Horse Racing Betting Sites in Australia
It’s no wonder that punters always choose to fill up their leisure time by betting on horse racing – probably the most popular pastime activity in the land down under.
Perhaps the biggest reason so many punters turn to horse race betting online is the approachability of this exciting sport since there are more than 300 racecourses throughout the country. Nowadays, this can be done right from their homes by visiting the best sites to wager on their favourite events.
This is precisely why our team at OnlineBettingAUS has tailored the following review of the best online horse betting Australia sites.
TOP 15 Horse Racing Betting Sites
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TOP 1
Bet365
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TOP 2
Unibet
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TOP 3
Sportsbet
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4
PlayUp
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5
Winnersbet
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6
Boombet
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7
PalmerBet
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8
Neds
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9
Bluebet
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10
Ladbrokes
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11
BetStar
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12
RealBookie
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13
Draftstars
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14
Topsport
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15
Bookmaker
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Why do we recommend choosing these sites for betting on horse racing?
Even the most experienced Aussie bettors sometimes struggle to choose out of the heaps of Australian horse racing betting sites.
It’s vital to recognize the best of the best. We are here to provide you with additional details on the following racing betting sites and why we warmly recommend choosing them for your betting endeavours.
Bet365 is among the most visited betting sites for horse racing in Australia, and it completely legally operates on the island’s territory. Around 20 Australia & New Zealand betting markets are listed on their site with a ‘fixed price guarantee’ feature, including the Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup, and Cox Plate. Besides horse racing, punters can enjoy other racing events between greyhounds and harnesses as well.
Unibet is another reputable horse racing betting site that offers great odds and a satisfactory selection of both local and international racing markets. Licensed by an Australian governing body, it is a legal and secure site that provides quality live streams of your favourite racecourses. Besides the regular betting on sports, greyhound, and harness races, Unibet also offers the possibility to place bets on virtual horse races.
Sportsbet is another Australian-based preferred option among punters, with an extensive list of horse, greyhound, and harness racing markets available on their official website. This online site primarily focuses on horse racing betting and offers news and advice on today’s, tomorrow’s, and other future events for their loyal punters. Along with this, this bookie provides several specials for its customers, such as the famous Bet Return.
PlayUp is among the best new horse betting sites Australia has to offer. This bookmaker started offering online services in 2019, and it is licensed by the NT Racing Commission and owned by PlayUp Interactive PTY LTD. PlayUp offers results from yesterday’s races, as well as good odds for futures on the most currently popular domestic and worldwide famous racing events, not only of horses but also greyhounds and harnesses.
Winnersbet concentrates primarily on racing betting, even though sports fanatics can find the most popular sports to place bets on. Besides offering great tote odds for Aussie races and offering protest payouts for its loyal customers, Winnersbet lacks some special features and uniqueness, which would make it stand out among the competitors. Nevertheless, with hundreds of racing betting markets on offer, Winnersbet is still among the top new horse betting sites Australia offers.
Boombet, which changed its brand name in 2021 from primarily known as Sportsbetting.com.au is a feature-packed Australian racing betting site that has been operating since 1998. The bookie offers an extensive list of betting options such as the best tote, best of two totes, fixed win and fixed place, BOB, matchups, total points, etc. Boombet portrays a list of widely-recognised racing events, and punters here can enjoy a sleek web design with the possibility to browse through the horse, greyhounds, and harness races.
PalmerBet is a good choice for rookies in horse racing because it places all its markets on a simple and minimalistic design. This Australia horse racing betting site is licensed by Racing NSW and regulated by OLG. Racing bettors can access featured events via quick links on the site, and these include Today’s Racing, Today’s greys, and Today’s harnesses, as well as Racing futures. PalmerBet also enriches its very helpful blog by offering horse racing tips and previews for specially selected races.
Neds is a daughter brand of the company that owns Ladbrokes, which should further convenience players of its legitimacy and safety. Neds is among the horse racing betting sites that exhibit distinctively high odds and take a more modernistic approach to racing betting. Registered Aussie punters at Neds can enjoy uniquely-tailored features such as the Ned’s ToolBox and its personalised card. Besides these, punters enjoy various betting opportunities such as blended and live betting, same race multi, and others.
Bluebet is among the top choice of punters when it comes to race horse betting sites. The most appreciated aspect of this brand is its neatly-organised mobile app, which offers exceptional odds on various racing happenings. Racing enthusiasts can bet on the horse, greyhound, and harness races and participate in jockey and box challenges, both on the desktop site and the app.
