Small betting sites have taken the Australian betting industry by storm in recent years, popping up left, right and centre and drastically increasing the number of options available to punters. On this page, we’ll take a look at the benefits of using small betting sites, the best small online bookmakers in Australia to use, and a whole lot more.
Best Small Betting Sites Australia 2025
All Small Betting Sites Australia




How We Evaluate Our Small Australian Bookies
Whether we are adjudicating small betting sites in Australia, major international bookmakers, or anything in between, the things that we take into account are relatively similar. Below are some of the most pertinent factors we consider when evaluating small Australian bookmakers.
Selection of sports available
One of the easiest things to compare different betting sites on is the selection of sports available. While some will have an enormous range, with markets for virtually every sport you can think of and more, others only have a relatively select few, preferring to focus on the most popular sports. Often, small betting sites in Australia will fall into the latter category, with some only offering around 8 or 9 different sports at any one time – not a problem if you’re only looking for NRL betting sites, somewhere to engage in a little bit of EPL betting, or a place to make the most of our range of tips – be they AFL tips, EPL tips, NRL tips or NBA tips – but a little more problematic if you’re looking for markets on Tuesday afternoon’s European handball matches.
Range of markets
Among the sports that are on offer, there can also be a really significant difference in the number of markets offered. Some will only have a handful available, with markets like head-to-head and lines available basically everywhere, while other betting sites in Australia will have hundreds of markets for just one individual game, with player props one of the most common ways for that number to balloon out. Small online bookmakers in Australia will often not have that many, though the best small betting sites still offer a pretty good selection.
Odds
Odds are something which obviously vary across different betting sites, and though this variation is not usually all that dramatic for one individual bet, it can add up. It’s not uncommon to find better odds at big, international bookies compared to small online betting sites, but that is far from a universal rule, and there are plenty of small online bookmakers in Australia that offer really competitive odds.
Quality of desktop site and betting app
Whatever kind of betting site you are using, you want to be able to access everything that they have to offer with ease, and that’s why we will always consider both the quality of the desktop site, and the availability and quality of a betting app, when judging a betting site. Many small Australian bookmakers use the popular BetCloud platform for their desktop, meaning there is a lot of similarity in the interface of these bookies, but that’s not a bad thing – it’s a popular platform for a reason. The aesthetics of these sites still varies a lot though, and while this won’t be the most important factor for most punters, it’s always an added bonus to have a site or app which is easy on the eye.
The above factors are not an exhaustive list of things we consider when analysing small betting sites. Each of them, however, is among the most important, and should always be factored into your thinking when looking for a new bookmaker.
Best Small Betting Sites for Sports Betting
It’s a relatively common theme in the Australian betting landscape that small betting sites do not quite have the same level of sports betting markets as big betting sites, in terms of range of sports available, range of markets for those sports and odds. There are, however, plenty of exceptions, and below we have listed some of the best small betting sites for sports betting in Australia.
BetRight
BetRight is a relatively new betting site, having only launched in 2021, but they are far from another cookie-cutter bookmaker which is barely distinguishable from the next. Aside from having a quality website and app, BetRight excels in their great range of sports markets and highly competitive odds.
When it comes to different sports available, they have plenty, with over 20 available at the time of writing. And what they offer within those sports is excellent. For upcoming NBA games, for example, they have in excess of 300 markets, and with a range of great player props and future bets to boot – as well as very good odds – this is not just one of the best small betting sites for sports betting – it’s one of the best betting sites for sports betting overall.
WinnersBet
WinnersBet is slightly older than BetRight, having been founded back in 2020 by a well-known on-course bookmaker, but it’s not only in racing that they have made a name for themselves. WinnersBet is instantly recognisable through a purple and gold theme reminiscent of the Lakers, and whether you use their intuitive website or their speedy app you will find plenty to sink your teeth into when it comes to sport.
WinnersBet currently offers close to 20 different sports, ranging from the most popular like Australian Rules and basketball through to more niche areas like darts and volleyball. As always, the range of markets is significantly better for those major sports, with a really solid selections on offer for things like the AFL, NRL, NBA and EPL, and with some slightly unusual markets that other bookies don’t offer, they’re certainly worth checking out.
Betr
You might remember Betr as the bookmaker that exploded onto the scene in 2022 with one of the best betting bonuses in Australia, which offered $100 odds on every team in a range of markets, including the NBA championship and AFL and NRL Premierships. That got plenty of people on board, and since then they have continued to offer a solid selection of promotions to go with their competitive range of sports markets.
Betr is a modern-day bookie, with a sleek mobile app making them easily accessible for the growing proportion of punters who prefer to bet in that way. And when on the app, you will find a really competitive selection of sports markets, and odds which are more in line with the bigger betting sites than many of the smaller ones.
There are plenty of other quality small betting sites for sports worth checking out beyond the above. Those three, however, stand out from the crowd for various reasons, namely their great range of markets, solid odds and excellent app design.
