AFL Betting in Australia: Odds, Tips, Predictions

The Australian Football League is without a doubt the most-watched sports competition in Australia, and the combination of watching the sport and betting on it is the go-to pastime activity of many punters on the island. 

AFL betting is available at many online bookmakers, but our team at OnlineBettingAUS is here to guide you on the quest to find the best AFL betting odds and explain all the most popular types of wagers you can place. 

Keep reading about the most popular AFL markets, betting sites, live streaming features and best AFL betting apps in our article.

The Australian Football League betting in Australia

AFL Betting Sites

Numerous sports betting sites offer betting on AFL, but only a few of them have what it takes to be considered among the best online bookies that have the most favourable footy odds. Some of the best ones that numerous Aussie bettors constantly visit are Bet365, Unibet, Palmerbet, Ladbrokes.au, and others. 

Online bookmakers should offer diverse AFL betting lines, unique features and various markets to bet on AFL. 

You can always trust the recommendations from our OnlineBettingAUS team, and further below, we’ll break down all the criteria we rely upon when ranking AFL betting sites.

Popular sites for afl betting

How We Rank Afl Betting Sites

There are some strict standards we follow when ranking the top Aussie Football League betting sites.

  • Favourable AFL Odds – Odds directly impact the potential payout you expect to gain, so they are crucial when ranking a betting site. The online bookie should offer better odds than their competitors and provide unique betting opportunities for all Aussie punters.
  • Live Streaming Feature – Many bettors prefer to watch a live stream of an AFL match when betting in-play or standard, so we do our research and make sure to recommend online bookmakers that offer this much-desired feature.
  • Diversity of Markets – Whether you decide to go for AFL finals betting, futures, brownload, or any other type of bet, the possibility to choose out of many should be available on the best AFL bookies.
  • Mobile Betting – Many punters now place their bets via their mobile devices, so the best bookmakers provide a mobile betting app or a solid and steady mobile version of the official website.

ranks of the afl betting sites

AFL Odds

Notwithstanding whether you go for placing a futures bet, decide on AFL finals betting, or you select matched betting – odds are what always matters the most. As we all know, the wager is multiplied by the odds you select, so the bigger the number, the bigger the payout. 

All veteran punters who are devoted to making a humble profit out of their betting adventures always pay attention to hunting the best AFL odds. 

Right below, we offer a detailed insight into the AFL odds 2024, which will show you how doing the research for the highest price is always important.

Odds on Australian Football League

AFL Premiership Odds Comparison

Before proceeding to footy betting, all punters spend exceptional time hunting for the highest prices and taking advantage of the best odds. This time, we helped with your homework and dug around several sites that offer AFL betting odds. 

Consult the table below and check how Premiership odds AFL can vary at different bookmakers.

AFL Premiership Odds of the top bookmakers

TeamBet365PalmerbetUnibet
Melbourne4.64.64.5
Western Bulldogs7.07.07.0
Brisbane Lions8.08.09.0
Port Adelaide10.010.010.0
Geelong10.011.011.0
Richmond11.011.011.0
Sydney11.013.011.0
West Coast15.015.015.0
Greater Western Sydney23.023.026.0
St. Kilda23.023.026.0
Essendon26.021.021.0
Fremantle26.026.031.0
Carlton34.019.026.0
Adelaide67.067.081.0
Hawthorn67.067.081.0
Collingwood67.067.067.0
Gold Coast81.081.081.0
North Melbourne101.0101.081.0

AFL Betting Tips

One team that has the potential of rising from the ashes this 2024 campaign is Richmond Tigers. Their AFL tipping odds of 11.0 at Bet365 are well worth considering because this is a team who might surprise this season, provided they stay consistent and break the pattern that resulted in such an infamous end last year. 

If they succeed in going through the campaign without any injuries and stay in full focus, they might get back to their glorious celebratory days and alter the footy odds at online bookies in their favour. 

Keep visiting our OnlineBettingAUS site for additional sports betting AFL tips, as we’ll share our expert opinion on the teams, the potential winners and outcomes of the most important matches. Revisit the site, read our tips and place rational bets that are as close as turning out profitable.

tips on how to bet on AFL

AFL Betting Strategy

Playing against sports betting AFL bookies isn’t easy, and if you want to beat the odds and online bookmakers, your best chances are if you follow a tested betting strategy. 

Our betting AFL team of experts share some tips and advice for our readers that might help in maximising the payouts when footy betting is in question.

All bettors from Australia who still have their doubts about what’s the smartest choice to back up take a look at the AFL betting strategies and tips below.