DraftStars is a distinctive kind of horse racing betting site, which is powered and owned by PlayUp Interactive, starting its services in 2019. The bookie offers betting on 15+ fantasy sports only, including some fantasy races attractive for punters who prefer this kind of new-age betting. Bettors can visit the lobby and select the Racing section out of ‘Featured’, where they’ll come across numerous contests to enter, and also create their own if they wish so.
Ladbrokes is a prominently popular name among veteran punters, and even though it’s not Australian-owned, it is fully legal to offer services on the isle and licensed by the NT Racing Commission. This exceptional horse race betting site stands out from the crowd with its Easy Form, a simplified method to bet on horses, as well as the useful how-to instruction manuals offering a thorough explanation of all features at Ladbrokes.
BetStar enables betting on various sports markets, but the spotlight here is stolen by the racing section, which is the most used by all the visitors of this online bookie. Besides the regular betting on horse races, punters can also enjoy participating in jockey’s challenges. Other alluring aspects of Betstar involve best tote or SP odds, protest payouts, past the post payout, but also additional features such as multifarious betting guides and the Betstar card.
RealBookie is a betting horse races site that has recently joined the market in 2020. Considering that their sportsbook is still not as competitive as other sites, it’s understandable that RealBookie has dedicated much attention to developing the racing section. On their site, punters can navigate through races in separate categories – Daily Double, Quaddie, Yesterday, Tomorrow, Futures, and even click on the Calendar to check a specific date.
Topsport is another Australian licensed online horse racing betting, offering higher withdrawal limits compared to other online bookmakers. Even though it lacks live streams of racecourses, this site boasts several special features such as protest payouts, jockey challenges, best of the best multi, and thoroughbred specials. Punters can also view Racing Results neatly collected under a special tab on their website.
Bookmaker is a simply designed horse betting site, which, along with providing great odds for various horse races, also offers the possibility to bet on greyhounds, harnesses, and also numerous sports. Here, punters will find good fixed and tote odds and many popular Australian and New Zealand racing markets, such as:
- Wagga (NSW),
- Cranbourne (VIC),
- Townsville (QLD),
- Albany (WA),
- Otaki (NZ), and more.
Horse Betting Sites Online
Our team goes through in-depth analyses and profound exploration of all horse betting Australia sites before making a verdict and proclaiming the 2024 top 5 best horse racing betting sites.
We follow strict criteria, users’ experience, overall appearance, and competitiveness of markets and odds portrayed on the site, to finally rate and rank the greatest of all.
If you can’t make the decision yourself, we definitely recommend trying any of the following horse betting sites.
- Bet365 – A variety of racing betting markets and exceptional odds.
- Unibet – Helpful guides are offering forms and statistics for racing events.
- Sportsbet – High-quality live streaming services for registered punters.
- PalmerBet – Available speed maps and additional betting features.
- PlayUp – Most convenient fixed odds for Aussie races.
Australian Horse Racing
Horse racing betting Australia is immensely popular among punters that reside there, and the number of those who bet on the outcome of a selected horse can reach as much as a million on a monthly basis.
The typical single bets that most punters place are Win or Place bets, which are pretty straightforward and predict the winner or the place in which their chosen horse will be placed. Besides these rather rookie types of bets, more veteran racing bettors turn to exotics, which involve several horses and several outcomes, even with the possibility of creating multi bets by blending two or more bets into one in order to increase the payout. These exotic bets are commonly known as Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, and others.
Whether a rookie or an adept racing bettor, the most frequently chosen events are always the same:
- Cox Plate,
- the Melbourne Cup,
- Victoria Derby,
- The Championships, etc.
How do we review betting sites for horse racing?
Several factors are involved when our team at OnlineBettingAUS reviews, rates, and finally ranks the horse racing betting Australia sites.
Take a look at the criteria we meticulously consult before delivering such information to our distinguished readers. Feel free to use these factors as a guide when deciding on the best horse betting racing site yourself.
- Betting Racing Odds – Hardly anything is more important than odds. The portrayed odds directly influence your potential payout, and besides the entertaining aspect of betting, a humble profit is what all punters wish for. Always check whether the site of your choice presents high, competitive odds.
- Betting Racing Markets – The diversity of markets is also crucial for successful betting sites and horse racing. When exploring the bookies, we always checked the number of races they present, as well as the kinds of bets that punters are able to place.
- Betting Racing Live Streams – It’s not just about boasting of offering live streams on your site, but it’s also about the quality it involves, as well as the diversity of games and races players can stream while on the site.