Best Small Betting Sites for Racing
Now to racing, for which the best betting sites can differ a little from those for sports. The websites listed below are not necessarily the best to use for sports, but with a few handy little features they are able to stand out from the crowd when it comes to betting on racing.
ChaseBet
ChaseBet is another of the wave of new betting sites which only launched in 2023, but they have quickly become a really good option for racing fans. This is clearly the focus of the site, which is evidenced through their really competitive odds and a selection of racing-focused promotions that really help them to stand out from the crowd. Far from being just another small betting site, ChaseBet is a new bookie that actually makes an attempt to differentiate themselves, and racing is the main vessel through which they do it.
VicBet
VicBet is, as you may have gathered by the name, a Victorian-based bookmaker, and while they very much fit into the category of small online bookmakers in Australia, they have been around since back in 2005 and so have plenty of experience. Their focus is well and truly on racing – in fact, they don’t even offer sports markets, which might limit their reach but also means that their focus is squarely on racing, and it shows. Their website is super easy to use, their odds are really competitive, and you’ll find really well laid-out and informative pages for each individual race.
BetFocus

BetFocus was only founded in 2024, but they have quickly made a name for themselves as one of the best small online bookmakers in Australia – particularly when it comes to racing. With an easy to use website, you’ll quickly find yourself surrounded by all the racing markets you can dream of, and a really intuitive navigational platform enables you to immerse yourself in all the numbers and form surrounding the next race. The odds here are really solid too – not exactly industry-leading, but more than acceptable for a small betting site.
Racing products can be a little difficult to differentiate because across many betting sites, they are virtually the same. The above three, however, stand out as some of the best small Australian bookmakers for racing punters courtesy of competitive odds, and easy-to-use websites and apps, among other things.
Small Betting Sites vs Big Betting Sites – Pros and Cons
While at the end of the day, a betting site is a betting site, there can be relatively significant differences between different ones. Small betting sites and big betting sites, in particular, generally have certain characteristics which distinguish them from each other. Some of these show the advantages of sticking with small betting sites, though there are also plenty of benefits to using the bigger bookies. Below, we take a look at some of the most prominent of each.
Small Betting Sites Advantages
- Often betting local – Generally if you’re using a small betting site, it will be an Australian-owned one – a small betting site from overseas is not likely to make the trip all the way around the world to the Aussie market after all. If you are somebody who likes to support Australian-owned, local businesses, then small betting sites are more likely to be the way to go.
- Generally good customer support – There are a few things that small betting sites tend to do well, and customer support is one of them. This is a pretty consistent theme across most industries – getting in contact with big enterprises is not usually all that easily, but smaller ones often have a little more of a focus on their customers. Small betting sites will often have a really good live chat function as well as a phone number or email address through which you can contact them.
- Good betting apps – Betting apps have been one of the major changes in betting in Australia in recent years, which means that virtually every new bookie has no choice but to develop a good one from the get go. A good betting app is often part and parcel of new and small betting sites, which might not be able to compete with the big boys in other areas but certainly can through their app.
Big Betting Sites Advantages
- Broad range of markets – This is often a very noticeable difference between small betting sites and the big ones. While some new bookies might only have eight or nine sports available at any one time and limited markets for those, big betting sites will often have close to 30 different sports to bet on and every market you could possibly imagine and then some for the biggest leagues.
- Good odds – This is another very common difference between big and small betting sites. It’s certainly not universally true – there are some small betting sites with good odds and some big betting sites with not so good odds – but on average, the odds that you get with the big, often international bookmakers will commonly be superior to their smaller counterparts.
- More payment options – If you’re somebody who is happy simply using debit/credit card and bank transfer, then this one won’t likely be an issue for you. But if you do tend to use a less common method of payment, then it’s worth knowing which betting sites will have your choice available to you. Small betting sites will often just keep it simple in this regard, while the bigger ones generally have a broader selection of payment methods.
Clearly there are pros and cons to both small betting sites and big betting sites, and which of the above is most important will depend on the punter.
Payment Methods of Small Betting Sites
As mentioned in the above section, payment methods of small betting sites are often not all that comprehensive. That’s not always the case and there are some which branch out beyond the norm a little, but in general you’ll only have a handful of options. Below are some of the most common among them.
Debit/credit card
This is a tried and true deposit method that you will find on virtually every betting site, big or small. For debit card betting, your bookmaker of choice will simply require you to input all the details of your card and then verify it, after which you will quickly and easily be able to use it deposit and sometimes withdraw funds from your betting account. Given its universal availability and simplicity of use, with deposits being made instantly, this is the easiest payment method to stick to for betting.
Bank transfer
Bank transfer is another payment method that you will find pretty much everywhere. It’s a pretty common method for withdrawal – with withdrawals to cards often not available, this is a safe and secure way to get those funds back in your bank account. It’s often also available for deposits, though given it does take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days, other methods are usually preferred for that.
