overwatch and Counter-Strike Global Offensive.
These games are the most popular and interactive in the Aussie community, so no wonder they were the focus.
Basketball
Although most of the sport is heavily centered around the United States, that doesn’t mean that Aussie doesn’t enjoy a sneak peek into the sport.
By now, every new Australian betting site understands that the NBA is not only restricted to the US, but people of all ages and nationalities also enjoy watching it due to its amazing capabilities of entertaining the spectators.
In most cases, bets are placed on who’s going to win, the difference in points and even on the number of fouls.
But, if the betting website has a social responsibility campaign going on, they could be sponsoring a specific player in the NBA and having exclusive bets on that player’s performance.
This is usually relative to the nationality of the player. For Aussie betting websites, the player would almost always be an Aussie himself.
Can you bet for free?
It may seem outlandish, but dozens of betting websites allow their players to place free bets on several matches. It’s usually centered around a specific game or a specific sport, but it’s not unlikely to find such a feature spanning across the whole platform.
Usually, it’s done by a new Australian sports betting site to retain the customer base it acquired through months of campaigning and offering benefits. In most cases, it’s one of the best user benefits a company can offer, but misrepresentation or misleading marketing is commonplace.
Why? Because free betting isn’t necessarily always what it sounds like. It could be, but it depends. Let’s try to decipher that as much as possible shall we? Let’s introduce the options for deposit and no deposit bonuses for customers.
Deposit bonus
The deposit bonus is the misleading marketing we talked about. Don’t get us wrong, if it’s being promoted as a product it actually is, then it’s an amazing deal for customers. But if it’s being called something like free betting, then that’s just terrible business conduct.
What a deposit bonus is, is basically additional funds that the operator gives you after you’ve deposited some funds already.
The way most new Aussie mobile sports betting sites do it is by offering a 100% or 50% deposit bonus.
This means that if you deposit AUD 100, you’re going to get an additional AUD 100 on top of it, coming to a grand total of AUD 200.
However, make sure to look at the terms and conditions, as the bonus is not always worth it.
In most cases, the operator will ask you to wager at least x10 the amount you were given as a bonus. With the example we used, that would be AUD 1000 in the total amount wagered to simply withdraw what you’ve made across the span of a couple of weeks or months.
It also comes with a deadline, so make sure you have the numbers achieved before it, as the website can simply take away the bonus and the profits you’ve generated.
It can be classified as free betting, but only after you start using the funds that were given to you by the operator.
No deposit bonus
The no deposit bonus is the actual free betting option that every new sports betting site Australia has to offer.
This is basically free cash that is given to you by the operator simply because you registered on its platform.
However, it does come with its terms and conditions. Things like restrictions on what types of games you can bet on, how large those bets can be and the limits on the odds you can bet on.
It pretty much narrows down your choice of games, but as long as it’s free it shouldn’t be an issue.
The only disadvantage that this bonus has is the minimum requirement, which is yet again x10 of the bonus.
Let’s imagine that you were given AUD 100 as the bonus, you’d have to wager AUD 1000, right? Similar to how it was in the deposit bonus.
However, this time you don’t have that extra AUD 100 you deposited, you have just the AUD 100 that was given to you by the Aussie new online sports betting site.
This makes it a bit harder to reach the minimum requirement, but reaching it becomes more of an achievement.
Should you trust these new sites?
As long as the platform has all of its legal documentation under control and is able to supply you with monthly if not weekly promotions just to keep your registration with them engaging, then it should not be an issue trusting them.
Remember, all it takes is a license and history to make or break the platform, make sure to pay the most attention to those two aspects.
But that’s not all there is to know about these platforms. Let’s answer some frequently asked questions.
FAQ new betting sites Australia have to face
What does RTP mean?
RTP stands for Return to Player. This is usually used to calculate the profitability of a particular sport, bet or pretty much any other wager.
You’ll most likely see RTPs of 80% or more, but the higher it is the better. However, remember that it’s not always accurate. It’s something that’s calculated relatively artificially but still poses as a great filter for choosing the most profitable bet.
Can I deposit with cash?
All of the new online betting sites in Australia base their entire Unique Selling Point on adopting technology.
Usually, this technology revolves around the digital space, but many have understood that it’s important to cater to cash payers as well.
Find out if the website you’re betting on has partnered up with your local paybox company. If they have, then you’ll most likely find cash deposits very easy through those pay boxes.
Will I be taxed?
No, gambling is not considered as a profession in Australia and therefore will not be classified under taxable income.
But, if you get a direct transfer from the betting website to your bank account, it could be seen in a bad light from the bank, leading to a reduction in your credit score.