- Betting Racing Mobile Apps – Most of the online horse racing betting is done via mobile these days, so a reputable bookmaker should have developed a user-friendly, speedy, functional mobile app that includes all the same features and benefits as the official site.
- Betting Racing Technical Support – Hundreds of racing punters are just starting their betting journey, so customer support should be responsive in assisting them and also clarify any other issue that bettors might experience when browsing their site.
How I Choose The Best Horse Racing Betting Sites
As previously mentioned, when selecting out of the many horse race betting Australia sites, punters should have several criteria in mind.
- Odds play a crucial and definitive role in the outcome of your bet slip, so explore and see whether they are favourable.
- The variety of markets comes next – you don’t want to invest money in an online horse betting site that doesn’t include wagering on your favourite race.
- Consider the special features you can enjoy on the site, including whether the bookmaker offers live streaming of various racecourses.
- Check how effective mobile betting is. It should be effortlessly done on their mobile betting app
- Inspect how responsive and reliable their customer care agents are, and whether they are 24/7 hours at your disposal.
Horse Racing Betting Promotions and Bonus Offers
As a direct consequence of the Australian laws in reference to betting in general, which also includes betting racing sites, signup offers, and free bets obtainable by Aussie punters are a blast from the past. Since 2001, no bookie horse racing betting site has been allowed to offer any kind of attractive promo offer to non-registered punters.
However, bookies have different ways of rewarding their existing customers and don’t be surprised if you are emailed a promo offer of some kind, such as
- Boosted odds;
- Cash return on bets placed the previous week;
- Occasional free bets on selected races;
- Horse racing rebates;
- Guaranteed best odds;
- Risk-free bets, etc.
What’s more, keep in mind that all race horse betting sites offer significantly different occasional promotions, so you’ll probably come across the most lucrative ones if you stick to the list of betting sites for horse racing we have presented above.
How to use Horse Racing Betting Sites Australia
You won’t make a mistake choosing any of the betting sites for horse racing from our list, as they are all created for the needs of the ordinary user and are very easy to navigate. To start exploring the possibilities of a bookmaker, you’d have to register an account first, which usually doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes.
A typical betting horse races site has a dedicated ‘Racing’ section which stands separately from the ‘Sports’ section and starts with information on the competitor, which is ‘Next to Jump,’ or ‘Next to Go.’ Additionally, you can explore the markets and the races belonging to each, along with the odds for each horse and its jockey. Another possibility is to view Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow’s races, as well as check a Calendar for a specific date.
In the following paragraphs, we’ll go over the details of placing an online bet, the types of bets, and the odds portrayed on such sites.
How to bet online on Horse Racing
- Select one of the Australian horse racing betting sites on our list presented above.
- Find the ‘Join’ or ‘Sign Up’ button which is most commonly placed in the top right corner of the homepage, in a bright, visible colour.
- Once registered, visit the Cashier tab and deposit a certain sum of money to start your online wagering.
- Go to the Racing section and select a market, your preferred horse, and the type of bet.
- Enter the amount you wish to wager on the bet slip that will appear, review the payout details and click the ‘Place Bet’ button.
Horse Racing Bet Types
Here’s just a quick reminder of all kinds of bets you can place on a horse racing betting Australia site.
- Win – Predicting the horse that will win the race.
- Place – Predicting which horse will finish up as first, second, or third.
- Quinella – Predicting which two horses will end the race first, without specifying the order.
- Exacta – Predicting which two horses will end the race first, with correctly specifying the order.
- Trifecta – Predicting which three horses will end the race first, with precisely specifying the order.
- First 4 – Predicting which four horses will end the race first, with precisely specifying the order.
- Quadrella – Combining the horses that will be victorious from four distinctive races.
- Combined Exotics – Except Win and Place, which are straight bets, you can combine all the possible combinations of the finishing order of horses in an exotic bet.
Bet Odds
There are also several types of odds you need to be aware of before wagering on online horse betting Australia websites.
- Fixed Win/Place – The price stays fixed; thus, your payout is fixed.
- SP (Starting Price) – These are the starting odds related to a horse right at the start of the race.
- Best Tote – These present the best odds from all 3 primary Australian TABs.
- Middle Tote – These present the middle odds/price from all 3 primary Australian TABs.
- Best Fluc – Any punter who plays a bet 45 minutes prior to the beginning of a race is guaranteed a payout based on the highest fluctuating odds until the market closes.