Apple Pay
Apple Pay is an increasingly common payment method not just on betting sites, but more generally, with the huge number of people boasting Apple products – i.e the iPhone – making it a super accessible options for a large percentage of the population. This has extended to betting, with a huge range of Apple Pay betting sites employing this quick and easy way to deposit funds. If a small betting site is going to branch out beyond the above two payment methods, Apple Pay will likely be one of the first additions.
PayPal
Similar to Apple Pay, if a small betting site offers more than just the top two payment options then there is a decent chance you will find PayPal available. This secure payment method has been widely used for a long time, and enables you to deposit and withdraw with betting sites that use it. Of course, requirements are that you actually have a PayPal account and if you’re depositing to a betting account, you’ll have to have funded your PayPal one first. Given this bypasses your actual bank account it might seem like a slightly roundabout method for some, but with PayPal payments available across so many platforms, many people have it funded constantly regardless.
The above are just some of the payment methods you might find on small betting sites, but there are numerous others too. As mentioned, however, these kinds of bookies are not typically where you would find the broadest range of payment options, and many of them will only offer debit/credit card and bank transfer for deposits and withdrawals.
Customer Support Options on Small Betting Sites
Having established the different payment methods available to you with small betting sites in Australia, let’s now take a look at the customer support options they’ll typically offer. Obviously customer support is not something you want to be tangled up in, but if you do have an issue or query it’s good to know they’ve got your back. Small betting sites often have a pretty good customer support platform utilising a couple of different contact formats. Below are the ones that you’ll most commonly find.
Live chat
Live chat is the best and easiest way to get in touch with most betting sites, and you’ll generally find it available on new and small betting sites. Bookies using the BetCloud platform, for example – which is plenty of them – will usually have this available via a little bubble on the bottom right-hand side of your page, while with all bookies you can simply click through to ‘Contact Us’ to see if it’s available. This is a really quick and easy way to have your queries resolved, and is something that is pretty widely available on small betting sites in Australia.
If you can’t be bothered or don’t have the time to sit down and chat to someone via live chat, then email can be a good option for you, enabling you to simply send off your question and then continue about your day. Like with live chat, this is a really common part of customer support platforms on small betting sites, and something that you will find far more often than not.
Phone
The third member of the triad of customer support options is a phone number. With bigger bookies this tends to be pretty common, but smaller betting sites do quite often prefer to stick to the above two avenues of contact at the expense of a phone number. When they do have one available, however, it can be pretty handy if you want to speak directly to a person, though obviously you are limited in when you can do this – i.e, it might be a little hard if you’re at work!
Overall, customer support platforms with small online bookmakers in Australia tend to be pretty good. For what reason I’m not exactly sure, but at a guess, given they can often not compete with the bigger bookies when it comes to odds and range of markets, they are keen to demonstrate a commitment to their punters through a solid customer support platform. The above three contact methods are the three you will find across most betting sites in Australia, big and small, and with small betting sites the focus tends more often than not to be on the first couple of them.
Frequently Asked Questions About Small Betting Sites
To round out this detailed rundown of the best small online bookmakers in Australia, we are going to take a look at some of the most frequently asked questions that we get about them.
What makes a betting site a small betting site?
This is a pretty common question and for good reason. There is no specific definition of a small betting site, no particular parameters that separate ‘small’, ‘big’ or anything in between. Generally, however, when we are looking at small bookies, we’re looking at bookies that have been recently launched in Australia and which aren’t necessarily as well-recognised as the major ones like AFL betting sites, or NRL betting sites.
Are small betting sites always local?
Generally, yep. While there are no doubt plenty of small betting sites from overseas, too, they aren’t generally going to be branching out to Australia. The international bookmakers that do make it to our shores like Bet365 and Unibet make it here because they are hugely successful overseas and have the capital to expand. It follows that small betting sites will be focusing on the country where they are based, which for us obviously means they are local, Aussie-owned sites.
Who can use small betting sites?
The same rules apply here as for any betting site in Australia. There are basically two requirements to use a small betting site – you need to be at least 18 years of age, and you need to be located in Australia when placing a bet. If you tick those two boxes, then you are good to go.
James is a sports writer, editor and published author from Melbourne, Australia, who has six years of experience in the sports industry and a lifetime of experience following it with a passion. He grew up on a steady diet of AFL, cricket and basketball, and after finishing his Masters’ degree in sports management, officially started turning that interest and experience into a career. Since then, he has covered all manner of sports, from AFL and cricket through to surfing and horse racing. He has also edited over 50 books, including one written by a former coach of the Perth Wildcats, and written his own book titled Sport’s Greatest Statistical Anomalies – you can probably guess what that one is about! Such passion for sports and the statistics that surround them means that, unsurprisingly, James has long been an ardent punter, taking a pleasure in analysing form and statistics that to most people is probably bizarre, bordering on unhealthy. But hey, he’s happy, and at least some of the time, so too are those following his tips!