Small Betting Sites Australia: Discover the Best Alternatives to Big Bookmakers
We all know who the biggest players in the betting industry are, but that’s not to say they’re always the best fit for your individual needs.
Local alternatives can offer services, features, and sports to bet on that the big boys don’t, along with a greater level of care and attention for their customers, as they go the extra mile to make sure their smaller customer base is always happy.
Read on to find out what other advantages and some disadvantages are, while we also talk you through some specific examples of top local bookmakers.
Advantages of Small Betting Sites
Playing at local bookmakers has some advantages for punters. Let’s consider some of them.
- Better odds – They can often lay higher prices than the biggest bookies do in an attempt to compete with them and attract more business from value-seeking customers to make up for the fact that they may not be able to compete with them in other areas. And as we know, getting better odds on a consistent basis can make or break you as a player, because it’s the single most important factor for your P and L.
- Niche markets – Local betting sites may be prepared to offer betting on sports that the betting industry’s leaders may not be prepared to, or be bothered to. Such as bowls or nine-ball pool. They may also be happy to offer betting on bigger sports, but at a much lower level, like semi-professional rugby. If you like, or better still, know those local sports well, that could provide you with an opportunity.
- More personal and better customer care– When you have far fewer customers, it makes sense that you treat the ones you do have with greater care. That could mean replying to emails much faster, or laying odds on markets that customers have requested in particular.
- Less restrictive limits – No betting company likes winning players! But while the bigger companies may restrict winning punters to smaller bets or exclude them from playing at the bookie completely, simply because they have tens of thousands of other (losing) players. So they don’t need winners. Smaller bookies, on the other hand, may be slower to restrict winners because they need all the business they can get, so sharp-value-seeking punters may be allowed to carry on winning at them.
Disadvantages of Small Betting Sites
And now let’s consider some of the disadvantages of playing at small betting sites in Australia.
- Fewer markets – Offering 100s of markets ahead of an event either takes time if done manually or can be expensive if using software from external odds providers, so there may be fewer markets available than at the ‘big boys’.
- Operations may not run as smoothly – Another thing that’s expensive is a high number of staff. This could result in not enough customer service agents being available during busy times, for example. Or payments taking longer to be processed compared to international bookmakers, because there are fewer staff around to manually approve them.
- Higher chance of platform failure: Fewer web developers/DevOps Engineers and the like on the payroll, or even less sophisticated software, can lead to issues such as bugs or, worse still, crashes.
Best Small Betting Sites
Just as important as understanding why playing at smaller betting sites has plenty of advantages, as well as disadvantages, as we’ve just seen, is knowing which specific independent betting sites we recommend playing at and why. Let’s look at some of the best.
Picklebet
- Licensed by the Northern Territory Government
- 20+ sports for betting
- Android and iOS apps
- No live betting
If you’re an Esports fan, this may be one of the New Australian Betting Sites for you. eSoccer, LoL, Dota 2, Valorant, and King of Glory are just some of the games they offer betting on, and there are over 10 different markets for each one. But, of course, they have all the other major sports too, including basketball, baseball, soccer, motor racing and golf. It’s also one of the best AFL Betting Sites. Customers can also play pick’em competitions, where you don’t have to risk your own money, but can win actual money. It’s also a site that boasts an excellent mobile app.
Nextbet
- 1,000+ casino games
- UKGC and AGCC licenses
- Helpful, responsible gaming tools
- 72-hour payout pending period
Given it’s one of Australia’s most recognised licensed sportsbooks, it’s perhaps not quite right to call it a small bookmaker in Australia as such, but it certainly caters nicely to its Australian customers.
That begins with offering all the Aussie favourites, including rugby union and league, and Aussie Rules, just part of the 20+ sports you can wager on here. It’s also one of the best Cricket Betting Sites. Like fantasy sports? You can play them here too, via Draftstars.
But one area where it really shines is banking. Nextbet supports several fast payment methods suited to Australian players, and it’s one of the best Fast Withdrawal Betting Sites, with PayID the quickest option, though debit cards and BPAY are pretty swift, too.
Comparing Smaller Local Betting Sites to International Betting Sites
And now let’s look at how small Australian bookmakers compare to some of the biggest bookies on an international/global level, such as Bet365, Betfair or PaddyPower.
Content- Normally, smaller betting sites have less of a budget to spend on content-related extras, or frills if you prefer.
Such as livestreaming. Purchasing the livestreaming rights to sports such as tennis, racing, football, basketball, or cricket from suppliers is expensive.
Still, a bookie like Bet365 – famous for the quantity and quality of its streaming – considers it worthwhile because it has so many customers that will enjoy viewing the streaming of those sports; small bookmakers on limited budgets will usually decide to spend their money on the basics rather than the extras.
The same could be said for other types of online content, such as betting tips, analysis, and stats.
Different limits – In most cases, small Australian betting sites will tend to have lower limits on how much they’re prepared to pay out on a single winning bet for fear of a huge win leading to financial difficulties, or worse still, bankruptcy. A huge betting company like Paddy Power is happy to take more risk, meaning they’ll accept bigger stakes because they can cover potentially bigger payouts.
That said, the same could be true of some small Australian bookmakers. They may decide that with fewer customers, it’s actually worth taking more of a risk with some of their big hitters, so it pays to find out what the different bet limits and max payout amounts are.
Number of sports and markets – We’ve mentioned this in passing, but larger Sportsboks may offer 40+ sports to bet on because they often use external odds-compilation services that do all the hard work for them; local bookmakers may be limited to 10 or 12. But whereas the betting giants won’t bother with obscure sports or lower levels of a particular sport, the small betting sites in Australia will see those very ones as an opportunity, so they may offer them.
Safety on Small Betting Sites
The biggest betting sites in Australia, like Bet365, Ladbrokes or Unibet, do everything by the book. Why wouldn’t they? It’s very much in their interest to protect their reputation in Australia, or else it could affect proceedings and operations in other countries, not to mention they could face huge fines. So the absolute minimum is that they all hold a valid license to operate in Australia.
That means you, the customer, are protected when it comes to such things as your money and data being safe, the betting site paying out on winnings and you being able to complain to the governing body if the sportsbook isn’t treating you fairly.
With smaller betting sites, it could be different. They may decide to take their chances by not having a license at all or having one of the lesser licenses, like the Curacao ones. As stated above, both are bad news for you, so make sure the local betting site has a valid Australian license.
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Small Betting Sites in Australia FAQ
- What are the best small betting sites in Australia?
To an extent, it’s a matter of preference based on what you deem most important in a bookie, but the ones that tick the most boxes in our opinion are Picklebet and PlayUp.
- What are some of the advantages of small betting sites?
Small betting sites have some advantages over larger ones, such as offering obscure, niche sports and providing more personalised care to their customers, since they have fewer customers.
- Can I trust smaller betting sites?
Yes, there’s nothing wrong with a sportsbook being a smaller operation compared to the huge betting companies. But that comes with the caveat that the local bookmaker must hold a valid Australian license. If it does, you know you can trust it.