Best Apps and Mobile options for Horse Racing Betting
What you see is what you get, so every punter prefers an app that will incorporate all the significant features, betting opportunities, and other advantages that the official desktop site already offers.
As wagering via portable devices is constantly on the rise, almost all the online horse betting Australia bookmakers on our list have developed an app for Android and iOS users. These are mostly easy to get; the APK for Android is usually downloaded by visiting the official mobile site of the selected bookie, while the Apple app can be downloaded directly from the iTunes Store.
Regarding what an app involves, always take into account how fast the site loads, whether it is bugged or the user quality is reduced due to certain lags. Then, check out the diversity of markets as well as the odds available on mobile.
Finally, go through the listed payment methods on the app to make sure that all are included here too, and thus you’ll be able to deposit your online account and start wagering on races via the app of your choice.
TOP Horse Betting Apps
Most of the horse race betting websites on our list offer a full-featured mobile app for their mobile punters, and you won’t regret choosing the one, whichever you decide to use.
The following apps we will present are free to download on Android and iOS devices and include several betting advantages, such as great odds for all mobile bettors, hassle-free navigation and user experience and other aspects.
These are the top horse betting bookies apps that we recommend for you:
- Bet365 mobile app;
- Unibet betting app;
- PlayUp betting app;
- Sportsbet mobile app;
- Ladbrokes app;
- Neds app.
New Horse Racing Betting Sites
New horse betting sites in Australia constantly emerge on the market. Some of them take an exceptionally modernistic standpoint towards betting and features in general. This, of course, doesn’t mean that you should divert your attention to new racing betting sites and ignore the veterans in the field, but you surely want to give them a try.
Neds, WinnersBet, PlayUp, Unibet, and all other recent additions to the industry will offer some never seen odds on various racing markets, including good SPs, best tote for many Australian gallops, and competitive fixed odds. Another advantage of new online horse betting sites is their minimalistic design and avoiding presenting a homepage cluttered with unnecessary icons and buttons.
On the other hand, when it comes to some features such as in-play betting and live streaming, new betting sites are one step back from sites that have already established these features.
Horse Betting Sites with the Best Odds
Let’s face it – we are all in constant pursuit of the horse racing betting site in Australia that offers the best odds for our favourite markets.
This is understandable, and it’s no wonder since the odds are the numbers that directly influence our potential payout at the end of the race. The better and higher the odds, the higher the sum that we might potentially win from our placed bet.
We all know that odds increase as you choose to bet on the least favoured horses to win, the underdog always carrying the highest odds, thus the highest payout. The trick is to offer high odds on horses that are safer to bet on, i.e., the ‘top dog’ or the winner.
So here’s a list of the sites we have explored and believe present the best odds currently available on the market.
- Ladbrokes;
- PalmerBet;
- Bet365;
- Unibet
- Sportsbet;
- PlayUp;
- Boombet, etc.
Horse Betting Sites Payment Methods
A diversity of payment alternatives is vital to the development of a certain bookmaker. If there is a scarce selection of payment methods on the online horse racing betting site, that means that you can’t deposit money using the method you wish, which can lead to searching for another site.
This is why our team has listed all the betting sites for horse racing that present a satisfactory choice for banking options. On the sites from our list, punters can choose from traditional credit/debit card transactions, e-wallets, prepaid vouchers and cards, personalised payment cards issued by the bookie, and even cryptocurrencies, at some of them.
Horse Betting Sites for the Melbourne Cup
Undoubtedly, the most popular horse race in Australia – which attracts and unifies millions of live and online watchers and punters is the Melbourne Cup.
Being as immensely popular as it is, this race is always present among the bookies’ markets, so we can safely say that all horse racing betting sites on our list are suitable destinations for betting on the Melbourne Cup.
Visit any site from our suggestions to view and find the best odds to place a win/place or the exotic odds on Incentivise, Hitotsu, Verry Elleegant, and other popular horses.
Is betting on horse races legal in Australia?
Race horse betting is limited and under the jurisdiction of the same law that applies to online betting on sports as well. This means that, yes, betting on horse racing is completely legal in Australia, with the exception of placing online live bets, which are forbidden by law.
The alternative to this is calling a dedicated landline that will allow punters to place live bets, but it still can’t be done online.
Customer Support at Australian Betting Sites
Online horse betting bookies usually provide several methods of getting in touch with customer support.
Frequently located under the ‘Help Centre’ section or ‘Contact Us,’ players can review all the ways to get in touch with customer care representatives, which usually involve an email address, a telephone number, live chat, a betting landline, as well as sending an official letter via the postal office.