Strategy how to bet on the afl

  • Backing Underdogs – Even though it might sound unreasonable to some, backing some underdogs often turns out to be more profitable than constantly backing favourites. If you always place AFL bets on favourites, the money you wager might soon be gone. However, if you try to place a single bet backing up an underdog, which usually comes with high odds AFL, you might gain a profit worth more than multis or singles on favourites only.
  • Be Open to New Betting Types – Try to switch markets from time to time and don’t just stick to the ones you usually choose, like matched betting or AFL finals betting. If you explore, you’d be surprised at the plethora of bet AFL opportunities, such as the Brownlow Medal Winner, AFL live odds, or simply select out of the many single-player markets.
  • Weather Matters! – Considering the fact that the AFL season takes place during the winter months in Australia, bad weather isn’t uncommon on the fields. Before placing a sport bet AFL, do your homework and find out which team likes the rain and performs well under such conditions and which seems to lose control over bad weather. Then, proceed to make bets based on the weather and the team’s past performances.

The best strategies for betting on afl

 

In the following sections, we will elaborate on the most famous betting AFL markets found at various prominent Aussie online bookies. If you want to learn some more about Brownlow betting, line betting, AFL Wooden Spoon or several more, keep reading below.

AFL Grand Final/Premiership Betting

Premiership odds AFL can be found at almost any bookmaker which offers betting on the Aussie Football League. This is the most popular type of bet because you simply predict the outright winner of the Grand Final, which marks the end of the season at the MCG. 

Besides this, some online bookies offer betting on the winners of the regular season, wagering on the Top 4 or Top 8 to finish, or even placing a bet on the teams you believe will not make it to the final 8.

Bet on the Premiership of AFL

AFL Brownlow Betting

This market isn’t related to the whole team but rather focuses on a single player. The Brownlow Medal is the most prestigious award any footy player dreams of acquiring. The ‘Fairest and Best’ player, who is voted by the AFL umpires, gets the medal, and this award is seasonal. 

After each match, the umpires share their votes on the best 3 players of the game, the best one gets three votes, the second one gets two votes, and the last one gains 1 vote. At the end of the season, the player with the biggest number of votes gets the Brownlow Medal, and punters who have placed a bet on this market and that particular player get a winning bet slip.

Brownlow medal, bets on getting a medal in the afl

AFL Wooden Spoon Betting

At some online bookies, footy odds are available for the AFL Wooden Spoon team, which is the team who ends up at the last place on the ranking list during the regular AFL season. OF course, nobody strives to win such an award, and it doesn’t really exist, but you can still bet on the team you consider the worst and get a payout if predicted correctly. 

The only consolation that comes after ‘winning’ the Wooden Spoon is the no.1 draft pick for the upcoming season.

Bets on the worst team in the AFL, Wooden Spoon

AFL Line Betting

Besides matched betting, another quite popular bet footy market is AFL line betting, which is the same as handicap betting. This is preferred by many punters because of the increased potential payouts when trying to cover the spread between the favourites and the underdogs. 

In line betting, the favourites start with a handicap, i.e. minus points, whereas the underdogs have an advantage (plus points.) To clarify, imagine that you are betting on Melbourne (-23.5) to turn out victorious against Adelaide; they’d have to win by at least 24 points for you to get a winning bet.

line or handicap betting on AFL

Total Points Betting (Over/Under)

This is another market chosen by many punters from Australia, especially when two favourites or underdogs play among each other, and it’s tricky to determine the winner. In such cases, bettors wager on the total points scored in the game, disregarding the winner or the specific points gained by each team. 

So, you can predict whether the teams will score a bigger or a smaller number of points than the ones proposed by the bookie.

Total Points Betting in AFL

AFL Multi Bet

Probably the most popular of all the markets on our list is the AFL multi betting, simply because it can provide bigger payouts than a single; however, with the much bigger risk involved.

We always suggest going for a single bet because it produces steady and less fluctuating income, but if you do decide to go for a multi bet, try to include as few legs as possible. This is because all legs that are included determine your payout, and the odds of each bet will be multiplied, but also because in order to win the multi, you’d need to score each leg included. 

Many of the online betting sites on our list offer the multi betting feature, and if you do go for it, always do proper research on the odds and do a comparison test before placing the bet.

the most lucrative multi-betting on the AFL

First Goalscorer Betting

Not all markets are dedicated to the whole team; single-player bets are present at most online bookies, and punters search for the best AFL bets to place on a particular player.

There are many markets related to a single player, but the most common ones are those related to the first goal-scorers. You can place a bet on who will score the first goal in the total match, but even in the first quarter or the half. 

It’s usually foreseeable who will score the first goal, since it’s mostly done by one of the forwards, but if you come across high odds for a midfielder and luck turns to your side, you might get an advantage payout.

First Goalscorer Betting in AFL

AFL Live Odds

Alongside the regular markets, both veteran and new betting sites offer a more exciting market and provide AFL live odds for in-play betting enthusiasts. 

However, to bet while a match is ongoing is forbidden by law by the Australian government, and their strict regulations don’t allow placing bets online. This can be done only if you have a phone with an active line and call the operators at your preferred betting site, who will place the bet in your stead. 

Not all online bookies offer AFL live odds, so make sure to stick to reputable sites and save time looking for a bookmaker with in-play betting functions on your own. Compare live AFL betting odds at the sites you have chosen and then proceed to AFL betting.

How to place a live bet in Australia, live odds in AFL

Best Betting App for AFL

Many Aussie sports enthusiasts decide on mobile punting because of its convenience and quick access to their favourite markets. The greatest Aussie Football League betting sites have developed fast-loading, modernly and simply designed mobile apps and punters can check premiership odds AFL and start betting whenever they are via their mobiles.

Brands like Unibet and Bet365 have perfected mobile punting, having provided access not only to the AFL markets but also to many other international sports competitions, along with favourable odds and advanced mobile features. 

Punters can download a sophisticated Android or iOS app via the corresponding Play Store or App Store, but those who prefer to play without having to download additional software can use their mobile-adaptive sites, which offer as many advantages as the desktop site and the app.

The best mobile betting on the AFL in Australia

AFL Live Streams

Even though Australian clients can enjoy the live streaming services of several reputable betting sites like Bet365, BetEasy, Unibet, and others, currently, none of these sites offer AFL live streams.

You can sign up at any of the most prominent online bookies and watch the Sky Racing channel and several other live streams of other sports leagues, both local and international, but AFL matches aren’t live streamed on any platform right now.

where you can watch the AFL in australia

Format of the League

March is the month when the AFL season begins, and teams play on a so-called 23-round, away, and round-robin home basis. This basically means that each team out of the 18 participants in the league will play as many as 22 games while the regular season is ongoing, and every team will receive one ‘bye’ while the campaign lasts. The title of ‘Minor Premiers’ is awarded to the teams which are placed among the first ones on the table after the end of the regular season. These top teams receive an award called the McClelland Trophy. 

From here on, the real fun starts, as the top eight finishers enter to play the ‘Finals Series.’ The Finals Series is a minor tournament that lasts for four weeks, and it begins with the elimination or qualifying round. The teams that ended up in the first four places after the regular season play in the Qualifying Final, and the first one plays against the fourth, while the second competes against the third. The Preliminary Final is an event reserved for the winners of the qualifying finals.

teams participating in the AFL

The lower part of the table, i.e. the teams that were placed from the 5th to 8th place, participate in the ‘Elimination Finals.’ The outcome of these matches is the following – losers stop their season participation there, while the winners go a step forward and play with the losers of the Qualifying Finals in the Semi-Finals. 

Losers are understandably dropped out, but the winners of the two semi-finals proceed to play with the winners of the two Qualifying Finals. The penultimate matches are the ‘Preliminary Finals’, out of which the two victorious teams confront each other during the Grand Final, which takes place every year at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

big logo AFL

FAQ

How to bet on AFL?

Betting on AFL is simple and easy after going through several pre-required steps. First of all, you need to choose a trustworthy online betting site, and we suggest sticking with the ones that we already tested and appropriately rated and ranked. After that, you need to register an account and deposit some money into the Cashier. Then, look for the market you wish to wager on, check the odds and use the deposited money to place the wager.

Who has the best AFL Odds?

There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but the closest one is to check the odds comparison table that we have tailored above and decide for yourself which odds suit you the best. It’s advisable to remember that there is no such thing as a perfect betting site that offers high prices for all possible AFL markets. Any punter should do their own extensive research on their preferred market, compare and contrast the odds, and then place the bet at their selected one.

What is AFL line betting?

Line betting AFL is, in other words, what is known among punters as handicap betting. This means that one of the teams that play the match is more likely to win, according to bookies, so they are assigned handicap points, which are minus points, or vice versa; the underdog gets plus points.

For example, imagine that you are backing up a team with a -10.5 points handicap. For you to get a winning bet slip, the team should win with at least 11 points difference.

Do any Australian bookies have live betting on AFL?

Online live betting is lawfully forbidden in Australia, so punters cannot place an in-play bet online. However, they are allowed to do it via the phone and some betting sites that offer AFL live odds have a dedicated landline for in-play betting only. This works by the punter calling the assigned number and talking to an agent, after which the agent places the bet for you.